In 100 Facts – serie

Clive Pearson takes us on an engaging whirlwind tour of the fifty-three men and three women who have so far held the office of Prime Minister. We discover how they got to the top of the greasy pole and assess their performance once in power. Perhaps more importantly, we find out what lasting influence they have had on our lives today.The author also offers up entertaining little-known facts about these key players. Eighteenth-century prime ministers were generally a poor lot, often beset by health problems such as gout and apoplectic fits; later, one nineteenth-century premier spent his evenings prowling the streets at night looking for prostitutes to ‘reform’.This book casts a light on this colourful cast of characters, and offers an entertaining and accessible introduction to those who over the last three centuries have held the highest office in the land.

Discover the history behind the facts.The British Empire had a rich, varied and controversial history, commonly perceived to have spanned 500 years from the era of Columbus and his voyages of discovery to the aftermath of the Second World War. Many statements are made about this era that shaped our nation, but what are the stories behind these facts? Which are true and which are merely beliefs that have grown into fact? Jem Duducu takes us on a whirlwind tour of the Empire and its history, condensing the gigantic story into easy-to-read, bitesize sections. He examines some of the most important aspects of the Empire, from exploration and discovery in the era of Elizabeth I, to the Slave Trade, to the eventual decline after the Second World War.

The Anglo-Saxon age was one of great change and unrest. Lasting from the departure of the Romans in approximately AD 400 until the Norman invasion in AD 1066, this era was defined by the continued spread of Christianity, the constant threat of Viking raids and the first stirrings of a nation that would become known as England.With its strange customs and unfamiliar names, the Anglo-Saxon era became mysterious and misunderstood, ironically by the descendants of the Anglo-Saxons, the English people themselves. Archaeological discoveries have forced us to re-evaluate these ingenious and skilled people, and to acknowledge the debt we owe to them. Martin Wall seeks to ‘de-mystify’ the period, breaking it down into easy-to-read, bitesize chunks, and to show that the so-called ‘Dark Ages’ were by no means backward or inferior. It was a truly heroic age, whose exemplars, such as King Offa, Alfred the Great, Lady Aethelflaed or Athelstan, stand beside the giants of world history. In 100 excerpts from these turbulent, bloody and exciting centuries, a proud, complex, but ultimately doomed civilisation is revealed.