Returning to the UK in some ways has been disconcerting – or maybe discombobulating would be a better word. It is, after all, my home; it is where I grew up, a country I love and am proud of. But either it’s changed, or I have. Maybe both.

It just feels like a strange land.

At the beginning of 2022, after eight years of political reporting in the US, Jon Sopel returned home to the UK – and having spent almost a third of his career abroad, he found a very different place to the one he left. In Strangeland, his first book since launching the global hit podcast The News Agents, he asks: What is the Britain he’s come home to?

In the US, Jon was the outsider looking in, firm in the belief that the common language of English masked our fundamental differences; in terms of values and beliefs, it seemed the British had much more in common with our European neighbours.

Strangeland is Jon’s account of how much that has changed. The US was a country he thought he knew well but didn’t really; returning home has been in some ways even more disconcerting – either Britain, the country he grew up in, has changed dramatically, or he has. Perhaps it’s both.

A trenchant analysis of politics, people, and everything in between, Strangeland is an unforgettable portrait of a country gone through the looking glass.

A local history book for residents and ex-residents this book is the story of life in Swanscombe from Saxon times to the present day and the people who lived there, in old and new photographs.

Pendley has accumulated over 1,700 years of history - from: Ancient Britons and Romans, who settled this area at least some 1,700 years ago, to England's last great heathen King, the warlike and impressively vigorous, Penda, who seems to have given his name to this area, sired a child when he was aged 77 and died, in battle, aged 80; The Anglo-Saxon nun, Eddeva, via William the Conqueror's half-brother, Robert, to Sir Robert Whittingham, who demolished mediaeval Pendley and built the first manor house in its place; The Verneys and the sixteenth century's changeable politics to the Andersons, who facilitated the initially illicit union which was to produce US President, George Washington; The Harcourts who, in the end, didn't care about Pendley and let the old manor house be destroyed, and the trade-wealthy Grouts with their illegitimate heir, Lawrence Williams, who secured his family's fortune by marrying into his own family and then buying Pendley; His son, JG - supervisor of the building of the new manor house, a successful agriculturalist who also shepherded his brother's children and, so, secured the future of Pendley for a century - to Dorian, the last of the Williams' line at Pendley; The short-term ownership of David Evans and the Grass Roots Partnership to the current owner, Vinu Bhattessa, who's turned the place into a hotel and conference centre. Along the way, Pendley Manor acquired some peacocks, a famous Shakespeare Festival, a couple of ghosts and a host of stories. Many of these are unrecorded but some, at least, have come down to us through the ages - and these are told within this book.

This is the story of Salcombe through the eyes of the Murch family. Born and bred in the town for generations, and destined to change its face forever: James who was to become the town's largest employer constructing most of the buildings around the Estuary, and Frank - Lt. Cmdr. Francis Murch - who assumed responsibility for the safety of Salcombe in the dark days of the American build-up to D Day in 1944.

As the great powers slugged it out in the world's first World War, more and more men were drawn into their nations' armies and sent to serve many miles from home. Stevenage, a quiet Hertfordshire town, became home to two military camps, the Royal Engineers Signal Camp, North Road and the New Zealand Reserve Signal Company depot. Told for the first time is the story of these two camps and especially of the New Zealand force, which became the largest contingent in the town. Why were German troops in Stevenage High Street?Just what were Maori warriors doing in the town?And was that really a German U-boat in the High Street? Lavishly illustrated with many previously unseen images of Stevenage at war, this book provides answers to these and many other questions, as well as telling the tragic story of New Zealand war veteran G.V.T. Moore, the only member of the force who remains in Stevenage today.

Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made available for future generations to enjoy.

Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made available for future generations to enjoy.

Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made available for future generations to enjoy.

Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made available for future generations to enjoy.