Black Ops is a thrilling compendium of undercover warfare from around the world. Here you will meet the most hardened soldiers and operatives facing extraordinary dangers deep behind enemy lines. The book features many amazing stories from World War II, such as the assassination of Holocaust architect Reinhard Heydrich by Britain's Special Operations Executive, which in 1940 received its mission from Churchill to 'set Europe ablaze' in the battle against Nazi tyranny. Also told are the stories of Stalin's favourite spy; the little-known account of how Japanese military codes were cracked; and Operation Mincemeat, which led to the invasion of Sicily. Written by a leading military intelligence expert, Black Ops ranges across a century of remarkable clandestine operations. Starting with Hans Carl Lody, the first German spy during World War I, we also have the plot to assassinate Lenin; the origins of strategic deception; and the Cold War defection of Oleg Gordievsky from the Soviet Union. The book is brought right up to date with the plot to assassinate Osama bin Laden by Navy SEALS in 2011, and the attempted assassination of the Skripals in the UK in 2018, leading to fears that the world is on the brink of a new Cold War. A compelling anthology of spies, soldiers, mercenaries and assassins, Black Ops tells the secret history of 20th- and 21st-century warfare.

Exam Board: AQA Level: AS/A-level Subject: History First Teaching: September 2015 First Exam: June 2016 Target success in AQA AS/A-level History with this proven formula for effective, structured revision; key content coverage is combined with exam preparation activities and exam-style questions to create a revision guide that students can rely on to review, strengthen and test their knowledge. - Enables students to plan and manage a successful revision programme using the topic-by-topic planner - Consolidates knowledge with clear and focused content coverage, organised into easy-to-revise chunks - Encourages active revision by closely combining historical content with related activities - Helps students build, practise and enhance their exam skills as they progress through activities set at three different levels - Improves exam technique through exam-style questions with sample answers and commentary from expert authors and teachers - Boosts historical knowledge with a useful glossary and timeline

The true story of the White Queen and more, this is a thrilling history of the extraordinary noblewomen who lived through the Wars of the Roses. The events of the Wars of the Roses are usually described in terms of the men involved: Richard Duke of York, Henry VI, Edward IV, Richard III and Henry VII. But these years were also packed with women's drama and - in the tales of conflicted maternity and monstrous births - alive with female energy. In this completely original book, Sarah Gristwood sheds light on a neglected dimension of English history: the impact of Tudor women on the Wars of the Roses. She examines, among others, Cecily Neville, who was deprived of being queen when her husband died at the Battle of Wakefield; Elizabeth Woodville, the commoner who married Edward IV in secret; Margaret Beaufort, mother of Henry VII, whose love and ambition for her son knew no bounds. Until now, the lives of these women have remained little known to the general public. Sarah Gristwood tells their stories in detail for the first time. Captivating and original, this is historical writing of the most important kind.

Medieval Ireland is often described as a backward-looking nation in which change only came about as a result of foreign invasions. By examining the wealth of under-explored evidence available, Downham challenges this popular notion and demonstrates what a culturally rich and diverse place medieval Ireland was. Starting in the fifth century, when St Patrick arrived on the island, and ending in the fifteenth century, with the efforts of the English government to defend the lands which it ruled directly around Dublin by building great ditches, this up-to-date and accessible survey charts the internal changes in the region. Chapters dispute the idea of an archaic society in a wide-range of areas, with a particular focus on land-use, economy, society, religion, politics and culture. This concise and accessible overview offers a fresh perspective on Ireland in the Middle Ages and overthrows many enduring stereotypes.

With a foreword by Julian Fellowes, creator of Downton Abbey who concludes that: `This is the world that Ruth Binney has brought so wonderfully to life in her book'. Inside the country house, what exactly were the duties of the master's valet and the lady's maid? How did these fit into the daily routine? And what were the protocols for visitors? The answers to these, and many more questions, are revealed in this entertaining and intimate guide to the self-contained world of the country house. Here you'll learn the rules of etiquette essential both upstairs and down -for both residents and visitors -marvel at the intricacies of housekeeping, and enter a bygone age of hunts, house parties and grand balls. All these aspects of country house life, and many more, are introduced here through the contemporary maxims used to instruct the members of the household and their guests, from running a large kitchen to entertaining royalty. Each is brought to life with both practical detail and direct, compelling quotes and illustrations from period manuals and advice books, giving every entry a totally authentic feel and `voice'. Rounding off the book is an informative list of houses to visit, stressing the features that relate directly to the descriptions included in the book.

This is the first biography of the fateful relationship between Elizabeth I and Mary Queen of Scots. It was the defining relationship of their lives, and marked the intersection of the great Tudor and Stuart dynasties, a landmark event in British history. Distinguished biographer Jane Dunn reveals an extraordinary story of two queens ruling in one isle, both embodying opposing qualities of character, ideals of womanliness and of divinely ordained kingship. Theirs is a drama of sex and power, recklessness, ambition and political intrigue, with a rivalry that could only be resolved by death. As regent queens in an overwhelmingly masculine world, they were deplored for their femininity, compared unfavourably with each other, and courted by the same men. By placing this dynamic and ever-changing relationship at the centre of the book, Dunn throws new light and meaning on the complexity of their natures. She reveals an Elizabeth revolutionary in her insistence on ruling alone, while Mary is not the romantic victim of history, but a courageous adventurer with a reckless heart. Vengeful against her enemies and the more ruthless of the two, she was untroubled by plotting Elizabeth's murder. Elizabeth, however, was in anguish at having to sanction Mary's death warrant for treason. Working almost exclusively from contemporary letters and writings, she lets them speak to us across more than four hundred years, their voices and responses surprisingly familiar to our own, their characters vivid, by turns touching and terrible.

Cricklade, the Anglo-Saxon borough fortified by Alfred against the Danes, is the market town at the heart of this volume. As a notorious rotten borough, its corruption influenced the passing of the 1832 Parliamentary Reform Act. The town and the surrounding parishes described here are bordered by Gloucestershire to the north and Swindon to the East. They extend along the upper Thames valley and over the Wiltshire claylands to the limestone ridge in the south. The royal forest of Braydon covered much of the area in the middle ages and provided extensive grazing for livestock. Although disafforestation took place under Charles I, agricultural exploitation was limited by poor soils and parts were later returned to woodland or nature reserve. The settlements of traditional limestone buildings were remote until canal and rail transport increased trade in dairy products and the expansion of employment opportunities in Swindon resulted in their residential development, and an annexation of a small part of the area by the growing town.

Shades of the Prison House explores the history of imprisonment in the British Isles from Anglo-Saxon times to the present day. Over the centuries, prisons - from castle dungeons to "lockups" to "penitentiaries" to gaols - have changed radically in name, conditions, attributes and functions, as well as in their character and rationale. Prisons have served many aims: detention, deterrence, punishment, reformation and rehabilitation, all in varying degrees. Yet while prisons and their purposes have been transformed, the same debates on imprisonment have continually recurred. Concerns about overcrowding and over-pampering, security and safety have been expressed from the very beginning, and modern notions that prison might serve a purpose other than containment or punishment were espoused long before the eighteenth century. Drawing on letters, treatises, personal accounts, histories, legal and official reports and studies of prison architecture and design, this book tells the story of prisons, prison life and those who experienced it, be they prisoners, governors, chaplains, warders, reformers or advocates. As entertaining as it is informative, the book examines the nature and quality of imprisonment over the last fifteen hundred years, before surveying present problems and concluding with thoughts on future directions. HARRY POTTER is a former fellow of Selwyn College, Cambridge and a practising barrister specialising in criminal defence. Author of Law, Liberty and the Constitution: A Brief History of the Common Law (Boydell Press, 2015), he wrote and presented an award-winning series on the same subject for the BBC. He has also authored Edinburgh under Siege: 1571-1573 (2003), Blood Feud: The Stewarts and Gordons at War in the Age of Mary Queen of Scots (2002), Hanging and Heresy (1994) and Hanging in Judgment: Religion and the Death Penalty in England from the Bloody Code to Abolition (1993). Before being called to the Bar, he worked as a prison chaplain, largely with long-term and life-sentence prisoners.

The IRA has been a much richer, more complexly layered, and more protean organization than is frequently recognized. It is also more open to balanced examination now--at the end of its long war in the north of Ireland--than it was even a few years ago.
Richard English's brilliant book offers a detailed history of the IRA, providing invaluable historical depth to our understanding of the modern-day Provisionals, the more militant wing formed in 1969 dedicated to the removal of the British Government from Northern Ireland and the reunification of
Ireland. English examines the dramatic events of the Easter Rising in 1916 and the bitter guerrilla war of 1919-21, the partitioning of Ireland in the 1920s, and the Irish Civil War of 1922-23. Here, too, are the IRA campaigns in Northern Ireland and Britain from the 1930s through the 1960s. He
shows how the Provisionals were born out of the turbulence generated by the 1960s civil rights movement, and examines the escalating violence that introduced British troops to the streets of Northern Ireland. He also examines the split in the IRA that produced the Provisionals, the introduction of
internment in 1971, and the tragedy of Bloody Sunday in 1972. He then discusses the struggle over political status, culminating in the Hunger Strikes of the early 1980s and describes the Provisionals' emergence as a more committed political force throughout that decade, a politicization that made
possible the peace process that has developed over the last decade. English offers a dazzling synthesis of the motives, actions and consequences of the IRA. Neither romanticizing the IRA nor condemning them outright, this is a balanced, definitivetreatment of one of the world's leading
revolutionary movements.

The City of Westminster is the seat of the monarchy and government of Great Britain and the centre of many aspects of British economic and cultural life, yet to date there has been no comprehensive history of the city. It is this gap which this volume will fill. The book opens with an explanation of what makes Westminster unique and follows with detailed sections on landownership and religious history. The section on landownership treats the history and ownership of the manors, the large medieval inns, and the estates created from the 16th century onwards; that on religious history provides a general chronological introduction to religious life in the city, and detailed accounts of the history and buildings of all the Christian denominations and other Faiths. PATRICIA CROOT is at the Institute of Historical Research, University of London.

The tiny island of Iona has been a vibrant centre of Christian worship since Columba arrived in AD 563. His monastery thrived for centuries, despite repeated Viking raids beginning in 795. Around 1200, the abbey and nunnery were founded, introducing new forms of worship and new buildings, while still welcoming pilgrims to St Columba's shrine. Even after the Protestant Reformation of 1560 brought an end to Scotland's monasteries, Iona served briefly as a Cathedral of the Isles. Restoration of the buildings began in 1899, and in 1938 the Iona Community was formed, revitalising the abbey's spiritual role. This unique site bears witness to a long history of religious practice that still flourishes today.

As the country navigates a national crisis once again, read how Britain's Prime Minister was inspired by Winston Churchill. One man can make all the difference. Now leader of the UK himself, Boris Johnson explores what makes up the 'Churchill Factor' - the singular brilliance of one of the most important leaders of the twentieth century. Taking on the myths and misconceptions along with the outsized reality, he portrays - with characteristic wit and passion - a man of multiple contradictions, contagious bravery, breath-taking eloquence, matchless strategizing and deep humanity. Fearless on the battlefield, Churchill had to be ordered by the King to stay out of action on D-Day; he embraced large-scale strategic bombing, yet hated the destruction of war and scorned politicians who had not experienced its horrors. He was a celebrated journalist, a great orator and won the Nobel Prize for Literature. He was famous for his ability to combine wining and dining with many late nights of crucial wartime decision-making. His open-mindedness made him a pioneer in healthcare, education and social welfare, though he remained incorrigibly politically incorrect. As Prime Minister Boris Johnson says, 'Churchill is the resounding human rebuttal to all who think history is the story of vast and impersonal economic forces'. Published in association with Churchill Heritage, The Churchill Factor is essential reading for anyone who wants to know what makes a great leader in a time of crisis.

A new edition of a popular introduction to all aspects of life in Britain. This version reflects on the ongoing fallout from the global financial and eurozone crises; the May 2015 General Election; the September 2014 referendum on Scottish independence; the new tone of debate on immigration; and the June 2016 Brexit referendum.

**DAILY MAIL BOOKS OF THE YEAR 2019** **SUNDAY TELEGRAPH CHRISTMAS BOOKS OF THE YEAR 2019**'So blissfully good that I'd give it to a reader of any age . . . deeply touching, unforgettable family memoir' ALLISON PEARSON, SUNDAY TELEGRAPH 'Uplifting and enlightening . . . Venning has a good eye for what makes the Walker story both unique and universal . . . Thrilling' MAIL ON SUNDAY 'Superb . . . With its sweeping narrative, readable style, sense of humanity and breadth of research, the saga casts a highly personal light on some of the most significant episodes of [the Second World War]' DAILY EXPRESS 'A heart-pounding narrative that feels fresh . . . this marvellous book also depicts a world that was soon to vanish' DAILY MAIL 'A moving book . . . This account of one family's experience takes us to hidden crannies of the war that more official accounts might not bother with . . . Once read, never forgotten' THE TIMES 'A sensationally good book . . . I see reflections of my own family, and beyond them, like those mirrors tilted slightly into infinity, I can see literally miles of others lined up, inexorably linked forever by a shared experience . . . this is an exceptional book and should be required reading in modern history classes' JOANNA LUMLEY 'An extraordinary, compelling picture of a family entwined in the Second World War . . . at turns funny, sad, redemptive and tragic. Fabulous' JAMES HOLLAND 'A loving tribute . . . Brimming with anecdote and rich in fascinating detail' KEGGIE CAREW ~ How would it feel if all your sons and daughters were caught up in war? What would it be like to spend six years fearing what a telegram might bring? That was the heart-wrenching reality faced by so many families throughout the Second World War, including the parents of the Walker children. From the Blitz to the battlefields of Europe and the Far East, this is the remarkable story of four brothers and two sisters who were swept along by the momentous events of the war. Harold was a surgeon in a London hospital alongside his sister Ruth, a nurse, when the bombs began to fall in 1940. Peter was captured in the fall of Singapore. Edward fought the Germans in Italy, and Walter the Japanese in Burma, while in London, glamorous Bee hoped for lasting happiness with an American airman. In To War With the Walkers, Annabel Venning, Walter's granddaughter, tells the enthralling and moving tales of her relatives, six ordinary young men and women, who each faced an extraordinary struggle for survival.

Magna Carta is the most famous document in English history. And yet its survival is purely accidental. King John, who negotiated the document with his rebellious barons, had no intention of honouring its contents. Annulled by the pope within weeks of being issued, it was destined to oblivion. But with the sudden death of John, all of this changed. Magna Carta was reissued by the regents of the boy King Henry III as an apology for past misrule and as a promise of future good government. It was reissued on successive occasions and repeatedly cited in legal cases in the following centuries. Later, it played a part in conflicts such as the English Civil War and the US Wars of Independence. Echoes of Magna Carta are to be found in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States. It continues to be cited today as a touchstone of fundamental universal freedoms. This book tells the story of the birth and development of Magna Carta from its origins to the modern day. It also reproduces and describes, for the very first time, every surviving copy of the Great Charter, as well as related charters of the period, including various new discoveries. It addresses the previously unanswered question of how the charter was published and disseminated to the shires of England and includes a chapter on the charter's scribes and sealing, supplying a truly unique insight into both the creation and afterlife of the most fundamental legal document in British history.

At the outbreak of war in 1939, ordinary people were quickly forced to adapt to the realities of a nation under dire threat.

But it soon became known as the Phoney War, a time when official incompetence reigned supreme. Theatres and cinemas were closed and football matches cancelled, only for the government to realise belatedly that morale was plunging as a result. Thousands of women and children were evacuated to the countryside, only for many to flood back to the cities, preferring the dangers to separation from their families. Censorship of news was heavy-handed and bred widespread resentment.

In fact, the period from September 1939 to May 1940 was a time of intense political and military activity – the blitzkrieg on Poland, the start of the U-boat menace, the disastrous Norwegian campaign, the political manoeuvrings that brought Churchill to power. Barry Turner skilfully weaves these events into a compelling home front narrative which evokes the fears and dangers but also the humour and the absurdities of everyday life in the dark days of 1939–1940.

'I was riveted: this is a fascinating social history.' NIGELLA LAWSON 'Five stars... history on a scale at once intimate and grand.' TELEGRAPH 'A magnificent book... endlessly fascinating.' JEWISH CHRONICLE 'How the Lyons company took on the world... a satisfying slab of dynastic history.' GUARDIAN, 'Book of the Day' 'Written with love and imagination... a masterclass in historical empathy.' TLS 'Enthralling... fascinating.' OBSERVER 'Rich... Fascinating... Harding is to be congratulated on this panoramic history.' EVENING STANDARD 'Endlessly fascinating and hard to put down... this is a tour de force.' JULIA NEUBERGER A panoramic new history of modern Britain, as told through the story of one extraordinary family, and one groundbreaking company. In the early 1800s, Lehmann Gluckstein and his family escaped the pogroms of Eastern Europe and made their way to Whitechapel in London's East End. There, starting with nothing, they worked tirelessly to pull themselves out of poverty, creating a small tobacco factory that grew to become the largest catering company in the world: J. Lyons. For over a century, Lyons was on every high street, in every home, in every coffee and teacup. It was an ascent from rags to riches in the face of many obstacles: poverty, hatred and anti-Semitism stood between this poor immigrant family and the British Dream. Legacy charts the rise and fall of one of the most influential dynasties in British history through the lives of five astonishing generations. Both sweeping and intimate, it is a story of sacrifice and selflessness, betrayal and personal tragedy, and Empire and its cost. It is also an illuminating new exploration of Britain and its place in the world, from the bestselling author of Hanns and Rudolf and The House by the Lake. ___________________________ 'Legacy is the biography of the extraordinary family who put the respectable teashop on the corner, the hamburger on the high street, plus the cuppa and Ready Brek on your breakfast table. Thomas Harding is a researcher of the first rank. Nobody quite stirs the soup of historical detail like Harding.' EXPRESS 'An affectionate family history, deftly sandwiched in the rise and fall of empires, two world wars, and two centuries of social and political change.' ECONOMIST 'An affectionate and colourful family portrait.' FINANCIAL TIMES 'This extraordinarily rich and meticulously researched history of modern Britain is a tour de force. [...] It's a paen to the immigrant contribution to our nation.' BOOKSELLER 'I absolutely love this book.' TRACY ANN OBERMAN 'Absolutely fascinating.' GILES COREN

As today's baby boomers reach retirement and old age, this timely study looks back at the first generation who aged in the British welfare state. Using innovative research methods, Charlotte Greenhalgh sheds light on the experiences of elderly people in twentieth-century Britain. She adds further insights from the interviews and photographs of celebrated social scientists such as Peter Townsend, whose work helped transform care of the aged. A comprehensive and sensitive examination of the creative pursuits, family relations, work lives, health, and living conditions of the elderly, Aging in Twentieth-Century Britain charts the determined efforts of aging Britons to shape public understandings of old age in the modern era.

The fact that the English Civil War led to the execution of King Charles I in January 1649 is well known, as is the restoration of his eldest son as Charles II eleven years later. But what happened to the king's six surviving children is far less familiar. Casting new light on the heirs of the doomed king and his unpopular but indefatigable Catholic queen, Henrietta Maria, acclaimed historian Linda Porter brings to life their personalities, legacies, feuds and rivalries for the first time. As their calm and loving family life was shattered by war, Elizabeth and Henry were used as pawns in the parliamentary campaign against their father; Mary, the Princess Royal, was whisked away to the Netherlands as the child bride of the Prince of Orange; Henriette Anne's redoubtable governess escaped with the king's youngest child to France where she grew up under her mother's thumb and eventually married the cruel and flamboyant Philippe d'Orleans. When their 'dark and ugly' brother Charles eventually succeeded his father to the English throne after fourteen years of wandering, he promptly enacted a vengeful punishment on those who had spurned his family, with his brother James firmly in his shadow. A tale of love and endurance, of battles and flight, of educations disrupted, the lonely death of a young princess and the wearisome experience of exile, Royal Renegades charts the fascinating story of the children of loving parents who could not protect them from the consequences of their own failings as monarchs and the forces of upheaval sweeping England.

Published in association with English Heritage, this fact-filled gift book is the perfect tribute to this iconic historical landmark, the best-known prehistoric monument in the world. With a history spanning 4,500 years, the mystery that surrounds Stonehenge is still as forceful as ever. Many different theories have been put forward about who built it, when and why. Was it a place for studying the movements of the sun and moon? Was it a sacred meeting place? Was it a place of healing? The Neolithic stones attract over a million visitors a year and whatever their meaning for people today, Stonehenge is undoubtedly a spiritual and uplifting ancient landscape. In this small book full of wonders devoted to the enigmatic stones, you'll find all the facts and figures you need to know: when the henge was built and why, who built it and why it was built where it was. You'll learn about life in Neolithic times, what the Romans did for Stonehenge, famous visitors over the centuries - both real and fictional, along with tales of the stones in popular culture - from psychedelic rock music to feature films.

The Top Ten Sunday Times Bestseller 'Richly entertaining... impressively well-researched' Daily Mail, Biography of the Year 'Incisive... strongly recommend' The Times 'A study in aggressive social climbing [with] quick-moving fluency' Sunday Times 'Painstakingly researched... genuinely enthralling' Observer 'A page-turner which is also a carefully researched work of history' Spectator 'A compelling new biography...superbly researched' Daily Express 'Everything a top-notch biography should be' Budapest Times 'Well-researched, enjoyable, revealing' The Oldie ************************ The intimate story of a unique marriage that spans the heights of glamour and power to infidelity, manipulation and disaster through the heart of the 20th century. DICKIE MOUNTBATTEN: A major figure behind his nephew Philip's marriage to Queen Elizabeth II and instrumental in the Royal Family taking the Mountbatten name, he was Supreme Allied Commander of South East Asia during World War II and the last Viceroy of India. EDWINA MOUNTBATTEN: Once the richest woman in Britain and a playgirl who enjoyed numerous affairs, she emerged from World War II as a magnetic and talented humanitarian worker loved around the world. From British high society to the South of France, from the battlefields of Burma to the Viceroy's House, The Mountbattens is a rich and filmic story of a powerful partnership, revealing the truth behind a carefully curated legend. Was Mountbatten one of the outstanding leaders of his generation, or a man over-promoted because of his royal birth, high-level connections, film-star looks and ruthless self-promotion? What is the true story behind controversies such as the Dieppe Raid and Indian Partition, the love affair between Edwina and Nehru, and Mountbatten's assassination in 1979? Based on over 100 interviews, research from dozens of archives and new information released under Freedom of Information requests, prize-winning historian Andrew Lownie sheds new light on this remarkable couple.

Contributions to the forty-sixth volume of Anglo-Saxon England focus on aspects of Anglo-Saxon culture and history across a period from the seventh to the eleventh century. The study of a fragment of a tenth-century sacramentary offers new evidence for the role of music in Anglo-Saxon England, while consideration of charter-evidence in both Latin and Old English from Worcester c.870 to 992 sheds fresh light on institutional interaction between the two main languages of Anglo-Saxon England. Two contributions consider Beowulf and its immediate manuscript-context, the first focusing on the spellings of the second scribe, and the next on the later history of the manuscript into the sixteenth century, facilitating its survival to this day. Finally, a detailed study of English landed society before and after the Norman Conquest has resulted in new perspectives on landed wealth in England in 1066 and 1086. Each article is preceded by a short abstract.

During much of his early career, from 1944 through to the early 1960s, Richard Hardy took hundreds of pictures of life on the railways and the men he knew and worked with on a daily basis, using his trusty Brownie 620 box camera. These unique behind the scenes images form a fascinating and hugely evocative portrayal of Britain at the height of the era of steam, during the time of the 'Big Four', and after 1947 when the sprawling nationalised network known as British Railways came of age. The second edition contains many new unseen photos which capture the railways in wartime, providing a valuable social record of the nation at war. In addition there is a sequence of rare photographs of French engines, railways and railwaymen, offering a superb contrast to the British rail network (it quickly becomes evident that the British rail system ran on tea, whereas the French system ran on wine). Great characters are the unifying theme of the pictures, and they include famous figures associated with the railways, such as the poet John Betjeman. This wonderfully illustrated book sets Richard's personal photographs and text alongside a carefully collated selection of ephemera, artworks and photographs drawn from the National Railway Museum in York. Collectively these images and artefacts tell the stories of the great brotherhood of railwaymen, brilliantly evoking the speed, heat and dust of the footplate.