The ruin of St Peter's College has sat on a wooded hilltop above the village of Cardross for more than three decades. Over that time, with altars crumbling, graffiti snaking across its walls and nature reclaiming its concrete, it has gained a mythical, cult-like status among architects, preservationists and artists. St Peter's only fulfilled its original role as a seminary for 14 years, from 1966 to 1979. As its uncompromising design gave way to prolonged construction and problematic upkeep, the Catholic Church reassessed the role of seminaries, resolving to embed trainee priests not in seclusion, but in communities. Although briefly repurposed as a drug rehabilitation centre, the building was soon abandoned to decay and vandalism. Ever since, people have argued and puzzled over the future and importance of St Peter's. It has been called both Scotland's best and worst twentieth century building. In 1992, it was listed category A. One of its architects suggested the idea of `everything being stripped away except the concrete itself - a purely romantic conception of the building as beautiful ruin'. And now in 2016, St Peter's is renewed as a cultural space through the work of the arts organisation NVA. In this landmark book, Diane Watters looks at the history of a structure that emerged out of an innovative phase of post-war Catholic church building. She traces the story of an architectural failure which morphed into a tragic modernist myth: unappreciated architects betrayed by an unloving client, and abandoned by an uncaring society. This is a historian's account of the real story of St Peter's College: an exploration of how one of Scotland's most singular buildings became one its most troubled - and most celebrated.

'I get enormously impressed when she walks into a room,' Princess Margaret once said of her sister. 'It's a kind of magic.' Prince William recalled, 'As I learned growing up, you don't mess with your grandmother. What she says goes.' In the year of the Queen's Platinum Jubilee, royal biographer Ian Lloyd reveals the woman behind the legend over 70 themed chapters. Drawing on interviews with relatives, friends and courtiers, he explores her relationship with seven generations of the royal family, from the children of Queen Victoria to Elizabeth's own great-grandchildren. He also sheds light on some lesser-known aspects of her character, such as her frugality and her gift for mimicry. In addition, we see her encounters with A-listers, from Marilyn Monroe to Madonna, and her adept handling of several of the twentieth century's most difficult leaders. Above all, Lloyd examines how the Queen has stayed true to the promise she made to the nation at the age of 21, 'that my whole life, whether it be long or short, shall be devoted to your service'.

First published in 1982, Northampton is a modern study of Henry Howard, Earl of Northampton, privy councillor to James I. Dr. Peck convincingly challenges the traditional eminence grise who stirred factional strife at court, undermined relations between king and parliament, and stopped at nothing, including murder, to secure his family's advancement. Drawing extensively on Northampton's papers, Dr. Peck offers a more balanced assessment of this important Jacobean courtier who shaped policy and pursued administrative reform as avidly as he sought his own patronage and profit. Unlike traditional biographies, this study is organized topically in order to examine larger issues of policy making and administration in the Jacobean period. This book will be of interest to specialists in Stuart studies, to historians of England, to social scientists concerned with development of early bureaucracy, and all those with a more general interest in Tudor Stuart history.

Known today chiefly for his surrender to the American forces at Saratoga, New York, in 1777, General John Burgoyne was one of the most interesting - and extraordinary - figures of the eighteenth century. In From the Battlefield to the Stage Norman Poser provides a rounded biography, covering not only the Saratoga campaign but also elements of Burgoyne's eventful life that have never been adequately explored. At the age of twenty-eight, Burgoyne eloped with Charlotte Stanley, the daughter of the immensely wealthy and influential Earl of Derby. Though initially furious, the earl, convinced of the young officer's good character, eventually forgave the couple, and the Stanley family became a major influence in Burgoyne's life and career. He was a socialite, welcome in London's fashionable drawing rooms, a high-stakes gambler in its elite clubs, and a playwright whose social comedies were successfully performed on the London stage. As a member of Parliament for thirty years, Burgoyne supported the rule of law, fought the corruption of the East India Company, and advocated religious tolerance. From the Battlefield to the Stage paints a vivid portrait of General John Burgoyne, remembering him not only for his role in one of Britain's worst military disasters but also as a brave, talented, humane man.

'Timely and important' THE TIMES 'Considered and nuanced ... A must-read' The Rt Hon. Sajid Javid MP 'Compelling and moving' Tom Holland, author of Dominion __________________ Islam is the fastest-growing faith community in Britain. Domes and minarets are redefining the skylines of towns and cities as mosques become an increasingly prominent feature. Yet while Britain has prided itself on being a global home of cosmopolitanism and modern civilisation, its deep-rooted relationship with Islam - unique in history - is complex, threatened by rising hostility and hatred, intolerance and ignorance. There is much media debate about embracing diversity in our communities, but what does integration look like on the ground, in places like Dewsbury, Glasgow, Belfast and London? How are Muslims, young and old, reconciling progressive values - of gender equality, individualism, the rule of law and free speech - with literalist interpretations of their faith? And how is this tension, away from the public gaze, unfolding inside mosques today? Ed Husain takes his search for answers into the heart of Britain's Muslim communities. Travelling the length and breadth of the country, Husain joins men and women in their prayers, conversations, meals, plans, pains, joys, triumphs and adversities. He tells their stories here in an open and honest account that brings the daily reality of British Muslim life sharply into focus - a struggle of identity and belonging, caught between tradition and modernity, East and West, revelation and reason.

This book examines British and Argentine media output in the prelude to and during the 1982 Falklands/Malvinas Conflict and acknowledges the aftermath and legacies of the media response. Yards of ink have been spilt, reinforcing the view that the Argentine Junta's action on 2nd April 1982 was a 'diversion' from domestic tensions. This view, coupled with the paucity of any thorough, in-depth analysis afforded to Argentine media aspects of the War - particularly the press - necessitates this volume's copious international study of the Conflict. Uniquely, US media output is also analysed alongside Britain's and Argentina's, all drawing upon Cold War historiography and media theory, with a view to contesting the traditional consensus that media outlets merely reflected government opinion during the Crisis, providing almost no effective dissent. Asserting media and culture influenced the climatic decision-making process of key actors in the Conflict, this book's triangulated approach explores the integral, influencing role played therein by culture, and how it was not only instrumental to government actions, but also to Argentine, British and US media output. This book's revisionist approach makes it a reference point for any nascent research on Falklands/Malvinas media reporting and Argentine and international approaches-particularly the US-to the 1982 Conflict.

Packed with violence, political drama and social and cultural upheaval, the years 1913-1923 saw the emergence in Ireland of the Ulster Volunteer Force to resist Irish home rule and in response, the Irish Volunteers, who would later evolve into the IRA. World War One, the rise of Sinn Fein, intense Ulster unionism and conflict with Britain culminated in the Irish war of Independence, which ended with a compromise Treaty with Britain and then the enmities and drama of the Irish Civil War. Drawing on an abundance of newly released archival material, witness statements and testimony from the ordinary Irish people who lived and fought through extraordinary times, A Nation and not a Rabble explores these revolutions. Diarmaid Ferriter highlights the gulf between rhetoric and reality in politics and violence, the role of women, the battle for material survival, the impact of key Irish unionist and republican leaders, as well as conflicts over health, land, religion, law and order, and welfare.

This fascinating collection brings together leading football historians and sociologists from the UK, Germany, the USA and Australia to offer fresh perspectives on the early development of football (soccer), not only illuminating our understanding of the early history of the world's most popular sport, but also the importance of sport in our broader social and cultural history. The book presents new evidence and fresh perspectives which will inform the robust debate that has been raging about the origins and early development of football. It addresses key issues at the centre of this debate, including the influence of former English public schoolboys, the development of football subcultures outside of prestige educational institutions, and the intersection and divergence of the various football codes around the world. The Early Development of Football is an important resource for anyone working in the history of football or sports in general, football studies or the sociology of sport. It is also a useful read for those interested in sport management and the development of sports organisations and rules.

'Allyson Shaw has built a monument in words to the thousands persecuted as witches in Scotland. A fascinating and necessary book.' Peter Ross 'It's summer. I stand where perhaps Ellen stood, in this ground thick with new thistle and long grass. She would have ken this coast in all weathers: in the summer when it was as gentle as a lake and in the winter, with the high winds and stinging salt spray.' A moving and personal journey, along rugged coasts and through remote villages and cities, in search of the traces of those accused of witchcraft in seventeenth-century Scotland. In Ashes and Stones we visit modern memorials and standing stones, and roam among forests and hedge mazes, folklore and political fantasies. From fairy hills to forgotten caves, we explore a spellbound landscape. Allyson Shaw untangles the myth of witchcraft and gives voice to those erased by it. Her elegant and lucid prose weaves together threads of history and feminist reclamation to create a vibrant memorial. This is the untold story of the witches' monuments of Scotland and the women's lives they mark. Ashes and Stones is a trove of folklore linking the lives of contemporary women to the horrors of the past, a record of resilience and a call to choose and remember our ancestors. 'A compelling and intimate pilgrimage across Scotland' Helen Callaghan

Do you remember collecting shrapnel and listening to Children's Hour? Carrying gas masks or sharing your school with evacuees from the city? The 1940s was a decade of great challenge for everyone who lived through it. The hardships and fear created by a world war were immense. Britain's towns and cities were being bombed on an almost nightly basis, and many children faced the trauma of being parted from their parents and sent away to the country to live with complete strangers. For just over half of this decade the war continued, meaning food and clothing shortages became a way of life. But through it all, and afterwards, the simplicity of kids shone. From collecting bits of shot-down German aircraft to playing in bomb-strewn streets, kids made their own fun. Then there was the joy of the second half of the 1940s, when fathers came home and the magic of 'normal life' returned. This trip down memory lane will take you through the most memorable and evocative experiences of growing up in the 1940s.

An accessible and authoritative companion to the bestselling Wolf Hall trilogy by Hilary Mantel, published after the third and final book, The Mirror and the Light. Wolf Hall Companion gives an historian's view of what we know about Thomas Cromwell, one of the most powerful men of the Tudor age and the central character in Mantel's Wolf Hall trilogy. Covering the key court and political characters from the books, this companion guide also works as a concise Tudor history primer. Alongside Thomas Cromwell, the author explores characters including Anne Boleyn, Thomas Cranmer, Jane Seymour, Henry VIII, Thomas Howard, Cardinal Wolsey and Richard Fox. The important places in the court of Henry VIII are introduced and put into context, including Hampton Court, the Tower of London, Cromwell's home Austin Friars, and of course Wolf Hall. The author explores not only the real history of these people and places, but also Hilary Mantel's interpretation of them. Included in the book are also incisive features on various aspects of Tudor life, from the court scene and the structure of government, to royal hunting and hawking, Renaissance influences and Tudor executions. A beautiful and insightful book, Wolf Hall Companion will enrich the reading of the Mantel novels but also provides an incisive and concise understanding of the reign of Henry VIII, and the profound changes it brought to English life. Illustrated throughout with woodcut portraits, maps and family trees and with a beautifully produced cover - this companion guide is a must-have for any discerning Wolf Hall and Tudor fan.

Parnell is the most enigmatic figure in Irish history. An Anglo-Irish landlord from a distinguished and long-established Wicklow family, he became the most unlikely leader of Irish nationalism imaginable. None the less, from the late 1870s until his fall and death in 1891, he held the whole of Ireland spellbound. He established Home Rule for Ireland--previously a taboo subject in British politics--at the centre of Westminster affairs and effectively created the modern Irish state in embryo.

His fall was as dramatic as his rise. The affair with Mrs Katharine O'Shea, the mother of his three children, destroyed him. Paul Bew reinterprets this enigmatic man as one who was fundamentally conservative, who wished to reconcile his own landlord class to a new Ireland, and who acknowledged and accelerated the political demands of nationalist Ireland.

This book is based on original research into intimidation and violence directed at civilians by combatants during the revolutionary period in Ireland, considering this from the perspectives of the British, the Free State and the IRA. The book combines qualitative and quantitative approaches, and focusses on County Kerry, which saw high levels of violence. It demonstrates that violence and intimidation against civilians was more common than clashes between combatants and that the upsurge in violence in 1920 was a result of the deployment of the Black and Tans and Auxiliaries, particularly in the autumn and winter of that year. Despite the limited threat posed by the IRA, the British forces engaged in unprecedented and unprovoked violence against civilians. This study stresses the increasing brutality of the subsequent violence by both sides. The book shows how the British had similar methods and views as contemporary counter-revolutionary groups in Europe. IRA violence, however, was, in part, an attempt to impose homogeneity as, beneath the Irish republican narrative of popular approval, there lay a recognition that universal backing was never in fact present. The book is important reading for students and scholars of the Irish revolution, the social history of Ireland and inter-war European violence.

On the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement, Peter Taylor tells for the first time the gripping story of Operation Chiffon, MI5's top-secret intelligence operation that finally helped bring peace to Ireland. April 1998: the Good Friday Agreement is signed, ending decades of violence and bloodshed in Northern Ireland. The process of getting the IRA to end its so-called 'armed struggle' was always the prerequisite of the search for peace. It was Operation Chiffon that made it possible. Operation Chiffon takes us inside the top-secret intelligence operation whose roots go back to the bloodiest years of the conflict in the early 1970s, involving officers from MI6 and, later in the 1990s, MI5. The remarkable story, which has remained hidden for forty years, is now revealed by legendary BBC journalist Peter Taylor with unique access to the officers involved. Drawing on exclusive interviews and Taylor's fifty years of covering the conflict, the book narrates in first-hand detail how those involved risked their careers - and their lives - to help secure the fragile peace that exists today. Taylor vividly brings this covert operation to life and in the process chronicles the history of Sinn Fein, rising from obscurity in the early days of the Troubles to becoming the largest political party in Ireland today. It is a story fraught with uncertainty and danger that, as Brexit risks destabilising the peace that was achieved in the Good Friday Agreement 25 years ago, is more important to remember than ever.

This ground-breaking collection reveals the networks of interrelation between Early Modern England and the Dutch Republic. As people, ideas and goods moved back and forth across the North Sea - or spread further afield in the vanguard of globalisation and empire - Anglo-Dutch relations shaped all aspects of life, with profound implications still relevant today. A diverse range of expert scholars share new research in their discipline, ranging across technology, trade, politics, religion and the arts. Different aspects of this history of competition, alliance, migration and conflict are taken up by each chapter, providing the reader with detailed case studies as well as the broader background and its historical roots. Anglo-Dutch Connections in the Early Modern World aims to be both accessible and innovative. It will be essential to students and researchers interested in European politics, intellectual history, and shared Anglo-Dutch society, while showcasing current research in multiple facets of the Early Modern World.

The Northumbrians have been overlooked by British and global history, but they've made astonishing contributions to both. Dan Jackson sets out to recover this lost history, exploring the deep roots of Northumbrian culture-hard work and heavy drinking, sociability and sentimentality, militarism and masculinity-through centuries of border warfare and dangerous industry. He explains what we can learn about Northumbria's people from its landscape and architecture, and revisits the Northumbrian Enlightenment that gave the world the locomotive and the lightbulb. This story reaches right to the present day, as this extraordinary region finds itself caught between an indifferent south and an increasingly confident Scotland. From the Venerable Bede and the prince-bishops of Durham to Viz and Geordie Shore, this vital new history reveals a part of England with an uncertain future, but whose people remain as remarkable as ever.

This fascinating and insightful book tells the thrilling story of the SS Canberra, the luxury passenger liner which was requesitioned as a troop transport in the Falkands War. Vast and brilliant white, P&O's flagship the SS Canberra was a final salute to a bygone era of opulence even as she embarked on her maiden voyage, For a decade she carried passengers between Britain and Australia, a 90-day voyage of pampering and decadence. But in March 1982, Britain went to war to defend the Falkland Islands and the SS Canberra found herself, surreally, requisitioned as a troop ship to carry the Marines and Paratroops into battle. Against all odds she surived, playing a vital role as a hospital ship, and at the end of the war she arrived back in Southampton to a hero's welcome, where she became fondly known as the Great White Whale. This is the extraordinary and, as yet, untold story of how the crew of a luxury ocean liner - waiters, cooks, nurses and cleaners - found themselves suddenly thrust onto the front line. A Very Strange Way to Go to War is a candid and captivating story, drawing from first hand accounts and previously unpublished archives, of the heroic courage of ordinary British men and women in the face of great adversity, at the outpost of empire.

"AEthelstan was perhaps the most important king of tenth-century England, but we know very little about him, and he has no modern biography. Sarah Foot triumphantly fills this gap, and adds to the richness of our understanding of the period in a way that few others have managed."-Chris Wickham, author of The Inheritance Of Rome The powerful and innovative King AEthelstan reigned only briefly (924-939), yet his achievements during those eventful fifteen years changed the course of English history. He won spectacular military victories (most notably at Brunanburh), forged unprecedented political connections across Europe, and succeeded in creating the first unified kingdom of the English. To claim for him the title of "first English monarch" is no exaggeration. In this nuanced portrait of AEthelstan, Sarah Foot offers the first full account of the king ever written. She traces his life through the various spheres in which he lived and worked, beginning with the intimate context of his family, then extending outward to his unusual multiethnic royal court, the Church and his kingdom, the wars he conducted, and finally his death and legacy. Foot describes a sophisticated man who was not only a great military leader but also a worthy king. He governed brilliantly, developed creative ways to project his image as a ruler, and devised strategic marriage treaties and gift exchanges to cement alliances with the leading royal and ducal houses of Europe. AEthelstan's legacy, seen in the new light of this masterful biography, is inextricably connected to the very forging of England and early English identity.

First published in 1963, Pethick-Lawrence is a detailed biography of the life and career of Frederick William Pethick-Lawrence. Written by Vera Brittain, a close friend of Pethick-Lawrence during the last twenty-five years of his life, the book is a thorough and affectionate record of his personality and achievements. It makes extensive use of Pethick-Lawrence's well-organised personal papers to provide a detailed account of his activities, both public and private, and traces his life from birth, through his schooling, his meeting with Emmeline and involvement with the suffrage movement, his political career and role as Secretary of State for India, his marriage to Helen, and his death in 1961. Pethick-Lawrence is a personal view into the life of Frederick William Pethick-Lawrence, and twentieth-century society and politics.

First published in 1952, John Constable and the Fishers is based on original letters which have never been published in full before. These have been woven into a connected narrative dealing with the friendship which existed between Constable and various members of the Fisher family, more particularly the Bishop of Salisbury (a personal friend of George III who entrusted him with the education of Princess Charlotte as heiress to the throne) and his nephew the Archdeacon of Berkshire. The Archdeacon's letters give a picture of life in a cathedral closed and country vicarages, reminiscent of Trollope's Barchester and Thomas Hardy's Wessex. In return Constable confides his ideals and ambitions; and as Mr. Grigson suggests in his introduction, the encouragement he received from the Fishers may have had a decisive effect on the future of landscape art. The letters are fully annotated and are illustrated with connected works done by Constable. This book will of interest to students of history, art and literature.

First ever translation of the Fine Rolls makes documents of crucial importance for study of the period fully available for the first time. The Fine Rolls were the earliest rolls kept by the English royal chancery. Recording offers of money to the king for all manner of concessions and favours, they are central to the study of political, governmental, legal, social and economic history. The reign of Henry III [1216-1272] is a particularly rich period for surviving documents; there are some 56 rolls preserved in the National Archives, one for each regnal year. However, despite the light they shed on politics, government, and society, they have never previously been properly edited or published, and these fully-indexed volumes - covering the period up to 1248 - will therefore be widely welcomed. The Latin rolls are presented in English translation, with all identifiable place-names modernised, although the original forms are preserved; and each volume includes full person, place and subject indexes. This second volume covers as importantand dramatic a period of English history as does the first. The years between 1224 and 1234 witnessed the issue of the final and definitive version of Magna Carta, the ending of the king's minority, his French campaign of 1230,the fall of the justiciar, Hubert de Burgh in 1232, the subsequent regime of Peter des Roches, bishop of Winchester, the civil war which followed Peter's apparent defiance of Magna Carta, and finally in 1234 the restoration of lawful consensual rule.

eBook available with sample pages: PB:0415129133