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Books > History > British & Irish history
For fans of "The Tulip" and "Orchid Fever," a captivating account
of big business, adventure and family intrigue in the horticultural
world.
For over a century and across five generations, one Scottish family
pioneered the introduction of hundreds of new plants into gardens,
conservatories and houses and became the foremost European
cultivators and hybridizers of their day. The story begins in 1768
when a Scotsman named John Veitch went to England to find his
fortune, starting out as a gardener for the aristocracy. Realizing
that horticultural mania had begun to spread throughout the
population, Veitch and his wife opened a nursery and began to send
the first commercial plant collectors to North and South America,
Australia, India, Japan, China and the South Seas. These plant
collectors were among the first people allowed into the countries
of the Far East and the tales of their travels, many of them
perilous and some fatal, are wonderful adventure stories. Combining
an historian's eye for detail with a flair for storytelling, the
author charts the fortunes of one family and through them tells the
fascinating story of the modern garden.
London, 1716. Revenge is a dish best served ice-cold...The city is
caught in the vice-like grip of a savage winter. Even the Thames
has frozen over. But for Jonas Flynt - thief, gambler, killer - the
chilling elements are the least of his worries... Justice Geoffrey
Dumont has been found dead at the base of St Paul's cathedral, and
a young male sex-worker, Sam Yates, has been taken into custody for
the murder. Yates denies all charges, claiming he had received a
message to meet the judge at the exact time of death. The young man
is a friend of courtesan Belle St Clair, and she asks Flynt to
investigate. As Sam endures the horrors of Newgate prison, they
must do everything in their power to uncover the truth and save an
innocent life, before the bodies begin to pile up. But time is
running out. And the gallows are beckoning... A totally enrapturing
portrayal of eighteenth-century London, and a rapier-like crime
thriller, perfect for fans of Laura Shepherd-Robinson, Antonia
Hodgson and Ambrose Parry.
An engaging, richly illustrated account of parish churches and
churchgoers in England, from the Anglo-Saxons to the mid-sixteenth
century Parish churches were at the heart of English religious and
social life in the Middle Ages and the sixteenth century. In this
comprehensive study, Nicholas Orme shows how they came into
existence, who staffed them, and how their buildings were used. He
explains who went to church, who did not attend, how people behaved
there, and how they-not merely the clergy-affected how worship was
staged. The book provides an accessible account of what happened in
the daily and weekly services, and how churches marked the seasons
of Christmas, Lent, Easter, and summer. It describes how they
celebrated the great events of life: birth, coming of age, and
marriage, and gave comfort in sickness and death. A final chapter
covers the English Reformation in the sixteenth century and shows
how, alongside its changes, much that went on in parish churches
remained as before.
Revolution, the fourth volume of Peter Ackroyd's enthralling History of England begins in 1688 with a revolution and ends in 1815 with a famous victory.
In it, Ackroyd takes readers from William of Orange's accession following the Glorious Revolution to the Regency, when the flamboyant Prince of Wales ruled in the stead of his mad father, George III, and England was - again - at war with France, a war that would end with the defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo.
Late Stuart and Georgian England marked the creation of the great pillars of the English state. The Bank of England was founded, as was the stock exchange, the Church of England was fully established as the guardian of the spiritual life of the nation and parliament became the sovereign body of the nation with responsibilities and duties far beyond those of the monarch. It was a revolutionary era in English letters, too, a time in which newspapers first flourished and the English novel was born. It was an era in which coffee houses and playhouses boomed, gin flowed freely and in which shops, as we know them today, began to proliferate in our towns and villages. But it was also a time of extraordinary and unprecedented technological innovation, which saw England utterly and irrevocably transformed from a country of blue skies and farmland to one of soot and steel and coal.
How did Britain cease to be global? In Untied Kingdom, Stuart Ward
tells the panoramic history of the end of Britain, tracing the ways
in which Britishness has been imagined, experienced, disputed and
ultimately discarded across the globe since the end of the Second
World War. From Indian independence, West Indian immigration and
African decolonization to the Suez Crisis and the Falklands War, he
uncovers the demise of Britishness as a global civic idea and its
impact on communities across the globe. He also shows the
consequences of this diminished 'global reach' in Britain itself,
from the Troubles in Northern Ireland to resurgent Englishness and
the startling success of separatist political agendas in Scotland
and Wales. Untied Kingdom puts the contemporary travails of the
Union for the first time in their full global perspective as part
of the much larger story of the progressive rollback of Britain's
imaginative frontiers.
The summer of 2022 saw the celebration of the seventieth
anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II's coronation, the first time in
British history that a monarch has reached this remarkable
milestone. As the event was the first of its kind to be televised,
images from the ceremony inside Westminster Abbey are instantly
recognisable. Far less familiar are the scenes in the streets
outside, where huge crowds assembled to see a procession of state
coaches and historic regiments marching past public buildings
festooned with patriotic banners and colourful grandstands erected
outside many famous landmarks. Using a private collection of more
than 200 rare images of London's West End, Protect and Keep looks
back to the day that the Queen pledged herself to her country. It
provides a unique and precious record of an historic occasion: the
day of the Coronation as it was seen by ordinary members of the
public.
This set of four volumes draws together extended material from
across the topics of music in Britain in the long nineteenth
century, particularly focussing on documents not readily accessible
or not commonly quoted in the literature. Together they will form
an important resource for students and scholars of music and
culture. The general introduction explores the state of research
into music in nineteenth-century Britain from a historiographical
perspective, as well as an assessment of the most pressing themes
for the immediate future of the discipline. Introductions to each
thematic section briefly review the relevant literature and the
most important points of concern, while a short preface to each
document points out particular points of note, context, and
explanations of any unusual phrases. Each sub-topic includes four
or five documents drawn from newspapers, journals, pamphlets and,
where possible, archival material. Documents will span the full
length of the nineteenth century and a significant number will be
drawn from the writings of Scottish, Welsh and Irish authors.
"Amazing & Extraordinary Facts about Kings and Queens" unearths
a wealth of fascinating truths about British monarchs from
pre-Roman times to the present day. Discover revealing stories
about the lives and personalities of each monarch and how they have
shaped history. Tales of wickedness, greed, adultery and madness
make this guide to Britain's kings and queens utterly compelling.
"The Amazing and Extraordinary Facts series" presents interesting,
surprising and little-known facts and stories about a wide range of
topics which are guaranteed to inform, absorb and entertain in
equal measure. Brief, accessible and entertaining pieces on a wide
variety of subjects make them the perfect books to dip in to.
This collection of books encompasses Scottish identity and cultural
heritage, historical geography, health and social issues,
industrial, economic, religious and political history. Originally
published between 1935 and 1990, many of these titles were written
at the height of discussions concerning the viability of an
independent Scotland, an issue that has renewed relevance today.
They include some of the notable volumes from the Routledge The
Voice of Scotland series, as well as other books by leading
authors. The empirical content of many of the books reissued here
ensures they retain their relevance in informing studies of trends
since the time they were first completed and will be of interest to
anyone concerned with the ongoing debate about Scotland's role
within the UK and Europe and the shape of her political future.
Experience a new history of Scotland told through its places.
Writers Kathleen Jamie, Alexander McCall Smith, Alistair Moffat,
James Robertson and James Crawford pick twenty-five buildings to
tell the story of the nation. Travelling across the country, from
abandoned islands and lonely glens to the heart of our modern
cities, these five authors seek out the diverse narrative of the
Scottish people. Follow Kathleen Jamie as she searches for the
traces of our first family hearths in the Cairngorms and makes a
midsummer journey to Shetland to meet the unlikely new inhabitants
of an Iron Age broch. Tour the wondrous and macabre Surgeons' Hall
with Alexander McCall Smith, or walk with him over sacred ground to
Iona's ancient Abbey. Join Alistair Moffat as he discovers a lost
whisky village in the wilds of Strathconon, and climbs up through
the vertiginous layers of history in Edinburgh Castle. Accompany
James Robertson as he goes from the standing stones of Callanish to
the humble cottage of Hugh MacDiarmid - via the engineering
colossus of the Forth Rail Bridge. And journey with James Crawford
from a packed crowd in Hampden Park, to an off-the-grid eco-bothy
on the Isle of Eigg. Who Built Scotland is a landmark exploration
of Scotland's social, political and cultural histories. Moving from
Neolithic families, exiled hermits and ambitious royal dynasties to
highland shieling girls, peasant poets, Enlightenment philosophers
and iconoclastic artists, it places our people, our ideas and our
passions at the heart of our architecture and archaeology. This is
the remarkable story how we have shaped our buildings and how our
buildings, in turn, have shaped us.
For those that survive, the traumas of military conflict can be
long lasting. It might seem astonishing that archaeology, with its
uncovering of the traces of the long-dead, of battlefields, of
skeletal remains, could provide solace, and yet there is something
magical about the subject. Operation Nightingale is a programme set
up in 2011 within the Ministry of Defence of the United Kingdom to
help facilitate the recovery of armed forces personnel recently
engaged in armed conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq, using the
archaeology of the British Training Areas. In the following decade,
the project expanded to include veterans of older conflicts and of
other nations - from the United States, from Poland, from Australia
and elsewhere. In archaeology there is a job for everyone; from
surveying and drawing, to examining the finds, to digging itself.
Often this is in some of the most beautiful and restful of
landscapes and with talks around a campfire at the end of the day.
This book is the story of those veterans, of their incredible
discoveries, of their own journeys of recovery - and sometimes into
a lifetime of archaeology. From the crash sites of Spitfires and
trenches of the Western Front in the First World War, through to
burial grounds of Convicts, camp sites of Hessian mercenaries, and
Anglo-Saxon cemeteries. Lavishly illustrated, this work will show
the reader how the discovery of our shared past - of long-forgotten
houses, of glinting gold jewellery, of broken pots, can be
restorative and help people mend otherwise damaged lives.
In 2017, the Government's attempt to trigger Article 50 and so
leave the European Union resulted in a judgement by the Supreme
Court, which stated that the Government was unentitled to do so
without the consent of Parliament, directly citing the Bill of
Rights in its judgement. Ironically, the Bill of Rights, enacted in
1689 to address abuses by the Crown, was successfully invoked in
the twenty-first century to curb a perceived abuse by Government,
acting in the name of the Crown. Passed shortly after the Glorious
Revolution, the Bill sets out the balance of power between
Parliament and the Crown, prohibiting the sovereign from levying
taxes, recruiting troops or suspending laws without Parliamentary
consent. Establishing Parliament as the ultimate source of power in
the land and enshrining basic civil rights first set out in Magna
Carta but subsequently abridged, the Bill document can justly claim
to serve as the origin of Britain's democracy. Published here with
an introduction by Jonathan Sumption providing the historical
context of the document and its influence over the centuries -
particularly on the United States Bill of Rights - this edition
shows how a number of the original clauses find renewed relevance
in contemporary events.
In the age of empire, Victorians and Romantics over the long 19th
century faced issues of governance that no other society had faced
on such a massive level, causing socio-political questions that had
to be addressed based on sheer necessity but little governmental
experience. In an age in which there was a decade referred to as
"the Hungry Forties," and in which the Great Famine in Ireland
occurs as well, there are high rates of poverty across the whole
century in Britain and its colonies. At the same time that hunger
and famine were intractable issues, irresolvable across
nineteenth-century Britain, socio-political entities had little
stomach for solving the problem and few technocrats had economic
answers based on real world experience. This four-volume collection
of primary sources examine hunger and famine in Britain and its
empire across the long nineteenth century.
A history of Reading's iconic gaol: architectural landmark,
cultural emblem and symbol for a community determined to cherish
the town's heritage. Layers of history and art are carefully peeled
back as Peter Stoneley reveals its past as architectural showcase
for Sir George Gilbert Scott's decorative (and expensive!) style,
location for experiments in prison reform, training ground for the
leaders of the Irish Independence movement and, of course, the
inspiration for Oscar Wilde's famous Ballad of Reading Gaol.
Bringing the narrative right up to the present day with the
discussions over its future use, the impact of the ArtAngel
exhibition and Banksy's graffiti, this book is a timely platform
for the building to tell us its story.
A gripping true story of wartime espionage. Dundee, 1937. When
housewife Mary Curran became suspicious of hairdresser Jessie
Jordan's frequent trips to Nazi Germany, she had no idea that she
was about to be drawn into an international web of espionage.
Thanks to a tip off from Mary, MI5 and the FBI launched major spy
hunts on both sides of the Atlantic. This is the true story of a
decade-long series of Nazi espionage plots in Britain, Europe and
the United States. It shows how a Nazi spy's letter, posted in New
York and intercepted in Scotland, broke spy rings across Europe and
North America. And it reveals, for the first time, how that letter
marked the genesis of an intelligence and security alliance that
today includes the United States, the UK, Canada, Australia and New
Zealand. 'Fascinating, gripping and expertly researched... an
extraordinary true tale of espionage told with all the drama and
panache of a spy thriller' - Michael Smith, bestselling author of
The Secrets of Station X
'The Firm', as the royal family styles itself, judged by real
corporate standards, is a mess. Any consultants called in from
outside to scrutinise its inner workings would find all the
familiar flaws of a family business that has outgrown its original
scale and design. There is no overall strategy, just a collection
of warring divisions pursuing their own ends. And this will be a
profound problem when the Queen dies, because make no bones about
it, the Queen's mortality determines the mortality of the monarchy.
Under Charles III, the monarchy can never be the same; indeed, its
very survival is in doubt. In The Last Queen, pioneering
investigative reporter Clive Irving paints a revelatory portrait of
Elizabeth II's extraordinary reign, setting it within the dramatic
transformation of Britain itself over the same period. Now expanded
to include the death of Prince Philip, the fallout from Megxit and
the banishment of Prince Andrew, this compelling account asks: how
long will the institution survive beyond the second Elizabethan
era?
Despite its reputation as the longest established in Europe, the
history of the English monarchy is punctuated by scandal, murders,
betrayals, plots, and treason. Since William the Conqueror seized
the crown in 1066, England has seen three civil wars; six monarchs
have been murdered or executed; the throne of England has been
usurped four times, and won in battle three times; and personal
scandals and royal family quarrels abound. Dark History of the
Kings & Queens of England provides an exciting and dramatic
account of English royal history from 1066 to the present day. This
engrossing book explores the scandal and intrigue behind each royal
dynasty, from the 'accidental' murder of William II in 1100,
through the excesses of Richard III, Henry VIII and 'Bloody' Mary,
to the conspiracies surrounding the death of Diana, Princess of
Wales, in 1997, William and Kate Middleton's on-off courtship
before they married, and Prince Harry's years of partying,
girlfriends and Las Vegas strip poker, before his 2018 marriage to
American divorcee Meghan Markle. Carefully researched, superbly
entertaining and illustrated throughout with more than 200 colour
and black-and-white photographs and artworks, this accessible and
immensely enjoyable book highlights the true personalities and real
lives of the individuals honoured with the crown of England-and
those unfortunate enough to cross their paths.
A Daily Telegraph Book of the Year 2022 'I can't tell you how
refreshing it is in these polarised times to read a book on
politics that doesn't have an axe to grind . . . an essential
read.' The Sunday Times 'Subtle, sophisticated . . . compellingly
told . . . This is a gentle and intelligent book, refreshingly
unpolemical and reflective.' Observer Book of the Week Jason
Cowley, editor-in-chief of the New Statesman, examines contemporary
England through a handful of the key news stories from recent times
to reveal what they tell us about the state of the nation and to
answer the question Who Are We Now? Spanning the years since the
election of Tony Blair's New Labour government to the aftermath of
the Covid pandemic, the book investigates how England has changed
and how those changes have affected us. Cowley weaves together the
seemingly disparate stories of the Chinese cockle-pickers who
drowned in Morecambe Bay, the East End Imam who was tested during a
summer of terror, the pensioner who campaigned against the closure
of her GP's surgery and Gareth Southgate's transformation of
English football culture. And in doing so, Cowley shows the common
threads that unite them, whether it is attitudes to class, nation,
identity, belonging, immigration, or religion. He also examines the
so-called Brexit murder in Harlow, the haunting repatriation of the
fallen in the Iraq and Afghan wars through Wootton Bassett, the
Lancashire woman who took on Gordon Brown, and the flight of the
Bethnal Green girls to Islamic State, fleshing out the headlines
with the very human stories behind them. Through these vivid and
often moving stories, Cowley offers a clear and compassionate
analysis of how and why England became so divided and the United
Kingdom so fragmented, and how we got to this cultural and
political crossroads. Most importantly, he also shows us the many
ways in which there is genuine hope for the future.
This is the extraordinary story of how salt fish from Shetland
became one of the staple foods of Europe, powered an economic boom
and inspired artists, writers and musicians. It ranges from the
wild waters of the North Atlantic, the ice-filled fjords of
Greenland and the remote islands of Faroe to the dining tables of
London's middle classes, the bacalao restaurants of Spain and the
Jewish shtetls of Eastern Europe. As well as following the
historical thread and exploring how very different cultures were
drawn together by the salt fish trade, John Goodlad meets those
whose lives revolve around the industry in the twenty-first century
and addresses today's pressing themes of sustainability, climate
change and food choices.
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