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Books > History > History of specific subjects > Local history
Before World War Two the city was in decline and only in the 1970s, with the advent of new technologies, did Dundee's regeneration begin. Against this background of profound change, the author gives a remarkable account of the rich daily life of Dundee. He recalls important events and individuals and offers keen insights into the processes of development and recovery. Modern Dundee will be evocative reading for anyone who knows the city and has lived there during the post-war years, and it will also serve as a valuable introduction to its immediate history.
A family firm despite its large size, the company was presided over by four generations of the Ley family between 1873 and 1987. Both the family and the foundry were embedded in the history of Derby and their legacies can still be seen in the city today. The Baseball Ground, built by Sir Francis Ley as a home for the game of baseball, was sold by him to Derby County FC and has only recently been demolished. Remnants of the factory buildings and offices, which once covered an area of over 17 acres, can still be seen in Derby streets. Bob Read, a former employee of Ley's, has put together a fascinating survey of the history of the foundry. This book uncovers a wealth of historical detail, and the account of the firm's fortunes is lavishly illustrated with drawings, photographs and ephemera that bring life to his story of a business that was part of Derby life for over a century.
In "Days of London Past" the imaginative though mainly factual stories that unfold on a particular day in a selected century, bring that past vividly to life. London and it's rich history has always had the power to fascinate and absorb. By using some of the famous individuals who have enriched London's existence at various stages of their lives, the effect is one of being transported as if in a time machine. If you have not before been familiar with characters such as Pepys, Johnson and Caxton, the stories in this book will ensure that you will become more intimately acquainted with the personalities behind the names. The stories are so richly detailed with the knowledge we have of those times, that London itself becomes more real through the centuries. The result is a thoroughly absorbing mini celebration of some of London is most famous characters and the London town they inhabited.
"Blackpool's Seaside Stars" is a fascinating collection of celebrity profiles, together with many rare pictures from the archives, and sprinkled with Gazette readers' memories. This selection only scratches the surface of Blackpool's remarkably deep and rich entertainment heritage. It is an entertaining and enjoyable read! Oh we do like to be beside the seaside...A timeless refrain not just from millions of Blackpool holidaymakers, but also from a galaxy of stars - who helped build the Lancashire resort's reputation as THE major entertainment centre outside London. It was the northern mill workers who helped make Blackpool into Britain's number-one holiday resort. They came in their droves to sample its unique atmosphere and bracing sea breezes. They loved the Tower, the Golden Mile, the Illuminations and Piers, but they also demanded to be entertained throughout the decades. The thirties saw the start of a golden era, with Blackpool beginning to gleam as the capital of seaside fun. Stars of music hall, stage and screen - from both sides of the Atlantic - clamoured to perform in the resort, which could boast some of the biggest and best provincial theatres. Even during the war years Blackpool was fondly regarded as a safe haven, which kept a smile on the face of thousands of service personnel and civil servants, dazzled by appearances from the country's top acts. When the hostilities finally ended, Blackpool bounced back with the finest entertainment line-up in the country, in its heyday offering as many as 15 live shows each night during the summer season. Just about every group and solo star of note in Britain and even America headed here during the fifties and sixties - live radio and TV specials came direct from the resort that really knew how to rock. The fun has continued since the seventies, with families flocking to see summer season shows. So step back in time with legends such as Gracie Fields, Jimmy Clitheroe, George Formby, Laurel and Hardy, Marlene Dietrich, Bob Hope, Morecambe and Wise, Hylda Baker, Thora Hird, Sid James, Bruce Forsyth and even The Beatles. More recent household names include Tommy Steele, Les Dawson, Russ Abbot and Cannon and Ball. All have featured in "Seaside Stars", a weekly feature within "The Gazette's" "Memory Lane" pages, which has proved such a hit that it has provided the basis for this book - a fascinating collection of celebrity profiles, together with many rare pictures from the archives, and sprinkled with "Gazette" readers' memories. This selection only scratches the surface of Blackpool's remarkably deep and rich entertainment heritage, but we hope it will be a lasting souvenir to rekindle memories for residents and holidaymakers alike.
On the banks of the Rio Grande, in the foothills of the Sandia Mountains, and in the geographical center of the state of New Mexico lies the city of Albuquerque. Over 200 vintage black and white and hand-tinted postcards from the 1900s to the 1960s take readers on a fantastic journey back in time, to tour Albuquerque and beyond. Many interesting and famous spots are showcased. See the AT & SF Railroad Depot and the Alvarado Hotel in all their former glory. Browse through the selection of handmade Native American arts and crafts sold in Wright's Trading Post or by vendors in Old Town Plaza. Take in a show at the KiMo Theater, stroll among the historic buildings and shops of Old Town, or stop for a tour of the University of New Mexico's campus. Travel outside Albuquerque for a trip up the Sandia Mountains and a tour through Sandia Pueblo.
This informal biography traces the life of Verplanck Colvin, who was superintendent of the Adirondack Survey form 1872 to 1900. While serving in that capacity, he played a major role in the creation of the Park and the NYS Forest Preserve. The story is a tribute to a visionary who is one of the most important figures in Adirondack History.
"Exploring History In and Around Derbyshire" vividly brings to life aspects of bygone times from misty Celtic twilight to more modern times. In this fascinating study of Derbyshire history you'll find tales about saints and sinners, hermits and heroes, faith, folly, fonts, crinkle-crankle walls, 'secret' forests and much more! It is a fantastic read with many captivating and enjoyable stories to share! History is all around us. The past haunts the present, shaping our customs, architecture, landscape and community life. In a series of informative, well-illustrated chapters, this book vividly brings to life aspects of bygone times from misty Celtic twilight to more modern times. Many of the topics covered are expanded from features contributed to BBC Radio Derby or from articles that have appeared in "Derby Evening Telegraph's" "Yesterday Today" supplement, "Derbyshire Life" and other publications. Together with brand new items, they add up to a collection with widespread appeal. You can meet mediaeval England's architect-in-chief, a man whose real life rags-to-riches story rivals that of his contemporary Dick Whittington. You can find out how Derbyshire's farmers led a rural revolution. You can tread the packhorse trail. You can hear strange reports of tree climbing rabbits and of pigs decked out in ribbons and bows. You can discover the achievements of a Derbyshire man with a claim to being Britain's finest sculptor. Saints and sinners, hermits and heroes, faith, folly, fonts, crinkle-crankle walls, 'secret' forests, sundials, postboxes, and the humble country stile all feature in this wide-ranging exploration of the character and landscape of Derbyshire and its immediate surrounds. This is serious history with the lightest of touches that will be enjoyed by anyone who takes more than a passing interest in local history.
The history of Florida State University's Marching Chiefs is chronicled, from early efforts to form a band before the 1939 establishment of Florida State College for Women, to the Chiefs' attainment of ""world renowned"" status. The band's leaders, shows and music are discussed, along with the origins of some of their venerable traditions, game-day rituals and school songs, including the ""Alma Mater,"" the "Fight Song," and the ""Hymn to the Garnet and Gold."" The story of the Chiefs takes in the growth of FSU and its School of Music, the rise of ""Big Football"" in Tallahassee and the transformations on campus and in American society that affected them.
Stories from bravery at sea, to the innocent casualties of war, to the repressed victims of their religious beliefs all feature in a book that will appeal to anyone with an interest in the area's heritage. "Heroes, Villains, and Victims" is a collection of stories about ordinary people of Hull and the East Riding who found themselves in extraordinary situations. For the most part they are people that history has forgotten, but each, in their own way, contributed to the colourful past of the Humber region. Some were bad, true villains who killed or harmed their fellows and paid the ultimate price, while others were benefactors who left their mark on society, and many were innocent victims who remind us that the 'good old days' were not always so. You can read how a pioneering local plumber successfully opposed three eminent engineers to provide a clean and fresh water supply to Hull, eliminating deadly cholera from the streets. You can find out how a 'cowboy from Yorkshire' helped to change the American Wild West forever, and discover how a farmer's wife's desire to gain a souvenir earned her an MBE and praise from Sir Winston Churchill. The author has trawled newspaper archives and other public documents to uncover the details of the extraordinary lives that are recalled in these pages. The result is a well-researched yet entertaining look at the people of the past.
New England has a long, rich history that can be experienced by visiting the abandoned villages, monuments, and cemeteries that cover the region. Here are 36 locations including a recent ghost town found in Connecticut, an eloquent 9-11 memorial in New Hampshire, a cemetery in Vermont that is more like an outdoor art gallery, the grave of an accused vampire in Rhode Island, an Island in Maine, whose residents were forced out by the state, and the New England Holocaust Memorial in Massachusetts. This handy pictorial guide includes visitor information, detailed directions, 180 color photographs, and the history associated with the towns, monuments, and cemeteries scattered across New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Maine, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Vermont.
Sophisticated and seductive, Santa Fe and Taos clearly illustrate why New Mexico is known as the "Land of Enchantment." The rugged landscape, diverse cultural traditions, and exceptional charm of these two unique destinations have lured explorers for hundreds of years. More than 200 postcards dating from 1905 to 1950 provide a visual tour of this intriguing and alluring area. Explore the Santa Fe Trail, The Palace of the Governors, La Fonda, the Bishop's Lodge, Loretto Chapel, and much more in the town of Santa Fe. Then move on with images of Taos Pueblo and Taos Mission, cowboys, Pueblo Indians and their adobe architecture, crafts and religious celebrations, charming burros, chili-covered walls, and desert flora. Approximate dates and values of the postcards make this a wonderful reference for collectors of these historic treasures as well. Santa Fe and Taos both come alive in all their glorious colors within this beautiful and informative book.
The Campaign for Real Ale is one of the largest and most successful consumer rights groups' operating in the UK today but it wasn't always that way...CAMRA at 40 is a collection of essays by beer writers, brewing industry representatives and a host of others involved with the Campaign for Real Ale. The book charts the campaigns four decades of history and looks forward to the future of real beer in Britain.
Though the English colony that would be known as Newport News, Virginia was settled in the early 1600s, the modern story began in the 1880s with the arrival of the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad and the building of shipyards by the Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company. Over 250 vintage postcards will take readers on a journey through the city's history, industry, recreation, and culture from the 1890s through World War II. Enjoy a nostalgic tour of the Maritime Museum, stroll down the beach, or take a tour of the biggest privately owned shipyard in the United States. A chapter on deltiology (the study and collecting of postcards) gives collectors useful information to help them build their own postcard collection.
From the exceptional town plans and maps contained within this unique volume emerges a social picture of Birmingham; a town quickly developing in size and population in the eighteenth century; along with the changes brought about by urbanisation. Land was bought up for development; hundreds of 'courts' were built to home the industrial workers pouring in from the many outlying villages. The many gardens, orchards and wide expanses of open space detailed on Wesley's 1731 plan of Birmingham were soon to be transformed into a sprawling mass of habitation. By 1765 Matthew Boulton, a leading entrepreneur and pioneer of the Industrial Revolution, had built his famous Soho Manufactory on Handsworth Heath. Shortly afterwards, the town plans of Birmingham in the first quarter of the 1800s chart the arrival of the railway; a plan from 1832 is the last glimpse of the city before the arrival of the Grand Junction Railway and other main line stations. Accompanied with informative text and pictures of the cityscape, the many detailed plans contained in this historic atlas of Birmingham are a gateway to its past, allowing the reader and researcher to visually observe the journey of this historic town to city status in 1889 and beyond.
'A wonderful memoir, written with great linguistic brio. Candid, shrewd and moving - a classic of its kind,' William Boyd Howard Jacobson's funny, revealing and tender memoir of his path to becoming a writer. It's my theory that only the unhappy, the uncomfortable, the gauche, the badly put together, aspire to make art. Why would you seek to reshape the world unless you were ill-at-ease in it? And I came out of the womb in every sense the wrong way round. In Mother's Boy, Booker-Prize winner Howard Jacobson reveals how he became a writer. It is an exploration of belonging and not-belonging, of being an insider and outsider, both English and Jewish. Born to a working-class family in 1940s Manchester, the great-grandson of Lithuanian and Russian immigrants, Jacobson was raised by his mother, grandmother and aunt Joyce. His father was a regimental tailor, as well as an upholsterer, a market-stall holder, a taxi driver, a balloonist, and a magician. Grappling always with his family's history and his Jewish identity, Jacobson takes us from the growing pains of childhood to studying at Cambridge under F.R. Leavis, and landing in Sydney as a maverick young professor on campus, through to his first marriage, the birth of his son and beyond. Full of Jacobson's trademark humour and infused with bittersweet memories of his parents, this is the story of a writer's beginnings. 'Laugh-out-loud glorious and uproarious of course - but don't let the self-ribbing fool you; this is deep and poignant,' Simon Schama
Don Williams, born and raised in the southern Adirondacks, has had columns about his beloved mountains published in newspapers across New York State. His readers have enjoyed informative yet subtly humorous and offbeat topics such as "Adirondack 'Skeeters," "Thars Gold in Them Thar Hills," Speakin' Adirondackish," "Pants Lawrence," "Skunk Oil," and "The 'TellTale'Bill ." You'll love the Adirondacks too, as you explore Don Williams' world of Adirondack mystery, youth, and culture. Unique sketches by North Country artist John Mahaffy 'top off' Williams' thoroughly enjoyable storytelling. Relax and have fun with Inside the Adirondack Blue Line.
In this work readers can discover the role local historians play, find out what the experts see as the values of the local history while exploring their theories, and see how local history has been practised by those who have dedicated their lives to it.
This is a new paperback version for 2011. It includes absorbing real life accounts of nearly every reported murder that took place in Sussex during the twentieth century. It features well-known cases and those which are lesser known but equally fascinating tales of jealousy, revenge and tragedy. In many ways, the counties of East and West Sussex might well be described as the murder capital of the country. True, London has had more murders that ended in the death penalty but Sussex has seen many of the cases which captured the nation's headlines. Amongst those famous cases are John Thorne, who killed his girlfriend and then buried her body on his chicken farm, Patrick Mahon, who cut his victim into pieces at a bungalow on the Crumbles, and Field and Gray who battered Irene Munro to death on that same stretch of shingle beach. The most famous case of all, though, must be that of John George Haigh, who earned himself epithets such as 'the Vampire Killer' or 'the Acid Bath Killer'. However, the lesser-known cases can be even more fascinating and these include a case which involves a house owned by a king. Sussex has them all. This book tells the stories of all the murderers of the 20th century who either killed in Sussex, or had a strong Sussex connection, and who went on to pay the ultimate penalty. Decide for yourself if they all deserved that fate.
Prepare to visit a Kent you've never seen before, phantom ships, haunted castles, alien abductions and unwelcome spirit house guests, its all in Unexplained Kent, intriguing contributions unearthed by reporters from ordinary people with extraordinary stories to tell. Whether or not it's out there, truth is stranger than fiction, as this fascinating collection of eerie experiences will show. What is truth? It's what you believe in and all the people who have offered their stories believe what they saw, what they encountered. Many of the cases have been drawn from the files of "Kent Messenger Group" newspapers. Indeed, several are reprinted from "The X Files series" published in "The Kent Messenger". But there are also new, intriguing contributions unearthed by reporters from ordinary people with extraordinary stories to tell. Such as: The former policeman who dabbed with a ouija board and attracted spirited, but unwelcome, guests into his house; the hard-nosed investigative journalist who was astounded when he suddenly recalled being a charioteer in ancient Rome; and, the devoted wife who says her dead husband plays chess in the lounge to show he is still around. As the cornerstone of England, steeped in history and legend, Kent can boast its far share of tales about phantom ships and haunted castles. They are part of the fabric of the county, the kind of stuff eagerly digested by the thousands of visitors who meander through its leafy lanes. But no tourist guide we have ever seen includes reports of abductions by aliens. And yet, in Greenhithe and the Sevenoaks area, it would seem, such things may go on. So, settle back, open your mind and prepare to visit a Kent you've never seen before. Oh, and keep the lights on...
This is a new paperback version for 2011. Following the highly successful first volume, it features even more nostalgic photos and memories from the archives of the "Yorkshire Evening Post". There is no more faithful recorder of events which, year in year out, make up the daily life of a great city, than is the local daily newspaper. So there was no better place to begin the stroll down this Memory Lane of Leeds than in the Yorkshire Post Newspapers Library and the Photographic Department, from where most of our pictures were obtained. Others are credited in the text. We think they will jog older minds, intrigue those not so old, astonish and educate the younger end. Perhaps what has most surprised visitors to the city over the years is that Leeds is not packed, boundary to boundary, with dark, satanic mills and spoil heaps. Indeed, it has some fine buildings, a wealth of public parks and open spaces, is ahead of many provincial cities in the provision of outstanding centres of learning and finance and is exceptionally well-served by public transport. Leeds is a city that appeals to tourists, revellers, and of course when it comes to sports Leeds is a city to be reckoned with. The past three decades have seen Leeds grow in stature and importance as well as become a pleasant place to live, work and play.
This is the story of a village in East Anglia, astride its common stream, a saga of continuity and change which stretches back across a landscape of two thousand years. It took Rowland Parker thirteen years of detective work to piece this jigsaw together, combing his way through records of archaeological excavations and manor court rolls, and collecting stories at the pub alongside his scholarly inspection of old wills and land tax returns. The intense focus he brought to his work was amplified by his desire to tell the story of the common man, his feuds and fun, his farms, fights, fornications and families.
Historic postcards take you on an eye-candy tour of Cape May's past. Hand-colored images portray bonneted ladies in long dresses treading the boardwalk, and the great Victorian hotels where they stayed. Hand-tinted photography dating back one hundred years opens an keyhole to the past, when the streets were still paved with sand and traversed by horse and carriage. An extensive collection of images portrays the U.S. Naval Training Station. Photo chromes further trace the development of the Washington Street Mall, the restoration of the Emlen Mansion, the sinking of the Atlantus off the point, and the transformation of the Convention Center. Imagery and text trace this wonderful town's story, from nostalgic, sepia-toned past through its renaissance as one of East Coast's most popular, and distinctive historic resort towns.
This story is about a brave and kind Anglo-Saxon princess called Frideswide who lived in Oxford a long time ago and just happened to be brilliant at climbing very tall trees. Her talent came in useful one day when a wicked king tried to kidnap her. How did she and her friends escape, and what happened to the king and his soldiers? With stunning illustrations by award-winning artist Alan Marks, Saint Frideswide's legend is retold for young children as a tale of adventure, courage in the face of danger, friendship, and kindness, with a few surprises along the way. The church Frideswide founded in Oxford was on the site of what is now Christ Church, and her medieval shrine can still be seen inside the Cathedral. This beautiful picture book is sure to be treasured by any child who loves tales of adventure. It will appeal to children learning about the Anglo-Saxons, to readers who like feisty heroines and to visitors to Oxford, as a meaningful souvenir of their visit.
This is a book about Glasgow, but not your everyday history book. Glasgow By the Way But is a contemporary series of essays examining different aspects of Glasgow in a historical and cultural context, revealing a unique, amusing and sometimes critical, perspective of Cairney's beloved city. Those who remember John Cairney's performances and have read his other books will enjoy the insightful anecdotes from Cairney's career. |
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