In 1982, at the age of just twenty-three and halfway through her architecture studies, Elspeth Beard left her family and friends in London and set off on a 35,000-mile solo adventure around the world on her 1974 BMW R60/6. Reeling from a recent breakup and with only limited savings from her pub job, a tent, a few clothes and some tools, all packed on the back of her bike, she was determined to prove herself. She had ridden bikes since her teens and was well travelled. But nothing could prepare her for what lay ahead. When she returned to London nearly two and a half years later she was stones lighter and decades wiser. She'd ridden through unforgiving landscapes and countries ravaged by war, witnessed civil uprisings that forced her to fake documents, and fended off sexual attacks, biker gangs and corrupt police convinced she was trafficking drugs. She'd survived life-threatening illnesses, personal loss and brutal accidents that had left permanent scars and a black hole in her memory. And she'd fallen in love with two very different men. In an age before email, the internet, mobile phones, satnavs and, in some parts of the world, readily available and reliable maps, Elspeth achieved something that would still seem remarkable today. Told with honesty and wit, this is the extraordinary and moving story of a unique and life-changing adventure.

The London Passenger Transport Board had been in existence just over six years when Britain entered into war with Germany on 3rd September 1939. A year before, measures had been put in place to provide trench shelters, first aid points, and the adaptation of pits in garages to become shelters. Over twenty thousand male staff were called up during the war, and women joined the ranks to fill the void. One hundred and eighty one members of staff were killed whilst on duty, with over eighteen hundred injured. Heroic work, and the will to "get on with it" was the general way of getting things done, summed up by just one of many examples at Athol Street garage, nearer the end of the war. It was the Board's most bombed garage, due to the nearby docks, and after a rocket fell at 6am within 100 yards of the premises blowing out the windows of 25 buses, and causing considerable damage, the staff were able to get all of the buses out on time that day. This book is a largely chronological story of the period, focusing in particular on the behind-the-scenes planning by London Transport, both before the war and during it.

These two well-known transport authors are on home territory, working together to review the highly varied routes of Midland Red - arguably the most innovative bus company in the UK and famous for designing and building its own fascinating buses for nearly fifty years. This new book is an album with detailed captions to around 200 quality photos of the vehicles that ran with the operator during its history up to absorption by the National Bus Company.

Newark Airport was the first major airport in the New York metropolitan area. It opened on October 1, 1928, occupying an area of filled-in marshland. In 1935, Amelia Earhart dedicated the Newark Airport Administration Building, which was North America's first commercial airline terminal. Newark was the busiest airport in the world until LaGuardia Airport, in New York, opened in 1939. During World War II, Newark was closed to passenger traffic and controlled by the United States Army Air Force for logistics operations. The Port Authority of New York took over the airport in 1948 and made major investments in airport infrastructure. It expanded, opened new runways and hangars, and improved the airport's terminal layout. The art deco administration building served as the main terminal until the opening of the North Terminal in 1953. The administration building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1979.

In July 1962 Brian Smith joined British European Airways (BEA) as a steward. In 1991 he retired as a Senior Training Captain with British Airways. Brian describes this remarkable development, recalling some of the many hurdles and adventures along the way. The title of the book, Straighten Up and Fly Right, seems to describe his ambitions. The adventures start with his desire to learn to fly. His working life as a Training Captain with BOAC and British Airways is described in detail. He manages to capture in print what life was like during what many call 'The Golden Age of Flying'. The book gives a detailed account of these adventures. They may appear to follow one after the other in rapid succession, and that is exactly what happened. Each chapter is laced with humour. The adventures are all true, but you might detect a slight exaggeration of one or two of the characters. If this makes you smile, he'd be happy. There were two significant adventures that he recalls as if they happened yesterday. The first was as a Flight Controller in the Control Centre for the Breitling record-breaking balloon flight round the world in 1999. He describes the experience 'like holding your breath for three weeks'. The following year he was back in the role of Flight Controller for David Hempleman-Adams' record-breaking flight to the North Pole by balloon. As you can imagine, anyone involved with these adventures is familiar with the 'Swan Effect' - serene and calm on the surface, but pedalling like mad underneath! The adventures took mainly two forms: Aircraft flying - as a first officer on a BOAC B707 that had to land at Heathrow without a nosewheel - helping restore and fly an Albatross, a 70-year-old amphibian aircraft - a spell of bush flying in Rhodesia. Hot-air balloon flying - becoming an instructor and examiner - flying in France, Holland, Austria, Ireland, USA, the Artic Circle, Zimbabwe, Botswana, South Africa, across Australia and across the English Channel. Brian also shares details of his latest venture - building and operating a Spitfire simulator in his barn in West Sussex, to raise money for the RAF Benevolent Fund. To date GBP100,000 has been raised. Brian has decided to donate 10% of any profits from the sale of this book to the Royal Air Force Benevolent Fund. The chapters have many photographs and cartoons drawn by the author.

The London Ringways were a set of urban motorways planned for London in the 1960s and 1970s. They would have been the largest civil engineering project since the war - and cost between 60,000 and 100,000 people their homes. They would have devastated the environment and turned London into a car dominated city. This is the first full-length history of the Ringways; what they were, where they would have gone - and how Londoners fought them off. Wayne Asher is a former journalist turned IT manager. His first book - A Very Political Railway - examined the near death and rebirth of the North London Line.

There have been a number of books on the subject of Underground posters, but these have mainly dealt with the large posters seen on walls inside and outside Underground stations. However there were also many smaller posters and these were often known as car cards or panel posters and they were mainly designed to appear inside the vehicles themselves. These smaller posters have not previously been given the attention they deserve, even though the fame of their designers and the quality of their design can often equal that of the larger and better known posters. This book hopes to go some way to correct this omission.

The District Railway was designed by a committee with impractical aspirations. A banking crisis and collapse of one of its contractors during construction created long term financial difficulties. It was complicit in completing the long hoped for `inner circle' railway that was a financial disaster and very difficult to operate. Its directors were for many years ineffectual and its managing director, though getting off to a good start, became complacent and distracted and failed to pursue with vigour the policies that were needed. Even the American entrepreneurs, who arrived with the twentieth century, had their work cut out trying to make something of a line that rarely paid dividends and had never been far from bankruptcy. In all this, the railway and its operational staff provided good and useful services to important parts of London or the suburbs it helped to shape. Why a railway like this found itself in such a sorry state is part of the story covered in this definitive volume. Well illustrated in colour and black and white.

Kevin's latest full colour photo album for us covers the period from 1960 to 1999. Looking at the London bus in its environment, the book includes over 150 good quality photographs from various archives with informative captions. All but a handful are previously unpublished.

This third volume continues James Stringer's popular series with another highly entertaining collection of Austin-related stories. This time you can read all about: 'Mugwump' and its journey from Bristol to Cape Town; how Spike Milligan and fellow Goon Peter Sellers nearly fell out over an Austin 12/4; the company's promotional film about the Austin 7 - "The Mighty Atom", and many other colourful and delightfully entertaining stories, which provide the reader with an alternative and untold history of the Austin Motor Car Company.

The Spitfire a " there have been many hundreds, maybe even thousands, of books written about this beautiful R.J Mitchell designed, elliptically winged areoplane. But there has yet to be a book published, which has focused solely on the lesser-known two-seat variant of graceful Spitfirea |Until now! In two-seater spitfires, Greg Davis, John Sanderson and Peter Arnold trace the history of this iconic aircraft a " from its initial design through to those still taking to the skies today.