A succinct, uncompromising study of what it means to help other people, this book, first published in 1978, examines the helping process in the light of the principles of Zen Buddhism. Emphasizing the Zen precepts of true compassion, newness and Taoistic change, it explains how a helper can break down the artificial barriers that serve to separate people and hinder the helping process. As the teachings of Zen demonstrate, real compassion involves a selflessness and respect that can bring helper and helped together.

A succinct, uncompromising study of what it means to help other people, this book, first published in 1978, examines the helping process in the light of the principles of Zen Buddhism. Emphasizing the Zen precepts of true compassion, newness and Taoistic change, it explains how a helper can break down the artificial barriers that serve to separate people and hinder the helping process. As the teachings of Zen demonstrate, real compassion involves a selflessness and respect that can bring helper and helped together.

Ghosts traditionally make their presence felt in many ways, from unexplained footfalls and chills to odours and apparitions. This fascinating volume takes a look at some of the strange and unexplained hauntings across the length and breadth of Britain's railway network: signals and messages sent from empty boxes; trains that went into tunnels and never left; ghostly passengers and spectral crew; the wires whizzing to signal the arrival of trains on lines that have been closed for years... Based on hundreds of first-person and historical accounts, Shadows in the Steam is a unique collection of mysterious happenings, inexplicable events and spine-chilling tales, all related to the railways. Compiled by David Brandon and Alan Brooke, acknowledged experts on railways and the supernatural, and including sections on the London Underground and railway ghosts in literature and film, this book will delight lovers of railways and spooky stories alike.

Tyburn Fields is the best known site of execution in London, but London may be aptly named the executioner's city, so many were the places where executions could and did occur. "London: The Executioner's City" reveals the capital as a place where the bodies of criminals defined the boundaries of the city and heads on poles greeted patrons on London Bridge. The ubiquity of crime and punishment was taken for granted by countless generations of the capital's inhabitants, though it seems to have done little to stem the tide of criminality that has always threatened to engulf the city. The book is a powerful evocation of the dark side of London's history, where the great and not so good, the poor and helpless, the cruel and the idealistic crowd together to be punished in public. A king and more than one queen, heretics, archbishops, pirates, poisoners, plotters, murderers, and a cook executed for selling putrid fish met death by hanging, beheading, burning, or boiling in London, and on most occasions the crowd roared its approval.

The Making of London explores the rich history of the Metropolis from the Roman settlement established 2,000 years ago in the area that came to be known as the 'Square Mile' and traces the process whereby it eventually emerged as the world's greatest city. London became the capital and seat of government of Britain, a centre of culture, entertainment and retailing, a major port and industrial centre and world leader in international trade, commerce and finance. The focus is largely on central London but necessarily brings in other nearby districts when events involved interaction with these. While examining a selection of major historical events, consideration is also given to some of the more unusual and quirky aspects that have contributed to making London the diverse and fascinating place it remains today. A largely chronological approach is taken which emphasises how the lives of the ordinary people were shaped by the events they witnessed such as invasions, riots and rebellions, fires, smogs, wars, epidemics and pandemics. The story embraces the apparent glamour of areas such as Mayfair and the West End but does not neglect districts stalked by crime, poverty and despair. London has always been a place of paradoxes where flaunted wealth has existed alongside appalling social deprivation. The juxtaposition of extravagance and poverty, of high culture with the lowest of low life is a recurrent theme in London's history. The Making of London will interest newcomers wishing to know about London's past but even those familiar with its history are likely to find something new in its pages.

Ernest Marples revolutionised three UK government departments. At Transport (1959-1964) he appointed Dr Beeching chairman of British Railways and commissioned him to produce his infamous report, inaugurated motorways and introduced significant regulations for motorists. At Housing (1951-1954) he delivered 300,000 new houses annually and as Postmaster General (1957-1959), he reformed Post Office accounting systems and launched postcodes and Subscriber Trunk Dialling. This first biography of Marples uses newly-available archives to examine public and private transport policy, the growing power of the pro-road lobby and the identification of personal freedom with driving. Railway sentimentalism was no match for these. Marples was lucky not to be implicated in the Profumo Affair which rocked the Conservative Party but his political career was over soon afterwards. Questionable business practices caused his 1975 flight to Monaco hotly pursued by the Inland Revenue. Beeching, unhappy under a Labour government, returned to private industry although he later chaired a Royal Commission. Labour, despite promises, proved little friendlier to the railways but a more positive approach to loss-making passenger services eventually emerged under Barbara Castle. This book should appeal to those interested in Britain's railways and in mid-Twentieth Century British politics.

London's Underground is associated with a multitude of ghostly stories and sightings. Particular stations and abandoned lines, many of which are in close proximity to burial sites from centuries ago, have given rise to unexplained events. This chilling book reveals well-known and hitherto unpublished tales of spirits, specters, and other spooky occurrences on one of the oldest railway networks in the world. The stories of sightings include the ghost of an actress regularly witnessed on Aldywch Station and the "Black Nun" at Bank Station. Eerie noises, such as the cries of 13 year-old Anne Naylor, who was murdered in 1758 at Farringdon Station, and the screams of children who were in an accident at Bethnal Green Station during World War II, are still heard echoing down the stations. These and many more ghostly accounts are recorded in fascinating detail in this book, which is a must-read for anyone interested in the mysterious and murky history of London's Underground.

London: City of the Dead is a groundbreaking account of London's dealing with death, covering the afterlife, execution, bodysnatching, murder, fatal disease, spiritualism, bizarre deaths and cemeteries. Taking the reader from Roman London to the 'glorious dead' of the First World War, this is the first systematic look at London's culture of death, with analysis of its customs and superstitions, rituals and representations. The authors of the celebrated London: The Executioner's City (Sutton, 2006) weave their way through the streets of London once again, this time combining some of the capital's most curious features, such as London's Necropolis Railway and Brookwood Cemetery, with the culture of death exposed in the works of great writers such as Dickens. The book captures for the first time a side of the city that has always been every bit as fascinating and colourful as other better known aspects of the metropolis. It shows London in all its moods - serious, comic, tragic and heroic-and celebrates its robust acceptance of the only certainty in life.

An epic tale of battles and avenging the loss of great friends.

Eerie horror mystery. During a summer vacation visiting her father (David Brandon) in Italy, Jenny (Daisy Keeping) unearths the mystery of an ancient local legend known as the Neverlake, famous for its supposed healing powers. Ignored by her academic father, Jenny stumbles upon a group of neglected children living in an orphanage that has the appearance of a run-down asylum. But as she tries to help the abandoned children, Jenny uncovers horrible secrets involving concealed medical experiments conducted on numerous unknowing victims. As she learns more about the mysteries hidden in the lake from her new friends, Jenny is tasked with recovering ancient stolen artefacts, setting her on a direct collision course with whoever is behind the experiments.

Even after her death, Margaret Thatcher has continued to excite bitter controversy. Her supporters felt that she could do no wrong. Many others condemned her policies as divisive and destructive. Here it is argued that she was a pragmatic rather than a principled politician, that she in fact performed innumerable u-turns, and that she had more luck than she merited. Despite how some choose to portray her now, opinion polls during her time indicated she was one of the twentieth-century's most unpopular Prime Ministers and in each election she fought as leader, more people voted against the Tories, than for them. Eventually she was ditched by her own Conservative Party, when they realised she had become an electoral liability. Much that was wrong with the "broken Britain" that the Con-Dem coalition talked about can be traced back to policies that were initiated during the time that Margaret Thatcher was Prime Minister. This book is an attempt to put the record straight.

Former Secretary of State for Education Kenneth Baker claims that secondary education has become a five-year programme with a single, narrow aim: to prepare pupils for high-stakes GCSE exams at 16. From 2015, all young people will be legally required to stay in education or training until they are 18. Kenneth Baker sees this as a historic opportunity to re-think the aims and structure of English education. He argues that the National Curriculum should extend only to the age of 14 and that there should be four distinct pathways from 14-18 to take account of young people's emerging interests talents and ambitions: Liberal Arts; Technical; Sports and Creative Arts; and Career. All pathways will provide a broad education, but each will have a distinctive character matched to the talents and ambitions of individual students. In 14-18 - A New Vision for Secondary Education, Kenneth Baker builds a compelling case for reform, with contributions from a range of educationalists who draw on the history of English education, practice elsewhere in the world, and their experiences. An essential read for anyone interested in the future of secondary education.

This book is a unique record of a journey along the beautiful and often dramatic Yorkshire coastline, tracing the region's diverse industry, the history of its settlements, seaside resorts and fishing quays, and reflecting upon the different uses to which man has put the resources where sea and land meet. The area's rich variety of towns and landscape, its ancient fortifications and modern harbours are all featured, but it is above all the unusual, the hidden and the bizarre that this book reveals. Whether the scene be dramatic or everyday, whether the site be well known or unfrequented, Along the Yorkshire Coast offers a new perspective that will surprise and delight both those familiar with the area and the tourist or traveller just passing through. With a blend of photographs, fact, folklore and social history, David Brandon offers a fascinating and evocative look the county's local history, and should capture the imagination of anyone who knows the places that are featured.

The General Strike was one of the most significant events in twentieth century Britain. The miners were locked out and the mass of rank-and-file trade unionists then came out on strike in their support. With their families and some middle-class sympathisers, the miners and the labour and trade union movement found itself pitched against the political establishment, the apparatus of the state, the powerful mineowners backed by the Conservative Government and most of the media of the time in what was the sharpest form of class conflict short of political revolution. It had always said that the British didn't do general strikes. In 1926 they certainly did! 2026 will mark the one-hundredth anniversary of the General Strike and, under the very different economic, social and political conditions of post-industrial, post-Brexit Britain, it is worth revisiting and examining the complicated coming together of factors which were eventually to lead to those extraordinary days in May 1926 when the fate of the nation lay in the balance. The author examines the economic, social and political processes taking places from the mid-nineteenth century and argues that this major confrontation between labour and capital was probably inevitable. He examines particularly the symbiotic relationship between the coal miners and the railway workers and the troubled industrial relations in those industries. His informed and lucid account should interest students of modern British history, labour history and the fortunes of the railways in this period.

Former Secretary of State for Education Kenneth Baker claims that secondary education has become a five-year programme with a single, narrow aim: to prepare pupils for high-stakes GCSE exams at 16. From 2015, all young people will be legally required to stay in education or training until they are 18. Kenneth Baker sees this as a historic opportunity to re-think the aims and structure of English education. He argues that the National Curriculum should extend only to the age of 14 and that there should be four distinct pathways from 14-18 to take account of young people's emerging interests talents and ambitions: Liberal Arts; Technical; Sports and Creative Arts; and Career. All pathways will provide a broad education, but each will have a distinctive character matched to the talents and ambitions of individual students. In 14-18 - A New Vision for Secondary Education, Kenneth Baker builds a compelling case for reform, with contributions from a range of educationalists who draw on the history of English education, practice elsewhere in the world, and their experiences. An essential read for anyone interested in the future of secondary education.

This creepy collection of true-life tales takes the reader on a tour of the streets, alehouses, cemeteries and city walls of Chester the ancient city many claim is the most haunted in the North. Drawing on contemporary and historical sources, it contains many chilling accounts of spirits, spectres and poltergeists including 'Sarah', who has been known to throw people who mock her down the stairs, the strange tale of dreadful curse that struck the Great Eastern in 1859 and the ghost who booked himself a room at The Coachhouse. Containing more than sixty photographs by local photographer Ed Brandon, this book will delight anyone with an interest in the paranormal history of the area.

The relationship between President John F. Kennedy and Prime Minister Harold Macmillan was a complex factor in the creation of Anglo-American foreign policies in the early 1960's. Kennedy and Macmillan offers a systematic account of this personal friendship and questions the impact of the relationship, in and of itself, on Cold War policymaking. Assessing the nature of this relationship contributes to a greater understanding of Anglo-American relations, and also provides a tool for understanding the complex nature of international diplomacy during the Cold War. This behind-the-scenes look at the decision-making process reveals the reality of the statecraft and personal diplomacy during the Cold War.

Between 1835 and the 1850s, railway mania blossomed around Britain. Crime emerged as the railways developed, at first opportunistic crimes such as fare evasion and robberies, but gradually more inventive forms evolved, notably the minor clerk Redpath in the 1850s, whose shameless cooking of the books to live the high life exposed the lack of any kind of accountancy across the railway industry. The first train murder was not until the 1840s, and sparked great fear of foreigners as a German was charged and hanged for the crime. The outcry resulted in the communication cord being introduced to the railway carriages, so that no longer would they exist as completely separate spaces and passengers could alert the driver to any assault within. This fascinating history covers all varieties of crime on the railways and how it has changed over the years, from assaults and robberies, to theft of goods, murder, vandalism, football and other crowd activity, suicide on the line, fraud and white collar crime, and also looks at the use of railway crime in film and literature.

This book contains all manner of grim and ancient punishments from London's long and bloody history. Over the centuries, many hundreds have expired inside the capital's dank, rat-infested cells, or whilst 'dancing the Tyburn jig' at the end of a swinging rope, and many of the sites in this book have become bywords for infamy. From the Tower and Newgate prison to the Clink and the Fleet, this book explores London's criminal heritage; also including the stocks and pillories that lie, almost forgotten, in churchyards and squares across the City, and the many shocking punishments exacted inside the region's churches, workhouses and schools, it is a heart-breaking survey of our nation's penal history. Richly illustrated, and filled with victims and villains, nobles, executioners and torturers, it will delight historians, residents and visitors alike.

A pub with a deceased barmaid who simply refuses to leave, a Grey Lady in the Theatre Royal; a poltergeist in the Garrick's Head pub; a man in a black hat at the Assembly Rooms. Bath is one of the few British cities which may justifiably be called beautiful. It is also one of the most haunted of British cities. Bath is an ancient place and, at the height of its fashionable popularity in the eighteenth century, it was almost the country's alternative capital and the scene of social intrigues and skulduggery of the sort that its ghosts seem to reflect. Even the Circus, regarded as the epitome of the classical in domestic architecture, has a ghostly young lady who sings. This book combines a love and appreciation of Bath with the recounting of tales about its best-known ghosts. David has also researched local archives to find less familiar phantoms, spooks and spectres.

Tyburn Fields is the best known site of execution in London, but London may be aptly named the executioner's city, so many were the places where executions could and did occur. "London - The Executioner's City" reveals the capital as a place where the bodies of criminals defined the boundaries of the city and heads on poles greeted patrons on London Bridge. The ubiquity of crime and punishment was taken for granted by countless generations of the capital's inhabitants, though it seems to have done little to stem the tide of criminality that has always threatened to engulf the city. The book is a powerful evocation of the dark side of London's history, where the great and not so good, the poor and helpless, the cruel and the idealistic crowd together to be punished in public. A King and more than one Queen, heretics, archbishops, pirates, poisoners, plotters, murderers and a cook executed for selling putrid fish met death by hanging, beheading, burning or boiling in London, and on most occasions the crowd roared its approval. David Brandon and Alan Brooke's book is a vivid picture of capital punishment in a capital that seems to have thrived on executions.