On 19 May 1928, just three months after the sport had been launched in this country at the pioneering High Beech meeting, Fred Mockford and Cecil Smith introduced speedway racing to Crystal Palace with the first international match between England and Australia, the forerunner of the Test matches. It was an immediate success with the public who flocked in their tens of thousands to witness these latter day black-clad gladiators hurtling their way round the track on bikes with no brakes at breakneck speed and flinging their bikes into a slide at the corners at impossible angles. This book looks at how speedway came to open at Crystal Palace and follows its history through the next six years as a league team operating in the world's first speedway league until its closure in 1933 and its brief revival in the late 1930s. Although one of the pioneering tracks little was known about its history until now as Norman Jacobs provides a comprehensive history covering the major events at the track, facts and figures, behind the scenes anecdotes and its larger than life characters including Johnnie Hoskins, Ron Johnson and Tom Farndon, who became the Star Riders' champion in 1933.

In this lively and yet scholarly book, creative artists, people who direct channels of communications, and social scientists present their numerous positions and deeply felt disagreements. Originally released thirty years ago under the rubric Culture for the Millions, the work discusses whether or not American culture is in a state of rise or decline; whether mass media dilutes the arts or provides more art for more people; whether cultural leaders are in touch with their audiences, and other such issues. This volume brings together outstanding artists, scholars, and media executives who present their wide-ranging and deeply felt positions and disagreements. Mass Media in Modern Society remains a classic, not only for what it represents as a historical document, but also because of the centrality of its discussions about the nature of cultural participation and aesthetics hi modern society. The contributions include: Paul F. Lazarsfeld, "Mass Culture Today," Edward Shils, "Mass Society and Its Culture," Leo Lowenthal, "A Historical Preface to the Popular Culture" Debate," Hannah Arendt, "Society and Culture," Ernest van den Haag, "A Dissent from the Consensual Society," Oscar Handlin, "Comments on Mass and Popular Culture," Leo Rosten, "The Intellectual and the Mass Media," Frank Stanton, "Parallel Paths," James Johnson Sweeney, "The Artist and the Museum hi a Modern Society," Randall Jarrell, "A Sad Heart at the Supermarket," Arthur Asa Berger, "Notes on the Plight of the American Composer," James Baldwin, "Mass Culture and the Creative Artist," Stanley Edgar Hyman, "Ideals, Dangers, and Limitations of Mass Culture," H. Stewart Hughes, "Mass Culture and Social Criticism," Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., "Notes on a National Cultural Policy."

In 1926 two men, Fred Mockford and Cecil Smith, operating as London Motor Sports Ltd, introduced speedway racing to Crystal Palace. Path racing was an immediate draw to the general public who initially flooded to the track to witness the likes of Triss Sharp and Joe Francis hurtling around the track in the flesh. However, following disagreements with the Trustees of the Crystal Palace itself, Mockford and Smith found it necessary to relocate the team to the greyhound track at New Cross. Thus speedway had its home at New Cross for nearly thirty years and enjoyed a tumultuous but successful existence in all. The American rider, Jack Milne, was triumphant in the Speedway World Championship in 1937, and resides in the New Cross annals along with Johnnie Hoskins, George Newton, Tom Farndon, Ron Johnson and the Roger brothers, Bert and Cyril.

Computer Aided Software Engineering brings together in one place important contributions and up-to-date research results in this important area. Computer Aided Software Engineering serves as an excellent reference, providing insight into some of the most important research issues in the field.

Computer Aided Software Engineering brings together in one place important contributions and up-to-date research results in this important area. Computer Aided Software Engineering serves as an excellent reference, providing insight into some of the most important research issues in the field.

My Hometown Concentration Camp tells the story of the young Bernard Offen's endurance and survival of the Krakow Ghetto and five concentration camps, including Plaszow and Auschwitz-Birkenau, until his liberation near Dachau by American troops in 1945. The author tells of his experiences in the ghetto and camps and how he set out, after the war, in search of his brothers, eventually finding them in Italy with the Polish Army. Having returned to the United States, Bernard Offen was drafted into the US Army to serve in the Korean War. After the war he founded his own business and had a family, both helping to restore a sense of normality to his life. This was the start of his own unique process of healing that led, ultimately, to his retirement and decision to dedicate his life to educating audiences around the world about his experiences during the Holocaust. Bernard Offen's story recounts his one-man journey across America, Europe, Israel and back to his native Poland, and his development as a filmmaker, educator and healer. My Hometown Concentration Camp will touch readers through the strength of the author's determination to attempt to confront and conquer the traumatic experiences he witnessed as a young man."

In its early days, Rye House was known as a track where riders could learn their trade under 'Queensberry' rules, but where the rigidity of the rulebook was occasionally sacrificed in the name of an enjoyable day's racing. This is the story of the first seventy years of Rye House speedway and the personalities associated with the track.

In this revealing memoir of childhood, the author shows not only what affected his family, but also reveals a large slice of social history concerning the lives of all ordinary working-class people struggling to live in the slums of the East End of London in those pre-Welfare State days. He writes with sympathy, and sometimes anger, of the overcrowded houses with families of anything up to eight children, as his own had, living in just two or three rooms with outside W.C. and water tap; of the reliance on charity and the soup kitchen for food; of trying to eke out what little income they had by buying stale bread and cracked eggs or other cheap food from the many itinerant street sellers. Yet this is also a chronicle of what was a turbulent time in British history, and especially in the East End, with its then still large Jewish and Irish populations. So here too is an eyewitness account of the Depression, and of the provocative marches by Sir Oswald Mosley's British Union of Fascists through the area, culminating in the Battle of Cable Street that saw the marchers turned back by the efforts of Jewish, Irish, communist and socialist protestors. Above all, however, Norman Jacobs writes with affection of the area and its extraordinary mix of peoples, as well as the now-vanished aspects of everyday life, such as the music hall, the two-valve radio, and the first Cup Final to be played at Wembley.

Clacton-on-Sea's motto Lux, Salubritas, Felicitas (Light, Health and Happiness), sums up the main reason for the town's existence. Born in 1871, the brainchild of Victorian entrepreneur Peter Bruff, it was created from nothing to become one of the country's leading seaside resorts. Its name derives from the ancient farming village of Great Clacton, about a mile inland from the then desolate area known as Clacton Beach. with a short acknowledgement to its mother village, this book deals mainly with the growth of its lusty offspring from its earliest days to its height as a seaside resort from the 1920s to the 1970s. The fact that the entire history of Clacton-on-Sea falls within the lifetime of the camera means that every part of Clacton's history has been charted by the photographer. This book brings together than exceptional selection of photographs, and great majority being published for the first time, to illustrate that history. All aspects of the town are here: its streets, its shops, its beach, the Pier, its entertainers, the events that shaped it and the people who moulded it. All are recorded in this compelling photographic record which is certain to evoke many memories for older residents and visitors while at the same time conjuring up the past for those new to the area and those visiting for the first time. The illustrations in this book are drawn mainly from the author's own collection, from those of the Clacton District Local History Society, of which he is the chairman, and from the archives of Tendring District Council.

The Wembley Lions enjoyed early success, and then became even stronger after the Second World War to win seven out of eight league titles between 1946 and 1953. This book tells the story of the pre-war years when the foundations for this success was laid and when tens of thousands of supporters would turn out for meetings.

Tom Farndon, a shy young man from Coventry, set out on the road to speedway stardom in 1929. Within five years he had reached celebrity status matched only by today's sporting idols. His skill, daring and remarkable ability had seen him achieve a fame and fortune unsurpassed on the speedway track. His good looks and sheer charisma brought him a huge fan following, particularly among young women, and his incredible talent for speedway racing brought him not only the admiration of his peers but the solid achievement of winning every dirt-track championship there was to be won. In 1935, just as he had reached the height of his fame, tragedy struck; he was killed in a track accident at the age of just twenty-four. To this day, Farndon is still revered throughout the speedway world as arguably the greatest rider of all time. Written by respected speedway historians Norman Jacobs and John Chaplin, and with the support and aid of his family, this is the story of Tom Farndon's remarkable life and his unquenchable spirit of adventurous youth; a must-have for any fan of speedway and its heroes.

Clacton-on-Sea is a comparatively new town, founded as recently as 1871. It takes its name from the ancient and peaceful village of Great Clacton, having been built on an area known as Clacton Beach, then occupied only by three Martello towers and a scattering of coastguard cottages. This book deals with its first beginnings to its height as one the country's leading seaside resorts in the 1920s and '30s, with a superb selection of old pictures, capturing its streets, beach, its famous pier, paddle steamers and the Great Eastern Railway.