Two extraordinary personalities, and one remarkable friendship, are reflected in the unique corpus of letters from Anglo-Parsi composer-critic Kaikhosru Sorabji (1892-1988) to Philip Heseltine (Peter Warlock) (1894-1930): a fascinating primary source for the period 1913-1922 available in a complete scholarly edition for the first time. The volume also provides a new contextual, critical and interpretative framework, incorporating a myriad of perspectives: identities, social geographies, style construction, and mutual interests and influences. Pertinent period documents, including evidence of Heseltine's reactions, enhance the sense of narrative and expand on aesthetic discussions. Through the letters' entertaining and perceptive lens, Sorabji's early life and compositions are vividly illuminated and Heseltine's own intriguing life and work recontextualised. What emerges takes us beyond tropes of otherness and eccentricity to reveal a persona and a narrative with great relevance to modern-day debates on canonicity and identity, especially the nexus of ethnicity, queer identities and Western art music. Scholars, performers and admirers of early twentieth-century music in Britain, and beyond, will find this a valuable addition to the literature. The book will appeal to those studying or interested in early musical modernism and its reception; cultural life in London around and after the First World War; music, nationality and race; Commonwealth studies; and music and sexuality.

Two extraordinary personalities, and one remarkable friendship, are reflected in the unique corpus of letters from Anglo-Parsi composer-critic Kaikhosru Sorabji (1892-1988) to Philip Heseltine (Peter Warlock) (1894-1930): a fascinating primary source for the period 1913-1922 available in a complete scholarly edition for the first time. The volume also provides a new contextual, critical and interpretative framework, incorporating a myriad of perspectives: identities, social geographies, style construction, and mutual interests and influences. Pertinent period documents, including evidence of Heseltine's reactions, enhance the sense of narrative and expand on aesthetic discussions. Through the letters' entertaining and perceptive lens, Sorabji's early life and compositions are vividly illuminated and Heseltine's own intriguing life and work recontextualised. What emerges takes us beyond tropes of otherness and eccentricity to reveal a persona and a narrative with great relevance to modern-day debates on canonicity and identity, especially the nexus of ethnicity, queer identities and Western art music. Scholars, performers and admirers of early twentieth-century music in Britain, and beyond, will find this a valuable addition to the literature. The book will appeal to those studying or interested in early musical modernism and its reception; cultural life in London around and after the First World War; music, nationality and race; Commonwealth studies; and music and sexuality.

In 1981 British Rail had a call from a woman who claimed to have had a vision of a fatal crash in which a freight train had been involved. So clear had it been, she said, that she not merely saw the blue diesel engine, but could read the number: 47 216. Two years later, an accident of the kind she predicted occurred, all the details matching - except one: the engine's number was 47 299. That would have been that, but a train spotter, Howard Johnston, happened to have noticed that 47 299 was not the engine's original number. It had been renumbered, a couple of years before, from 47 216. Diesels, he knew, were ordinarily renumbered only after major modifications, which this one had not undergone. When curiosity prompted him to ask why, he was told about the prediction. Apparently British Rail officials had been sufficiently impressed (they had checked with the local police, and found that the woman who had provided it had given them some useful information from her visions) to try to ward off fate by changing the number. The ruse had failed, and 'they had officially logged it all as an "amazing coincidence."' Life is full of coincidences, some are minor, but often, like the one above, they are extraordinary. Whether they are random events or meaningful cosmic moments which have a purpose, we don't know-it remains a mystery. But what is certain is, a lot of people have them, and they never cease to amaze us. In Coincidence: A Matter of Chance - or Synchronicity? Author and historian, Brian Inglis has compiled a collection of fascinating accounts that will uplift, confound, and leave the most committed sceptics scratching their heads.

Did Moses turn rods into serpents? Does Uri Geller bend spoons? Did Socrates and Joan of Arc have spirit guides? Did Daniel Home levitate? The 1970's provided a striking revival of interest in the paranormal which has continued unabated into the twenty first century. Telepathy ESP, clairvoyance, premonitions, and psychokinesis - the action of mind upon matter - it was not long ago that orthodox opinion, both scientific and religious, rejected the possibility of such things out of hand. Today, their reality has been demonstrated and tested in laboratories all over the world and the results are published in serious scientific journals. Natural and Supernatural is the first full survey of the subject for over a century. With scrupulous thoroughness and a wealth of extraordinary detail, Brian Inglis presents his evidence, drawing on anthropological studies of primitive tribes and records of classical antiquity and taking his story to the outbreak of the First World War, when the first phase of scientific psychical research came to an end. He pays particular attention to the work of the mesmerists and of the early psychical researchers in the last century. He deals, too, with related aspects such as hauntings, poltergeist outbreaks:, scrying and dowsing. Contrary to popular belief, the evidence for psychic phenomena and non-locality, and the mass of material available to researchers is huge. Inglis meticulously sifted the genuine from the false., singling out such episodes as may reasonably be identified as historical and allowing the reader to make up his own mind, on the basis of the fullest and soundest knowledge, whether to accept paranormal phenomena or not. If they are accepted - and informed opinion is more and more moving that way- then a real revolution in our way of thinking is due to follow. For if mind can communicate with mind at distance, or move objects without contact, not merely will there have to be extensive revision of science textbooks. History, too, will need to be re-written, to allow for the possibility that reports which have long been dismissed as myth or illusion may have been accurate after all. The implications of the subject are great, and Inglis does them full justice. Praise for Natural and Supernatural. 'I believe it to be an extraordinarily important and valuable work, sensational in what it contains and even more so in its implications...he has piled up a mountain of evidence, searchingly examined and scrupulously evaluated.' Bernard Levin, The Times 'It has the two basic qualities which make books on history endure: it is both scholarly and readable.' Arthur Koestler, the Guardian 'A tour de force...one of those works, like H. G. Wells Outline of History, that fires the imagination and leaves the reader feeling stunned, but excited.' Colin Wilson, Evening News 'Brian Inglis is eminently sensible and sane. In this massive survey, the evidence is presented in a sober and scholarly way...Natural and Supernatural is hard to fault.' the Economist Inglis bring to this book the same thoroughness and care that he shows in his other books...while I have not been converted, it has intensified mental conflict, and I admire and respect him for writing it.' Karl Sabbagh, New Scientist 'Cool, authoritative and highly readable - a service to science and society.' Ray Brown, Psychology Today