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Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not
used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad
quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are
images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to
keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the
original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain
imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made
available for future generations to enjoy.
For Will Benson, life cannot get much worse. Cuckolded, overweight,
and in career meltdown he is at his lowest ebb. Attempting to
concentrate on his column in the shambolic trade rag, Theatre
World, through a fog of lunchtime drinking he recalls wistfully his
halcyon days as a cub reporter when life was all so different.
Baccanalian romps in the countryside, illicit trysts, shared
secrets; the world was his for the taking. But when then past comes
knocking at Will's door, the reality is suddenly far removed from
his memories. His old friend Nicholas is dying, and Henry - Will's
youthful hero - has stolen a valuable Vermeer painting and is on
the run. Impelled to track Henry down, Will reluctantly takes up
the trail. But Henry has always been a slippery customer and along
the way Will must endure an Oxford Gaudy, a bizarre heavy metal gig
and the worst dentist in the world before the full extent of
Henry's Machiavellian plans are revealed . . .
For Will Benson, life on Theatre World has its compensations,
although they are mostly to be found in the nicely rounded shape of
Kim, the chief sub-editor. But there are drawbacks, too: the
Wednesday morning hangovers after the Tuesday night sessions at the
typesetters; stroppy Martha, receptionist from hell; Colin the
odious star reporter; having to review fat-headed avant-garde
productions of Romeo and Juliet in smelly Cambden Town basements.
And, of course, the death threats. Somewhere out there is Will's
own personal psychotic, who is really very displeased with him, and
pretty handy with a crossbow into the bargain. It's not all that
easy to work out who it is, either, as the list of candidates
starts to grow alarmingly. Does getting drunk and handing your
girlfriend a few home truths really warrant this kind of reaction?
Or stumbling on a loudmouth comic's dirty little secret? In his
amateurish attempts to stay alive Will lumbers from posh West End
crush bars to suburban roadhouses, where they hold Talent Nites and
wet T-shirt contests, from the antiseptic pleasures of the
Docklands Light Railway to the wild thrills of the Big Dipper,
while Kim turns out to be helpful in all sorts of amusing and
stimulating ways. Fast-paced and funny, with a vivid sense of place
and sharply drawn characters, I Nearly Died is Charles Spencer's
vastly entertaining debut novel.
Portly showbiz writer Will Benson has left Theatre World for the
loucher but less life-threatening environment of soft-porn
publishing. Now settled down in connubial bliss with the lovely
Kim, life, it seems is a bed of roses. But certain aspects of his
marriage necessitate the occasional visit to 'a tart with a heart'
in Pimlico . . . and on one such visit Will finds the man ahead of
him in the queue has overstepped the mark, to say the least, and
Will once again is forced into the role of reluctant private eye .
. .
How did the most wanted man in the country outwit the greatest
manhunt in British history? In January 1649, King Charles I was
beheaded in London outside his palace of Whitehall and Britain
became a republic. When his eldest son, Charles, returned in 1651
to fight for his throne, he was crushed by the might of Cromwell's
armies at the battle of Worcester. With 3,000 of his supporters
lying dead and 10,000 taken prisoner, it seemed as if his dreams of
power had been dashed. Surely it was a foregone conclusion that he
would now be caught and follow his father to the block? At six foot
two inches tall, the prince towered over his contemporaries and
with dark skin inherited from his French-Italian mother, he stood
out in a crowd. How would he fare on the run with Cromwell's
soldiers on his tail and a vast price on his head? The next six
weeks would form the most memorable and dramatic of Charles' life.
Pursued relentlessly, Charles ran using disguise, deception and
relying on grit, fortitude and good luck. He suffered grievously
through weeks when his cause seemed hopeless. He hid in an oak tree
- an event so fabled that over 400 English pubs are named Royal Oak
in commemoration. Less well-known events include his witnessing a
village in wild celebrations at the erroneous news of his killing;
the ordeal of a medical student wrongly imprisoned because of his
similarity in looks; he disguised himself as a servant and as one
half of an eloping couple. Once restored to the throne as Charles
II, he told the tale of his escapades to Samuel Pepys, who
transcribed it all. In this gripping, action-packed, true adventure
story, based on extensive archive material, Charles Spencer,
bestselling author of Killers of the King, uses Pepys's account and
many others to retell this epic adventure.
How did the most wanted man in the country outwit the greatest
manhunt in British history? In January 1649, King Charles I was
beheaded in London outside his palace of Whitehall and Britain
became a republic. When his eldest son, Charles, returned in 1651
to fight for his throne, he was crushed by the might of
Cromwell’s armies at the battle of Worcester. With 3,000 of his
supporters lying dead and 10,000 taken prisoner, it seemed as if
his dreams of power had been dashed. Surely it was a foregone
conclusion that he would now be caught and follow his father to the
block? At six foot two inches tall, the prince towered over his
contemporaries and with dark skin inherited from his French-Italian
mother, he stood out in a crowd. How would he fare on the run with
Cromwell’s soldiers on his tail and a vast price on his head? The
next six weeks would form the most memorable and dramatic of
Charles’ life. Pursued relentlessly, Charles ran using disguise,
deception and relying on grit, fortitude and good luck. He suffered
grievously through weeks when his cause seemed hopeless. He hid in
an oak tree – an event so fabled that over 400 English pubs are
named Royal Oak in commemoration. Less well-known events include
his witnessing a village in wild celebrations at the erroneous news
of his killing; the ordeal of a medical student wrongly imprisoned
because of his similarity in looks; he disguised himself as a
servant and as one half of an eloping couple. Once restored to the
throne as Charles II, he told the tale of his escapades to Samuel
Pepys, who transcribed it all. In this gripping, action-packed,
true adventure story, based on extensive archive material, Charles
Spencer, bestselling author of Killers of the King, uses Pepys’s
account and many others to retell this epic adventure.
THE #2 SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER 'As gripping as any thriller.
History doesn't get any better than this' BILL BRYSON 'A brilliant
read ... Game of Thrones but in the real world' ANTHONY HOROWITZ
PICKED AS A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR 2020 BY THE DAILY TELEGRAPH, THE
GUARDIAN, THE DAILY MAIL AND THE DAILY EXPRESS. The sinking of the
White Ship in 1120 is one of the greatest disasters England has
ever suffered. In one catastrophic night, the king's heir and the
flower of Anglo-Norman society were drowned and the future of the
crown was thrown violently off course. In a riveting narrative,
Charles Spencer follows the story from the Norman Conquest through
to the decades that would become known as the Anarchy: a civil war
of untold violence that saw families turn in on each other with
English and Norman barons, rebellious Welsh princes and the
Scottish king all playing a part in a desperate game of thrones.
All because of the loss of one vessel - the White Ship - the
medieval Titanic. 'Highly enjoyable' Simon Heffer 'Brilliant' Dan
Jones 'Fascinating' Tom Bower The #2 Sunday Times bestseller on
Sunday 18 June 2021
Charles Spencer tells the shocking stories and fascinating fates of
the men who signed Charles I's death warrant in this Sunday Times
bestseller 'Seamless, pacy and riveting ... exceptional' ALISON
WEIR 'The virtues of a thriller and of scholarship are potently
combined' TOM HOLLAND 'Outstanding: a thrilling tale of retribution
and bloody sacrifice' JESSIE CHILDS __________________ January,
1649. After seven years of fighting in the bloodiest war in
Britain's history, Parliament faced a problem: what to do with a
defeated king, a king who refused to surrender? Parliamentarians
resolved to do the unthinkable, to disregard the Divine Right of
Kings and hold Charles I to account for the appalling suffering and
slaughter endured by his people. On an icy winter's day on a
scaffold outside Whitehall, the King of England was executed. When
the dead king's son, Charles II, was restored to the throne, he set
about enacting a deadly wave of retribution against all those - the
lawyers, the judges, the officers on the scaffold - responsible for
his father's death. Bestselling historian Charles Spencer explores
this violent clash of ideals through the individuals whose fates
were determined by that one, momentous decision. A powerful tale of
revenge from the dark heart of royal history and a fascinating
insight into the dangers of political and religious allegiance in
Stuart England, these are the shocking stories of the men who dared
to kill a king.
King Charles's Pirate Prince To his fellow Royalists, fighting for
King Charles I, Prince Rupert of the Rhine was the archetypal
'cavalier'. Young, handsome, expert horseman, crack pistol shot,
his swaggering style irritated the stuffier of the king's courtiers
almost as much as the 'Roundheads' they were fighting. To the
parliamentarians, above all Oliver Cromwell, he was the ultimate
'malignant', one of those Royalists who fought on even after
Charles was executed in 1649. Rupert commanded the Royalist forces
in exile, at one point reduced to little more than pirates before
the triumphant restoration of the monarchy in 1660. In Charles
Spencer's thoroughly researched account, Prince Rupert is revealed
as more than just a great general and dashing cavalier. He was a
scientist and classical scholar too: a true renaissance prince.
From his dramatic childhood escape through the snows of Bohemia to
respected older statesman, this is the first comprehensive
biography of the greatest cavalier of them all.
INMATE 46857 sat on his prison cot at Parchman Penitentiary in 1982
fingering his homemade knife and contemplating murdering two fellow
inmates just to strengthen his tough reputation. As the
nineteen-year-old convict visualized himself stabbing his intended
victims, God intervened and provided deliverance. The encounter
took only a moment, but getting there had taken a lifetime.
Instantly, all the years of anger and rejection flashed before
Eddie Spencer's eyes. As memories flooded back, Inmate 46857 felt
the pain and poverty of his childhood. He pictured himself the
morning his only pair of shoes had fallen apart and his mother sent
him to school wearing his sister's shoes. As Eddie stepped into his
first grade classroom, his classmates taunted him, "Look at Eddie
Spencer. He's got little-girl shoes on " Humiliation and revenge
gripped his young mind, launching him on a journey of crime and
violence in the streets of the Mississippi Delta Finally, Eddie
recalled the night he slipped into a house, pointed a gun at a
sleeping man's face and demanded, "Give me all your money " His
victim handed over the cash, but he also spoke some amazing words
that Eddie would never forget. As the words replayed in his head,
Inmate 46857 knew exactly what he must do. He put away his "shank"
and made the choice that changed his heart.
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