In 1948, shortly after settling with his family in the village of Blaxhall, Suffolk, George Ewart Evans started recording the conversations he had with neighbours, many of whom were born in the nineteenth century and had worked on farms before the arrival of mechanisation. He soon realised that below the surface of their stories were the remnants of an ancient, rural culture previously ignored by historians. In the detail of village architecture, the of superstitions of tree-planting and rituals house-building, in the esoteric practices of horse cults or the pagan habit of 'telling the bees', The Pattern Under the Plough unearths the rich seam of customs and beliefs that this old culture has brought to our communities. Even in modern societies, governed by science and technology, there are still traces of a civilisation whose beliefs were bound to the soil and whose reliance on the seasons was a matter of life or death.

Plays are, of course, meant to be seen, not read, but many people find it impossible to visit the theatre regularly and it is for them that Professor Styan intends this book, originally published in 1965, to promote better understanding of the dramatist's intentions and fuller enjoyment of the play. He defines what a play is and discusses such topics as the development of the theatre - its different stages, kinds of drama and types of character - the tone and tempo in which the play is written, the roles of actor and audience and the structure and interplay of plot and subplot. Charts of theatrical history, a glossary and reading lists, as well as drawings and diagrams by David Gentleman, provide further help for the reader.

A deeply personal and tender story of war, peace and those who are left behind. One hundred years after the war to end all wars, Jacko's descendants discover his notebook and the untold stories tucked in its pages.

"This war is a nightmare that one day I shall wake from and then forget. And if I don't wake, then you shall never know. I don't want you ever to know."

No one seems to know where the scruffy tin hat came from - just that it is very old, from some war or other long ago. To young Michael and his family it has its uses today: as a child's toy, a feeding bowl for the hens, a hanging basket... Then Michael discovers that it belonged to his great-great-grandfather, "Our Jacko", who lost his life at Ypres in 1915. As the boy digs deeper, he finds the young soldier's diary and learns more about his forgotten ancestor - husband, father, poet, actor - who died so tragically young. And it becomes clear exactly how Our Jacko should be commemorated.

Over seventy years of quintessential London views in one box In 1950, aged 19, David Gentleman arrived in the capital, ready to begin his life as an artist. Over the next seven decades, he would sketch, paint, and engrave his way through London, documenting the cityscape, and shaping it, too - most notably through his iconic mural in Charing Cross Underground Station. Combining world-famous imagery with unexpected scenes of daily life in the city, this box of London artworks is a treasure trove for all those who flock to the capital. 'David Gentleman is London's visual laureate' Quentin Blake

David Gentleman has lived in London for almost seventy years, most of it on the same street. This book is a record of a lifetime spent observing, drawing and getting to know the city, bringing together work from across his whole career, from his earliest sketches to watercolours painted just a few months ago. Here is London as it was, and as it is today: the Thames, Hampstead Heath; the streets, canals, markets and people of his home of Camden Town; and at the heart of it all, his studio and the tools of his work. Accompanied by reflections on the process of drawing and personal thoughts on the ever-changing city, this is a celebration of London, and the joy of noticing, looking and capturing the world. 'David has spent a lifetime depicting with wit and affection a London he has made his own' Alan Bennett 'He delivers a poetry of exultant concentration ... The surface fusion of the sensuous and the sharply modern is echoed by Gentleman's imagery' Guardian 'The artist and illustrator has been responsible for some of the most-seen public artworks in this country' The Times 'Perhaps the last of the great polymath designer-painters' Camden New Journal