Oxford’s history begins with the story of a King’s daughter, Frideswide, who founded a nunnery in the meadows where the River Thames and River Cherwell meet. A settlement grew up around her shrine, which was built on the site of the present Cathedral and it was also a good place for cattle to cross, hence, the name, Ox-Ford. A Norman castle was built after the Conquest, and students were first attracted there in the reign of Henry I. The town and university continued to grow through the ravages of the Black Death, and in the Civil War became the home of Charles I’s royal court. The pioneering Radcliffe Observatory was built in the 18th century and over the next couple of centuries industrialisation came to Oxford with the canal and railway network, printing and publishing, car manufacturing and brewing among other industries, and suburbs were built to house the working population. Today, alongside its universities, its role as a technological and medical hub is demonstrated by its development the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, but it is also home to the Oxford Committee for Famine Relief, founded in 1942, which opened its first Oxfam Shop in 1949. The shop is still there on Broad Street today. This book will look back over the centuries to uncover the fascinating history of the city. Stories from its beginnings to the present day bring the history to life in today’s city with illustrations to show where reminders of the of the town’s past can still be found. This accessible historical portrait of the transformation that Oxford has undergone through the ages will be of great interest to residents, visitors and all those with links to the city.

Oxfordshire is rich in many things: fine agricultural land and areas of dense woodland; delightful towns like Burford, Woodstock, Dorchester and Henley; the stately River Thames that bisects the county; the ironstone villages of the northern border; the Oxford Canal meandering its way through remote countryside; and splendid country houses at Blenheim, Chastleton and Rousham. The jewel in the crown is the city of Oxford itself, with its ancient honey-coloured buildings and dreaming spires. This book celebrates both Oxfordshire's well-known glories and hidden gems such as the ruined manor at Hampton Gay, the brewery at Hook Norton and the glories of Wytham Woods. Highlighting these and other gems, this book gives an enticing picture of the rich variety of experiences and sights the county of Oxfordshire has to offer.

After the German surrender in November 1918, the German High Seas Fleet was interned at Scapa Flow in the Orkney Islands, the anchorage for the Royal Navy's Grand Fleet throughout the First World War. Determined not to see his ships fall into the hands of the Allied Powers as the protracted peace negotiations at Versailles dragged on, the German commander, Admiral Von Reuter, decided to scuttle his fleet and secretly passed orders between his ships for their skeleton crews to open the seacocks on 21 June 1919. Most ships began to sink within hours, witnessed by a visiting group of school children suddenly caught up in an event of international importance. More than fifty of the seventy-four German ships that had steamed into Scapa Flow were successfully scuttled and sunk, the remainder having been beached before they could sink. More than thirty of the sunken warships would later be raised but the others remain on the seabed, making Scapa Flow one of the world's top diving destinations. This book follows the events of that momentous day, drawing on the eyewitness accounts of those who saw the crisis unfold at first hand. The book makes extensive use of archive material, personal letters and contemporary photographs to bring alive the extraordinary events of that Midsummer's Day in 1919.