'There are few historical developments more significant than the realisation that those in power should not be free to torture and abuse those who are not.' - Amal Clooney On 10 December 1948, in Paris, the United Nations General Assembly adopted an extraordinarily ground-breaking and important proclamation: The Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This milestone document, made up of thirty Articles, sets out, for the first time, the fundamental human rights that must be protected by all nations. The full text of the document is reproduced in this book following a foreword by human rights lawyer Amal Clooney and a general introduction which explores its origins in the 'Four Freedoms' described by U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, the role his wife Eleanor Roosevelt took on as chair of the Human Rights Commission and of the drafting committee, and the parts played by other key international members of the Commission. It was a pioneering achievement in the wake of the Second World War and continues to provide a basis for international human rights law, making this document's aims 'as relevant today as when they were first adopted a lifetime ago.'

'It's damned hard lines asking for bread and only getting a bullet!' The dramatic and chaotic events surrounding the Russian Revolution have been studied and written about extensively for the last hundred years, by historians and journalists alike. However, some of the most compelling and valuable accounts are those recorded by eyewitnesses, many of whom were foreign nationals caught in Petrograd at the time. Drawing from the Bodleian Library's rich collections, this book features extracts from letters, journals, diaries and memoirs written by a diverse cast of onlookers. Primarily British, the authors include Sydney Gibbes, English tutor to the royal children, Bertie Stopford, an antiques dealer who smuggled the Vladimir tiara and other Romanov jewels into the UK, and the private secretary to Lord Milner in the British War Cabinet. Contrasting with these are a memoir by Stinton Jones, an engineer who found himself sharing a train compartment with Rasputin, a newspaper report by governess Janet Jeffrey who survived a violent confrontation with the Red Army, and letters home from Labour politician, Arthur Henderson. Accompanied by seventy contemporary illustrations, these first-hand accounts are put into context with introductory notes, giving a fascinating insight into the tumultuous year of 1917.

The first history of the colourful and controversial Topham family who owned and managed Aintree racecourse and the Grand National for over a hundred and fifty years.

For over one hundred years the name Topham was inextricably linked to the Grand National, even though not a single runner in it ever carried their colours, and no member of the family ever rode over Aintree's famous fences. Yet their contribution to Grand National history was equally as important as all the heroes and heroines, both human and equine, who have thrilled successive generations of racegoers as they have done battle each spring to win the world's greatest steeplechase. For the Tophams were the promoters of the race, responsible for drawing up the race conditions, developing and maintaining the course itself, and, for much of the period, compiling the handicap as well. Without them, there simply would have been no Grand National.
Edward William Topham, known as 'The Wizard' was the founder of the dynasty. He was the first handicapper of the Grand National, and in 1848 he took over the management of Aintree racecourse and became the sole promoter of the Grand National. So successful was he that the family dynasty he established remained in control of Aintree through three generations for one hundred and twenty-five years until his grand-daughter-in-law, Mrs. Mirabel Topham, sold the course in 1973. So long an association of one family with a premier sporting event is unusual if not quite unparalleled. Yet although many books have been written about the Grand National, few of them have made more than a cursory reference to the family who promoted and maintained it - at least until Mirabel Topham began to hit the headlines in the 1950s and '60s. This neglect is undeserved, for the story of the Tophams is as colourful as any of the horses or jockeys who have taken part in therace they were responsible for staging.
Each generation of Tophams who ran Aintree faced major challenges, including sustained criticisms of the course and the race conditions. How they faced up to these challenges and fought to maintain the prestige and the appeal of the National is a major theme of this book. In some respects the story of Tophams follows that of many family firms, being created by the first generation, consolidated by the second, and dissipated by the third. Yet in other respects it does not conform to this pattern, and had the fierce boardroom battle that broke out in the 1930s gone the other way, then the outcome could have been very different. For the last forty years of Tophams' control of Aintree the larger than life character of Mirabel Topham played a crucial role in determining the destiny of the course and its most famous race. This book attempts to strike a balance between those who have sought to blame all Aintree's problems on her dictatorial and confrontational style, and those who will not hear a word said against her.
This is the first book to offer a full account of the Topham family's long association with Aintree. Written largely from contemporary sources it provides much new information on Aintree's colourful and often controversial past, as seen through the eyes of those who were responsible for staging the world's most famous steeplechase.