Whenever vessels have foundered off the coasts of Britain, there have always been those willing to give their all to save those in peril. But in 1823, Sir William Hillary decided that this admirable but impromptu approach was not enough. He believed that many more lives could be saved by the establishment of a national, organised rescue service. His idea was realised the following year. From the days of oar-powered open boats to modern high speed, hi-tech vessels, rescuers have battled storms and unimaginable conditions, risking - and sometimes forfeiting - their own lives in efforts to save others. The most outstanding of these operations led to the awarding of gold medals for gallantry, the RNLI version of the Victoria Cross. Above all, these are human stories. Using information gleaned from archives, contemporary newspaper accounts and genealogical records, this book looks not just at the details of the rescues, but into the people behind them.

Most people think they know the story of the Gunpowder Plot, and of how a bloody catastrophe was averted at the eleventh hour when Guy Fawkes was caught lurking in the shadows beneath the Houses of Parliament. But what if it wasn't like that at all? How was it that a group of prominent, disaffected Catholics were able to plot for months with apparent impunity? How could they openly rent a house next door to the House of Lords and use it as their base - right under the nose of the leading spymaster of the age, Robert Cecil? How could they have hacked a tunnel towards their target and dispose of tonnes of spoil without alerting anyone - and why is there no record of anyone ever having seen such a tunnel? This book explores the idea that the government was not only aware of what the plotters were up to long before Fawkes' arrest, but that agent-provocateurs may have given them a helping hand - or have even instigated the plot themselves.