*Now a major TV series starring Gary Oldman* 'To have been lucky enough to play Smiley in one's career; and now go and play Jackson Lamb in Mick Herron's novels - the heir, in a way, to le Carre - is a terrific thing' Gary Oldman Spooks are supposed to be stealthy ... But those who make a noisy mess of their careers end up in Slough House. This is Jackson Lamb's kingdom: a dumping ground for spies who've screwed up. Once high fliers, they're now slow horses, condemned to a life of pushing paper as punishment for crimes of drugs and drunkenness, lechery and failure, politics and betrayal. In drab and mildewed offices, these highly trained spies moan and squabble, stare at the walls, and dream of better days - not one of them joined the Intelligence Service to be a slow horse, and the one thing they have in common is their desire to be back in the action. So when a young man is kidnapped and held hostage, his beheading scheduled for live broadcast on the net, the slow horses aren't going to just sit quietly and watch. And unless they can prove they're not as useless as they're thought to be, a public execution is going to echo round the world. 'The most exciting development in spy fiction since the Cold War' The Times 'The most enjoyable British spy novel in years.' Mail on Sunday 'The new spy master' Evening Standard

*Now a major TV series starring Gary Oldman* 'The new king of the spy thriller' Mail on Sunday From the Intelligence Service purgatory that is Slough House, where disgraced spies are sent to see out the dregs of their careers, Jackson Lamb is on his way to Oxford, where a former spook has turned up dead on a bus. Dickie Bow was a talented streetwalker once, good at following people and bringing home their secrets. He was in Berlin with Lamb, back in the day. But he's not an obvious target for assassination in the here and now. On Dickie's phone Lamb finds the last message he ever left, which hints that an old-time Moscow-style op is being run in the Intelligence Service's back-yard. Once a spook, always a spook, and even being dead doesn't mean you can't uncover secrets. Dickie Bow might have tailed his last target, but Lamb and his crew of no-hopers are about to go live. 'Mick Herron is an incredible writer' Mark Billingham 'The spycraft of le Carre refracted through the blackly comic vision of Joseph Heller's Catch-22' Financial Times

*Now a major TV series starring Gary Oldman* 'The best thriller writer in Britain today' Sunday Express At Regent's Park, the Intelligence Service HQ, new First Desk Claude Whelan is learning the job the hard way. Tasked with protecting a beleaguered Prime Minister, he's facing attack from all directions: from the showboating MP who orchestrated the Brexit vote, and now has his sights set on Number Ten; from the showboat's wife, a tabloid columnist, who's crucifying Whelan in print; and especially from his own deputy, Lady Di Taverner, who's alert for Claude's every stumble. Meanwhile, the country's being rocked by an apparently random string of terror attacks. Over at Slough House, the last stop for washed up spies, the crew are struggling with personal problems: repressed grief, various addictions, retail paralysis, and the nagging suspicion that their newest colleague is a psychopath. But collectively, they're about to rediscover their greatest strength - making a bad situation much, much worse. 'Mick Herron is the John le Carre of our generation' Val McDermid 'Dazzingly inventive' Sunday Times

When one of their own is kidnapped, the washed-up MI5 operatives of Slough House—the Slow Horses, as they're known—outwit rogue agents at the very highest levels of British Intelligence, and even to Downing Street itself.

London: Slough House is the MI5 branch where disgraced operatives are reassigned after they’ve messed up too badly to be trusted with real intelligence work. The “Slow Horses,” as the failed spies of Slough House are called, are doomed to spend the rest of their careers pushing paper, but they all want back in on the action.

When one of their own is kidnapped and held for ransom, the agents of Slough House must defeat the odds, overturning all expectations of their competence, to breach the top-notch security of MI5’s intelligence headquarters, Regent’s Park, and steal valuable intel in exchange for their comrade’s safety. The kidnapping is only the tip of the iceberg, however—the agents uncover a larger web of intrigue that involves not only a group of private mercenaries but the highest authorities in the Secret Service. After years spent as the lowest on the totem pole, the Slow Horses suddenly find themselves caught in the midst of a conspiracy that threatens not only the future of Slough House, but of MI5 itself.

What happens when an old spook loses his mind? Does the Service have a retirement home for those who know too many secrets but don’t remember they’re secret? Or does someone take care of the senile spy for good?

These are the questions River Cartwright must ask when his grandfather, a Cold War–era operative, starts to forget to wear pants and begins to suspect everyone in his life has been sent by the Service to watch him.

But River has other things to worry about. A bomb goes off in the middle of a busy shopping center and kills forty innocent civilians. The agents of Slough House have to figure out who is behind this act of terror before the situation escalates.

*Now a major TV series starring Gary Oldman* *THE INSTANT SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER* **THE TIMES THRILLER BOOK OF THE YEAR** ***WINNER OF THE THEAKSTON OLD PECULIER CRIME NOVEL OF THE YEAR 2022*** 'A gripping thriller' Ian Rankin Slough House - the crumbling office building to which failed spies, the 'slow horses', are banished - has been wiped from secret service records. Reeling from recent losses in their ranks, the slow horses are worried they've been pushed further into the cold, and fatal accidents keep happening. With a new populist movement taking a grip on London's streets, the aftermath of a blunder by the Russian secret service that left a British citizen dead, and the old order ensuring that everything's for sale to the highest bidder, the world's an uncomfortable place for those deemed surplus to requirements. The wise move would be to find a safe place and wait for the troubles to pass. But the slow horses aren't famed for making wise decisions. 'The most completely realised espionage universe since that peopled by George Smiley' The Times 'An absolute tour-de-force' Sunday Express

In MI5 a scandal is brewing and there are bad actors everywhere.

A key member of a Downing Street think-tank has disappeared without a trace.

Claude Whelan, one-time First Desk of MI5's Regent's Park, is tasked with tracking her down. But the trail leads straight back to Regent's Park HQ itself, with its chief, Diana Taverner, as prime suspect. Meanwhile her Russian counterpart has unexpectedly shown up in London but has slipped under MI5's radar.

Over at Slough House, the home for demoted and embittered spies, the slow horses are doing what they do best: adding a little bit of chaos to an already unstable situation.

In a world where lying, cheating and backstabbing is the norm, bad actors are bending the rules for their own gain. If the slow horses want to change the script, they'll need to get their own act together before the final curtain.

*Includes the short story Standing by the Wall: A Slough House Interlude*

*Now a major TV series starring Gary Oldman* *THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER* 'Sets a new bar for spy fiction' Financial Times In Slough House, the backwater for failed spies, memories are stirring, all of them bad. Catherine Standish is buying booze again, Louisa Guy is raking over the ashes of lost love, and new recruit Lech Wicinski, whose sins make him outcast even among the slow horses, is determined to discover who destroyed his career, even if he tears his life apart in the process. With winter taking its grip Jackson Lamb would sooner be left brooding in peace, but even he can't ignore the dried blood on his carpets. So when the man responsible for killing a slow horse breaks cover at last, Lamb sends his crew out to even the score. This time, they're heading into joe country. And they're not all coming home. 'The go-to author for British espionage' Guardian 'Bitingly intelligent, light of touch and frequently hilarious' Observer

Famous for being a city of broad shoulders, Chicago has also developed an international reputation for split sides and slapped knees. Watch the "Chicago Style of Comedy" evolve from nineteenth-century vaudeville, through the rebellious comics of the 50's, and into the improvisation and sketch that ushered in a new millennium. Drawing on material both hilarious and profound, Chicago Comedy: A Fairly Serious History touches on what makes Chicago different from other cities and how that difference produced some of the greatest minds comedy will ever know: Amos and Andy, Jack Benny, Lenny Bruce, Del Close, John Belushi, Tina Fey, Stephen Colbert and so many, many more.

In the 1960s the majority of bus photography was in black and white, but an increasing number of people were also working with colour. This new album from Mick Webber gathers 100 high-quality photos taken around London during that decade. It takes us back to the days when the RT family of buses was supreme, backed up by Routemasters, RFs, RLHs and the first of the buses bought as part of London Transport's plans for reshaping its bus services.

The London Passenger Transport Board had been in existence just over six years when Britain entered into war with Germany on 3rd September 1939. A year before, measures had been put in place to provide trench shelters, first aid points, and the adaptation of pits in garages to become shelters. Over twenty thousand male staff were called up during the war, and women joined the ranks to fill the void. One hundred and eighty one members of staff were killed whilst on duty, with over eighteen hundred injured. Heroic work, and the will to "get on with it" was the general way of getting things done, summed up by just one of many examples at Athol Street garage, nearer the end of the war. It was the Board's most bombed garage, due to the nearby docks, and after a rocket fell at 6am within 100 yards of the premises blowing out the windows of 25 buses, and causing considerable damage, the staff were able to get all of the buses out on time that day. This book is a largely chronological story of the period, focusing in particular on the behind-the-scenes planning by London Transport, both before the war and during it.

Mick Webber's latest album fills an important gap in book titles currently available on London bus history. All garages owned by London Transport in the fifty years following its formation in 1933 are included, with brief histories and photographs. Also included are plans of each garage and an appendix gives vehicle requirements at July 1933 and June 1983. The following year, London Transport was superseded by London Regional Transport in the move that opened up London's bus routes to independent operators and was to lead to the closure of many garages.

Why was this amazing monument erected? How did our Stone-Age ancestors bring such massive stones to the site from so far away? How did they raise the enormous stones to their upright positions? What was Stonehenge used for, and who lived around the site? This is the incredible true story of this awe-inspiring monument - one of the greatest ancient sites in the world and a World Heritage Site. This fascinating picture information book provides all the facts about the most important prehistoric monument in Britain.

An inspirational and easy-to-use resource book for teachers who want to add interest and engagement to maths lessons. Part of the acclaimed Making Maths Meaningful series. The puzzles, games and activities in this book are designed to challenge students with new ways of applying core maths skills. Created by experienced maths teachers, with a focus on problem solving rather than solving problems, teachers will find activities to supplement all main maths topics -- from addition and subtraction to algebra and logic puzzles. Discover the perfect puzzle to inspire your class with this clear and easy-to-use resource. Fun with Maths Puzzles, Games and More includes: -- Puzzles -- categorised by age group and with full solutions -- Games -- engage the whole class or small groups with maths games that pupils will want to play again and again -- Maths magic tricks -- delight younger pupils and challenge older ones to figure out how they work -- Class activities -- practical exercises to bring maths into the real world This is a useful tool for Steiner-Waldorf teachers of Classes 4-12.

There is a certain atmosphere about night photography. It is much easier now, of course, since the advent of digital cameras that record events that would not have been so easily covered with film. Dragging a tripod around, or looking for a suitable flat topped wall in the right place, was necessary with time exposures, and even then it was often guesswork. Many of the trips after dark with my camera, produced as many failures as successes, but overall, the process was very rewarding. This book contains around 120 black and white and colour views from the early twentieth century up to the present day.

Sprung from the roots of 70s hard rock, Metallica defined the look and sound of 1980s heavy metal, just as Led Zeppelin had for hard rock and the Sex Pistols for punk before them. Inventors of thrash metal--Slayer, Anthrax and Megadeth followed--it was always Metallica who led the way, who pushed to another level, who became the last of the superstar rockers.

Though plagued by adversities, including the death of their bassist in a bus crash, infighting and substance abuse, they survived to became the biggest-selling band in the world. With 100 million records sold worldwide, their music has extended its reach beyond rock and metal, and into the pop mainstream, as they went from speed metal to MTV with their hit single "Enter Sandman." Until now there hasn't been a critical, authoritative, in-depth portrait of the band. Mick Wall's thoroughly researched, insightful work is enriched by his interviews with band members, record company execs, roadies, and fellow musicians. He tells the story of how a tennis-playing, music-loving Danish immigrant named Lars Ulrich created a band with singer James Hetfield and made his dreams a reality. "Enter Night" delves into the various incarnations of the band, and the personalities of all key members, past and present--especially Ulrich and Hetfield--to produce the definitive word on the biggest metal band on the planet