Bramhall is a thriving, bustling and leafy suburb of Stockport, close to Manchester. It has been voted the least 'lonely place' in Britain; according to research from the University of Sheffield, Bramhall came bottom of the loneliness index nationwide. It has a rich history stretching back to the Anglo-Saxon period. This book takes us back to Bramhall's early days to meet Saxons Brun and Hacun, whose lands were given by Willliam the Conqueror to Hamon de Massey, who eventually became 1st Baron of Dunham Massey. The Edwardian shops and businesses in the village centre have been replaced by trendy boutiques and cool bars, but old Bramhall is still characterised by the grand Bramall Hall, with its beautiful park, as well as the town's many farms and old pubs. The book also takes in neighbouring Cheadle and Cheadle Hulme, Gatley, Hazel Grove and Manchester International Airport in Ringway, where old and new pictures are juxtaposed to show how things have changed in these communities.

Scarborough has a rich and varied history extending from the Roman signal station and the marauding hordes of Vikings under Tostig Godwinson and Harald III of Norway through its revival under Henry II who built the Angevin stone castle and granted charters in 1155 and 1163 permitting a market and rule by burgesses. The changing fortunes of the castle and its role in the Civil War, the founding of the spa and development of tourism and establishment of famous hotels are detailed in the exhaustive Changing Scarborough: From Romans to Renaissance Town. Also covered are the associations with Anne Bronte, the Scarborough Riots and the role of the famous Quaker family, the Rowntrees, and the town's dramatic and lethal bombardment in the First World War, the famous lifeboat, Alan Ayckbourn, the Sitwells and the treasures of St Martin on the Hill. Old images are juxtaposed with modern equivalents to provide a fascinating historical journey that will delight visitors and residents alike.

A vibrant, accessible social history of Rome, from 753 BCE to the fall of the Empire some 1300 years later. To support its findings the book features hundreds of translations of inscriptions and graffiti from original authors-Roman, Greek and Jewish-and evidence culled from the visual arts, curse tablets, official records and letters both private and official. Each comes with detailed commentaries, placing them into social and historical context. The result is a fascinating survey of how Roman men, women and children lived their lives on a daily basis taking in marriage, slavery, gladiators, medicine, magic, religion, superstition and the occult; sex, work and play, education, death, housing, country life and city life. There are also chapters on domestic violence, family pets and FGM. In short, 'When in Rome' gives a vivid description of what the Romans really did.

This important, disturbing and timely book focuses on on the use of disease and germs as a weapon of mass destruction (WMD) and the threat bioterrorism poses in an increasingly unpredictable and volatile future for the world. For context it traces developments from the earliest primitive but effective days of infectious rams, poison-tipped arrows and plague-infected corpses used as toxic, disease-spreading projectiles, to the twenty-first-century industrial scale weaponization of biomedicine. Paul Chrystal shows how biological weapons and acts of bioterrorism are especially effective at instilling terror, panic, death, famine and economic ruin on a large scale, shredding public confidence in governments and civilization itself. For the disaffected, lethal biological agents are comparatively easy to manufacture and obtain, and they have the benefit of being almost invisible and easy and quick to administer in lethal quantities through a variety of discreet delivery systems. Just what the terrorist wants. We explore the sinister connection between the industrial-scale proliferation of biological weaponry by state actors and the greater opportunities these growing bio-arsenals give to the increasingly scientific-minded and determined terrorist to manufacture his or her weapon of choice, taking advantage also of the state of the art sophisticated delivery systems. The epilogue analyses the concerted but groundless 2022-2023 disinformation campaign conducted by Russia, with support from China, relating to the claim that public health facilities in Ukraine are 'secret U.S.-funded biolabs', purportedly developing biological weapons.

Roman Women uses numerous primary sources to explore the lives of Rome's most influential women. It is not simply another lurid and sensational catalogue of scandalous sexual outrages; these all feature, but they are balanced by careful analysis of female role models such as Lucretia, Verginia, and Cornelia. This volume examines the effect these women had on contemporary politics and society, and how far their actions reflected and affected other women in the Roman world. The women here displayed a wide range of characteristics: they could be devoted wives and mothers, intelligent, charismatic, ambitious, obtrusive, powerful, permissive, adulterous, manipulative, evil, cruel, dangerous, and (often) dead before their time. Nevertheless, they had one thing in common-they all made an indelible mark on one of the most powerful civilisations the world has ever known.

Ever since there have been factories women and children have, more often than not, worked in those factories. What is perhaps less well known is that women also worked underground in coal mines and overground scaling the inside of chimneys. Young children were also put to work in factories and coalmines; they were deployed inside chimneys, often half-starved so that they could shin up ever narrower flues. This book charts the unhappy but aspirational story of women and children at work through the Industrial Revolution to the beginning of the 20th century. Without women there would have been no pre-industrial cottage industries, without women the Industrial Revolution would not have been nearly as industrial and nowhere near as revolutionary. Many women, and children, were obliged to take up work in the mills and factories - long hours, dangerous, often toxic conditions, monotony, bullying, abuse and miserly pay were the usual hallmarks of a day's work - before they headed homeward to their other job: keeping home and family together. This long overdue and much needed book also covers the social reformers, the role of feminism and activism and the various Factory Acts and trade unionism. We examine how women and children suffered chronic occupational diseases and disabling industrial injuries - life changing and life shortening - and often a one way ticket to the workhouse. The book concludes with a survey of the art, literature and the music which formed the soundtrack for the factory girl and the climbing boys.

The assumption is that most of what we know about the Romans and their history comes from Roman and Greek historians. While this is true up to a point, the reality is that there are many other primary sources which combine to give us the composite picture we have today of the Romans and their world. The Romans had in effect their own brand of social media, engineered to disseminate information, legislation, propaganda and misinformation to state and religious officials, citizens, the military and to the enemy, wherever they be. We know what the Romans did for us: roads, central heating and so on. But, just as importantly, they developed and perfected records and record-keeping and other methods of information storage and communication. It is the Roman preoccupation with record keeping and dissemination that informs the picture we have today of Roman civilisation. This is the first book to analyse what is in effect Roman social media: the keeping of records and archive material, and ways of communicating it. Uniquely, it assesses the impact this information had on and in Roman history and on our appraisal of that history.

This is the story of the 1st Air Landing Light Regiment RA and its role in the Italian campaign and at the Battle of Arnhem. It is also the story of one of its soldiers: 14283058 Gunner Eric Wright Chrystal, father of the authors. Eric joined the army in September 1942 and, after training, joined the newly formed glider-borne regiment the following year. He first saw action in Italy in 1943, where he was seriously wounded. On 17 September 1944, two years to the day since he enlisted, he and the regiment were landed by glider near to Arnhem in the Netherlands. The authors recount set their father's experiences in context by describing the formation of the unit and the many months of training in England. Their involvement in the Italian campaign, where Eric served with E Troop, 3 Battery, is then recounted, detailing their actions at Rionero, Foggia and Campobasso, where Eric was wounded. It then moves on to describe 1st Air Landing Light Regiment's preparation for and involvement in Operation Market (the Airborne half of Market Garden). This very detailed account of the fighting highlights the regiment's pivotal (but often neglected) role near Arnhem bridge. Here, after nine days of intense combat, Eric was among the many captured and held until the end of the war. The inclusion of Eric's own eyewitness testimony lends a very personal touch to this excellent account of the regiment's experience of combat and life in the PoW camps.

This revelatory book charts and explains the impact and consequences of successive pandemics, plagues and epidemics on the course of world history - all through the lens of today's ongoing global experience of COVID 19\. Ranging from prehistory to the present day, it first defines what constitutes a pandemic or epidemic then looks at 20 guilty diseases: including cholera, influenza, bubonic plague, leprosy, measles, smallpox, malaria, AIDS, MERS, SARS, Zika, Ebola and, of course, Covid-19\. Some less well-known, but equally significant and deadly contagions such as Legionnaires' Disease, psittacosis, polio, the Sweat, and dancing plague, are also covered. The book is ordered chronologically. Each chapter features an explanation and description of epidemiology, sources and vectors, morbidity, mortality, governmental response and reaction, societal response and impact as well as psychological issues where known - and the political, legal and scientific consequences it had or has for each locus at a local and international level. In short - the book explains how each of the events both made and influenced subsequent history in its own way, particularly how each shaped future medical and scientific research and vaccine development programmes. It also examines myths about infectious diseases, the role of the media and social media. Perhaps most importantly, Paul Chrystal asks what lessons have been learnt. Will we be better prepared next time? Because, if one thing is sure, there is going to be a 'next time'.

The nervous geopolitical tension between East and West, the Cold War, emerged before the end of the Second World War and lasted until 1991 with the collapse of the Soviet Union. The British Army of the Rhine was born in 1945 out of the British Liberation Army at the close of the war as the military government of the British zone of occupied Germany. As the Soviet threat increased, so BAOR became less of an occupational army and assumed the role of defender of Western Europe, and as a major contributor to NATO after 1949. This book traces and examines the changing role of BAOR from 1945 to its demise in the 1993 Options for Change defence cuts. It looks at the part it played in the defence of West Germany, its effectiveness as a Cold War deterrent, the garrisons and capabilities, logistics and infrastructure, its arms and armour, the nuclear option and the lives of the thousands of families living on the front line.

The Rowntree family, especially Henry and the younger Joseph Rowntree are, along with the Fry's, Cadbury's, Mars and Terry's, synonymous with the birth and growth of the chocolate industry in Britain. Between them, they were the chocolate industry in Britain. This book charts the fascinating story behind the birth and development of the chocolate empire that was Rowntrees. Background information to this astonishing business comes by way of chapters on the early history of the Rowntrees, contemporary York, the relationship between Quakers and chocolate, and the Tuke family - without whom there would have been no Rowntrees, and no Kit Kats. Henry, it is usually forgotten, was the founder of Rowntree's - he made the momentous decision to sign the deal with the Tukes and we join him in those very early days of the fledgling company and watch how he helped it through some very dark, and sometimes humorous, times in what was then a very shambolic set up - cash strapped and making it up as the company lurched from crisis to crisis. Joseph, his elder brother, it was, who became the driving force to eventual global success, mixing his hectic business life with acts of compassion and a benevolent management model, all of which paved the way for decent wages, pensions, insurance and mutual respect in the workplace. Charity work extended beyond the factories to lift workers and others out of the slums of York to a life in a healthy model village, to provide a good social life, an extensive park, swimming pool and education for children and adults. More context is given with chapters on Joseph's relentless industrial espionage, the advancements in chocolate production and 20th century rivals in the domestic and export markets, and mergers and acquisitions. Rowntree's role in the two world wars is also covered along with the struggle Joseph Rowntree had accepting the importance of advertising. Altogether this book gives two fascinating biographies of two exceptional and driven brothers who came together to form one of our greatest companies - producing some of our best loved confectionery products.

York is first and foremost a Roman city, and an extremely important one at that. This comprehensive, fully illustrated book is a unique and invaluable guide to York's Roman heritage, essential reading for all those with an interest in the city. Like Rome, its mother city, York was not built in a day. Nothing like it. The history of Roman York entails the unravelling of centuries of new development, refurbishment, military destruction, demolition and overbuilding, and this unravelling is essentially what this book is all about. To bring this story to life, The Making of Roman York has at its core a detailed walk around the city, with easy maps leading the reader effortlessly around the sites and sights, treading ancient Roman routes and footsteps.

Wars and Battles of The Roman Republic is no arid list of military engagements. In each listed battle, individual points of military or sociological interest are highlighted and examined, including the use of elephants as weapons, the first deployment of incendiaries, psychological warfare, the rise of the Roman navy, the suicidal but valiant devotio, ethnic cleansing, siege machinery, and tactical strategies. This is a dynamic exploration of Rome's inexorable and endless battle to win control of the Italian peninsula and the lands surrounding the Mediterranean Sea. It tells the fascinating tale of Rome's initial conflicts, her aggressive expansionism, and her progress from a settlement of agrarian hill-dwellers to one of the world's most powerful empires.

York is one of Britain's best preserved cities. Through a combination of sheer luck, the efforts of passionate conservationists and the apathy of the Luftwaffe, many of York's unique historical treasures survive to this day for visitors and residents to enjoy. Changing York aims to record nearly one hundred of these riches, showing how they were in the past and how they have survived and function today. We visit the Minster and some of the countless other churches and places of worship, workhouses, almshouses, hospitals, prisons, bridges, walls, and the Mansion House - a panoply of treasures which gives an exciting insight into the history of this fine English city. A truly unique feature of the book is the inclusion of photographs from the prestigious and rarely seen Evelyn Collection, held by the Yorkshire Architectural & York Archaeological Society. These stunning images give an unrivalled snapshot of York life in the early 20th century, showing the city in ways that will fascinate and enthral.

We all know our sweets. We all remember sweets - objects of pure delight and the endless cause of squabbles, fights even, hoarding and swapping; a chance to gorge, suck, crunch and chew. But they're by no means just a nostalgic thing of days past, and it's not only children who love and devour sweets - gobstoppers, bulls eyes, liquorice, seaside rock, bubble gum and the like; grown-ups of all ages are partial to a good humbug, or a lemon sherbet or two - in the car, (annoyingly) at the cinema or while out walking - wherever and whenever, the sweet is there, the sweet delivers and the sweet rarely disappoints. Sweets then are ubiquitous and enduring; they cross age, culture and gender boundaries and they have been around, it seems, forever. This book tells the story of sweets from their primitive beginnings to their place today as a billion pound commodity with its sophisticated, seductive packaging and sales, advertising and marketing. It explores the people's favourites, past and present; but there is also a dark side to sweets - and this book does not shy away from the deleterious effect on health as manifested in obesity, tooth decay and diabetes. It delves into sweet and lollyshops in supermarkets and markets, retro sweet shops, fudge makers, vintage sweets on line, sweet manufacturing, chocolate, the grey line between sweets and 'medicines' ancient and modern. It goes round the world sucking, licking and crunching sweets from different countries and cultures and it examines how immigrants from all nations have changed our own sweet world.