Now available in paperback, Performing Englishness examines the growth in popularity and profile of the English folk arts in the first decade of the twenty-first century. In the only study of its kind, the authors explore how the folk resurgence speaks to a broader explosion of interest in the subject of English national and cultural identity. Combining approaches from British cultural studies and ethnomusicology, the book draws on ethnographic fieldwork, interviews with central figures of the resurgence and close analysis of music and dance as well as visual and discursive sources. Its presentation of the English case study calls for a rethinking of concepts such as revival and indigeneity. It will be of interest to students and scholars in cultural studies, ethnomusicology and related disciplines. -- .

Performing Englishness examines the growth in popularity and profile of the English folk arts in the first decade of the twenty-first century. In the only study of its kind, the authors explore how the folk resurgence speaks to a broader explosion of interest in the subject of English national and cultural identity. Combining approaches from British cultural studies and ethnomusicology, the book draws on ethnographic fieldwork, interviews with central figures of the resurgence and close analysis of music and dance as well as visual and discursive sources. Its presentation of the English case study calls for a rethinking of concepts such as revival and indigeneity. It will be of interest to students and scholars in cultural studies, ethnomusicology and related disciplines. -- .

Imagine you are standing in a line. Your father is behind you, his father behind him, his father behind him, his father behind him and so on back 1000 generations.... This group of people wouldn't fill the average pop concert venue, yet the last man in the line would have lived in around 30,000BC. What would each man in the line look like? Where would he live? Who else would he be the ancestor of? Discovery of this lineage cannot be found in church records, census documents, ancient histories or hieroglyphics. This knowledge is found within your own DNA. It is encrypted into the genetic code that each of us carry. In unlocking that code, we can go on a journey through time back to the very beginning of human history. This book begins with one such line. An old Irish family (Keegan or Clann MacAodhagain) with a Celtic pedigree. In it we discover kings, shamans, sorcerers, fathers of entire nations - and the first King of the Celts. For the first time, a single family's origins is traced back to our most distant ancestors. This is the story of a DNA journey that began with looking for information on a simple stone mason, and ended up with the discovery of the first king of the Celts and a bloodline back to the start of human history. Simon Keegan (author of Pennine Dragon and The Lost Book of King Arthur) was researching his family history but he reached an obstacle that could not be negotiated through the usual Family Tree Detective methods - of tracking down census documents and marriage certificates. So instead he took a series of DNA tests and working with other Keegans around the world, he demonstrated how a family can trace its family history not just back to their clan founder about a thousand years ago, but to the very beginning of human history - and he shows how you might be able to do the same.

Pennine Dragon tells the true story of the legendary King Arthur. On the 1500th anniversary of Arthur's greatest battle at Badon, his whole life, family history and exploits are finally identified with those of a real historic ruler. Arthur Pendragon was actually a ruler recorded in history as Arthwys of the Pennines. He and his father ruled from the old Roman garrisons of Hadrian's Wall and the City of York and his base was Camulod (Camelot) in the heart of what is now Yorkshire. Arthwys had his Merlin, his Mordred, his Lancelot and his beautiful Irish Queen. His battles were fought across what is now the north of England and lowlands of Scotland. Without the prejudice of placing Arthur in Wales or Cornwall, Pennine Dragon reveals that Arthur was always identified as a man of the north in the earliest historical references. Legendary Arthurian places like Badon, Camlann, Camelot, the Lady of the Lake, Asolat, Joyous Garde, Avalon and the Round Table are all identified in the north. The author, Simon Keegan has identified no fewer than 50 Arthurian characters in real historical figures.We meet Morgan, Gawain, Bedevere, Culhwch, Uther and Igraine - and each character fits in perfectly within the family tree and inner circle of the historic king. We find that Arthwys was at precisely the right time and place and is the only possible man who could have been the King Arthur of legend. This is the definitive work on the true King Arthur published exactly 1500 years after the historic king's final victory over the Saxons.

Bushido: A Complete History of British Jujutsu reveals the untold stories behind the UK's martial arts. Jujutsu was brought to the UK in the 1890s, the era of Jack the Ripper and Sherlock Holmes. It was adapted by men like EW Barton-Wright for the paranoid streets of London and the violent docks of Liverpool. It was then utilised by men who served in the trenches of the First World War and by the women who defended themselves in the Suffragette movement like Edith Garrud. After the Second World War British Jujutsu was pioneered by ex servicemen like Gerry Skyner, Jim Blundell and Vernon Bell. Bushido: A Complete History of British Jujutsu traces the lineages of Jujutsu's pioneers to the Samurai schools that their teachings came from. It traces right through to the present day governing bodies and the era of mixed martial arts. Historian Simon Keegan, author of the best-selling Karate Jutsu publishes contemporary records, photographs and cuttings that have never been published before.

The origins of Karate are shrouded in mythology and a book that tells the art's complete history is both necessary and timely. The art of Karate was developed in the Ryukyu Kingdom, now Okinawa, over hundreds of years. Like many martial arts it was once designed to main, disable or kill but has since become adapted into a way of life and a sport that is seen in both the UFC and in 2020 makes its Olympic debut. Author Simon Keegan is a 5th Dan black belt recognised by some of Japan's oldest and most venerable sanctioning bodies. In producing this unprecedented history he has been given access to information, pictures and records from Japan, Okinawa and the west that have never before been published. In his foreword to the book, respected martial arts master and author Steve Rowe 9th Dan writes: "Considering I have been at the centre of the Karate universe for four decades there is much in this book that I have never seen or heard. It's a must for any Karateka to read time and time again to understand the origins of Karatedo and its structure, and essential for the bookshelf of any serious martial artist." For the first time the complete history of Karate can be told.