For as long as the British monarchy has existed, royal children have been brought up in ways that seem bizarre and eccentric to the rest of us. From medieval wet nurses to today's Norland nannies and elite boarding schools, princes and princesses have endured parental abandonment for centuries as their parents farmed out childrearing duties to paid staff. And as this marvellous romp of a book demonstrates, dysfunctional childhood experiences produce emotionally damaged adults, as evidenced by Edward VIII - who was horribly mistreated by his nanny - and his marriage to his substitute mother figure, Mrs Simpson; by alcoholic party girl Princess Margaret; and by rebellious Harry and his desperate desire to adopt Meghan Markle's world view, to the detriment of his relationship with his brother. Interweaving exclusive testimonies from palace staff with historical sources, Tom Quinn also uncovers outrageous tales of royal children misbehaving, often hilariously - from Edward VII smashing up his schoolroom to the Queen mischievously pranking unsuspecting visitors with dog biscuits to Prince William pinching a teacher's bottom. Amusing and shocking in equal measure, Gilded Youth examines how the royal family has clung to outmoded traditions that centre on emotional coldness and detachment, and how, when it comes to children, the British royal family is still living in the Dark Ages.

It was famously the scene of Charles and Diana's nightmare marriage and Charles's serial adulteries. But then Kensington Palace has a long history of royal philandering. George II installed his wife and mistress in the palace, for example, and made his mistress sleep in a room so damp there were said to be mushrooms growing on the walls. And then there were the eccentrics. George III's sixth son, Augustus, Duke of Sussex, became a virtual recluse at the palace. He collected hundreds of clocks and mechanical toys, thousands of early Bibles and dozens of songbirds that were allowed to fly freely through the royal apartments. Today, the palace is home to the future King William and his wife Catherine, and until recently home to the newly married Duke and Duchess of Sussex, Harry and Meghan. Tom Quinn takes the reader behind the official version of palace history to discover intriguing, sometimes wild, often scandalous, but frequently heart-warming stories.

This is a major new exploration of traditional British craftsmanship, accompanying the prime time BBC TV series presented by Monty Don. It celebrates all aspects of rural crafts including woodcraft, thatching, weaving, stone masonry, metalwork and glass making. It showcases some of Britain's leading master craftsmen and explains the techniques at the heart of their trades. It reveals the fascinating history of British craftsmanship, inspiring interest and involvement in these valuable and rewarding crafts. "Mastercrafts" represents a major shift in attitudes towards appreciating handmade, sustainable crafted products rather than the cheap mass-produced items with which people have become increasingly disillusioned.

Born in 1910, Rose Plummer grew up in an East End slum; she knew at first hand a soot-blackened world, lit by candles and oil lamps, where you slept in your clothes - if you hadn't already been sewn into them for the winter - and fought an unending battle with hunger and bed bugs. At its best, life was lived on the bustling, noisy streets where fish sellers jostled with hurdy-gurdy men, organ grinders and street fighters, where children dodged between the wheels of horse-drawn carts and where money could still be made by mudlarks and the rag and bone man. At the age of fifteen, Rose left the noise and squalor of Hoxton and started work as a live-in maid at a house in the West End. Despite the poverty of her childhood, nothing could have prepared her for the long hours, the backbreaking work and the harshness of this new world; a world in which servants were treated as if they were less than human. It was a world in which Rose found herself working from six in the morning till nine at night in a house where the only unheated bedroom was the one she slept in. Here and in later, grander, houses Rose had to endure the strict hierarchy of the servants' world where the maid was expected to put up with sex pests, deranged employers, verbal and even physical abuse. But however difficult life became, Rose found something to laugh about, and her remarkable spirit and gift for friendship shines through in her memories of a now-vanished world. This is upstairs downstairs as it really was.

A quirky collection of stories from London's stranger side, featuring a tiny prison cell in Trafalgar Square, a train disguised as a ship, and a church that's completely the wrong way round. London’s Strangest Tales takes a walk on London’s weirder side with an absorbing collection of curious tales from one of the world’s greatest cities. This fascinating book is packed with amazing things you didn’t know about Britain’s capital, like the fact that it’s still forbidden to run, carry an umbrella or whistle in the Burlington Arcade, and the fat lamppost at the corner of Trafalgar Square that is secretly a tiny prison cell. And did you know that the entrance to Buckingham Palace you see from the Mall is actually the back door and not the front? The stories within these pages are bizarre, fascinating, hilarious and, most importantly, true. Revised, redesigned and updated for a new generation of London-lovers, this book is a brilliant alternative guide to the city, whether you’re a visitor, a daily commuter or one of its 8 million inhabitants. Word count: 45,000

George Orwell once said that the British love a really good murder. He might have added that the only thing the British love more than a good murder is a really good scandal, and best of all are the sexual and political scandals that take place behind the gilded doors of Britain's royal palaces. From Edward II's intimate relationship with Piers Gaveston to Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's dramatic exit from the royal family, the royal residences have seen it all. This glorious romp of a book contains new information on well-known and not-so-well-known scandals, including those that have only recently been revealed through the release of previously secret official papers. Exploring surviving palaces such as Kensington as well as long -vanished residences including Whitehall, Scandals of the Royal Palaces is the first in-depth look at the bad behaviour of not just the royals themselves but also palace officials, courtiers, household servants and hangers-on. Delving into the bitter hatreds that generations of King Georges nursed for their eldest sons, Queen Victoria's opium -fuelled rages and Edward VII's near-miss perjury conviction, royal expert Tom Quinn reveals that scandal and the royal family have always been bedfellows. And if the behaviour of today's royals is anything to go by, the glittering palaces will continue to house intriguing, embarrassing and outrageous scandals for centuries to come.

'Shiveringly good suspense!' Lisa Gardner THE FIFTH BOOK IN A GRIPPING SERIES FROM 30 MILLION COPY SELLING AUTHOR. One by one he'll stalk them, then he'll squeeze the trigger, savouring the way each lifeless body crumples to the reddening snow. One down already. And then there were five... Sheriff Dan Grayson lies near death and the police department of Grizzly Falls, Montana, is in shock. Then a prominent judge's body is found. Detectives Regan Pescoli and Selena Alvarez head up the search for the killer, but they don't realize how personal and dangerous the case is going to be. Headstrong and eager for justice, Pescoli tracks the scant clues straight to a monster who has had her and Alvarez in his sights all along . . . 'She is one of the best' Harlan Coben THE NEXT BOOK IN THE SERIES, DESERVES TO DIE, IS AVAILABLE NOW

London's Strangest Tales takes a walk on London's weirder side with an absorbing collection of curious tales from one of the world's greatest cities. This fascinating book is packed with amazing things you didn't know about Britain's capital, like the fact that it's still forbidden to run, carry an umbrella or whistle in the Burlington Arcade, and the fat lamppost at the corner of Trafalgar Square that is secretly a tiny prison cell. And did you know that the entrance to Buckingham Palace you see from the Mall is actually the back door and not the front? The stories within these pages are bizarre, fascinating, hilarious and, most importantly, true. This brand new edition, redesigned in splendid hardback for 2018, is a brilliant alternative guide to the city, whether you're a visitor, a daily commuter or one of its 8 million inhabitants. Word count: 45,000

For more than 200 years the younger members of the British royal family - including future monarchs - have lived at Kensington Palace, alongside royal aunts and uncles, distant cousins and assorted aristocratic eccentrics. Kensington Palace has been the scene of countless bizarre events - here, for example, the young Queen Victoria was held a virtual prisoner for eighteen years; and it was from Kensington Palace that Queen Caroline ran the country while her husband George II moved his pictures around. In more recent times, Kensington Palace was famously the scene of Charles and Diana's nightmare marriage and Charles's serial adulteries. But then Kensington Palace has a long history of royal philandering. George II installed his wife and mistress in the palace, for example, and made his mistress sleep in a room so damp there were said to be mushrooms growing on the walls. And then there were the eccentrics. George III's sixth son, Augustus, Duke of Sussex, became a virtual recluse at the palace. He collected hundreds of clocks and mechanical toys, thousands of early Bibles and dozens of songbirds that were allowed to fly freely through the royal apartments. Today, the palace is home to the future King William and his wife Catherine, and until recently home to the newly married Duke and Duchess of Sussex, Harry and Meghan. The palace has been described as a royal menagerie, a hive of industrious freeloaders, an ant heap and even a lunatic asylum. Tom Quinn takes the reader behind the official version of palace history to discover intriguing, sometimes wild, often scandalous, but frequently heart-warming stories.

More extraordinary but true stories from London's history. In this fascinating follow-up to his bestselling London's Strangest Tales, Tom Quinn makes a further foray into the weirder side of the capital, bringing us a splendiforous collection of bizarre-but-true stories that explore a thousand years of London's history. Discover the ghosts that stalk West End theatres, the mysterious mummy who lives in a City church cupboard, and secret tunnels under the Thames. Find out why there's a TARDIS at Earl's Court, why frogs once rained from the skies, and why the mulberry tree in the gardens at Buckingham Palace isn't quite what it was supposed to be. A dip-in-and-outable treasure trove of London lore, London's Truly Strangest Tales is both an ideal gift for dyed-in-the-wool Londoners who want to find out more about the great city they live in, and the perfect souvenir for people just passing through. Word count: 58,000

Told by a man who's seen it all firsthand and perfect for fans of "Downton Abbey," this is a scandilous behind-the-scenes look at the real-life estate houses of England

During more than 30 years in a variety of houses, Bob Sharpe managed to rise from garden boy to valet and finally to the feared and respected position of butler. As a boy he had to kill pheasant chicks, boil rabbits for the estate dogs, carry the wood up and down stairs every day for 30 fires, and sleep on the floor outside his master's room. He cleaned shoes, ironed underwear and socks, and once had to stand all night in the hall waiting for a late visitor to arrive. But as a butler he was the best paid servant in the house, waited on, feared, and respected by the other servants. Bob Sharpe knew the real world of upstairs/downstairs and the secrets of the landed gentry--even to the point of incest and attempted murder--and it's all included here in this captivating read.

All the fun of Portico's bestselling Strangest series, now in quiz form! Test your London knowledge with this fascinating book, packed with fun and challenging quiz questions based around the weirdest events from the illustrious history of this wonderful city. Quiz categories include: Ancient traditions London eccentrics Getting about Ghosts and ghouls Corridors of power Monumental monuments Quirky buildings Just plain weird Whether you're testing your friends, practising for pub quizzes or just reading it in an armchair, this book will take your London knowledge to a whole new level. Word count: 30,000 words.

Kathleen Clifford was born in 1909. Her family lived in a tiny flat near Paddington Station and her earliest memories were of the smell of horses and the shrill whistle of steam trains. For a girl from the slums there was really only one option once school was over - a life in service. She started work in 1925 as a lowly kitchen maid in the London home of Lady Diana Spencer's family. Here she heard tales of the Earl's propensity for setting fire to himself, as well as enjoying the servants' gossip about who was sleeping with whom. The Spencers were just the first in a line of eccentric families for whom she worked during a career that lasted more than thirty years and took her from a London palace to remote medieval estates. But despite long hours, amorous butlers and mad employers, Kathleen always kept her sense of humour and knew how to have fun. On one occasion she was almost caught in bed with her boyfriend who had to jump out of the window and run down the drive in his underwear to escape the local bobby.