In Powers That Be, Power Lines & Power Play bestselling authors Anne Mc Caffrey & Elizabeth Ann Scarborough told ...

Dennis Potter was born & brought up in the Forest of Dean- a 'strange & beautiful place', as he described it in the last interview before his death, 'rather ugly villages in beautiful landscape, a heart- shaped place between two rivers, somehow slightly cut off from the rest of Engl&... with a people as warm as anywhere else, but they seemed warmer to me.' It was a childhood which informed all his television work, from his first documentary to such classic dramas as The Singing Detective.

The Changing Forest, first published in 1962, is Potter's deeply personal study of that small area- its people, traditions, ceremonies & institutions- at a time of profound cultural & social change in the late 1950s & early '60s. With extraordinary precision & feeling he describes the fabric of a world whose old ways are yielding to the new: habits altering; expectations growing; work, leisure, language itself changing under the impact of the new television, of commercial jingles & the early Elvis. &, with powerful sympathy & wit, he asks whether the gains of modernity have, for the individuals & society he so marvellously evokes, been worth the loss.

Part autobiography of one of this century's greatest writers, part elegy for a vanishing way of life, part testament to the abiding humanity that underlies all Potter's work, this exquisite, passionate & brillinat book is a classic of its kind.



...

The chariot changed the face of ancient warfare. First in Mesopotamia, then in Asia Minor & Egypt, charioteers came to dominate the battlefield. In c. 1286 BC at Kadesh in the Eastern Mediterranean
- where the troops of Ramesses II overwhelmed the Hittites
- 5, 000 chariots were deployed. Its use is recounted in Indian epics & Chinese histories. Homer's Iliad tells of the attack on Troy by Greek charioteers. When Alexander the Great descended into the North Indian plain in early 326BC, he found chariots as well as elephants in the armies ranged against him. After its disappearance from the battlefield, chariot racing attracted hundreds of thousands of spectators. The Emperor Nero drove his own ten-horse chariot in the Olympic Games (he fell out but still won the prize). In Constantinople in AD 352 a three-day riot, ignited by a chariot race, left over 30, 000 people dead after the Emperor Justinian had to send in troops to restore order. This unique book traces the rise & fall of the chariot right across the Old World, from Irel&, through Rome, Greece, Mesopotamia, Egypt, India & China. Illustrated throughout & exploring the chariot's legacy
- not least as depicted in Hollywood films
- it provides a broad-ranging & fascinating view of the world's first revolutionary war machine.



...

The chariot changed the face of ancient warfare. First in West Asia & Egypt, then in India & China, charioteers came to dominate the battlefield. In 1274 B. C. at Kadesh in present-day Syria
- where the untried pharaoh Ramesses II was nearly defeated by the Hittites
- some 5, 000 chariots were deployed in battle. Its use as a war machine is graphically recounted in Indian epics & Chinese chronicles. Homer's Iliad tells of the attack on Troy by Greek heroes who rode in chariots In 326 B. C. Alexander the Great faced charioteers in northern India, while in 55 B. C., on a Kent beach, Julius Caesar was met by British chariots.

Even though the chariot was the favourite conveyance of both gods & kings, there were risks when it was driven at high speed. It is more than possible that the boy pharaoh Tutankhamun died from injuries sustained in a chariot accident. Because of the danger involved, chariot racing attracted hundreds of thousands of spectators. So enthusiastic were they that the Roman emperor Nero could not resist driving his own ten-horse chariot at the Olympic Games: he fell out but still won the prize. Rivalry between groups of spectators at chariot races often ignited urban riots. In Constantinople, in 532 A. D., a three-day disturbance left 30, 000 dead. Yet great charioteers like Porphyrius still emerged. He was a champion into his sixties, provoking the comment that 'neither strength nor swift horses know how to win, but the brains of the charioteer.'

This unique book traces the rise & fall of the chariot right across the Old World, from Britain to Korea. Illustrated throughout & exploring the chariot's legacy
- not least as depicted in Hollywood films
- it provides a broad-ranging & fascinating view of the world's first revolutionary war machine.







...

The chariot changed the face of ancient warfare. First in West Asia & Egypt, then in India & China, charioteers came to dominate the battlefield. In 1274 B. C. at Kadesh in present-day Syria
- where the untried pharaoh Ramesses II was nearly defeated by the Hittites
- some 5, 000 chariots were deployed in battle. Its use as a war machine is graphically recounted in Indian epics & Chinese chronicles. Homer's Iliad tells of the attack on Troy by Greek heroes who rode in chariots In 326 B. C. Alexander the Great faced charioteers in northern India, while in 55 B. C., on a Kent beach, Julius Caesar was met by British chariots.

Even though the chariot was the favourite conveyance of both gods & kings, there were risks when it was driven at high speed. It is more than possible that the boy pharaoh Tutankhamun died from injuries sustained in a chariot accident. Because of the danger involved, chariot racing attracted hundreds of thousands of spectators. So enthusiastic were they that the Roman emperor Nero could not resist driving his own ten-horse chariot at the Olympic Games: he fell out but still won the prize. Rivalry between groups of spectators at chariot races often ignited urban riots. In Constantinople, in 532 A. D., a three-day disturbance left 30, 000 dead. Yet great charioteers like Porphyrius still emerged. He was a champion into his sixties, provoking the comment that 'neither strength nor swift horses know how to win, but the brains of the charioteer.'

This unique book traces the rise & fall of the chariot right across the Old World, from Britain to Korea. Illustrated throughout & exploring the chariot's legacy
- not least as depicted in Hollywood films
- it provides a broad-ranging & fascinating view of the world's first revolutionary war machine.







...

When you're sixteen, pregnant & alone, sixties London is anything but swinging...

Charity Stratton's bleak childhood

...

Charity Stratton's bleak childhood is changed for ever when both her parents are killed in a fire. Separated by the authorities from her younger brothers & sister, Charity is sent out to work as a skivvy in a boys' boarding school. Her loneliness & misery are eased when she falls deeply in love with the dashing but fickle sixth-former, Hugh Mainwaring, but when she discovers she is pregnant with Hugh's baby she soon realises just how alone she really is.

Determined to be reunited with her siblings & to make something of herself, Charity runs away to London & begins to forge a new life.

...