In this evocative memoir Michael Levey recreates a between-the-wars English childhood outwardly ordinary & undramatic, but inwardly rich, stirring, sometimes bewildering, & altogether far from typical, not least in its pervasive Catholic ethos. An only child, intensely self-aware, devout, yet questioning, as well as imaginative, drawn to Shakespeare & the theatre, & to all things visual, he grew up in Leigh-on-Sea on the Essex coast. He attended a succession of Catholic schools, before joining the Army at the very end of the War. Notably entertaining is his account of service life, spent partly in Egypt, as is the final chapter, which finds him arriving at the National Gallery in London, to begin a career that would culminate in his being appointed Director. With its precise evocation of a child's relationship with the world around him & with his parents
- a couple united in reticent affection & intelligence, but totally opposed in temperament
- The Chapel is on Fire will surely become a classic in the literature of childhood.

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The charge of the Light Brigade is one of Britain's best-known glorious military disasters. On 25 October 1854, during the siege of Sebastopol, the Light Brigade attacked Russian gun positions at Balaclava. The charge lasted 7 & 1/2 minutes; of 673 officers & men who went into action, 247 men & 497 horses were lost. This book shatters many long-held conceptions of how & why it happened, & who was to blame. Mark Adkin, a former professional soldier, has combined military expertise & detailed research of participants' accounts with a careful examination of the actual ground. The result is a gripping & definitive study of a debacle that has never ceased to entral the imagination. ...

The charge of the Light Brigade is one of Britain's best-known glorious military disasters. On 25 October 1854, during the siege of Sebastopol, the Light Brigade attacked Russian gun positions at Balaclava. The charge lasted 7 minutes; of 673 officers & men who went into action, 247 men & 497 horses were lost. This book shatters many long-held conceptions of how & why it happened, & who was to blame. Mark Adkin, a former professional soldier, has combined military expertise & detailed research of participants' accounts with a careful examination of the actual ground. His story switches carefully from the strategic & tactical problems of the battlefield to what it was like for the trooper riding down the valley or a Russian gunner serving his cannon. Through the novel use of sketches the reader can, at every stage, look down on the battlefield from the same position as that used by the British commander-in-chief, Lord Raglan. He sees the situation as Raglan saw it when he gave his order that launched the Brigade down the valley of death. Raglan gave the order, Captain Nolan delivered it, Lord Lucan received it, & the Earl of Cardigan executed it. History has disagreed over the share of the blame. This book makes a masterly analysis of the probabilities & discusses factors previously overlooked. There is a cogent argument, never made before, that the blunder was deliberate. The result is a gripping & definitive study of a debacle that has never ceased to enthral the imagination. ...

In the crazed aftermath of the late '80s northern pop explosion there have been few survivors. The Charlatans, however, still prosper despite once being percieved as runts of the Manchester music scene. The cruellest of luck has visited heartbreaking death, nervous exhaustion, a jail sentence, & the prospect of falling almost totally out of fashion upon them. & yet, a deceptively tough band with a charismatic lead singer, their combination of unnerving honesty, sheer pop talent, great live shows, & a total & touching commitment to their fans has seen them survive some of the worst disasters that fate has thrown at any pop group. They have remarkable street suss that, with their small town backgrounds makes them totally at one with their huge following -- a relationship that has given them a fistful number one albums. This is a tale of a love of pop & a lust for life. A story of northern pop & a band with guts & a passion for creativity. It traces the rise of the Charlatans from the fringes of the Manchester scene in the late Eighties to thier current position at the top pf British music, one of the key bands of the Nineties in possession of a rare & beautiful canon of great pop tunes. ...

Charlie gets into all sorts of sticky situations when his seaside summer holiday turns into a missing jewellery mystery
- & detective
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'I often feel as if I'd gladly sell my soul to Satan for a year of freedom. '

Rosamond Vivian has been brought up as a recluse

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It is 1948 & a young American couple arrive in France for a holiday, full of anticipation & enthusiasm. But the countryside & people are war-battered, & their reception at the Chateau Beaumesnil is not all the open-hearted Americans could wish for. ...

It is 1948 & a young American couple arrive in France for a holiday, full of anticipation & enthusiasm. But the countryside & people are war-battered, & their reception at the Chateau Beaumesnil is not all the open-hearted Americans could wish for. ...