Please note this is a region 2 DVD & will require a region 2 (Europe) or region Free DVD Player in order to play Join Michael Portillo for his third series as he travels the length & breadth of Great Britain by train in GREAT BRITISH RAILWAY JOURNEYS This set features 25 episodes covering 5 different journeys ...

Please note this is a region 2 DVD & will require a region 2 or region free DVD player in order to play SOUTHERN RAILWAY This programme compares how things have changed on Southern Rail from the early days It offers much rare footage beginning at one of the most important places on the system the Ashford works which were an oasis of steam with three of Harry Wainwright’s C class locomotives employed there as shunters As we travel on to the Channel ports we can see how these towns have changed with little sign of their previous existence as important destinations for boat trains GWR A nostalgic look at the GWR ‘ God’s Wonderful Railway’ as it was in the 1950s & 1960s & more recently Archive scenes capture the true essence of the GWR with its Brunellian stations & station platforms engines lines freight yards & engine sheds We can enjoy magnificent engines including some of the Castle & King Class that were turned out at Swindon These include the 4079 Pendennis castle 5029 Nunney Castle 7020 Gloucester Castle 6000 King George V 6024 King Edward I & others LMS This fascinating programme visits the LMS the largest railway company in the British Isles that served the heartlands of industry of the Midlands the shipping of the Manchester Ship Canal & the River Mersey the holiday resorts of the North West coast as well as North Wales & Scotland We see the significant changes within this operator between the age of steam & the modern railway We start our journey at the now closed Atherton Bag Lane aboard a Stanier 8F one of the workhorses of the LMS We then move on to the most charming of railways the Cromford & High Peak with its many sidings just as it is about to be axed LNER We start our nostalgic review at the best known of all LNER stations Kings Cross & on the lines going out of here we see a variety of Pacifics These include 60047 Donovan 60059 Tracery 60064 Tagalie & 60110 Robert the Devil all named after famous race horses As well as these wonderful steam locos we also see rushing through more modern units including Class 313s 317s & HSTs From here we go just a short distance to Liverpool Street Station & the Jazz Services steaming in & out including 70001 Lord Hurcomb 70030 William Wordsworth & 70007 Coeur de Lion BRITISH RAILWAYS Featuring rarely seen archive footage this programme offers a glimpse into Britains Railways as it recalls how things have changed from t he 1950s & the glory days of steam to recent times We see the dramatic changes that have happened with the elimination of steam pre & post-Beeching closures the loss of freight traffic to road haulage & long distance passenger traffic to planes & cars ...

Please note this is a region 2 DVD & will require a region 2 (Europe) or region Free DVD Player in order to play Features the sights & sounds of one of history&s greatest inventions the steam train This release in the GREAT BRITISH STEAM series focuses on British Railways (BR) ...

There's nothing much left to feel good about these days if you're British but one of the few things where we all agree that we're still a world leader is our defining sense of humour Thematically covering every subject imaginable from God to dogs this collection is the seminal gathering of our national wit & a picture of who we are as a nation
- a monument to our monumental silliness ' An Englishman even if he is alone forms an orderly queue of one' George Mikes Jane Austen Jo Brand Craig Brown Winston Churchill Alan Clark Jeremy Clarkson Billy Connolly Peter Cook Tommy Cooper Stephen Fry AA Gill Boris Johnson Samuel Johnson Maureen Lipman Spike Milligan Eric Morecambe William Shakespeare George Bernard Shaw Frank Skinner Sue Townsend Peter Ustinov Queen Victoria Oscar Wilde PG Wodehouse Victoria Wood & many more
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Visit 50 of the world&s most fascinating buildings from the Houses of Parliament to the Sydney Opera House on this stunning ...

THE NEW QUESTIONTen years after the worldwide bestseller Good to Great Jim Collins returns with another groundbreaking work this time to ask Why do some companies thrive in uncertainty even chaos & others do not? Based on nine years of research buttressed by rigorous analysis & infused with engaging stories Collins & his colleague Morten Hansen enumerate the principles for building a truly great enterprise in unpredictable tumultuous & fast-moving times THE NEW STUDY Great by Choice distinguishes itself from Collins's prior work by its focus not just on performance but also on the type of unstable environments faced by leaders today With a team of more than twenty researchers Collins & Hansen studied companies that rose to greatness
- beating their industry indexes by a minimum of ten times over fifteen years
- in environments characterized by big forces & rapid shifts that leaders could not predict or control The research team then contrasted these "10X companies" to a carefully selected set of comparison companies that failed to achieve greatness in similarly extreme environments THE NEW FINDINGSThe study results were full of provocative surprises Such as The best leaders were not more risk taking more visionary & more creative than the comparisons; they were more disciplined more empirical & more paranoid Innovation by itself turns out not to be the trump card in a chaotic & uncertain world; more important is the ability to scale innovation to blend creativity with discipline Following the belief that leading in a "fast world" always requires "fast decisions" & "fast action" is a good way to get killed The great companies changed less in reaction to a radically changing world than the comparison companies The authors challenge conventional wisdom with thought-provoking sticky & supremely practical concepts They include 10 Xers; the 20 Mile March; Fire Bullets then Cannonballs; Leading above the Death Line; Zoom Out Then Zoom In; & the SMa C Recipe Finally in the last chapter Collins & Hansen present their most provocative & original analysis defining quantifying & studying the role of luck The great companies & the leaders who built them were not luckier than the comparisons but they did get a higher Return on Luck This book is classic Collins contrarian data driven & uplifting He & Hansen show convincingly that even in a chaotic & uncertain world greatness happens by choice not by chance

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Please note this is a region 2 DVD & will require a region 2 (Europe) or region Free DVD Player in order to play This seven part documentary travelogue series follows much loved thespians Timothy West & his wife Prunella Scales as they navigate some of the most breath-taking stretches of canal in Britain & France Each episode tells the history of a different canal network Along the way Tim & Prunella will meet the local characters who live work or just enjoy the canals & witness first-hand how canal life has changed over the years

Includes:: the episodes Kennet & Avon Veteran actors Timothy West & Prunella Scales celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary by heading to the West Country to travel along a canal close to their hearts the fully restored Kennet & Avon which they helped restore 40 years ago Pru&s increasing forgetfulness due to her dementia doesn&t stop them enjoying the sights characters & wildlife along a picturesque the 21-mile stretch of water from Bath to Devizes Rochdale Tim & Pru tackle the Rochdale Canal
- a waterway that was a main artery for the textile industry at the height of the Industrial Revolution They begin in Sowerby Bridge West Yorkshire & head west through Mytholmroyd before journeying up over the Pennines to the canal summit more than 600ft above sea level Llangollen Tim & Pru head to Llangollen Denbighshire where they spent their honeymoon Reminiscing over how their relationship has survived & thrived over the past 50 years the pair take in the picturesque sights of the Vale of Llangollen & the Montgomery Canal before travelling on a horse-drawn barge up the Horseshoe Falls Canal du Nivernais Tim & Pru conclude their odyssey in the Burgundy region of France where they travel along the Canal du Nivernais which passes through towns & villages steeped in history They visit the market town of Chablis to help with the annual grape harvest & the medieval city of Auxerre before reflecting on what the journey has meant to them as a married couple Oxford Timothy West & Prunella Scales embark on another waterway adventure starting in the romantic city of Oxford where they began their courtship many years ago They follow the gentle contours of the Oxford Canal through the Cherwell Valley where they meet novelist Philip Pullman & are joined by their son fellow actor Samuel West Tim & Pru follow in the footsteps of author Tom Rolt whose vivid account of his journey down this canal in 1939 ignited a campaign that went on to save Britain&s canals from extinction Canal du Midi Built nearly a century before the British canal system the Canal du Midi in the south of France has been designated a world heritage site Tim & Pru explore a picturesque stretch as is it meanders toward the Mediterranean They visit the town of Beziers & the Malpas Tunnel
- Europe&s first navigable canal tunnel
- & taste the delights of lamb&s brain fritters & a brandy that is almost 200 years old Forth & Clyde & Union Canals In a coast-to-coast adventure from Edinburgh to Glasgow Tim & Pru travel along the Forth & Clyde Canal & the Union Canal taking in Scotland&s highest aqueduct & longest canal tunnel as well some striking examples of 21st-century engineering & monumental sculptures




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Statins are the so-called wonder drugs widely prescribed to lower blood cholesterol levels & claim to offer unparalleled protection against heart disease Believed to be completely safe & capable of preventing a whole series of other conditions they are the most profitable drug in the history of medicine In this groundbreaking book GP Malcolm Kendrick exposes the truth behind the hype revealing high cholesterol levels don't cause heart disease; a high-fat diet
- saturated or otherwise
- does not affect blood cholesterol levels; & the protection provided by statins is so small as to be not worth bothering about for most men & all women Statins have many more side affects than has been admitted & their advocates should be treated with scepticism due to their links with the drugs' manufacturers Kendrick lambastes a powerful pharmaceutical industry & unquestioning medical profession who he claims perpetuate the madcap concepts of 'good' & 'bad' cholesterol & cholesterol levels to convince millions of people to spend billions of pounds on statins thus creating an atmosphere of stress & anxiety
- the real cause of fatal heart disease With clarity & wit The Great Cholesterol Con debunks our assumptions on what constitutes a healthy lifestyle & diet It is the invaluable guide for anyone who thought there was a miracle cure for heart disease an appeal to common sense & a controversial & fascinating breakthrough that will set dynamite under the whole area


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This beautifully illustrated book explores the world's most celebrated historical city maps in stunning detail Follow the history ...

Please note this is a region 2 DVD & will require a region 2 (Europe) or region Free DVD Player in order to play Steered by his 1913 & Bradshaw&s Continental Railway Guide& Michael Portillo journeys through a prosperous pre-war Europe of emperors & kings pomp & elegance A continent whose industrialists factories & mines had created wealth whose scientists & engineers were discovering & constructing the marvellous & whose artists were challenging old ways whilst intellectuals plotted revolution This early 20th century handbook opened up an exotic world to the Edwardian tourist; from glittering cosmopolitan cities dramatic Alpine landscapes to warm sparkling seas & picturesque villages Following in their footsteps Michael visits the towns cities & villages listed by his Bradshaw&s guide Travelling from station to station he stays in the recommended hotels explores the magnificent sights samples local traditions takes in many of the continent s most spectacular rail routes & visits some of the central locations in the unfolding Great War story Across 4 discs in total Series 1 comprises 5 episodes London to Monte Carlo Hungary to Austria Berlin to the Rhein Switzerland Amsterdam to Northern France Series 2 comprises 6 episodes Madrid to Gibraltar Turin to Venice Dresden to Kiel Copenhagen to Oslo Prague to Munich Bordeaux to Bilbao ...