In The Story of England Michael Wood tells the extraordinary story of one English community over fifteen centuries from the moment that the Roman Emperor Honorius sent his famous letter in 410 advising the English to look to their own defences to the village as it is today The village of Kibworth in Leicestershire lies at the very centre of England It has a church some pubs the Grand Union Canal a First World War Memorial
- & many centuries of recorded history In the thirteenth century the village was bought by William de Merton who later founded Merton College Oxford with the result that documents covering 750 years of village history are lodged at the college Building on this unique archive & enlisting the help of the current inhabitants of Kibworth with a village-wide archeological dig with the first complete DNA profile of an English village & with use of local materials like family memorabilia the story of Kibworth is the story of England itself a ' Who Do You Think You Are?' for the entire nation ' Better than any historian for decades in In Search of England Wood brings home not just the ways in which buildings landscapes & written texts may be read but the sensual beauty of encounters with them' TLSMichael Wood was born & educated in Manchester He was an open scholar in Modern History at Oriel College Oxford where he held a Bishop Fraser scholarship in Medieval History as a postgraduate He has made a number of internationally successful tv series including In the Footsteps of Alexander the Great & four of his books have been UK non-fiction number one bestsellers His highly acclaimed book of essays on early English history In Search of England was published by Penguin in 1999
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Featuring Latinate & Celtic words weasel words & nonce-words ancient word ('loaf') to advanced ('twittersphere') & spanning the indispensable words that shape our tongue ('and' 'what') to the more fanciful ('fopdoodle') the author takes us along the winding byways of language via the rude the obscure & the downright surprising 288 pages Crystal David ...

Once upon a time in Spain there was a little bull & his name was Ferdinand Unlike all the other little bulls
- who run jump & butt
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An updated edition of the most accessible & compelling history of the cinema yet published now also a fascinating 15-hour film documentary ' The Story of Film An Odyssey' Film critic producer & presenter Mark Cousins shows how film-makers are influenced both by the historical events of their times & by each other He demonstrates for example how Douglas Sirk's Hollywood melodramas of the 1950s influenced Rainer Werner Fassbinder's despairing visions of 1970s Germany; & how George Lucas' Star Wars epics grew out of Akira Kurosawa's The Hidden Fortress The Story of Film is divided into three main epochs Silent (1885-1928) Sound (1928-1990) & Digital (1990-Present) & within this structure films are discussed within chapters reflecting both the stylistic concerns of the film-makers & the political & social themes of the time Film is an international medium so as well as covering the great American films & film-makers the book explores cinema in Europe Africa Asia Australasia & South America & shows how cinematic ideas & techniques cross national boundaries Avoiding jargon & obscure critical theory the author constantly places himself in the role of the moviegoer watching a film & asks How does a scene or a story affect us & why?' In so doing he gets to the heart of cinematic technique explaining how film-makers use lighting framing focal length & editing to create their effects Clearly written & illustrated with over 400 stills including numerous sequences explaining how scenes work The Story of Film is essential reading for both film students & the general moviegoer ...

The history of man-made flight for children growing in reading confidence From Da Vinci to the Wright Brothers find out how people dreamed of taking to the sky in complex flying machines before inventions such as hot-air balloons airships helicopters & of course aeroplanes made it all possible Usborne Young Reading has been developed with reading experts from Roehampton University ...

Johanna Spyri's Heidi is beautifully retold following the exploits of the orphaned girl sent to live in the Alps with her grumpy grandfather Part of Series 2 of the Usborne Young Reading Programme specially written for readers growing in confidence with clear engaging text & stunning original illustrations Developed in conjunction with reading experts from Roehampton University ...

Please note this is a region B Blu-Ray & will require a region B or region free Blu-Ray player in order to play For more than two thousand years India has been a massive component in world history But what are the country&s origins & how did it come to be what it is today? These are just two of the questions that Michael Wood tries to answer during his quest across the country Actors Michael Wood Certificate Exempt from Classification Year 2010 Screen Widescreen 1781 Languages English Duration 5 hours & 30 minutes (approx) ...

Neil Hegarty's bestselling history of Ireland is a story crowded with the drama of complex characters shifting allegiances & changing identities 416 pages Hegarty Neil ...

Please note this is a region 2 DVD & will require a region 2 (Europe) or region Free DVD Player in order to play Meticulously researched & beautifully filmed The Story of Ireland is the definitive 21st Century account of Ireland’s remarkable past Presented by Fergal Keane this expansive & outward-looking series offers an authoritative reappraisal of Ireland’s dramatic past looking at the evolution of the country in a global context & challenging some of the potent myths that have become an accepted facet of the country’s history It follows the evolution of the modern nation through waves of migration & emigration & highlights the key moments of Irish history from the adoption of Christianity through the Protestant plantation Great Famine & Partition to the Good Friday Agreement It also assesses the influence of prominent figures from Brian Boru Wolfe Tone & Daniel O’ Connell to eamon De Valera Michael Collins & WB Yeats ...

When the young Arthur pulls the embedded sword from the stone his future as the King of England is foretold This imaginative retelling of the classic legends recounts the story of Arthur's formation of the Knights of the Round Table his securing of the enchanted sword Excalibur his wooing of the Lady Guinevere & many other beloved Arthurian tales ...