Margaret Thatcher was the longest-serving Prime Minister of the twentieth century & one of the most influential figures of the postwar era. Volume One of Moore`s authorized biography gives unparalleled insight into her early life, especially through her extensive correspondence with her sister, & recreates brilliantly the atmosphere of British politics as she was making her way, taking us up to the zenith of her power: victory in the Falklands. Based on unrestricted access to all Lady Thatcher`s papers, unpublished interviews with her & all her major colleagues, this is the indispensable portrait of a towering figure of our times. ...

The sensational second volume of Charles Moore`s bestselling authorized biography of the Iron Lady In June 1983 Margaret Thatcher won the biggest increase in a government`s Parliamentary majority in British electoral history. Over the next four years, as Charles Moore relates in this central volume of his uniquely authoritative biography, Britain`s first woman prime minister changed the course of her country`s history & that of the world, often by sheer force of will. The book reveals as never before how she faced down the Miners` Strike, transformed relations with Europe, privatized the commanding heights of British industry & continued the reinvigoration of the British economy. It describes her role on the world stage with dramatic immediacy, identifying Mikhail Gorbachev as `a man to do business with` before he became leader of the Soviet Union, & then persistently pushing him & Ronald Reagan, her great ideological soulmate, to order world affairs according to her vision. For the only time since Churchill, she ensured that Britain had a central place in dealings between the superpowers. But even at her zenith she was beset by difficulties. The beloved Reagan two-timed her during the US invasion of Grenada. She lost the minister to whom she was personally closest to scandal & almost had to resign as a result of the Westland affair. She found herself isolated within her own government over Europe. She was at odds with the Queen over the Commonwealth & South Africa. She bullied senior colleagues & she set in motion the poll tax. Both these last would later return to wound her, fatally. In all this, Charles Moore has had unprecedented access to all Mrs Thatcher`s private & government papers. The participants in the events described have been so frank in interview that we feel we are eavesdropping on their conversations as they pass. We look over Mrs Thatcher`s shoulder as she vigorously annotates documents, so seeing her views on many particular issues in detail, & we understand for the first time how closely she relied on a handful of trusted advisors to help shape her views & carry out her will. We see her as a public performer, an often anxious mother, a workaholic & the first woman in western democratic history who truly came to dominate her country in her time. In the early hours of 12 October 1984, during the Conservative party conference in Brighton, the IRA attempted to assassinate her. She carried on within hours to give her leader`s speech at the conference (and later went on to sign the Anglo-Irish agreement). One of her many left-wing critics, watching her that day, said `I don`t approve of her as Prime Minister, but by God she`s a great tank commander.` This titanic figure, with all her capacities & all her flaws, storms from these pages as from no other book. ...

`I am as Ambitious as ever any of my Sex was, is, or can be; though I cannot be Henry the Fifth, or Charles the Second, yet I endeavour to be Margaret the First.` When Margaret Cavendish addressed the Royal Society in 1667, Samuel Pepys recorded that her dress was `so antic & her deportment so unordinary, that I do not like her at all`. & indeed, here vividly brought to life by Danielle Dutton, the shy, gifted, & wildly unconventional duchess is wholly `unordinary`, & all the better for it. Exiled to Paris at the start of the English Civil War, Margaret meets & marries William Cavendish &, with his encouragement, begins publishing volumes of poetry & philosophy, which soon become the talk of London. After the Restoration, upon their return to Engl&, Margaret`s infamy grows. She causes controversy wherever she goes, once attending the theatre with breasts bared, & earns herself the nickname ` Mad Madge`. Yet while scorned by many, to others Margaret is a visionary, & to later readers
- including Virginia Woolf
- she was to become an early precursor of feminism. She was the first woman invited to the Royal Society
- & the last for 200 years
- & the first Englishwoman to write explicitly for publication. Unjustly neglected by history, Margaret the First
- as she styled herself
- was a bright, shining paradox. Here, she is brought intimately & memorably to life, tumbling pell-mell across the pages of this exhilarating novel
- an `unordinary` portrait of a woman whose ambitions, & marriage, were often centuries ahead of her time.






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An enchanting true story of one man`s 20 year odyssey on the beautiful Greek island of Zakynthos. Dennis Potter was the first to enjoy early tales of life at the olive press, which he found `diverting & properly flavoured with yoghurt & honey`. ` The house is in a wild place & stands on its own
- like its owner` is the introduction Rodney Shields is given to the remote house on the beautiful Greek island of Zakynthos, which is to become his obsession for the next twenty years. The universal dream of finding an island paradise & making it reality is explored with wit & detail, & sometimes high drama. Rodney sets out with a vision: to find a property on the Greek island which he & his family have come to love. During his search he builds lasting friendships with islanders, becomes involved in the often tricky minutiae of Greek marital relations, until finding the ideal property
- & meeting its formidable owner, Margarita. This is followed by complicated negotiations in Greek property law
- the outcome of which are frequently reliant on a carrier bag full of almonds. All set amid the brilliant blue Ionian sea & olive groves which have enticed travellers for centuries. Having secured the property
- or at least part of it
- the drama continues over the next twenty years; rendering the place habitable by the use of mules, achieving a natural source of water without interference from snakes. Finally Rodney & his family can enjoy the simple pleasure of their island paradise amid old & new friends alike
- until the dream is threatened by an approaching island fire.





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Margate North in 1896 in a fascinating series of reproductions of old Ordnance Survey plans in the Alan Godfrey Editions, ideal for anyone interested in the history of their neighbourhood or family. The map covers the northern part of Margate, including much of Cliftonville Ward, stretching from Marine Drive & the Harbour eastward to Fifth Avenue, & from the shore southward to Cecil Square. Features include Fort Green, Trinity church, gas works, harbour, the Pier, jetty extension, brewery, college, Chateau Bellevue, Marine Palace, Fort Point, Clifton Baths, St Paul`s church, Esplanade, Market Place etc. On the reverse is a list of private residents, entries A to H. About the Alan Godfrey Editions of the 25” OS Series Selected towns in Great Britain & Ireland are covered by maps showing the extent of urban development in the last decades of the 19th & early 20th century. The plans have been taken from the Ordnance Survey mapping & reprinted at about 15 inches to one mile (1:4, 340). On the reverse most maps have historical notes & many also include extracts from contemporary directories. Most maps cover about one mile (1.6kms) north/south, one & a half miles (2.4kms) across; adjoining sheets can be combined to provide wider coverage.FOR MORE INFORMATION & A COMPLETE LIST OF ALL AVAILABLE TITLES PLEASE CLICK ON THE SERIES LINK. ...

` Isla Fisher is hilarious` DAVID WALLIAMS` Charming, funny, delightful: Marge is the babysitter all children would wish for` DAVID BADDIELWhistles at the ready. Marge is off! Have you met Marge? She has rainbow hair, tells wild stories & she`s the best babysitter in the whole world. Things do SOMETIMES go off the rails when Marge is around but Jakey & Jemima don`t mind that. After all, no one else could rescue a train, help Jakey`s wobbly tooth or cause chaos at the zoo! The third fun family story in the MARGE IN CHARGE series, written by actor & comedian Isla Fisher & illustrated throughout by Eglantine Ceulemans. ...

How can you hate someone in the present & love them in the past? Fliss`s mum needs peace & quiet to recuperate from a long illness, so they both move to the countryside to live with Margot, Fliss`s stern & bullying grandmother. Life on the farm is tough & life at school is even tougher, so when Fliss unearths Margot`s wartime diary, she sees an opportunity to get her own back. But Fliss soon discovers Margot`s life during the evacuation was full of adventure, mystery... & even passion. What`s more, she learns a terrible secret that could tear her whole family apart... ...

Margot Asquith was perhaps the most daring & unconventional Prime Minister`s wife in British history. Known for her wit, style & habit of speaking her mind, she transformed 10 Downing Street into a glittering social & intellectual salon. Yet her last five years at Number 10 were a period of intense emotional & political turmoil in her private & public life. In 1912, when Anne de Courcy`s book opens, rumblings of discontent & cries for social reform were encroaching on all sides
- from suffragettes, striking workers & Irish nationalists. Against this background of a government beset with troubles, the Prime Minister fell desperately in love with his daughter`s best friend, Venetia Stanley; to complicate matters, so did his Private Secretary. Margot`s relationship with her husband was already bedevilled by her stepdaughter`s jealous, almost incestuous adoration of her father. The outbreak of the First World War only heightened these swirling tensions within Downing Street. Drawing on unpublished material from personal papers & diaries, Anne de Courcy vividly recreates this extraordinary time when the Prime Minister`s residence was run like an English country house, with socialising taking precedence over politics, love letters written in the cabinet room & gossip & state secrets exchanged over the bridge table. By 1916, when Asquith was forced out of office, everything had changed. For the country as a whole, for those in power, for a whole stratum of society, but especially for the Asquiths & their circle, it was the end of an era. Life inside Downing Street would never be the same again.
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Margot Asquith was perhaps the most daring & unconventional Prime Minister`s wife in British history. Known for her wit, style & habit of speaking her mind, she transformed 10 Downing Street into a glittering social & intellectual salon. Yet her last four years at Number 10 were a period of intense emotional & political turmoil in her private & public life. In 1912, when Anne de Courcy`s book opens, rumblings of discontent & cries for social reform were encroaching on all sides
- from suffragettes, striking workers & Irish nationalists. Against this background of a government beset with troubles, the Prime Minister fell desperately in love with his daughter`s best friend, Venetia Stanley; to complicate matters, so did his Private Secretary. Margot`s relationship with her husband was already bedevilled by her stepdaughter`s jealous, almost incestuous adoration of her father. The outbreak of the First World War only heightened these swirling tensions within Downing Street. Drawing on unpublished material from personal papers & diaries, Anne de Courcy vividly recreates this extraordinary time when the Prime Minister`s residence was run like an English country house, with socialising taking precedence over politics, love letters written in the cabinet room & gossip & state secrets exchanged over the bridge table. By 1916, when Asquith was forced out of office, everything had changed. For the country as a whole, for those in power, for a whole stratum of society, but especially for the Asquiths & their circle, it was the end of an era. Life inside Downing Street would never be the same again.
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2015 is the year the redoubtable Marguerite Patten celebrates her 100th birthday. In her honour & to mark this memorable occasion Grub Street is reissuing a new edition of the first book we published by Marguerite back in 1999, her comprehensive Century of British Cooking. In this book each chapter covers one decade of the 20th century giving both history & recipes. The entire book is illustrated throughout in colour & black & white. Marguerite Patten OBE has written over 160 cookery books, sales of which amount to over 16 million worldwide. Her long & distinguished career, which began before the war, has included regular appearances on radio & television, live & televised cookery demonstrations, lectures as well as extensive journalism & authorship of books & cookery cards. Marguerite is one of Britain`s best known & loved cookery writers & has often been described as England`s Cookery Queen. Ainsley Harriott dubbed her ”the cookery icon of our times”. Her Century of British Cooking pulls together her life`s work, with over 200 recipes & is truly an important work of culinary history. ...