Great Britain can be accused of many things; a proliferation of queuing, a fondness of the demon drink; but it`s not without more than its fair share of important historical & modern people. Great Britons: A Very Peculiar History looks at a myriad brillliant Britons & their influence on the world. The book features a short potted history of each person, detailing their acheivements, personalities & lifestyles in a quirky & memorable way. From kings & queens, pirates & politicians, actors & directors to sportsmen, explorers, scientists & inventors, Great Britons: A Very Peculiar History celebrates the men & women who have shaped Great Britain & made it what it is today. ...

A spectacular visual tour of the world's greatest buildings Great Buildings takes you to an amazing tour of 50 of the world's architectural masterpieces from the Houses of Parliament to the Sydney Opera House. Discover how to read a building, identify key characteristics of architecture & get underneath the bricks & mortar with stunning 3-D cutaways. Come face-to-face with some of the greatest architects to have lived & find out how the styles, techniques & materials they used helped create these iconic buildings. Great Buildings is an excellent introduction to architecture as well as being a great read for the connoisseur
- it really is like being taken on a personal tour by a knowledgeable guide.
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Aprons on, recipes at the ready
- it`s time for the biggest, bestest, bunniest baking competition. Only
- who is this strangely

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For more than half a century, a shared love of canals & narrowboats has been inseparable from the marriage of Timothy West & Prunella Scales. The two iconic actors have spent many of the happiest days of their life together enjoying the calming pleasures of watching land & nature unfold before them at four miles an hour. In 2014, Tim & Pru took to the canals of Britain & beyond with a television crew & a brief to record their best-loved trips along the most beautiful waterways they could find. Little did anyone guess that their seemingly light-hearted travelogue, & the story of their lives that it revealed, would transcend the programme`s gentle facade, becoming something entirely more powerful. From the outset, the reflective undertones of the possibilities of later life, & the realities of Prunella`s dementia, struck a chord with viewers around the country. Now in its seventh series, the show has been described as `beautiful & meditative` by the Guardian, `touching` by the Independent & `a hymn to the possibilities of later life` by the Telegraph, there is no finer, nor more thought-provoking, travelogue on British television. In this handsomely presented book, Timothy West tells the story of the couple`s life & travels. Illustrated throughout with beautiful photography, Our Great Canal Journeys recounts their storied careers as actors while recording their remarkable journeys along some of the world`s most scenic waterways. Beyond this, however, it explores with sensitivity the trials, but also the joys, of ageing, & how Prunella`s struggle with dementia has both changed, & yet failed to change, their lives together. By turns humorous & poignant, Our Great Canal Journeys is at once a beautifully observed ode to a unique, magical method of travelling the world, & a warm meditation upon love, learning & life. ...

The destruction of the Armenians of the Ottoman Empire in 1915-16 was a brutal mass crime that prefigured other genocides in the 20th century. By various estimates, more than a million Armenians were killed & the survivors were scattered across the world. Although it is now a century old, the issue of what most of the world calls the Armenian Genocide of 1915 has not been consigned to history. It is a live & divisive political issue that mobilizes Armenians across the world, touches the identity & politics of modern Turkey, & has consumed the attention of U.S. politicians for years. In Great Catastrophe, the eminent scholar & reporter Thomas de Waal looks at the changing narratives & politics of the Armenian Genocide & tells the story of recent efforts by courageous Armenians, Kurds, & Turks to come to terms with the disaster as Turkey enters a new post-Kemalist era. The story of what happened to the Armenians in 1915-16 is well-known. Here we are told the much less well-known story of what happened to Armenians, Kurds, & Turks in its aftermath. First Armenians were divided between the Soviet Union & a worldwide diaspora, with different generations & communities of Armenians constructing new identities, while bitter intra-Armenian quarrels sometimes broke out into violence. In Turkey, the Armenian issue was initially forgotten & suppressed, only to return to the political agenda in the context of the Cold War, an outbreak of Armenian terrorism in the 1970s & the growth of modern ”identity politics” in the age of genocide-consciousness. In the last decade, Turkey has begun to confront its taboos & finally face up to the Armenian issue. New, more sophisticated histories are being written of the deportations of 1915, now with the collaboration of Turkish scholars. In Turkey itself there has been an astonishing revival of oral history, with tens of thousands of people coming out of the shadows to reveal a long-suppressed Armenian identity. However, a normalization process between the Armenian & Turkish states broke down in 2010. Drawing on archival sources, reportage & moving personal stories, de Waal tells the full story of Armenian-Turkish relations since the Genocide in all its extraordinary twists & turns. He strips away the propaganda to look both at the realities of a terrible historical crime & also the divisive ”politics of genocide” it produced. The book throws light not only on our understanding of Armenian-Turkish relations but also of how mass atrocities & historical tragedies shape contemporary politics. ...

The Great Cities in History is a generously illustrated, coffee table reference book, featuring essays by over fifty distinguished authors & edited by John Julius Norwich. From the origins of urbanization in Mesopotamia to modern day global metropolises, cities represent the development of civilization through history perhaps better than anything else. John Julius Norwich has compiled not only an informative & inviting work of history, but also a work on art & architecture, trade & commerce, economics & politics: a work above all about people & about the great cities they have inhabited throughout history. Authors include Jan Morris, Colin Thubron, Orlando Figes, Adam Zamoyski, Simon Schama & A N Wilson. ...

Today 3 billion of the world's people live in urban areas. In 2007, for the first time, city-dwellers will exceed in number those living in rural areas, &, according to United Nations' demographic experts, by 2030 they will total 5 billion against the 3.2 billion in non-urban areas. Large cities have prospered in both the ancient & recent past, contributing immeasurably to the development of human culture in terms of knowledge, the arts, architecture, & industrial progress. However, only during the last 50 years have cities have influenced our everyday lives strongly; not until today have conglomerations of 20 or 30 million people existed. Cities are chosen from across the six continents. Some like Athens, Rome & Cairo, have fascinated visitors for thousands of years. Others are just a few centuries old, like Cape Town, Singapore, Sydney or St. Petersburg, built on the orders of Peter the Great at the start of the 18th century. Some cities are vast, with populations in continual, rapid expansion. Others, particularly in Europe, number just a few hundreds of thousands inhabitants; their greatness belongs to past historical eras. Great Cities of the World examines civilization through the places man where man has chosen to live, & where stable, long-lasting communities have been built up. The book describes these cities' histories & architecture. An established series; features 56 of the World's largest & greatest cities. ...

Step onto the streets of cities around the world, & understand the cultures & civilizations that created them with Great City Maps. This beautifully illustrated book explores the world`s most celebrated historical city maps. Richly detailed ancient & modern maps of important cities take you on a journey across the globe in stunning detail, from Athens to Alexandria & Cape Town to Cairo, with close up views of each city`s most intriguing features. Great City Maps gives you more than just a bird`s-eye-view, telling the tales behind the city from the hubs of ancient civilization to modern mega-cities. Follow the history of maps & their stories, with profiles of iconic cartographers & artists showing you who created each map, how, & why. Perfect for history, geography & cartography enthusiasts & a stunning gift for armchair explorers of all ages, Great City Maps is your window into the world`s most fascinating cities. ...

This is a new edition of the classic search, sure to keep children entertained for hours on end, whilst developing important visual recognition, matching & counting skills. Each beautifully illustrated scene, including a bustling train station, a noisy building site & a busy hospital, features a brain-teasing picture puzzle. This title is also packed with fascinating geography facts presented in short, easy-to-read captions. ...

This is the boxed set of two classic & perennial mountaineering autobiographies
- the picture stories of the climbs of our two
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