Odo of Conteville, the younger half-brother of William the Conqueror, was ordained Bishop of Bayeux while still in his teens. A larger than life character, he is best known for commissioning the Bayeaux Tapestry, in which he makes a dashing appearance at the height of the Battle of Hastings. He also played a pivotal role in the planning & implementation of the Conquest of Engl&, after which, as Earl of Kent, he was second only to William in wealth & power. The popular impression of Odo is of a not so loveable rogue, who typified the worst excesses of the Norman conquerors. He was the first Chief Justice of England & on occasion also acted as regent when the king was in Normandy. After defrauding both Crown & Church, however, Odo was disgraced & his plans to raise an unauthorised army for a campaign in Italy, possibly in order to gain the papacy, saw him imprisoned for five years. He was released by the dying William in 1087, but soon rebelled against the new king, his nephew William Rufus. Yet Odo was far from being a loutish philistine. The bishop recognised the value of education & the arts & amongst his less well-known activities was his generous patronage of both. Trevor Rowley`s book is the first full-length biography of Odo, which seeks to redress this balance & to make Bishop Odo`s extraordinary life-story known. ...

` Smart, funny, & deeply wise` Mirabai Starr`A funny, courageous, & inspiring memoir about one woman`s journey into the unknown` Elisabeth Eaves, author of Wanderlust: A Love Affair with Five Continents Any cute boys? Natasha Scripture`s 64-year-old Indian mother wants to know. Once again, Natasha finds herself explaining that it is not easy to find a husband while serving as a relief worker in refugee camps, war zones & natural disaster areas. Yet returning to New York, still reeling from the sudden death of her father, Natasha realizes that no matter how many dates she goes on, she is no closer to finding that special someone to fill the imaginary void inside her. Exasperated by her search for love, she embarks on a `man fast`, where she stops looking for a relationship & instead turns inward to explore the question at the heart of her anxiety: what is her purpose? This soul-searching takes her deep into the wilderness: from meditating in an Ayurvedic ashram in southern India to toiling on a vineyard on Mount Etna to going on a solo-safari in southern Tanzania (where she also marries herself-yes, it`s a thing). In stepping away from the demands of modern life & societal pressure to couple up, Natasha finds a space where she allows herself to become fully present & awake: to her grief, to her identity, & to love as a mystical, ever-present force. This is a book to inspire readers who also want to discover their truest, wildest, most empowered selves. ...

The Man in the Iron Mask is the final episode in the cycle of novels featuring Dumas' celebrated foursome of D' Artagnan, Athos, Porthos & Aramis, who first appeared in The Three Musketeers. Some thirty-five years on, the bonds of comradeship are under strain as they end up on different sides in a power struggle that may undermine the young Louis XIV & change the face of the French monarchy. In the fast-paced narrative style that was his trademark, Dumas pitches us straight into the action. What is the secret shared by Aramis & Madame de Chevreuse? Why does the Queen Mother fear its revelation? Who is the mysterious prisoner in the Bastille? & what is the nature of the threat he poses? Dumas, the master storyteller, keeps us reading & guessing until the climactic scene in the grotto of Locmaria, a fitting conclusion to the epic saga of the musketeers. ...

This is the chilling tale of a painting so terrifying, its secrets will haunt those who see it... It is a ghost story by the author of ” The Woman in Black”. A mysterious depiction of masked revellers at the Venice carnival hangs in the college rooms of Oliver`s old professor in Cambridge. On this cold winter`s night, i eerie secret is revealed by the ageing don. The dark art of the Venetian scene, instead of imitating life, has the power to entrap it. To stare into the painting is to play dangerously with the unseen demons it hides, & become the victim of its macabre beauty... ...

Hand built solid wood in distressed French finish. An age-old hallowed tradition. These long, narrow & fast wooden racers were cut up in sections when retired. Transformed into bookcases they lined the halls & bars of fraternities the world over. Oars were painted with crests & races, names & dates, & wall-hung. AM’s latest is an exact replica of a late 19th C. prow of a man-of-eight that once cut through the rippling waters of the inland Thames. If we do not have this item in stock we will order it for you from our supplier. Delivery generally takes 3 weeks within the UK. For overseas delivery queries please email sales@stanfords.co.uk ...

The enthralling biography of the shepherd boy who changed the world with his revolutionary engineering & whose genius we still benefit from today Thomas Telford`s name is familiar; his story less so. Born in 1757 in the Scottish Borders, his father died in his infancy, plunging the family into poverty. Telford`s life soared to span almost eight decades of gloriously obsessive, prodigiously productive energy. Few people have done more to shape our nation. Thomas Telford invented the modern road. A stonemason turned architect turned engineer, he built churches, harbours, canals, docks & the famously vertiginous Pontcysyllte aqueduct in Wales. He created the backbone of our national road network. His bridges are some of the most dramatic & beautiful ever built, most of all the Menai Bridge, a wonder then & now, which spans the dangerous channel between the mainland & Anglesey. His constructions were the most stupendous in Europe for a thousand years, &
- astonishingly
- almost everything he ever built remains in use today. Telford was a complex man: a shepherd`s boy who loved the countryside but helped industrialise it; an ambitious man who cared little for accolades; highly sociable & charming, but peculiarly private about his personal life; & an engineer who was also a poet. He cherished a vision of a country connected to transform mobility & commerce: his radical politics lay not in ideas but the creation of useful, solid things. In an age in which economics, engineering & national identity came together, Thomas Telford`s life was a model of what can be achieved by persistence, skill & ambition. Drawing on contemporary accounts, this, the first full modern biography of Telford, at once intimate & expansive, is an utterly original portrait. It is a book of roads & landscapes, waterways & bridges, but above all, of how one man transformed himself into the greatest engineer Britain has ever produced.

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The enthralling Sunday Times-bestselling biography of the shepherd boy who changed the world with his revolutionary engineering & whose genius we still benefit from today Thomas Telford`s name is familiar; his story less so. Born in 1757 in the Scottish Borders, his father died in his infancy, plunging the family into poverty. Telford`s life soared to span almost eight decades of gloriously obsessive, prodigiously productive energy. Few people have done more to shape our nation.A stonemason turned architect turned engineer, Telford invented the modern road, built churches, harbours, canals, docks, the famously vertiginous Pontcysyllte aqueduct in Wales & the dramatic Menai Bridge. His constructions were the greatest in Europe for a thousand years, &
- astonishingly
- almost everything he ever built remains in use today. Intimate, expansive & drawing on contemporary accounts, Man of Iron is the first full modern biography of Telford. It is a book of roads & landscapes, waterways & bridges, but above all, of how one man transformed himself into the greatest engineer Britain has ever produced.

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Jamie Johnson starts the season on fire. He`s playing for his beloved Hawkstone
- & he`s the top scorer in the country. But when
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In his brilliant first book, ”150 Things Every Man Should Know”, Gareth May instructed the young man about town in vital life lessons such as how to undo a girl`s bra with one h&, & how to down a pint without being sick. All is well & good. But there comes a time in most young men`s lives when, their education completed, they decide to spread their wings & travel to foreign climes. From international dining etiquette to the safe ascension of Kilimanjaro, & surviving a shark attack to cooling cans of beer in the Savanna sun, Gareth`s simple & brilliantly executed new book is a must-have for the modern man setting off, passport in h&, for the first time. Covering every possible travel scenario
- from must-visit nudist colonies, to tips on how to organise the ultimate stag weekend abroad; from where to experience the most exhilarating white water raft run in the world, to how to get married by an Elvis-lookalike in Vegas
- never before has a book listed how to read global currency rates on one page, & how to drink snake blood in Cambodia on the next. With comprehensive cool city guides for the young dude & the most unexpected travel tips you`re likely to read anywhere, armed with Man of the World in their backpack, blokes everywhere will be able not only to woo their woman in Paris but also tip the bellboy accordingly. This is the ultimate tailored for testosterone travel guide.

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A powerful & touching novel from the Booker-shortlisted author of Pigeon English `A writer of considerable talent` Financial Times I was beating the life out of Bibhuti with a baseball bat when my first monsoon broke... John Lock has come to India to meet his destiny. He has fled the quiet desperation of his life in England to offer his help to a man who has learned to conquer pain, a world record breaker who specialises in feats of extreme endurance & ill-advised masochism. In answering Bibhuti`s call for assistance, John hopes to rewrite a brave end to a life poorly lived. But as they take their leap of faith together, & John is welcomed into Bibhuti`s family, & into the colour & chaos of Mumbai, he learns more about life, & death, & everything in between than he could ever have bargained for. ...