What happens in an old farmhouse when the farmers have left? Perhaps only a poet-historian-storyteller can say. These traditional work centres were established centuries ago sometimes in the village street often far away in their own fields. But the pattern of the toil was the same. This quietly vanished a few years ago. Ronald Blythe describes the going of it in his celebrated Akenfield. Some years before this his friend John Nash had rescued an already abandoned farmhouse in the Stour Valley from total dereliction. It was called Bottengoms. Nobody knows why. John Nash called himself an Artist-Plantsman. Behind both artist & writer there existed many generations of farmers & shepherds. Old houses will always have their say. For Ronald Blythe at Bottengoms Farm it was in the form of a meditation on past & present. He found that the ancient place asked more questions than it gave answers & was challenging & was energetic rather than spent. It must have been part of a prehistoric settlement in a stony valley & also a farm seen by the young John Constable whose uncles ground its corn. For they were Bottengoms neighbours & were known to the artist as the Wormingford folk. Ronald Blythe himself knows what the old farm is talking about. Its great days & routine days its seasonal labour & play its faith & despair. Its land was both poor & rich in snatches flint fields & mossy pastures vast trees & weeds & high skies. Once Queen Elizabeth arrived to hunt below where the Stone Age people lay in their circular graves. Inside Bottengoms there are telling handprints & footprints everywhere & this is their tale. It is a tale told by a true countryman who has looked & listened all his life. & mostly in his native place. ...

Still in his mid thirties Michael Buble has a fan base as varied as the music he sings
- a hip mix of standards cleverly chosen
...

Etta Peter & Jonah all find themselves at a cabin by the shore of Yellow Lake & flung together in the terrifying series of events that follows. Jonah has come to Yellow Lake to try to get in touch with his Ojibwe roots. Peter is there to bury a lock of his mothers hair
- her final request. Etta is on the run from her mothers creepy boyfriend Kyle & his dodgy friends. But as the three take shelter in the cabin finding surprising solace in each others company they soon realise that they have inadvertently stumbled onto the scene of a horrifying crime & Kyle & his cronies have no intention of letting them escape. A sparkling debut from new teen author Jane Mc Loughlin At Yellow Lake will keep readers gripped until the final page. A page turning story which oozes menace. A fantastic debut & a treat for Young Adult readers." Anne Cassidy award-winning author of Looking for JJ"
...

42 atheist celebrities comedians scientists & writers give their funny & serious tips for enjoying the Christmas season. When the Atheist Bus Campaign was first launched over GBP150 000 was raised in four days
- enough to place the advert Theres probably no God. Now stop worrying & enjoy your life on 800 UK buses in January 2009. Now dozens of atheist writers comedians & scientists are joining together to raise money for a very different cause. The Atheists Guide to Christmas is a funny thoughtful handbook all about enjoying Christmas from 42 of the worlds most entertaining atheists. It features everything from an atheist Christmas miracle to a guide to the best Christmas pop hits & contributors include Richard Dawkins Charlie Brooker Derren Brown Ben Goldacre Jenny Colgan David Baddiel Simon Singh AC Grayling Brian Cox & Richard Herring. The full book advance & all royalties will go to the UK HIV charity Terrence Higgins Trust.
...

The powerful & innovative King Athelstan reigned only briefly (924-939) yet his achievements during those eventful twelve years changed the course of English history. He won spectacular military victories (most notably at Brunanburh) forged unprecedented political connections across Europe & succeeded in creating the first unified kingdom of the English. To claim for him the title of first English monarch" is no exaggeration. In this nuanced portrait of Athelstan Sarah Foot offers the first full account of the king ever written. She traces his life through the various spheres in which he lived & worked beginning with the intimate context of his family then extending outward to his unusual multi-ethnic royal court the Church & his kingdom the wars he conducted & finally his death & legacy. Foot describes a sophisticated man who was not only a great military leader but also a worthy king. He governed brilliantly developed creative ways to project his image as a ruler & devised strategic marriage treaties & gift exchanges to cement alliances with the leading royal & ducal houses of Europe. Athelstans legacy seen in the new light of this masterful biography is inextricably connected to the very forging of England & early English identity." ...

This book is an account of a disaster at sea the sinking by a German submarine of the passenger liner Athenia sailing from Liverpool to Montreal loaded with Americans Canadians & Europeans attempting to cross the Atlantic before the outbreak of war. Although 112 people were lost of whom 30 were the first Americans killed in the war 1 306 were rescued. Housewives children college students scientists actresses & Jewish refugees were among the victims & even young John F. Kennedy was called on to give assistance. The drama tragedy & triumph of their experiences are a central part of the story. But of course the book is also about war & politics. Indeed this is actually where the Second World War began. Here Germany having already invaded Poland in what was expected to be a limited war first struck the western Allies Britain & France. This was the first blow fired without warning just hours after war was declared. For Britain the sinking of the Athenia was seen as both a violation of international law & a return to the kind of total war Germany had waged in the Great War. The sinking of the Athenia immediately pushed Britain to adopt convoys to protect shipping & it served from the first to shape British public opinion toward the war. In Canada the sinking of the ship & particularly the death of the innocent ten year old Margaret Hayworth became emotional issues around which much of the nation could rally in support of the decision of Parliament to go to war. In the United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt was too wary to make the sinking of the Athenia the counterpart of the sinking of the Lusitania in the First World War. However the Athenia exposed Germany in the public mind as a serious threat to Americans & provided the opportunity for President Roosevelt to open direct communication with Winston Churchill. The Athenia helped to change public opinion in the United States sufficiently to amend the existing Neutrality Laws to allow the country to sell munitions & supplies to Britain & France
- a supportive first step to meeting the Nazi threat directly. So the sinking of the Athenia is a tale full of meaning & passion that deserves to be known.
...

Probably written by a student of Aristotle The Athenian Constitution is both a history & an analysis of Athens political machinery between the seventh & fourth centuries BC which stands as a model of democracy at a time when city-states lived under differing kinds of government. The writer recounts the major reforms of Solon the rule of the tyrant Pisistratus & his sons the emergence of the democracy in which power was shared by all free male citizens & the leadership of Pericles & the demagogues who followed him. He goes on to examine the citys administration in his own time
- the council the officials & the judicial system. For its information on Athens development & how the democracy worked The Athenian Constitution is an invaluable source of knowledge about the Athenian city-state.
...

Marco Polo Athens: the Travel Guide with Insider Tips This up-to-date authoritative guide contains information about what to see & where to eat & drink in Athens. There are tips on entertainment & shopping wellness & sport. The guide also comes with a street atlas & plan of the metro Travel Tips Useful Phrases in Greek & a comprehensive index. Once more it's fun to stroll round Athens. The place where antiquity & the present fuse has done a lot for itself in recent years. With MARCO POLO Athens you can explore a vibrant metropolis right next to the sea & learn about 5 000 years of history with the Acropolis at the centre. With this practical travel guide you can get a sense of the Athens of yesterday & today. Live music bars traditional inns trendy restaurants & overflowing with cafes. Outdoor concerts & theatre. The range of shopping facilities extends from flea market to high-end department stores. & there are museums for every taste. Metro or tram will easily take you to the coast or to the port at Piraeus from where there are day trips to idyllic islands & buses will take you to the places of antiquity in the immediate environs of Athens. The Insider Tips tell you where to spend a night by the sea or experience Satchmo instead of Sirtaki. The Best Of" pages tell you very succinctly what's to be found only in Athens; where the great places for free are; what's nice to do if it rains; & where you can relax & chill out. Explore the city & make discoveries in & around the Plaka Old Town. The Perfect Day introduces you to all facets of Athens. The Low Budget tips in each chapter show you how you can experience a great deal with very little money enjoy something special & snap up some real bargains. The Walking Tours chapter takes you through the city landscape of Athens & the surrounding area. Take a stroll through the Athens of today & classical Athens. The Dos & Don'ts warn you about certain bars & inauthentic folklore evenings. MARCO POLO Athens gives comprehensive coverage of all the city's districts. To help you find your way around there's a detailed street atlas practical map inside the back cover map of the metro network & overview maps of the Acropolis Delphi & Epidauros & removable pull-out map." ...

The historic market town of Atherstone developed on a mile long stretch of the Roman Road. Atherstone has been held in high esteem since medieval times & by 1880 there were many establishments accommodating the traders & travellers using this thoroughfare. Coal mining & hatting were the two main industries. As trade developed during the Industrial Revolution the population grew & overcrowding & poor living conditions were inevitable. The National Slum Clearances introduced in the 1930s put pressure on Atherstone Rural District Council to purchase land from private landowners to build new council houses. By the 1990s both the hatting & coal mining industries had completely diminished. This book takes the reader on a nostalgic journey through time comparing how day-to-day life has changed over the past one hundred years. ...

Training hard doesn't have to mean fuelling workouts with power bars & protein shakes. Runner's World" magazine's popular monthly column the " Athlete's Palate" features the dishes of all-star chefs such as Mark Bittman Jacques Torres Patricia Wells & Dan Barber. Now in " The Athlete's Palate Cookbook" these dishes along with more than 50 all-new recipes for small plates appetizers entrees & desserts are presented alongside profiles of the chef-athletes who created them. The first of its kind this gorgeously photographed full-colour cookbook

Includes:: recipes for Chicken with Quinoa Tahbouleh from Charlie Trotter Braised Short Ribs of Beef from Dan Barber & Shrimp Noodle Salad from Richard Sandoval. With suggested recipes for all phases of training this user-friendly cookbook is perfect for any runner cyclist swimmer or triathlete who wants to eat well while training hard."

...