A wonderful story of good versus evil set in amongst the church mice & their friend the church cat Sampson. Good wins through; the rats come to a very sticky end (finding a new home in a glue factory) & the church mice & Sampson get their home back. Other titles in the series won the New York Times Best Illustrated Children's Book award & were nominated for the Kate Greenaway Medal. ...

Another favourite Church Mouse story available for a whole new audience to enjoy. In a bid to save the leaky vestry roof the church mice decide to raise some money by entering Sampson into a cat show. He soon wins when the mice invoke havoc by winding up all of the other cat contestants. Sampson continues to win show after show until he is catnapped & held to ransom. It is up to Arthur & Humphrey to save him & outwit the thieves ...

Tom Cruise & John Travolta say the Church of Scientology is a force for good. Others disagree. Award-winning journalist John Sweeney investigated the Church for more than half a decade. During that time he was intimidated spied on & followed & the results were spectacular: Sweeney lost his temper with the Churchs spokesman on camera & his infamous exploding tomato clip was seen by millions around the world. In THE CHURCH OF FEAR Sweeney tells the full story of his experiences for the first time & paints a devastating picture of this strange organisation from former Scientologists who tell heartbreaking stories of families torn apart & lives ruined to its current followers who say it is the solution to many of mankinds problems. This is the real story of the Church by the reporter who was brave enough to take it on. ...

The essential handbook for everyone in church governance at any level this new edition has been updated to reflect the changes to the church representation rules since 2006 including the 2009 Statutory Instrument & the 2009 update to the Code of Recommended Practice to the Pastoral Measure 1983. Also included are the rules governing: the formation & revision of the electoral roll; the minimum qualifying age for election to the Parochial Church Council; methods of voting at the Annual Parochial Church Meetings; chairmanship of the Parochial Church Council & the number & term of office of its lay members; membership of deanery synods & how the number of lay members to be elected to them is calculated; & membership of & elections to the House of Laity of the General Synod. An essential purchase for all clergy churchwardens PCC & synod members. ...

Winston Churchills inspiring leadership in the Second World War once put him above criticism. In recent years his record has come under attack. This book makes sense of this extraordinary man & his controversial & heroic career. Best brings out Churchills strengths & weaknesses looking past the many received versions of Churchill in a biography that balances the private & the public man & offers a fresh insight into his character. ...

From the admiralty to the miners strike from the Battle of Britain to the Nobel Prize Churchill oversaw some of the most important events the World has ever seen. Roy Jenkins faithfully presents these events while also managing to convey the contradictions & quirks in Churchills character. In depth analysis & brilliant historical research make this a magnificent one-volume biography of an extraordinary life. In some ways a companion piece to his excellent biography of Gladstone Churchill" is packed with insights that only a fellow politician could convey. " There is no doubt that he has surpassed himself. This is the biography of the year."
- Robert Mc Crum " Observer". " This is a first class well-sustained work of history & a masterpiece of biography "
- Andrew Roberts " Sunday Telegraph". " Lord Jenkins of Hillhead is an outstanding biographer...it has the narrative power sweep & sparkle of the author in his prime."
- John Grigg " Times"."


...

This edition of the highly acclaimed one-volume CHURCHILL: A LIFE is the story of adventure. It follows Winston Churchill from his earliest days to his moments of triumph. Here the drama & excitement of his story are ever-present as are his tremendous qualities in peace & war not least as an orator & as a man of vision. Martin Gilbert gives us a vivid portrait using Churchill's most personal letters & the recollections of his contemporaries both friends & enemies to go behind the scenes of some of the stormiest & most fascinating political events of our time dominated by two world wars & culminating in the era of the Iron Curtain & the hydrogen bomb. ...

Winston Churchill is one of the dominating figures of the 20th century. In this stimulating & original book David Dilks presents Churchill not only as a war leader & international statesman but also as a private person with a rich variety of friendships & rivalries. New & penetrating light is directed on Churchill during World War II. This was a period of dramatic relationships: conflicts with General de Gaulle in contrast with respect & affection for Roosevelt (feelings not entirely reciprocated by the American president). In the post-war era relations with Stalin & precoccupation with the Soviet Union & the Cold War all dominated Churchills subsequent career a time when he was able to renew his working relationship with his wartime colleague General
- now President
- Eisenhower. Whether in or out of office Churchills influence was felt in all areas of British politics. David Dilks brings Churchill vividly to life for all those interested in modern British military & international history.

...

One of our finest narrative historians & journalist for the SUNDAY TIMES & LITERARY REVIEW Lawrence James has written a genuinely new biography of Winston Churchill set within a fully detailed historical context but solely focusing on his relationship with the British Empire. As a young army officer in the late 19th century Churchill's first experience of the Empire was serving in conflicts in India South Africa & the Sudan. His attitude towards the Empire at the time was the stereotypical Victorian paternalistic approach
- a combination of feeling responsible & feeling superior. Conscious even then of his political career ahead Churchill's natural benevolence towards the Empire was occasionally overruled for political reasons & he found himself reluctantly supporting
- or at least not publicly condemning
- British atrocities. As a politician he consistently relied on the Empire for support during crises but was angered by any demands for nationalisation. He held what many would regard today as racist views in that he felt that some nationalities were superior to others but he didn't regard those positions as fixed. His (some might say obsequious) relationship with America reflected that view. America was a former colony where the natives had become worthy to rule themselves but
- he felt
- still had that tie to Britain. Thus he overlooked the frequently expressed American view that the Empire was a hangover from a bygone era of colonisation & reflected poorly on Britain's ability to conduct herself as a political power in the current world order. This outmoded attitude was one of the reasons the British voters rejected him after a Second World War in which
- it was universally felt
- he had led the country brilliantly. His attitude remained Victorian in a world that was shaping up very differently. However it would be a mistake to consider Churchill merely as an anachronistic soldier. He grasped the problems of the Cold War immediately believing that immature nations prematurely given independence would be more likely to be sucked into the vortex of Communism. This view chimed with American foreign policy & made the Americans rather more pragmatic about their demands for self-governance for Empire countries. Lawrence James has written a fascinating portrait of an endlessly interesting statesman
- & one that

Includes:: tantalising vignettes about his penchants for silk underwear & champagne.









...

Following the German invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941 Churchill & Stalin secretly agreed that Britain would infiltrate Soviet agents into occupied Western Europe. Liaison began between the NKVD & the SOE each countrys secret service. Transported in convoys across the Arctic Ocean & often attacked by German U-Boats thirty-four men & women arrived in Scotl&. To stop people finding out that Britain was helping the Communists the agents were given false identities & provided with accommodation & training at remote country houses in southern England including Beaulieu. Codenamed PICKAXES they were sent for parachute practice at Ringway aerodrome provided with documents cover stories & wireless sets & sent on clandestine missions into France Belgium Holland Austria Germany & Italy. Whilst most were sent from RAF Tempsford Churchills Most Secret airfield one was sent by boat across the Channel & another by submarine into Northern Italy. Only a few survived the war as most were caught interrogated & executed. Based on extensive research Bernard OConnor tells their human stories enmeshed in a web of political intrigue & diplomacy. ...