Elizabeth I who reigned over Shakespeares England & defeated the Spanish Armada is familiar both from her portraits & as Gloriana the Virgin Queen. Yet the reality of her character & her personal attitudes are harder to detect behind the public mask. Elizabeth I" a major biography by a leading Tudor expert looks in detail behind the public life at the private woman. It treats at length her early years & examines her actions & policies as queen. By any standards her life was an extraordinary one: her father Henry VIII executed her mother Anne Boleyn for whose sake he had set up the Church of England; her sister Queen Mary came near to having her executed. Coming to the throne in 1558 she remained the only unmarried queen regnant in Englands history holding for a woman unprecedented power. She faced major religious & political problems at home & abroad for much of her reign coping with them by a combination of guile procrastination & shrewdness. David Loadess biography brings out her remarkable talents & unique achievements." ...

Everybody knows that Elizabeth I was called the Virgin Queen that she had lots of admirers & refused to marry & that her army beat the Spanish Armada. But in this book readers can discover all the fascinating facts they didn't know...how Liz liked to lock up her ladies for getting married & how her reputation was nearly ruined when her boyfriend's wife was found dead at the bottom of the stairs. It offers everything you could ever want to know about the woman with the big red wig. ...

Ensure your students have access to the authoritative & in-depth content of this popular & trusted A Level History series. For over twenty years Access to History has been providing students with reliable engaging & accessible content on a wide range of topics. Each title in the series provides comprehensive coverage of different history topics on current AS & A2 level history specifications alongside exam-style practice questions & tips to help students achieve their best. The series:
- Ensures students gain a good understanding of the AS & A2 level history topics through an engaging in-depth & up-to-date narrative presented in an accessible way.
- Aids revision of the key A level history topics & themes through frequent summary diagrams
- Gives support with assessment both through the books providing exam-style questions & tips for AQA Edexcel & OCR A level history specifications & through FREE model answers with supporting commentary at Access to History online (www.accesstohistory.co.uk) Elizabeth I Meeting the Challenge: England 1541-1603 This title sets the scene from 1541 charting the developments of the Mid-Tudor crisis from Henry VIII to Mary I. It then goes on to analyse the succession of Elizabeth & her consolidation of power examining the political religious & military internal & external threats to her rule. The problems during her final years are also explored & this title concludes by looking at key themes & interpretations across the period.


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A different window on the first half of the famous Queens life. Elizabeth I is a historical novel narrated by the three women who knew her best (real figures from history) Lady Margaret Bryan Kat Ashley & Lady Catherine Knollys. Their unique backstage angle on Elizabeths story brings to vivid life the dramatic & dangerous period of the Tudors. Elizabeths formative years left harsh scars but at 25 she reached the throne to great rejoicing. Then came the sting in the tail: incredibly she (the last Tudor) refused to marry & provide vital heirs. Her country dreaded the likely outcome of civil war after her death. But selfishly the Queen put her private fears above her crucial public duty. Liz Woodhouses novel unfolds over the first half of Elizabeths life ending as she is 35 when a fearful desolation hangs over the court because of her refusal to marry
- a sharp contrast with her usual image today as Gloriana & Good Queen Bess. Illuminating the emotional journey from a constrained upbringing to a young Queen under siege to secure the line Elizabeth I is an engrossing historical read that will appeal to fans of Philippa Gregory & Alison Weir.
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At 1.28 a.m. on Wednesday 23 March 2011 just three weeks after celebrating her 79th birthday the biggest star Hollywood has ever known died. The tributes & eulogies to Elizabeth Taylor were legion. A weeping Elton John said We have just lost a Hollywood giant. More importantly we have lost an incredible human being. In Elizabeth Taylor: The Lady The Lover The Legend 1932-2011 acclaimed biographer David Bret has written the revealing incisive & definitive life story of the most controversial cinematic icon since Mae West. While never yielding in his admiration & respect Bret has stripped away the veneer to portray the star as she really was: sometimes arrogant attention-seeking avaricious reckless monstrous towards her peers generous even foolish at times but above all through the tumultuous relationships & the personal mayhem a survivor. Elizabeth Taylor was the very last of the Hollywood greats. As David Bret writes Most of her contemporaries
- Garbo Streisand & Dietrich excepted
- were compelled to walk in the shadow of her sun. Of todays stars not one may be deemed worthy of stepping even within a mile of that shadow.

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Elizabeth Taylor was one of the major film stars of the twentieth century embodying all the glamour & allure of Hollywood stardom. Yet her achievements as an actress have often been overshadowed by her beauty & tumultuous life off-screen. To redress this imbalance Susan Smith offers an illuminating study of Elizabeth Taylor's work in film exploring her fascinating trajectory from child to adult star. Smith reveals the influence that Taylor's early work exerted over her later career & the ways in which her on-screen identity is profoundly rooted in her association with animals & nature. Smith carefully unpicks what made Taylor such a distinctive & dynamic on-screen performer
- from the expressive use she made from her eyes to the dramatic significance of her voice
- & considers the importance of certain professional collaborations that Taylor forged during her career most notably her acting partnership with Montgomery Clift.

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Elizabeth the Jubilee Fairy is in charge of making every jubilee perfect! But when Jack Frost steals Elizabeth's Diamond Sceptre both fairy & human celebrations are headed for catastrophe. Can Kirsty & Rachel help Elizabeth find the sceptre so kings & queens everywhere can celebrate in style? ...

This is an intimate portrait of Her Majesty the Queen. As we celebrate her Diamond Jubilee this brand new biography of Queen Elizabeth II is the first all-round up-close picture of one of the most fascinating enigmatic & admired women in the world. With exclusive access to the Queen's personal letters close friends & associates this intimate biography is a treasure trove of fresh insights on her public persona & her private life. Here we see Queen Elizabeth going about her daily duties preparing for formal occasions playing with her children at the Palace crawling on her stomach to stalk deer donning yellow Marigolds to wash up after Balmoral cookouts & even changing a car wheel. Here we at last get to meet the leader strategist & diplomat; the daughter wife mother & grandmother
- Elizabeth the Queen.
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Elizabeth Woodville wife of Edward IV mother of Elizabeth of York & the Princes in the Tower & grandmother of Henry VIII has been vilified & defended in turn. Was she a cunning enchantress an ambitious advancer of her family's fortunes or a courageous & tragic figure who lost husbands brothers & sons during this turbulent period? Discover the real story of the ' White Queen'. Born into a family of Lancastrians the exceptionally beautiful Elizabeth captured the heart of the young Yorkist king Edward IV & found herself caught in the complex web of rivalries loves & conspiracies that lay at the heart of the Wars of the Roses. She would wield immense influence as queen watch her brother-in-law confine her sons to the Tower of London to face an unknown fate & ultimately unite the Houses of Lancaster & Y ork through the marriage of her daughter to Henry Tudor. ...

Francis Walsingham was the first spymaster in the modern sense. His methods anticipated those of MI5 & MI6 & even those of the KGB. He maintained a network of spies across Europe including double-agents at the highest level in Rome & Spain
- the sworn enemies of Queen Elizabeth & her Protestant regime. His entrapment of Mary Queen of Scots is a classic intelligence operation that resulted in her execution. As Robert Hutchinson reveals his cypher experts ability to intercept other peoples secret messages & his brilliant forged letters made him a fearsome champion of the young Elizabeth. Yet even this machiavellian schemer eventually fell foul of Elizabeth as her confidence grew (and judgement faded). The rise & fall of Sir Francis Walsingham is a Tudor epic vividly narrated by a historian with unique access to the surviving documentary evidence.
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