What are the 50 key events you need to understand to grasp British history? If you could choose the 50 things that define British history events of significance not only in themselves but in their importance to wider themes running through our past what would they be? Hugh Williams has made that selection & the result is a fascinating overview of Britain s past. He refines British history into a series of key themes that represent a crucial strand in our history & pinpoints the seminal events within those strands
- Roots from the Roman invasion to Britain s entry into the Common Market; Fight Fight & Fight Again from the Battle of Agincourt to the Falklands War; The Pursuit of Liberty from the Magna Carta through the Glorious Revolution to the foundation of the NHS; Home & Abroad from Sir Francis Drake & Clive of India to the arrival of the SS Empire Windrush; & All Change from Chaucer & the English language to the invention of the jet engine. With great clarity simplicity & a zest for the marvellous stories that underpin many of these events Hugh Williams explains the linkage between each one & its importance in the progress of British history as a whole. Along the way he has some fascinating tales to tell making this a highly enjoyable read as well as a perceptive insight into our shared past & vital for anyone who wants quickly & enjoyably to grasp the essential facts about Britain s history.
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Faced by the necessity of replacing its classic Pacific type steam locomotives on the East Coast main line British Railways constructed the 22-strong Deltic class. Developed from the prototype DP1 & now preserved as part of the National Collection the class derived its nickname from the use of the Napier Deltic diesel engine. Initially allocated to three depots; Haymarket Gateshead & Finsbury Park the locomotives proved to be highly successful on the East Coast express services for which they were designed. However as a small class the cost in maintenance was such that when the replacement Inter City 125s were introduced the decision was taken to withdraw the class. In later years the class was also to see operation away from their traditional haunt being used on services between Liverpool & Newcastle. The entire class was taken out of service between January 1980 & January 1982 with six of the class eventually being preserved. In the 30 years since the types withdrawal the surviving members of the class have been seen on a number of preserved lines & on the main line. The continuing interest in the class was evinced in early 2007 when it was announced that there was a possibility that one of the preserved examples No 55016 Gordon Highlander might be cannibalised for spares & the remains scrapped. This led to a considerable outcry amongst interested parties & the creation of a new preservation group dedicated to the locomotives preservation. Although the group was unsuccessful in its bid the locomotive was secured & is now likely to be restored for main-line use. This brand new all-colour album celebrates 50 years of the Deltic type. The book

Includes:: 85 colour illustrations which concentrate almost exclusively on the types service on BR & also on a small number of post-preservation images. These images of which the vast majority will be previously unpublished will also be accompanied by highly detailed & informative captions.

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The last of the Western Regions diesel-hydraulic classes of main-line locomotives to enter service the Westerns (or Class 52s) were first to enter traffic in December 1961. The most powerful of the hydraulics by some margin the 74 members of the class were all in service by December 1963 having been constructed by Swindon & Crewe works. Used on the Westerns main-line passenger services following the demise of steam the class was eventually to see service on a wide range of both passenger & freight traffic as diesel-electric traction came to dominate. This last class of diesel-hydraulics to remain in service was withdrawn in early 1977 though seven examples of the class survive in preservation. This volume is a wholly new all-colour album celebrating 50 years of the type; the book

Includes:: c 1000 words of introductory text allied toC 85 colour illustrations the vast majority of which are previously unpublished. The book concentrates almost exclusively on the types service on BR but a small number of post-preservation images are also included. The examples that survive in preservation are located in: West somerset railway Severn valley railway East lancs railway National railway museum Birmingham railway museum Midland railway

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I like to hear his name especially when he says it. His voice is rich & dark like those jams they sell in tiny pots at twice the price of normal jars & they call preserves" to justify the cost. I chose him for his name in fact -- half Mayfair hairdresser & half Vatican incumbent. So speaks Nial a woman with a mans name & confused about her gender -- uncertain about most things save her obsession with John-Paul. She shares this obsession with modest Mary & conscientious Bryan. All three lead secret lives. Mary a conventional housewife with a dream-home in the suburbs is inflicting burns on her genitals & stockpiling vibrators; Bryan a mother-harried city clerk updates his Disaster Scrapbook & takes his snake to bed seeking refuge from Chaology & the horrors of the quantum revolution; Nial swaps sex for blood-drenched dreams of an ex-Naxi butcher in the High Street. All seek help & healing from the mysterious John-Paul but is he sage & saviour or untrained unlicensed con-man? In her powerful & hilarious new novel Wendy Perriam mixes the blackest of black comedy with a serious examination of madness in its many forms -- the religious excesses of miracles & visions; the crazy chaos of modern phsyics; & especially the distortions of the fifty-minute hour itself; those wild or weeping sessions on the analysts couch. With her usual wit & gusto she explores the murky world of the psychologically disturbed -- a world as comically bizarre as it is genuinely tragic. A screamingly funny book which almost blows the mind & will outrage the prudish. Sunday Telegraph" ...

The deeply unpleasant Korean War began in 1950 with an unprovoked attack by North Korea. Hostilities went on for three long years followed by an uneasy armistice that continues to this day. United Kingdom casualties amounted to some 300 Officers & 4 000 Other Ranks many of them conscripts while a total of over 100 000 United Nations soldiers were killed & three times that number wounded.A Royal Engineer Field Squadron deployed to Korea in late 1950 & this was expanded to a Regiment the following year. Often involved in fierce fighting the Sappers suffered grievous casualties including 42 killed & several hundred wounded. Their gallantry was rewarded by numerous awards including a CBE an OBE & eight MBEs two DSOs thirteen MCs eight MMs & most notably a Distinguished Conduct Medal second only to the Victoria Cross. It was a vicious war whose intensity neverslackened; in the last two months alone the Communist artillery fired over 700 000 rounds against just under five million fired back by United Nations forces. The Royal Engineers among them the Author were indispensible at all levels from the forward areas where they were often involved in close-quarter fighting right back to the base in Japan. Their skills & roles varied from patrolling river crossing & road building to mine-clearing & -laying defence works bridging & postal services so vital for morale. Other tasks included blowing things up (always a favourite occupation) & clearing booby traps (less popular). In a war zone with one of the most inhospitable climates in the world merely keeping alive was a challenge. This book is not merely a gripping yet thoroughly readable account of the Sappers achievement but a tribute to the sacrifice of those who did not return. ...

Every weekend in basements & parking lots across the country young men with good white-collar jobs & absent fathers take off their shoes & shirts & fight each other barehanded for as long as they have to. Then they go back to those jobs with blackened eyes & loosened teeth & the sense that they can handle anything. Fight Club is the invention of Tyler Durden projectionist waiter & dark anarchic genius. & it's only the beginning of his plans for revenge on a world where cancer support groups have the corner on human warmth. ...

Its not only food & inactivity that can make you fat in midlife
- so can stress. After the age of forty the accrued stresses of
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Rome 61 BC Recruited as a gladiator young Marcus Cornelius Primus faces a new life of brutal training governed by strict rules as he learns the skills of an elite warrior. But Marcus cannot simply forget his past. His father lies murdered by soldiers & his mother has been kidnapped & forced into slavery. Marcus is determined to find his fathers old commander Pompeius the Great to seek justice for his family & set his mother free. Yet unbeknown to him Marcus is hiding a life-threatening secret. & if the Romans discover it there will be no escape.. . ...

Jonah Delacroix cant stand the real world
- so he lives most of his life inside a global computer-based virtual world called the
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