Gil Merrick also known as Mr Birmingham City gave his life & soul to Brimingham City serving it as both a player & a manager before the club broke his heart with the manner of his dismissal. This biography looks at how Merricks time at the club coincided with many of the best days (and nights) in its history; promotions an FA Cup Final appearance European success domestic success the introduction of European coaching methods & debuts of many great young players. Birmingham City Football Club is acknowledged as a sleeping giant the trouble is that this so-called giant has never awoken since its formation in 1875. Over 130 years of professional football in the heart of the industrial Midlands has produced only one major trophy
- The League Cup in 1963
- alongside a million heartaches & disappointments for its fans. Faced with an underachieving football club Bluenoses have had to look to their heroes to justify their blind faith & continued enthusiasm
- Gil Merrick is the greatest hero of all! Gil is held in high esteem because he loved the club as much as the supporters even though his father was a Villa fan. He gave his life & soul to Birmingham City serving it as both a player & a manager before the club broke his heart with the manner of his dismissal. Loyalty could have been Gils middle name. Known as Mr Birmingham City his time at the club coincided with many of the best days (and nights) in its history; promotions an FA Cup Final appearance European success domestic success the introduction of European coaching methods & debuts of many great young players. Who knows how Gil would have fared in todays game where money rules & international players become celebrities. I have little doubt that he would have remained level-headed & taken the trappings of success in his stride but would he have remained with one club for 25 years? Whatever happens in the future to The Blues whether they ultimately regain Premier League status & conquer Europe there will never be another club servant to match my hero
- Gil Merrick.



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Next to the hustle & bustle of London's St Pancras station The Gilbert Scott Marcus Wareing's latest venture is one of the hottest restaurants in town. Situated in the recently restored architectural gem that is the Renaissance Hotel critics & food lovers alike have flocked to this stunning new brasserie & bar. The aim of the menu is simple: to pay tribute to the historic charm of the building with rediscovered & re-imagined traditional British classics. Yorkshire fishcakes Dorset jugged steak cock-a-leekie pie Mrs Beeton's barbecue chicken London Pride battered cod gingerbread pudding Kendal mint cake choc ices & the best lemon drizzle cake you'll ever taste are just some of the 130 recipes in the book. With stunning photography throughout The Gilbert Scott Book of British Food" means that you can celebrate these recipes at home be it for brunch lunch a weekend feast an afternoon baking or a terrific cocktail to ease you into your meal. Above all it is a glorious tribute to some of Britain's greatest traditional dishes." ...

How do you start a new life leaving behind all you love? Its 1641 & when Midori Kumashiro the orphaned daughter of a warlord is told she has to leave Japan or die she has no choice but to flee to Engl&. Midori is trained in the arts of war but is that enough to help her survive a journey with a lecherous crew & an attractive captain she doesnt trust? Having come to Nagasaki to trade the last thing Captain Nico Noordholt wants is a female passenger especially a beautiful one. How can he protect her from his crew when he cant keep his own eyes off her? During their journey Nico & Midori form a tentative bond but they both have secrets that can change everything. When they arrive in England a civil war is brewing & only by standing together can they hope to survive - ...

If you are a fan of books by Philippa Gregory then you might like The Gilded Lily by Deborah Swift.. . Winter 1661. In her short life Sadie Appleby has never left rural Westmorl&. But one night she is rudely awoken by her older & bolder sister Ella. She has robbed her employer & is on the run. Together the girls flee their home & head for London hoping to lose themselves in the teeming city. But the dead man's relatives are in pursuit & soon a game of cat & mouse ensues amongst the freezing warren that is London in winter. Ella is soon seduced by the glitter & glamour of city life & sets her sights on the flamboyant man-about-town Jay Whitgift owner of a beauty parlour for the wives of the London gentry. But nothing in the capital is what it seems least of all Jay Whitgift. Soon a rift has formed between Ella & Sadie & the sisters are threatened by a menace more sinister than even the law. Set in a brilliantly realised Restoration London The Gilded Lily is a novel about beauty & desire about the stories we tell ourselves & about how sisterhood can be both a burden & a saving grace. ...

The most audacious heist in history is about to commence & Tom Kirk is right in the middle of it! Whilst investigating the theft of a stolen Da Vinci reformed art thief Tom Kirk is confronted with the horrifying sight of a cat nailed to the wall where the painting once stood. He instantly recognises the sign as a greeting from his old enemy Milo. Then Tom finds out that a long time friend in Seville has been murdered & whilst visiting his friends daughter Eva she is kidnapped by Milo. Suddenly Tom finds himself in a frantic race against time to save her life. Meanwhile in New York FBI agent Jennifer Browne has been asked to investigate a possible art fraud. The trail leads to an Iranian art dealer who denies all knowledge but when a lawyer who he had dealings with is murdered Jennifer knows she has stumbled across something very sinister. Are the reappearance of Milo Evas kidnapping & the theft of the Da Vinci connected? Are Tom & Jennifers paths destined to cross again as they descend into a maelstrom of betrayal & murder? ...

In 1956 toward the end of Reverend John Ames's life he begins a letter to his young son a kind of last testament to his remarkable forebears. ' It is a book of such meditative calm such spiritual intensity that is seems miraculous that her silence was only for 23 years; such measure of wisdom is the fruit of a lifetime. Robinson's prose aligned with the sublime simplicity of the language of the bible is nothing short of a benediction. You might not share its faith but it is difficult not to be awed moved & ultimately humbled by the spiritual effulgence that lights up the novel from within' Neel Mukherjee The Times ' Writing of this quality with an authority as unforced as the perfect pitch in music is rare & carries with it a sense almost of danger
- that at any moment it might all go wrong. In Gilead however nothing goes wrong' Jane Shilling Sunday Telegraph
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Gilead Lothain returns! From the warrens of the skaven to the streets of Nuln the shadowfast warrior & his faithful retainer Fithvael find themselves surrounded by evil. Beneath the earth the dangerous & insane Rat King its powers amplified by evil magic plots Gileads downfall while a bloodthirsty vampire count becomes an unlikely ally
- & Gileads deadliest foe.
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Enjoy the 20th century's greatest cartoonist's work once more with this superb collection of some of Giles' wittiest cartoons. ...

As she sits in her Bloomsbury home with her two birds for company elderly Harriet Baxter sets out to relate the story of her acquaintance nearly four decades previously with Ned Gillespie a talented artist who never achieved the fame she maintains he deserved. Back in 1888 the young art-loving Harriet arrives in Glasgow at the time of the International Exhibition. After a chance encounter she befriends the Gillespie family & soon becomes a fixture in all of their lives. But when tragedy strikes
- leading to a notorious criminal trial
- the promise & certainties of this world all too rapidly disintegrate into mystery & deception...

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As she sits in her Bloomsbury home with her two birds for company elderly Harriet Baxter sets out to relate the story of her acquaintance nearly four decades previously with Ned Gillespie a talented artist who never achieved the fame she maintains he deserved. Back in 1888 the young art-loving Harriet arrives in Glasgow at the time of the International Exhibition. After a chance encounter she befriends the Gillespie family & soon becomes a fixture in all of their lives. But when tragedy strikes
- leading to a notorious criminal trial
- the promise & certainties of this world all too rapidly disintegrate into mystery & deception...

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