For more than 30 years internationally acclaimed wreck diver & best-selling author Rod Macdonald has surveyed & researched shipwrecks around the world. His books such as Dive Scapa Flow & The Darkness Below are household names in the diving world. In Great British Shipwrecks Rod uses his encyclopaedic knowledge & an intimate understanding of shipwrecks gleaned from a lifetimes diving to provide a snapshot in time of some of the best known & most revered shipwrecks around the UK. For each of the 37 shipwrecks covered Rod provides a dramatic account of its time afloat & its eventual sinking
- with each wreck being beautifully illustrated by renowned marine artist Rob Ward. Rods journey around the UK starts with the classic recreational diving shipwrecks at Scapa Flow in the Orkney Islands from giants such as the German WWI battleships Markgraf Konig & Kronprinz Wilhelm to the legendary WWI British cruiser HMS Hampshire on which Lord Kitchener perished on a voyage to Russia in 1916. Rod then travels to the English Channel where he covers such famous ships as the P&O liners Moldavia & Salsette which were lost during WWI with many others such as the SS Kyarra & the British submarine HMS/M M2
- the first submarine to carry a seaplane for reconnaissance. The reader is then taken to the North Channel of the Irish Sea where the famous technical diving wrecks of the White Star liner Justicia HMS Audacious the first British battleship lost during WWI & the SS Empire Heritage which was lost with its deck cargo of Sherman tanks on a voyage from New York during WWII are beautifully illustrated. Returning to Scotland the famous West Coast shipwrecks such as the Thesis Hispania Rondo & Shuna in the Sound of Mull grace the pages in addition to the renowned wrecks of the SS Breda lost near Oban & the WWII minelayer HMS Port Napier off Skye. Lastly Rod covers some major North Sea shipwrecks revealing for the first time the haunting remains of HMS Pathfinder the first Royal Navy warship to be sunk by U-boat torpedo during WWI. This is a beautifully illustrated & definitive guide to the greatest shipwrecks around the UK & will be an enlightening & unmissable book for many.

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A collated edition of some of the best recipes from the popular series of storecupboard cookbooks featuring recipes made from a wonderful host of British condiments namely: Marmite HP Sauce Colmans Mustard Lyles Golden Syrup Lea & Perrins Worcestershire Sauce & Bovril. A bumper edition featuring 60 full-colour photographs. ...

The ultimate book of sweetie nostalgia! A colourful witty & irreverent encyclopedia of all the sweets & crisps of your youth. From Mojos to Rainbow Drops Space Raiders to Trios Corona to Kia Ora & everything in between. Fully illustrated with hundreds of wrappers ads & specially recreated packshots this book will lead you down memory lane until you reach the corner shop load up a 10p mix up bag & rot your teeth on the contents. The authors have been given access to the archives factories & warehouses of some of the leading sweet & snack manufacturers in the country & have delivered a book that is packed full of fascinating historical research...and lots & lots of sweets. WITH A FOREWORD BY JONATHAN ROSS. ...

Theres nothing much left to feel good about these days if youre British but one of the few things where we all agree that were still a world leader is our defining sense of humour. Thematically covering every subject imaginable from God to dogs this collection will be the seminal gathering of our national wit & a picture of who we are as a nation
- a monument to our monumental silliness. An Englishman even if he is alone forms an orderly queue of one. This work

Includes:: George Mikes Jane Austen Pam Ayres Alan Bennett Jeffrey Bernard John Betjeman Jo Brand Craig Brown Winston Churchill Alan Clark Jeremy Clarkson Billy Connolly Peter Cook Tommy Cooper Noel Coward Quentin Crisp Les Dawson Stephen Fry A.A. Gill Stella Gibbons W.S. Gilbert Joyce Grenfell Tony Hancock Harry Hill Jerome K. Jerome Boris Johnson Samuel Johnson Maureen Lipman Spike Milligan Nancy Mitford Frank Muir Eric Morecambe Joe Orton David Renwick Brian Sewell William Shakespeare George Bernard Shaw Edith Sitwell Frank Skinner Arthur Smith Sue Townsend Peter Ustinov Queen Victoria Oscar Wilde Kenneth Williams P.G. Wodehouse & Victoria Wood.


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Great Britain can be accused of many things; a proliferation of queuing a fondness of the demon drink; but its not without more than its fair share of important historical & modern people. Great Britons: A Very Peculiar History looks at a myriad brillliant Britons & their influence on the world. The book features a short potted history of each person detailing their acheivements personalities & lifestyles in a quirky & memorable way. From kings & queens pirates & politicians actors & directors to sportsmen explorers scientists & inventors Great Britons: A Very Peculiar History celebrates the men & women who have shaped Great Britain & made it what it is today. ...

THE NEW QUESTION Ten years after the worldwide bestseller Good to Great Jim Collins returns with another groundbreaking work this time to ask: Why do some companies thrive in uncertainty even chaos & others do not? Based on nine years of research buttressed by rigorous analysis & infused with engaging stories Collins & his colleague Morten Hansen enumerate the principles for building a truly great enterprise in unpredictable tumultuous & fast-moving times. THE NEW STUDY Great by Choice distinguishes itself from Collins's prior work by its focus not just on performance but also on the type of unstable environments faced by leaders today. With a team of more than twenty researchers Collins & Hansen studied companies that rose to greatness
- beating their industry indexes by a minimum of ten times over fifteen years
- in environments characterized by big forces & rapid shifts that leaders could not predict or control. The research team then contrasted these 10X companies" to a carefully selected set of comparison companies that failed to achieve greatness in similarly extreme environments. THE NEW FINDINGS The study results were full of provocative surprises. Such as: * The best leaders were not more risk taking more visionary & more creative than the comparisons; they were more disciplined more empirical & more paranoid. * Innovation by itself turns out not to be the trump card in a chaotic & uncertain world; more important is the ability to scale innovation to blend creativity with discipline. * Following the belief that leading in a "fast world" always requires "fast decisions" & "fast action" is a good way to get killed. * The great companies changed less in reaction to a radically changing world than the comparison companies. The authors challenge conventional wisdom with thought-provoking sticky & supremely practical concepts. They include 10 Xers; the 20 Mile March; Fire Bullets then Cannonballs; Leading above the Death Line; Zoom Out Then Zoom In; & the SMa C Recipe. Finally in the last chapter Collins & Hansen present their most provocative & original analysis: defining quantifying & studying the role of luck. The great companies & the leaders who built them were not luckier than the comparisons but they did get a higher Return on Luck. This book is classic Collins: contrarian data driven & uplifting. He & Hansen show convincingly that even in a chaotic & uncertain world greatness happens by choice not by chance."

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The New Cat keeps bringing dead things into the house as presents for Tom. When he brings in the head of the vicars very expensive Koi Carp & the Vicar makes Mum pay GBP200 for a replacement Annas Dad is so cross he locks the New Cat out of the cat-flap. Tom argues for the Cat to be let back in but the flap is left shut overnight & when Dad finally concedes the New Cat has disappeared altogether. Anna Suzanne & Tom are convinced he has been kidnapped
- but who is responsible? A new investigation begins...
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Visit some of the natural world's most awe-inspiring surroundings in Great Caves of the World". This visual feast tours 28 of the most spectacular caves from across the globe each chosen for its unique appeal. Highly regarded geologist & caving expert Tony Waltham provides a concise introduction to the subject before exploring the exceptional characteristics of each cave. He describes how each one was formed its environment & location & how it contributes to our understanding of the underground. This sumptuously illustrated book takes readers on a journey to a remarkable & surprising array of environments from huge underground rivers & long lava formations to secret temples & ancient archaeological sites. This title helps you dwell in forests of sparkling ice columns deep inside the Pinega Caves Russia be dazzled by the beautiful mineral deposits in Lechugilla Cave USA & discover the classic Yorkshire pothole at Gaping Gill Engl&." ...

Charles Dickens was regarded as a pillar of respectability in Victorian Britain but in 1858 this image was nearly shattered. With the break-up of his marriage that year rumours about a scandalous relationship he may have conducted with young actress Ellen Nelly" Ternan flourished. For the remaining twelve years of his life Dickens struggled to quash the gossip. After his death surviving family members did the same. But when the authors last living son died in 1934 there was no one to discourage rampant speculation. Dramatic revelations seemed to come from every corner
- over Nellies role as Dickens mistress the financial help he gave her their clandestine meetings their coded messages & even his fathering of an illegitimate child with her. This book presents the most complete account of the scandal & ensuing coverup ever published. Drawing on the authors letters & other archival sources not previously available Dickens scholar Michael Slater investigates what Dickens did or may have done then traces the way the scandal was elaborated over succeeding generations. Slater shows how various writers concocted outlandish yet plausible theories while newspapers & book publishers vied for sensational revelations. With its tale of intrigue & a cast of well-known figures from Thackeray & Shaw to Orwell & Edmund Wilson this engaging book will delight not only Dickens fans but also readers who appreciate tales of mystery cover-up & clever detection."
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Statins are the so-called wonder drugs widely prescribed to lower blood cholesterol levels & claim to offer unparalleled protection against heart disease. Believed to be completely safe & capable of preventing a whole series of other conditions they are the most profitable drug in the history of medicine. In this groundbreaking book GP Malcolm Kendrick exposes the truth behind the hype revealing: high cholesterol levels dont cause heart disease; a high-fat diet
- saturated or otherwise
- does not affect blood cholesterol levels; & the protection provided by statins is so small as to be not worth bothering about for most men & all women. Statins have many more side affects than has been admitted & their advocates should be treated with scepticism due to their links with the drugs manufacturers. Kendrick lambastes a powerful pharmaceutical industry & unquestioning medical profession who he claims perpetuate the madcap concepts of good & bad cholesterol & cholesterol levels to convince millions of people to spend billions of pounds on statins thus creating an atmosphere of stress & anxiety
- the real cause of fatal heart disease. With clarity & wit The Great Cholesterol Con" debunks our assumptions on what constitutes a healthy lifestyle & diet. It is the invaluable guide for anyone who thought there was a miracle cure for heart disease an appeal to common sense & a controversial & fascinating breakthrough that will set dynamite under the whole area."


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