Just as the unknown regions of the world seized the imagination of the great explorers so the exploits of those explorers continue to fascinate readers today. The book captures all the thrill of exploration; its fears dangers & hardships; encounters with hostile landscapes & peoples & the excitement of progress. All areas of the globe are covered & the journeys of explorers both famous & not so famous: Florence Baker in Egypt & Sudan; Mary Kingsley in West Africa; Lewis & Clark across the US; Franklin & Leary at the North Pole & Amundsen & Scott at the South. The book is arranged by region & chronologically within that region. It captures the spirit of each age & explains how explorers through reaching lands unknown to them encountered peoples supporting advanced civilizations of their own. The final chapter examines the legacy of a regions exploration by explaining its political economic & other consequences whether they be the settlement of a continent or the creation of lasting national myths as in Scotts doomed mission to Antarctica. ...

Here are the stories of nine great adventures & the lives of the men who took part in them. They pushed back the frontiers of mans knowledge of the world by their vision courage & sheer doggedness. They were very different people
- from bold adventurers facing the unknown with enjoyment to careful more scientific individuals. Their journeys are placed within their historical context but also contain the words of the men themselves.
...

As a sleepy William awakes from the cries of Fire Fire he thinks something big must be burning. But from the comfort of his own bed he does not realise the whole of London is ablaze! Will is desperate to help save his home & beloved city but are Will & his family in danger? Will they be able to escape with their lives? ...

The great events of British history are part of our shared heritage & it is important that children know the facts behind the famous dates from a young age. In this series Gillian Clements tells the stories of some of these events through a lively combination of text & illustration (including some speech bubbles labelled maps etc). In this way she makes history child-friendly & accessible but still manages to incorporate wherever possible primary source material (such as eyewitness accounts & documentary evidence). THE GREAT FIRE OF LONDON retells the events leading up to the fire of 1666 & its consequences. THE GUNPOWDER PLOT looks at the reasons for the plan to blow up the houses of Parliament in 1605 & the key figures involved including Guy Fawkes. Each book has been thoroughly checked by a history educationalist for accuracy language levels & appropriate content & a timeline & glossary are included. These simple gently-humorous stories give readers the information they need & encourage the development of a real sense of history & how it works. ...

This book combines good quality artwork & contemporary illustrations with simple well-written text. Young readers will discover how the fire started what devastation it caused & will be able to compare fire-fighting in 1666 to the present day. Photos of artefacts & original illustrations help bring the topic to life. ...

The Great Galloon is an enormous airship built by Captain Meredith Anstruther & manned by his crew who might seem like a bit of a motley bunch but who are able to fight off invading marauders whilst drinking tea & sweeping floors! Captain Anstruther is preparing to marry the beautiful Lady Isabella but disaster strikes when his evil younger brother comes aboard for the wedding & steals Isabella away onto his underwater Sumbaroon. Stanley a clever boy with a small horn & Rasmussen a reluctant countess-to-be are busy waiting for an adventure to begin. Instead they have to fight off Behe Moths avoid enormous Seagles encounter the terrifying (but nice really) Brunt & save the Galloon from sinking. How will they ever find the Captains bride when nothings happening? THE GREAT GALLOON is a humorous CAPTAIN PUGWASH meets MONTY PYTHON adventure perfect for reading aloud & for growing readers looking for a silly funny book. ...

For nearly a century the two most powerful nations on earth Victorian Britain & Tsarist Russia fought a secret war in the lonely passes & deserts of Central Asia. Those engaged in this shadowy struggle called it ' The Great Game' a phrase immortalized by Kipling. When play first began the two rival empires lay nearly 2 000 miles apart. By the end some Russian outposts were within 20 miles of India. This classic book tells the story of the Great Game through the exploits of the young officers both British & Russian who risked their lives playing it. Disguised as holy men or native horse-traders they mapped secret passes gathered intelligence & sought the allegiance of powerful khans. Some never returned. The violent repercussions of the Great Game are still convulsing Central Asia today. ...

For ages 7 to 14 years. Bring the gang together for some old-time fun with 128 pages of carefully selected games organised by type of game: board ball card & more. Plus ten ways to choose who goes first 5 new word games skipping rope rhymes hand jives multicultural games & many new variations on old favourites. ...

Britain is famous all over the world for its gardens. In this book Helena Attlee focuses on twenty of the finest gardens in the country. Her choice encompasses a rich selection of sites all over England Scotland Wales & Northern Ireland ranging from famous eighteenth-century landscapes such as Stourhead to quirky modern gardens such as Charles Jencks Garden of Cosmic Speculation in the Scottish borders. Her lively text provides a brief history of each garden combined with a vivid account of its main features. Alex Ramsays dazzling photographs reveal the gardens at their best. Gardens include: Crathes (Inverness) Crarae (Argyll & Bute) Garden of Cosmic Speculation (Dumfries) Little Sparta (Lanarkshire) Alnwick (Northumberland) Levens (Cumbria) Scampston (Yorkshire) Mount Stewart (Co. Down) Bodnant (Clwyd) Powis Castle (Powys) Stourhead (Wiltshire) Hidcote (Gloucestershire) Great Dixter (Sussex) East Rushton (Norfolk) Beth Chattos Garden (Essex) Kew (London) Wisley (Surrey) Sissinghurst (Kent) Eden Project (Cornwall) Tresco (Scilly Isles). ...

The gardens of Italy rank amongst the great treasures of the world. They have influenced & inspired almost every landscape designer & architect since the Renaissance yet they are not isolated historical artifacts. A garden is always a living evolving entity that tells a thousand stories about the people that made it as well as the plants that occupy it. Above all great gardens become a celebration of man's creative need to work with nature. This book is a personal exploration of Italy's legendary gardens. Over thirty are featured including some that are very well known as well as others that might not be on many people's obvious list. Few people have travelled more widely & have a more passionately practical engagement with gardening than Monty Don. Through captivating text & outstanding photography Monty & Derry invite the reader to accompany them on their tour around Italy. Their underlying message is that to appreciate a garden fully you must also know something of the food grown & eaten in the area of the politics religion & weather of the region & of the dreams for the garden's future as well as the glories of its past. Each garden is placed in the context of its surrounding landscape & the lives of those who made it & who tend it today. Far more than an inventory of interesting plants or classical designs this book leads the reader through a truly stunning odyssey of the breadth & magnificence of Italian gardens always engaging occasionally provocative & utterly mesmerising. ...