A penniless young knight with few prospects William Marshal is plucked from obscurity when he saves the life of Henry II's formidable queen Eleanor of Aquitaine. In gratitude she appoints him tutor to the heir to the throne. However being a royal favourite brings its share of conflict & envy as well as fame & reward. William's influence over the volatile fickle Prince Henry & his young wife is resented by less favoured courtiers who set about engineering his downfall. In a captivating blend of fact & fiction award-winning novelist Elizabeth Chadwick resurrects one of England's greatest forgotten heroes restoring him to his rightful place at the apex of the Middle Ages. ...

The Greatest Love Story of All Time is a laugh-out-loud debut novel from the Marie Claire blogger Lucy Robinson. It's Fran's thirtieth birthday & things are good... She's bluffed her way into a Very Posh Job & her outlandishly handsome & talented boyfriend Michael is escorting her to the Ritz with a bulge the shape of a ring box in his pocket. But something has gone wrong. Very wrong. By the end of the evening Fran is howling in bed with a bottle of cheap brandy & one of Michael's old socks. In her quest to figure out why her life has suddenly gone down the pan Fran comes up with a failsafe plan: live like a badger stalk a stranger called Nellie & cancel her beloved Gin Thursdays in favour of drinking gin every night. But then Fran's friends force a very different plan on her & it's nowhere near as fun. How could eight dates possibly make her feel better? But eventually she agrees. & so begins the greatest love story of all time... Praise for Lucy Robinson: The new Marian Keyes.. .romantic & laugh-out-loud hilarious" (Cosmopolitan). " An absolute must-read" (Huffington Post). " Prepare for public-transport belly laughs" (Glamour). " Refreshingly playful" (Red). The Greatest Love Story of All Time is Lucy Robinson's debut novel. Prior to writing Lucy worked first in West End theatre production & then factual television working on documentaries for the BBC ITV Channel 4 & five. Her writing career began when she started a dating blog for marieclaire.co.uk where she entertained readers with frank tales from her laughably unsuccessful foray into the world of internet dating. Lucy is from Gloucestershire where she was brought up surrounded by various stupid animals & is currently conducting an early mid-life crisis in South America. When in London she likes to think she lives in Highbury but in truth she is a person of no fixed abode." ...

GIVING IN TO TEMPTATION WOULD BE THE RUIN OF THEM ALL! Having spent years believingï ½a lieï ½about his birth Dr Samuel Hastings has been condemned to a personal hell of his desire's making
- his sinful thoughts of the one woman he can never touch would damn his soul for eternity. Lady Evelyn Thorne isï ½engaged to the very suitable Duke ofï ½ St Aldric whenï ½a shocking truth is revealed
- & now Sam will play every bit of the devil to seduce the woman he thoughtï ½would always be denied him! The Sinner & the Saint Brothers separated at birth brought together by scandal

...

The Tour de France has it all: extremes of ego temperature & terrain; grazes bruises & streaks; wrecks wheels & winding paths. Now in celebration of 100 years of the Tours infamous mountain section comes the ultimate tribute to cyclings greatest race. World-renowned sports photographer Mike Powell has spent 25 years photographing the greatest sports contests around the globe & has now devoted 2 years to creating the most epic photographic celebration of the Tour de France ever published: vibrant compelling & gritty images of the competitors support crew & spectators beautifully juxtaposed against the breathtaking settings of the Pyrenees the Alps & the French countryside. An introduction by Lewis Blackwell author of 2009s best-selling The Life & Love of Trees details the history of the tour & incorporates a pertinent selection of historical images. The Greatest Race is an epic & stunning tribute to indeed the greatest race. ...

Charles Darwins masterpiece On the Origin of Species" shook society to its core on publication in 1859. Darwin was only too aware of the storm his theory of evolution would provoke but he would surely have raised an incredulous eyebrow at the controversy still raging a century & a half later. Evolution is accepted as scientific fact by all reputable scientists & indeed theologians yet millions of people continue to question its veracity. In " The Greatest Show on Earth" Richard Dawkins takes on creationists including followers of Intelligent Design & all those who question the fact of evolution through natural selection. Like a detective arriving on the scene of a crime he sifts through fascinating layers of scientific facts & disciplines to build a cast-iron case: from the living examples of natural selection in birds & insects; the time clocks of trees & radioactive dating that calibrate a timescale for evolution; the fossil record & the traces of our earliest ancestors; to confirmation from molecular biology & genetics. All of this & much more bears witness to the truth of evolution. " The Greatest Show on Earth" comes at a critical time: systematic opposition to the fact of evolution is now flourishing as never before especially in America. In Britain & elsewhere in the world teachers witness insidious attempts to undermine the status of science in their classrooms. Richard Dawkins provides unequivocal evidence that boldly & comprehensively rebuts such nonsense. At the same time he shares with us his palpable love of the natural world & the essential role that science plays in its interpretation. Written with elegance wit & passion it is hard-hitting absorbing & totally convincing." ...

On 3 May 1961 after a trial conducted largely in secret a man named George Blake was sentenced to an unprecedented forty-two years in jail. At the time few details of his crimes were made known. By his own confession he was a Soviet spy & rumours later circulated that his actions had endangered British agents but the reasons for such a severe punishment were never revealed. To the public Blake was simply the greatest traitor of the Cold War. Yet as Roger Hermiston reveals in this thrilling new biography his story touches not only the depths of treachery but also the heights of heroism. In WWII the teenage Blake performed sterling deeds for the Dutch resistance before making a dramatic bid for freedom across Nazi-occupied Europe. Later recruited by British Intelligence he quickly earned an exemplary reputation & was entrusted with building up the Service's networks behind the Iron Curtain. & following a posting to Seoul he also suffered for his adopted country when captured by North Korean soldiers at the height of their brutal war with the South. By the time of his release in 1953 Blake was a hero one of the Service's brightest & best officers. But unbeknownst to SIS they were harbouring a mole. Week after week year after year Blake was assiduously gathering all the important documents he could lay his hands on & passing them to the KGB. Drawing on hitherto unpublished records from his trial new revelations about his dramatic jailbreak from Wormwood Scrubs & original interviews with former spies friends & the man himself The Greatest Traitor sheds new light on this most complex of characters & presents a fascinating shadow history of the Cold War. ...

Who are the fifteen best players ever to represent Wales at rugby? We all know the answers but all our answers are different! In pubs & clubs in classrooms & chat rooms the length & breadth of this rugby-mad nation this is a question that prompts energetic & entertaining debate; a question that has divided households & destabilized lifelong friendships. In The Greatest Welsh XV Ever which

Includes:: over 130 full-colour photographs Eddie Butler has gone where angels (and ex-international back-row forwards) fear to tread. Devoting a chapter to each position on the field he produces a shortlist of the great players before making his final decisive definitive choice in each case. So will it be Barry John or Phil Bennett at number 10? Jamie Roberts or John Dawes at number 12? Graham Price or Adam Jones at number 3? This is your chance to join in the greatest national debate since devolution.

...

Experience aquamarine coastline sun-bleached ancient ruins strong feta & stronger ouzo. The Greek landscape thrills & its people are equally passionate about politics coffee art & gossiping. Korina Miller Lonely Planet Writer Our Promise You can trust our travel information because Lonely Planet authors visit the places we write about each & every edition. We never accept freebies for positive coverage so you can rely on us to tell it like it is. Inside This Book... 9 expert authors 42 weeks of on-the-ground research 150 maps 72 ancient ruins Inspirational photos Island hopping & cruising planning features Pull-out city map of Athens 3D plans of iconic sights Comprehensive planning tools In-depth background ...

Greece is the cradle of civilisation & the Peloponnese is the cradle of Greece: Olympia is here so are the mountains of Arcadia & Homer's Mycenae. But Bradt's Greece: The Peloponnese" also embraces the living world: the traditional panagyria (village festivals) & the people who still embody the Greek spirit of philoxenia or hospitality to strangers. It leads travellers to idyllic campsites by ancient theatres; picnic spots in olive groves; buzzing towns & hidden communities; & tells them the best places to hike kayak or to spot the famous loggerhead turtle. & if you want to dance on the same beach as Zorba the Greek or wonder why newborn babies cause old women to spit over their shoulders
- you'll find the answers in the pages of this the best guide to the best of Greece."
...

In this sumptuous guide to twelve centuries of military development Peter Connolly combines a detailed account of the arms & armies of Greece & Rome with his superb full-colour artwork. Making use of fresh archaeological evidence & new material on the manufacture & use of the weapons of the period the author presents an attractive & impressive volume that is both scholarly & beautifully presented with illustrations that are quite rightly recognised as being the best & most accurate representation of how the soldiers from these formidable military empires appeared. Greece & Rome at War lucidly demonstrates the face of battle in the ancient world. Covering the wars between the Greeks & the Persians & the epic contest between the Romans & their most capable opponent Hannibal as well as organisation tactics armour & weapons & much more this excellent work brings the armies of Greece Macedon & Rome vividly to life. This new revised edition contains a Preface by Adrian Goldsworthy. ...