This was a transformative period in English history. In 1783 the country was at one of the lowest points in its fortunes having just lost its American colonies in warfare. By 1846 it was once more a great imperial nation as well as the world's strongest power & dominant economy having benefited from what has sometimes (if misleadingly) been called the 'first industrial revolution'. In the meantime it survived a decade of invasion fears & emerged victorious from more than twenty years of 'war to the death' against Napoleonic France. But if Britain's external fortunes were in the ascendant the situation at home remained fraught with peril. The country's population was growing at a rate not experienced by any comparable former society & its manufacturing towns especially were mushrooming into filthy disease-ridden gin-sodden hell-holes in turn provoking the phantasmagoria of a mad bad & dangerous people. It is no wonder that these years should have experienced the most prolonged period of social unrest since the seventeenth century or that the elite should have been in constant fear of a French-style revolution in Engl&. The governing classes responded to these new challenges & by the mid-nineteenth century the seeds of a settled two-party system & of a more socially interventionist state were both in evidence though it would have been far too soon to say at that stage whether those seeds would take permanent root. Another consequence of these tensions was the intellectual engagement with society as for example in the Romantic Movement a literary phenomenon that brought English culture to the forefront of European attention for the first time. At the same time the country experienced the great religious revival loosely described under the heading 'evangelicalism'. Slowly but surely the raffish & rakish style of eighteenth-century society having reached a peak in the Regency then succumbed to the new norms of respectability popularly known as ' Victorianism'. ...

Ranulph Fiennes has travelled to the most dangerous & inaccessible places on earth almost died countless times lost nearly half his fingers to frostbite raised millions of pounds for charity & been awarded a polar medal & an OBE. He has been an elite soldier an athlete a mountaineer an explorer a bestselling author & nearly replaced Sean Connery as James Bond. In his autobiography he describes how he led expeditions all over the world & became the first person to travel to both poles on l&. He tells of how he discovered the lost city of Ubar in Oman & attempted to walk solo & unsupported to the North Pole
- the expedition that cost him several fingers & very nearly his life. His most recent challenge was scaling the north face of the Eiger one of the most awesome mountaineering challenges in the world. Sir Ranulph Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes OBE 3rd Baronet looks back on a life lived at the very limits of human endeavour.
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Are you mad about bugs? From spiders & snails to butterflies & bees this book is packed with fascinating facts & key information for all young creepy-crawly enthusiasts. It also

Includes:: a link to fantastic downloadable Mad About" posters."

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The Parisian Macaron (or Macaroon) is the stylishly light French confection tipped to be the new cupcake & finally hitting the glossies outside France. The art of making macarons is highly respected in France as it requires precision & technique to create its delicate airy meringue-based shell with a moist centre of fragrant custard cream or chocolate ganache. Macarons can be a challenge for the beginner but the process is made much easier & fun in this colourful new book from Jill Colonna. She guides you precisely through each step in making perfect Parisian macarons & explains simply & clearly her secrets so you can also make macarons like the French. Starting with classic macaron flavours such as rose pistachio chocolate lemon & vanilla she then encourages you to be creative with her inspiring chocolate combinations such as pistachio-wasabi & others with a Scottish twist. Dazzle guests with macarons as a basis for chic desserts. Or amaze them with Jill's latest creation of the lightest sugar-reduced hot & spicy Tikka Mac'sala or Thai green curry macarons which are sensational either before or during dinner. Suggested wines & speciality teas are suggested for each macaron recipe along with presentation ideas for weddings children's parties gifts plus many other tips. (You will discover that making Parisian macarons can be the most gratifying & addictive of life's little luxuries to make at home yourself.) ...

This brilliantly beastly bouncy rhyming romp from Giles Andreae & David Wojtowycz will delight the many fans of this bestselling duo. From slugs & snails to bustling beetles & beautiful butterflies these rhymes are full of humour & great to read aloud. The bright distinctive artwork is full of child appeal. ...

Butchery outside a London brothel leaves Westfields Men in disarray While England is brought low by rumours of Queen Elizabeths declining health celebrated theatre company Lord Westfields Men suffer their own bitter blows. A vicious feud between players causes chaos; a rival company launches a new production; a mysterious beauty reduces their leading actor to a lovelorn wreck; & a brutal murder leaves the group of actors reeling. With matters so fraught even a performing horse becomes a threat. Stage manager Nicholas Bracewell accustomed to damage control is the only man with the wit to keep the company afloat. As the Queen sinks towards death Nicholas begins to discern the connections between the companys misfortunes & the larger shadow falling over England.. . ...

The brilliant sequel to Foetal Attraction Washed up in London & trying her best to raise her new-born son alone Madeleine Wolfe is looking forward to taking her mind off things with some retail therapy
- even if her budget stretches to prunes rather than Prada. But her day out takes an unexpected turn for the worse when she is mistakenly arrested in Harrods for shoplifting... Detained with baby Jack in Holloway Prisons Mother & Baby Unit theres only one man Maddy can turn to for help clearing her name: the father of her baby & ex-lover Alex. Things have been bumpy between Maddy & Alex to say the least
- theres the wife & children he omitted to mention for starters. Hes also in the middle of launching his political career & needs to protect his wholesome image. But he wont let Maddy down when she needs him most.. .will he?

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A mindless sectarian psychopath or a loyalist folk hero who took the war to the IRA's front door? The name Johnny ' Mad Dog' Adair is synonymous with a killing spree by loyalist terrorists that took Northern Ireland to the brink of civil war. From humble beginnings as a rioter & glue-sniffer on Belfast's Shankill Road Adair rose through the ranks of the outlawed Ulster Freedom Fighters to head its merciless killing machine 'C Company'. Surrounded by a group of trusted friends his reign of terror in the early 1990s claimed the lives of up to 40 Catholics picked out at random as Adair's hitmen roamed Belfast. Determined to lead from the front his men even fired a rocket at Sinn Fein's headquarters writing themselves into loyalist mythology & embarrassing the IRA in its republican heartl&. Its desperate attempts to kill Adair culminated in October 1993 when a bomb on the Shankill Road intended for the loyalist godfather claimed the lives of nine Protestant civilians. Mad Dog: The Rise & Fall of Johnny Adair & 'C Company' describes in graphic detail Adair's criminal empire & an egomaniac's bloody war against Catholics & anybody else who got in his way. Adair's friends & enemies talk for the first time about the murders he ordered his sordid personal life & his attempts
- ultimately disastrous
- to become Northern Ireland's supreme loyalist figurehead.

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The British underworld is controlled by gangs. When two of them start a turf war violence explodes on to the streets. The police need information fast & James Adams has the contacts to infiltrate the most dangerous gang of all. He works for CHERUB. Cherubs are trained professionals aged between ten & seventeen. They exist because criminals never suspect that kids are spying on them. For official purposes these children do not exist. ...

Discover Sir Ranulph Twistelton-Wykham-Fienness personal expedition to trace his extraordinary family through the twists & turns of history. From Charlemagne
- himself a direct ancestor of the author
- to the count who very nearly persuaded William the Conqueror to retreat at Hastings many members of this unique clan have lived close to the nerve centre of the ruler of their day. They number in their ranks a murderer a wife poisoner a poacher Englands greatest female traveller of the 17th century & an extortionist Lord High Treasurer teen cousins who eloped a noble lord hanged for manslaughter another hanged for adultery with the Kings wife & many who as admirals or major-generals won famous battles. The Fiennes behind Cromwell provided the castle in which the Parliamentarians made their first secret moves the same building in which twenty-one successive generations of the family have lived for 600 unbroken years. One Fiennes had his head cut off by the London mob & stuck on Tower Bridge another led the First Crusade that captured Jerusalem.. . And that is just a taster. Ranulph Fiennes tells the story of his unconventional exceptional family & reveals the ingredients for the man described by the Guinness Book of Records as the worlds greatest living explorer.

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