Its an extraordinary tale of yeast-obsessed monks & teetotal prime ministers; of how pale ale fuelled an Empire & weak bitter won a world war; & of exploding breweries a bear in a yellow nylon jacket & a Canadian bloke who changed the drinking habits of a nation. Its also the story of the rise of the pub from humble origins through an epic thous&-year struggle to survive misunderstanding bad government & misguided commerce. The history of beer in Britain is a social history of the nation itself full of catastrophe heroism & an awful lot of hangovers. a pleasant antidote to more pro-faced histories of beer
- Guardian". Like a good drinking companion Brown tells a remarkable story: a stream of fascinating facts etymologies & pub-related urban phenomena
- "TLS". Packed with bar-room bet-winning facts & entertaining digressions this is a book into which every pub-goer will want to dip
- " Express"."


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THE MAN WHO BROKE INTO AUSCHWITZ is the extraordinary true story of a British soldier who marched willingly into Buna-Monowitz the concentration camp known as Auschwitz III. In the summer of 1944 Denis Avey was being held in a POW labour camp E715 near Auschwitz III. He had heard of the brutality meted out to the prisoners there & he was determined to witness what he could. He hatched a plan to swap places with a Jewish inmate & smuggled himself into his sector of the camp. He spent the night there on two occasions & experienced at first-hand the cruelty of a place where slave workers had been sentenced to death through labour. Astonishingly he survived to witness the aftermath of the Death March where thousands of prisoners were murdered by the Nazis as the Soviet Army advanced. After his own long trek right across central Europe he was repatriated to Britain. For decades he couldn't bring himself to revisit the past but now Denis Avey feels able to tell the full story
- a tale as gripping as it is moving
- which offers us a unique insight into the mind of an ordinary man whose moral & physical courage are almost beyond belief.

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THE MAN WHO BROKE INTO AUSCHWITZ is the extraordinary true story of a British soldier who marched willingly into Buna-Monowitz the concentration camp known as Auschwitz III. In the summer of 1944 Denis Avey was being held in a POW labour camp E715 near Auschwitz III. He had heard of the brutality meted out to the prisoners there & he was determined to witness what he could. He hatched a plan to swap places with a Jewish inmate & smuggled himself into his sector of the camp. He spent the night there on two occasions & experienced at first-hand the cruelty of a place where slave workers had been sentenced to death through labour. Astonishingly he survived to witness the aftermath of the Death March where thousands of prisoners were murdered by the Nazis as the Soviet Army advanced. After his own long trek right across central Europe he was repatriated to Britain. For decades he couldnt bring himself to revisit the past that haunted his dreams but now Denis Avey feels able to tell the full story
- a tale as gripping as it is moving
- which offers us a unique insight into the mind of an ordinary man whose moral & physical courage are almost beyond belief.

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This is the first biography in twenty years of James Clerk Maxwell one of the greatest scientists of our time & yet a man relatively unknown to the wider public. Approaching science with a freshness unbound by convention or previous expectations he produced some of the most original scientific thinking of the nineteenth century
- & his discoveries went on to shape the twentieth century.
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In 2008 Mark Beaumont smashed the world record for cycling around the world by an astonishing 81 days. His race against the clock took him through the toughest terrain & the most demanding of conditions. In 2009 Mark set out on his second ultra-endurance challenge. & this one would involve some very big mountains. The Man Who Cycled the Americas" tells the story of a 15 000 mile expedition that once again broke the barriers of human achievement. To pedal the longest mountain range on the planet solo & unsupported presented its own unique difficulties. But no man had ever previously summited the continents two highest peaks Mt Mc Kinley in Alaska & Aconcagua in Argentina in the same climbing season let alone cycling between them. Oh & Mark had never even been up Ben Nevis before. Full of his trademark charm warmth & fascination with seeing the world at the pace of a bicycle Mark Beaumonts second book is a testament to his love of adventure his joy of taking on tough mental & physical feats & offers a thrilling trip through the diverse cultures of the Americas." ...

Lots of husbands forget things: they forget that their wife had an important meeting that morning; they forget to pick up the dry cleaning; some of them even forget their wedding anniversary. But Vaughan has forgotten he even has a wife. Her name her face their history together everything she has ever told him everything he has said to her
- it has all gone mysteriously wiped in one catastrophic moment of memory loss. & now he has rediscovered her
- only to find out that they are getting divorced. The Man Who Forgot His Wife is the funny moving & poignant story of a man who has done just that. & who will try anything to turn back the clock & have one last chance to reclaim his life.

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Lots of husbands forget things: they forget that their wife had an important meeting that morning; they forget to pick up the dry cleaning; some of them even forget their wedding anniversary. But Vaughan has forgotten he even has a wife. Her name her face their history together everything she has ever told him everything he has said to her
- it has all gone mysteriously wiped in one catastrophic moment of memory loss. & now he has rediscovered her
- only to find out that they are getting divorced. The Man Who Forgot His Wife" is the funny moving & poignant story of a man who has done just that. & who will try anything to turn back the clock & have one last chance to reclaim his life."

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In 1888 the unknown brought death & terror to the streets of Victorian London's East End. The Man Who Hunted Jack the Ripper is the story of Detective Inspector Edmund Reid who was head of the Whitechapel detective force. Having joined the Metropolitan Police Force Reid rose through the ranks & was eventually transferred to the notorious East End. It was at this time that he assumed responsibility to lead his men in a relentless pursuit of Jack the Ripper; his pursuit of the Whitechapel murderer spanned the years 1888 to 1891. Reid retired from the police force in 1896 but in the subsequent years he often reminisced on his involvement in the hunt for the infamous serial killer; from the comfort of his armchair he carefully considered any new theory that came to light about the identity of Jack the Ripper. The Man Who Hunted Jack the Ripper recounts the full story of a series of murders that shocked the world. ...

The Daleks are one of the most iconic & fearsome creations in television history. Since their first appearance in 1963 they have simultaneously fascinated & terrified generations of British children their instant success ensuring & sometimes eclipsing that of Doctor Who. They sprang from the imagination of Terry Nation a failed st&-up comic who became one of the most prolific writers for television that Britian ever produced. Survivors his vision of a post-apocalyptic England so haunted audiences in the Seventies that the BBC revived it over thirty years on & Blakes 7 constantly rumoured for return endures as a cult sci-fi classic. But it is for his genocidal pepperpots that Nation is most often remembered & on the 50th anniversary of their creation they continue to top the Saturday-night ratings. Yet while the Daleks brought him notoriety & riches Nation played a much wider role in British broadcastings golden age. He wrote for Spike Milligan Frankie Howerd & an increasingly troubled Tony Hancock & as one of the key figures behind the adventure series of the Sixties
- including The Avengers The Saint & The Persuaders!
- he turned the pulp classics of his boyhood into a major British export. In The Man Who Invented the Daleks acclaimed cultural historian Alwyn W. Turner explores the curious & contested origins of Doctor Whos greatest villains & sheds light on a strange world of ambitious young writers producers & performers without whom British culture today would look very different.

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When Monty Roberts was thirteen years old he went off on his own to the deserts of Nevada to watch mustangs in the wild. What he learned about their methods of communication changed his life forever. The Man Who Listens to Horses reveals his deep love & understanding of horses. We learn how through his relationship with various horses he gradually developed the methods which enabled him to communicate in their own language: a silent language of gestures like signing for the deaf. According to Monty anyone can learn the language of the horse & anyone can learn his Join-Up (R) methods. In this book he tells you how. This is the bestselling autobiography that spread Monty Roberts message across the world & changed his life forever. Unique & inspirational & with a message that resonates far wider than its application to horses it might change your life too. ...