William Morris Textiles was the first comprehensive survey of the many hundreds of original colourful textiles produced by William Morris & the two commercial companies he founded & managed. To this day it remains the authority in the field & this revised edition has been completely rewritten & expanded with beautiful new photography. Linda Parry provides new insight into the embroideries printed & woven textiles carpets & tapestries produced by Morris & Co. giving in-depth information about their design & manufacture. The varied often highly specialized processes involved are discussed in detail as are Morris's working methods. ...

The award-winning biography of William Pitt the Younger by William Hague the youngest leader of the Tory Party since Pitt himself. William Pitt the Younger was one of the most extraordinary figures in British history. Prime minister at the age of twenty-four he went on to dominate British politics for two decades presiding over such complex & treacherous national crises as the madness of King George III the beleaguered union with Ireland the fallout from the French Revolution & the trauma of the Napoleonic Wars. With the keen eye of an experienced politician William Hague examines the enigmatic life & tumultuous times of a man capable of both wit & arrogance economic genius & financial mismanagement. A rich cast of characters & a vivid backdrop of global conflict make this riveting biography of Pitt the Younger compulsive reading. ...

The second Oxford edition of Shakespeares Complete Works reconsiders every detail of their text & presentation in the light of modern scholarship. The nature & authority of the early documents are re-examined & the canon & chronological order of composition freshly established. Spelling & punctuation are modernized & there is a brief introduction to each work as well as an illuminating & informative General Introduction. Included here for the first time is the play The Reign of King Edward the Third as well as the full text of Sir Thomas More. This new edition also features an essay on Shakespeares language by David Crystal & a bibliography of foundational works. ...

The extraordinary life of Englands greatest dramatist is told in fascinating detail from his rural beginnings in Stratford-on-Avon where he was born in 1564 to his phenomenal success in London where he became a favourite at the glorious court of Queen Elizabeth. The narrative describes how plays were beginning to become the popular entertainment form of the day how theatres were built & who went to them. All Elizabethan life is there & the book gives the reader not only a complete background on the life of Shakespeare but also a vivid picture of late sixteenth-century life. ...

You've probably heard of William Shakespeare. He is dead famous for:
- writing a few plays
- having a bit of a way with words
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A new biography of the Norman king who conquered England in 1066 changing the course of the country forever. Of Franco-Scandinavian descent through his father Duke Robert the Magnificent William the Conquerors life is set against his true background the turbulent Norman Duchy which even after the Conquest of England remained his primary concern. William is revealed as the brutal & violent product of his time much given to outbursts of rage capable of great cruelty autocratic avaricious & prone to a sort of grisly humour yet with all that he could also be a loyal friend & affectionate husband & father. His military reputation rests mainly on his victory at Hastings & he showed little sign of strategic or tactical genius. He was a competent rather than inspired general benefiting from the mistakes & disunity of his foes. Only at Hastings did he meet & defeat a man who was his peer as a leader of men. He inspired great loyalty in some & even greater hatred in others. His primary attribute was his ruthless will which made him the driving force behind Norman ambition in North Western Europe. His propagandists shamelessly manipulated the facts to justify his conquest of England a dubious enterprise if ever there was one. ...

Whether hes wearing a bear suit thats slightly too small for him cloaked in mystery as a fortune teller or unwillingly attired in the robes of a Fairy Queen William is unmistakably himself: trouble in human form. Only Great-Aunt Jane manages to take William on at his own game
- & win!
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I din take it William said. Ethel took it. She
- she sort of cant help herself. I always he added virtuously tryn put back the
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Sir William Wallace of Ellerslie now the subject of a major film is one of historys greatest heroes & one of its greatest enigmas
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By no means prepared by birth education or training for leadership Wallace nevertheless rose to prominence during the Wars of Independence leading forces which broke the sequence of English victories & re-energising & inspiring his countrymen in the process. While others ostensibly his betters yielded & collaborated Wallace set an example of constancy & perseverance & became the Guardian of Scotl&. Even his terrible death in London in 1305 can be seen as a victory as it provided inspiration for the continuance of the struggle against English domination. Despite Wallaces almost mythical status
- boosted in no small part by the film Braveheart
- present-day perceptions of him are no always based on the objective analysis of the historical facts. In this revised & expanded biography Andrew Fisher investigates all the aspects of Wallaces life & character treating him as a man of his time. The result is a more authentic picture of the greatest of Scotlands heroes than has been previously available.

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