William Burges (1827-81) was arguably the greatest of all Victorian architects. But he was more than just the creator of a modest number of fabulous & fabulously expensive buildings. He dreamed of hundreds more designed dozens & in addition created some of the most remarkable furniture & jewellery of all time. He was an art-architect. Rich clever well connected & short lived he was uncompromising profoundly learned skilled in every process of design & explosively inventive. A brilliant talker pungent critic & hilarious companion he was one of Victorian Londons great eccentrics & networkers though he was bewitched by the Middle Ages. The great buildings that he completed include Cork Cathedral Cardiff Castle & the even more eccentric Castell Coch the great Yorkshire churches of Skelton & Studley Royal the magnificent country houses of Knightshayes in Devon & Mount Stuart on the Isle of Bute & his own astonishing Tower House in Kensington. His furniture fabric & jewellery designs & his unrealised projects were also hugely influential & the former are now enthusiastically collected. This book was a landmark in Victorian studies when first published in 1981 & is now completely revised & re-illustrated substantially in colour. ...

THE knight of all knights: this is William Marshal as portrayed by David Crouch in his classic biography of the Marshal. International sportsman career courtier & highly capable & professional soldier William Marshal challenges many of our assumptions about boneheaded & unfeeling warrior knights. This illustrated new edition expands & upgrades William Marshals epic life-story in light of recent discoveries about his career & character. ...

Now available in paperback Pamela Todds book celebrates William Morris genius presenting a thorough overview of his life & career while setting out his guiding principles so that a modern audience can recreate the Arts & Crafts style in their own homes. A series of Case Studies explores six contemporary houses from a modern London townhouse to a traditional Arts & Crafts home in Massachusetts that have followed & adapted Morris dicta brilliantly demonstrating how the style can be applied to our environment today. The book concludes with a comprehensive style-sourcing section as well as a gazetteer of places to visit for inspiration. An excellent book". (" The Times"). " The definitive source book for anyone interested in the Arts & Crafts style.. .stunning". (" Period Living & Traditional Homes"). " Gorgeous.. .packed with intelligently researched information & more than 200 exquisite illustrations... Get this if youre tempted to introduce the true spirit of Morris to your home". (" Grand Designs")." ...

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 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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May the verse be with you! Inspired by one of the greatest creative minds in the English language
- & William Shakespeare
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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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