From a very early age Cath Kidston loved to play shop -whether she was selling the contents of her mother s store cupboard back to her or her aunt s vegetables to passers-by from a tray on the pavement. Almost half a century later Cath Kidston has become an internationally acclaimed household name & playing shop has become a serious game. From a small shop in West London Cath has grown a simple idea into an iconic British brand with stores all over the UK & as far away as Japan & Thail&. Her story is that of an entrepreneur. The questions she is most frequently asked relate to how she started out & how she s managed to grow a business in challenging times. As the company celebrates its twentieth birthday Cath Kidston shares the story of how her idea for modern vintage came about how the business was born & the journey she & the company have taken over the past two decades. Cath tells of her experiences both good & bad & gives an insight in to what it takes to build a br&. Coming up Roses is the quirky & unexpected story of one of Britain s best-loved businesses. ...

In March 1784 at a time when most of the fleet was laid up His Majesty's frigate Undine weighed anchor at Spithead to begin a voyage to India & far beyond. As her new captain Richard Bolitho was glad to go despite the nature of his orders & the immensity of the voyage
- for he was leaving an England still suffering from the aftermath of war. But he was to learn that signatures on proud documents did not necessarily make a lasting peace & found himself involved in a conflict as ruthless as the one which had given him his first command during the war with France. In an uneasy peace the expansion of trade & colonial development in little-known areas of the East Indies soon pushed aside the pretence & brought the guns' fury into the open. There was no set line of battle or declared cause to rally Undine's small company. But the dangers & the endless demands had to be faced by the man who commanded the only King's ship available.
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Kylara had to leave a bright future as a military cadet & was thrown into the brutal world of off-world trading. This subsequent career in the family business was tough: marked by war mutiny & attempted assassination. But then her home was attacked & her parents killed
- their trading empire left in ruins. Now she must save what is left of the family & the business with few friends & too few assets. She must make full use of her hard-won experience to not just survive but to restore the shattered fortunes of the Vatta family & their allies. Now Kylara Vatta space-trader & sometime privateer has destined herself for a dangerous & unpredictable future. She will muster an interplanetary taskforce & forge them into a lethal weapon: one that the pirates who destroyed her family will never forget.. .
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This compelling new study of the Battle of the River Plate concentrates on Kapitan zur See Hans Langsdorff the commander of the German pocket battleship Graf Spee
- it is written from his point of view. The story of his mission at the start of the Second World War to prey on merchant shipping is graphically retold & Langsdorffs command decisions are the primary focus of David Millers gripping narrative. He considers in vivid detail the factors Langsdorff had to consider as he assessed the situation of his ship & choose his course of action. He describes the intelligence Langsdorff received & his knowledge of the position & strength of the forces of the Royal Navy that were arrayed against him. Langsdorffs interpretation of his mission & the tense calculations he had to make in order to carry it out are the essential elements of this dramatic story. Langsdorff operating alone & thousands of miles away from home & with no prospect of support had to grapple with the enormous burden of a lone comm&. He made grave mistakes & these are ruthlessly exposed. But this fascinating re-examination of his actions & his leadership does nothing to diminish his reputation as a brave & honourable officer.
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The Command of the Ocean" describes with unprecedented authority & scholarship the rise of Britain to naval greatness & the central place of the Navy & naval activity in the life of the nation & government. It describes not just battles voyages & cruises but how the Navy was manned how it was supplied with timber hemp & iron how its men (and sometimes women) were fed & above all how it was financed & directed. It was during the century & a half covered by this book that the successful organizing of these last three
- victualling money & management
- took the Navy to the heart of the British state. It is the great achievement of the book to show how completely integrated & mutually dependent Britain & the Navy then became."

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Edward Pellew captain of the legendary Indefatigable was quite simply the greatest frigate captain in the age of sail. An incomparable seaman ferociously combative yet chivalrous a master of the quarterdeck & an athlete of the tops he was as quick to welcome a gallant foe into his cabin as to dive to the rescue of a man overboard. He is the likely model for the heroic but all-too-human Jack Aubrey in Patrick OBrians novels. Pellew was orphaned at eight but fought his way from the very bottom of the Navy to fleet command & a viscountcy. Victories & eye-catching feats won him a public following. Yet as an outsider with a gift for antagonizing his better-born peers he made powerful enemies. Redemption came with his last command when he set off to do battle with the Barbary States & free thousands of European slaves. Contemporary opinion held this to be an impossible mission & Pellew himself in leading from the front in the style of his direct contemporary Nelson did not expect to survive. Pellews humanity as much as his gallantry fondness for subordinates & blind love for his family & the warmth & intimacy of his letters make him a hugely engaging & sympathetic figure. In Stephen Taylors magnificent new life he at last has the biography he deserves. ...

June 1940: As Britains soldiers limped home from Dunkirk a maverick Army officer was already devising a bold plan to hit back at the enemy. His idea was to revolutionise military thinking & change the face of warfare for ever. Relying as much on stealth & guile as on courage & stamina the Commandos brought to the battlefield the skills of the guerrilla. Trained by an unconventional band of experts & led by a big-game hunter a film star a Highland chief & an eccentric wielding a bow & arrow they became the spearhead of the Allied drive for victory. Weaving together official documents new research & veterans own accounts Commando reveals for the first time the exhilarating full story of WWIIs most formidable fighting force. ...

Chris Terrill is a man in search of his limit. He's 55 years old. He is not a soldier. He is being trained by the Royal Marines & he is going to Afghanistan. The only difference is that instead of a gun Chris will be holding a camera & filming the whole ordeal for a major TV series. The Royal Marines Commando training base in Lympstone Devon has a famous motto: '99.9 per cent need not apply'. Of those who start training after a very tough selection process nearly 50 per cent fail to make it through the most gruelling physical tests of any armed forces in the world in an eight month training regime. The elite who do eventually pass out are generally eighteen years old & at the peak of physical condition. But Chris Terrill is the exception: this book will tell of his heroic struggle to become the oldest man to win the coveted Royal Marines Commando Green Beret & enter the record books. & after six months of hell what next? Chris will follow the raw recruits on a tour to Southern Afghanistan. He will tell the story in book & film of the fears & hopes of the youngsters as they are plunged into one of the planet's most dangerous wars in the outlaw mountain terrain of Helmand Province. He will tell of ferocious battles against the Taliban of firefights of jaw-dropping heroism British sang froid & humour & tragedy as causalities are suffered
- all from the unique perspective of a civilian who has achieved the ultimate accolade: to be accepted as an honorary Royal Marines Commando. Commando" is a brilliant account of modern war on the front line."
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Attention! In your hand is an indispensable training manual for new recruits to fatherhood. Written by ex-Commando & dad of three Neil Sinclair this manual will teach you in no-nonsense terms how to: survive the first 24 hours; prepare & plan to Prevent Poor Parental Performance; maintain morale in the ranks; feed clothe transport & entertain your troops; transport the troops successfully on maneuvers; increase your flash to bang' time & 'square away' tasks along the way; & much much more. Let Training Commence. ...

Eric Harden was the only British army medic to be awarded the nations highest honour for battlefield bravery during the Second World War & remains the only rank & file member of the Royal Army Medical Corps to be recognised by the award of the Victoria Cross. As a pre-war member of the St John Ambulance he saw service during the 1940-41 Blitz & later volunteered for the Commandos under-going the same rigorous training as the fighting men before being attached to 45 Royal Marine Commando. He landed with his unit on D-Day & was involved in some of the fiercest fighting of the Normandy campaign. During a bitter battle on the Dutch-German border Harden known throughout his unit as Doc was killed saving the lives of wounded men trapped in no-mans l&. Commenting on the posthumous award in a speech to the House of Commons the Secretary of State for War the Rt Hon James Grigg was sufficiently moved by his selfless actions to say: I do not remember ever reading anything more heroic."" ...