Operation Mercury the German airborne assault on the island of Crete in May 1941 was the first strategic use of airborne forces in history. The assault began on 20 May with landings near the island's key airports & reinforcements the next day allowed the German forces to capture one end of the runway at Maleme. By 24 May the Germans were being reinforced by air on a huge scale & on 1 June Crete surrendered. This book describes how desperately close the battle had been & explains how German losses so shocked the Fuhrer that he never again authorised a major airborne operation. ...

Marco Polo maps feature completely up-to-date digitally generated mapping. The high quality cartography with distance indicators & scale converters aid route planning. Contains 4 city maps: Agios Nikolaos Hania Iraklio & Rethimno. A fold-out overview map is ideal for route planning & 7 self-adhesive Marco Polo mark-it stickers can be used to pin-point a destination or route for future reference. Scenic routes & places of interest are highlighted
- ideal for touring holidays. Comprehensive index booklet. The map scale is 1: 150 000.
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A Lancaster bomber required a crew of seven men. Van the pilot is American Jock Flight Engineer a Scot. Piers the hopeless navigator is a foppish aristocrat
- Frightfully sorry Skipper not absolutely sure where we are. The bomb aimer is an Aussie. Wireless operator a London cockney who was older than God a mid-upper gunner with terrible eyesight & the most heartrending of all the rear gunner dragged backwards in a fishbowl through the sky a seventeen-year-old who had lied about his age to get into the air force. They are all appalling at the beginning of the book. The pilot nearly crashes them on the first landing they dont get on all that well with each other. They all loathe Piers the toff & they dont cohere as a team at all. Then slowly as they begin their first real gut-dropping bombing raids over Germany they begin to develop as a real crew depending on each other becoming more proficient. Charlies young widowed mum comes to live in a cottage near the airfield in order to be near her boy. Inevitably a romance develops between her & the older than God wireless operator (over thirty!). Other women become involved love them lose them. One of the crew is killed at the end...which one? A wonderful emotive gripping heart wrenching novel of men & women at their best.
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OS Explorer Map is the Ordnance Surveys most detailed map & is recommended for anyone enjoying outdoor activities such as walking horse riding & off-road cycling. The series provides complete GB coverage & can now be used in all weathers thanks to OS Explorer Map
- Active a tough versatile version of the OS Explorer Map.
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OS Explorer Map is the Ordnance Survey's most detailed map & is recommended for anyone enjoying outdoor activities like walking horse riding & off-road cycling. Providing complete GB coverage the series details essential information such as youth hostels pubs & visitor information as well as rights of way permissive paths & bridleways. ...

The Royal School of Needlework teaches hand embroidery to the highest standard developing techniques in new & innovative ways. This book

Includes:: an extensive stitch guide covering all the stitches necessary for crewel embroidery a design section & a history of the Royal School itself. Although it is commonly thought of as a woven tapestry the Bayeux Tapestry is in fact the oldest surviving example of crewelwork. The illustrations on the piece tell the story of the events leading up to the Norman Conquest & are embroidered on to the linen surface with a two-ply worsted wool. Laid stitches (see page 43) were used for the characters & scenery; couching (see page 60) for outlines & stem stitch (see page 58) to define detail & to render the lettering. Worsted wools are thought to have originated in the farming village of Worstead in Norfolk. This native resource most appropriate to the British climate was manufactured into clothing & became one of Britains most successful industries. To this day the inhabitants of Worstead continue the tradition of spinning dyeing & weaving fleece from local sheep. Although primarily spun to produce woollen cloth at some point it became popular to use this yarn to embroider. At first monochrome motifs stitched in wool with a small number of different stitches such as stem & seeding (see page 50) were the most common but embroidered curtains & bed hangings that resembled designs inspired by woodcut prints are known. Foreign trade created by Elizabeth I initially devised to bring back valuable spices found a foothold in Northern India where English merchants picked up coffee in Mocha & cloth in Gujarat. Egyptian trade was found to be profitable as they too welcomed cotton cloth in exchange for silver which reduced the drain on English silver while the Persians provided a market for the English woollens. Inevitably some of these Indian & African fabrics made it back to Europe where they were well-received. Pampalores & pintadoes painted calicos that came to be known in England as chintz were produced on the Coromandel coast of India & became very popular in the now-furnished households of Britain. By the late seventeenth century cheap washable cotton cloth & luxurious woven silks were in huge demand & contributed to the changing fashions in Britain. Fine beautiful fabrics encouraged less padding to be worn & instead more to be added to the furniture which during the Tudor period had been fairly stark. Furnishings obviously called for something a little more durable than clothing & designers began to create textile furnishings with easily accessible & more resilient materials such as dyed wools & heavy-duty linens; their designs inspired by the fashionable tree of life patterns found on the pampalores. After the Protestant Reformation there was little demand for ecclesiastic work so it was more common to see embroidery used for secular & domestic objects. Crewel embroidery thus became more popular & professional craftsmen laden with pattern books travelled the country redesigning the interiors of the wealthy; adorning country houses with cosy furnishings panels fire screens & bed-hangings embroidered with exotic illustrations. The lady of the house would then embroider these patterns with colourful crewel wools. Crewelwork reached its peak in popularity during the following Stuart period after Elizabeth I died & James VI of Scotland acceded to the throne of the United Kingdom as King James I. Increasingly amateur embroiderers took up needlework for pleasure & to furnish their own home & it became the done thing for a young lady to accomplish.

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Cribbage is one of the oldest ' & best ' card games for two or more players. This book in two parts first introduces the game to those who have never played it before & then explains its intricacies to more experienced players & gives guidance on improving the chances of winning. The book describes both the six-card & five-card games in detail & shows how to obtain the maximum advantage from any of the countless card combinations. Numerous examples are included each with its own commentary & checked by computer programs The examples are written in easily understood tabular form & have been chosen to illustrate the subtleties of each stage of the game. The title of the book Cribbage: How to Play & Win summarises its aims ' the game is great fun to play & enjoyment is guaranteed whether you win or lose. ...

Know the Game Cricket is the perfect introduction to the sport for all ages whether you are a keen club player or beginner. It is packed with expert text clear illustrations & photographs of the professionals in action. The book
Includes:: Playing the game: how to play cricket the rules positions on the pitch how to score The laws of the game: from scoring to umpiring Equipment & pitch: how to choose a bat positioning of fielders the wicket The skills: step-by-step guide to all the basic skills including batting bowling wicket keeping & fielding. The Know the Game series is firmly established as the definitive introduction to a wide range of sports & games. Written by the experts you can be sure that they contain everything you need to know to take part.
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This insightful new series explores different sports
- how & where theyre played the equipment & kit needed & how to get involved.
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Cricket Yesterday & Today" is a unique celebration of cricket where the days of James Lilywhite WG Grace & Victor Trumper are shown alongside the era of modern icons Kevin Pietersen Shane Warne & Sachin Tendulkar. In this unique photographic sports book cricket is shown in a new light as historic photographs are shown alongside images from today on a similar theme so first Ashes tour is shown opposite todays squad of superstars the stiff upright delivery stride of spinner Albert Trott against the frog in a blender action of Paul Adams the classical Wally Hammond cover drive compared to Tillakaratne Dilshans Dilscoop. Each pair of photographs is discussed in a lively intelligent & anecdote-packed style by a celebrated cricket writer Ian Valentine." ...