From battlefield to sacred building from castle to cottage from the Bridgwater Canal to Blackpool Pier acclaimed historian John Julius Norwich tells the political cultural social religious & economic story of England through one hundred key places you can still visit today. Part narrative history part exploration of our national heritage his wide-ranging selection of sites will stimulate entertain inform
- & certainly provoke
- a debate about the most significant moments in English history.

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In this magnificent guide to Englands cuisine the inimitable Clarissa Dickson Wright takes us from a medieval feast to a modern-day farmers market visiting the Tudor working mans table & a Georgian kitchen along the way. Peppered with surprises & seasoned with wit A History of England Food" is a classic for any food lover." ...

Mervyn Cooke provides a comprehensive & lively introduction to the major trends in film scoring from the silent era to the present day focussing not only on dominant Hollywood practices but also offering an international perspective by including case studies of the national cinemas of the UK France India Italy Japan & the early Soviet Union. The book balances wide-ranging overviews of film genres modes of production & critical reception with detailed non-technical descriptions of the interaction between image track & soundtrack in representative individual films. In addition to the central focus on narrative cinema separate sections are also devoted to music in documentary & animated films film musicals & the uses of popular & classical music in the cinema. The author analyses the varying technological & aesthetic issues that have shaped the history of film music & concludes with an account of the modern film composers working practices. ...

The ingredients cooks techniques & tools that have shaped our love of food. We all love to eat & most of us have a favourite ingredient or dish. In todays world we can get the food we want when we want it but how many of us really know where our much-loved recipes come from who invented them & how they were originally cooked? In this book William Sitwell culinary expert on BBC2s A Question of Taste & editor of Waitrose Kitchen magazine takes us on a colourful whirlwind journey as he explores the fascinating history of cuisine. This book is a celebration of the great dishes techniques & above all brilliant cooks who have over the centuries created the culinary landscape we now enjoy. Any lover of fine food who has ever wondered about the origins of the methods & recipes we now take for granted will find A History of Food in 100 Recipes required reading. As well as shining a light on foods glorious past there are contributions from a glittering array of stars of British cuisine including Marco Pierre White Delia Smith Heston Blumenthal Nigella Lawson & Jamie Oliver. In an incisive & humorous narrative Sitwell enters an Egyptian tomb to reveal the earliest recipe for bread & discovers the greatest party planner of the Middle Ages. He uncovers the extraordinary & poetic roots of the roast dinner & tells the heart-rending story of the forgotten genius who invented the pressure cooker. & much much more. ...

The remarkable stories of 100 football artefacts that have shaped the game as we know it. What does a grapefruit have in common with a pair of GBP500 sunglasses? They've both played a pivotal role in football history. Following on from Neil Mac Gregor's groundbreaking The History of the World in 100 Objects Bill Mann provides a quirky & unique take on the beautiful game told through its defining objects. A History of Football in 100 Objects begins on the momentous day in October 1863 when several men in frock coats formed the Football Association. Ever since the sport has continually evolved
- & created new ways to thrill & infuriate its billions of followers along the way. If you've ever wanted to know when footballers started to feign injury why an old sock helped Pele become a global legend or how a draper's letter changed football you'll find the answer in this fascinating history of invention ingenuity indiscipline
- & sometimes inebriation. From the inaugural red card to the ubiquitous mock Tudor mansion each of the objects selected gives us an intimate glimpse of an unexpected truth behind footie mythology
- & together they relate the larger history of the world's biggest & most-loved sport.


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Champion thoroughbreds owners trainers & jockeys illustrated with 220 drawings paintings & photographs. It is an engrossing guide to the fascinating stories & facts of the horse-racing world from the early days of the first races to the thrilling multi-spectator sport of today. It

Includes:: all the famous horse races from around the world such as Newmarket in England the Kentucky Derby in the USA & the Melbourne Cup in Australia. It features intriguing information about legendary owners trainers & jockeys as well as the winning thoroughbred horses that have become celebrity champions. It explores the reasons why the internationally famous racecourses are so popular with the racegoing public. It is spectacularly illustrated with over 220 dramatic photographs of horses signature race courses & personalites as well as archive drawings & paintings. There are few more stirring sights in sport than to witness the finish of a prestigious horse race
- the bright blur of horses racing towards the winning post with jockeys pushing their mounts forward urged on by the encouragement of the racegoers. This book celebrates the great characters & performers both human & equine who have been involved in such contests. It features the owners trainers jockeys & above all the champion thoroughbreds who have written their names into the legend of the 'sport of kings'
- from Flying Childers the first great racehorse of the 18th century through to Makybe Diva the three-time winner of the Melbourne Cup. Racing's hallowed venues & their much-awaited blue-riband racedays are also documented & celebrated. Illustrated with over 220 photographs the book conveys the essence of the sport in a charming & enjoyable manner.



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Lichfield of all the towns & cities in the West Midlands has the longest & most intriguing history. Its famous son Dr. Samuel Johnson called it 'a city of philosophers' & the extraordinary society of writers scientists & thinkers who lived in the shadow of its great cathedral in the 18th century proved his point. By that time the city already had well over a thousand years of history under its belt since St Chad came down from York in the 7th century & recognised Lichfield as a place of mystery & power perfect for his new church. In the Middle Ages powerful bishops fortified the town & the close & created one of the earliest markets in the Midlands. Such was its importance that every English king included it in his itinerary. In the 1640s Lichfield was the focus for one of the most dramatic conflicts of the Civil War when within four years the city came under siege three times. ...

London has had more prisons than any other British city. The City's 'gates' once contained prisons but probably the most notorious of all was Newgate which stood for over 700 years. The eleventh century Tower of London was used as a prison for a variety of high profile prisoners from Sir Thomas More to the Krays. Discover the background of a variety of historic places of incarceration such as The Clink the King's Bench Prison; & debtors prisons such as the Fleet Prison & the Marshalsea. ' Lost' prisons such as the Gatehouse in Westminster Millbank Penitentiary Surrey County Gaol in Horsemonger Row The House of Detention Coldbath Fields Prison & Tothill Fields Prison are also described in detail; as are more familiar gaols: Holloway Pentonville Brixton Wandsworth & Wormwood Scrubs. In his A History of London's Prisons Geoffrey Howse delves not only into the intricate web of historical facts detailing the origins of the capital's prisons but also

Includes:: fascinating detail concerning the day-to-day life of prisoners
- from the highly born to the most despicable human specimens imaginable
- as well as those less fortunate individuals who found themselves through no fault of their own 'in the clink' some soon becoming clients of the hangman or executioner.



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Shortlisted for the Orange Prize for Fiction 2006 & winner of the 2006 Prix du Meilleur Livre Etranger The History of Love" by bestselling author Nicole Krauss explores the lasting power of the written word & the lasting power of love. When I was born my mother named me after every girl in a book my father gave her called " The History of Love"... Fourteen-year-old Alma Singer is trying to find a cure for her mothers loneliness. Believing she might discover it in an old book her mother is lovingly translating she sets out in search of its author. Across New York an old man called Leo Gursky is trying to survive a little bit longer. He spends his days dreaming of the love lost that sixty years ago in Poland inspired him to write a book. & although he doesnt know it yet that book also survived: crossing oceans & generations & changing lives..." Wonderfully affecting...brilliant touching & remarkably poised". (" Sunday Telegraph"). "A tender tribute to human valiance. Who could be unmoved by a cast of characters whose daily battles are etched on out mind in such diamond-cut prose?" (" Independent on Sunday"). " Devastating...one of the most passionate vindications of the written word in recent fiction. It takes ones breath away". (" Spectator"). Nicole Krauss is an American bestselling author who has received international critical acclaim for her first three novels: " Great House" (shortlisted for the Orange Prize for Fiction 2011) " The History of Love" & " Man Walks into a Room" (shortlisted for the LA Times Book Award) all of which are available in Penguin paperback." ...

A History of Mathematics: From Mesopotamia to Modernity covers the evolution of mathematics through time & across the major Eastern & Western civilizations. It begins in Babylon then describes the trials & tribulations of the Greek mathematicians. The important & often neglected influence of both Chinese & Islamic mathematics is covered in detail placing the description of early Western mathematics in a global context. The book concludes with modern mathematics covering recent developments such as the advent of the computer chaos theory topology mathematical physics & the solution of Fermat's Last Theorem. Containing more than 100 illustrations & figures this text aimed at advanced undergraduates & postgraduates addresses the methods & challenges associated with studying the history of mathematics. The reader is introduced to the leading figures in the history of mathematics (including Archimedes Ptolemy Qin Jiushao al-Kashi al-Khwarizmi Galileo Newton Leibniz Helmholtz Hilbert Alan Turing & Andrew Wiles) & their fields. An extensive bibliography with cross-references to key texts will provide invaluable resource to students & exercises (with solutions) will stretch the more advanced reader. ...