In 1962 Mick Jagger was a bright well-scrubbed boy (planning a career in the civil service) while Keith Richards was learning how to smoke & to swivel a six-shooter. Add the mercurial Brian Jones (whod been effectively run out of Cheltenham for theft multiple impregnations & playing blues guitar) & the wryly opinionated Bill Wyman & Charlie Watts & the potential was obvious. During the 1960s & 70s the Rolling Stones were the polarising figures in Britain admired in some quarters for their flamboyance creativity & salacious lifestyles & reviled elsewhere for the same reasons. Confidently expected never to reach 30 they are now approaching their seventies & in 2012 will have been together for 50 years. In The Rolling Stones Christopher Sandford tells the human drama at the centre of the Rolling Stones story. Sandford has carried out interviews with those close to the Stones family members (including Micks parents) the groups fans & contemporaries
- even examined their previously unreleased FBI files. Like no other book before The Rolling Stones will make sense of the rich brew of clever invention & opportunism of talent good fortune insecurity self-destructiveness & of drugs sex & other excess that made the Stones who they are.
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From the bestselling author of Jupiters Travels & Dreaming of Jupiter comes an entertaining & inspiring new journey round Britain. Having crisscrossed the globe twice Ted returns to the British Isles to rediscover the country of his youth. The result is a revealing portrait of modern Britain. It is also a witty & affectionate journey back to the past when Ted would hitchhike across the country visiting friends (and girlfriends). He returns to the site of his old school with its astonishing war time history & visits familiar haunts where he did his National Service & got his first job in newspapers. He also visits less-familiar places. Some inspire him (Winchester Cathedral). Others defeat him (a tax office in Nottingham). As he rolls through the Isles he discovers that a great deal has changed: busier roads bureaucracy & worst of all the dreaded Sat Nav. But there is also much to celebrate & enjoy along the way. Packed with fascinating stories extraordinary encounters & glorious depictions of the British countryside Rolling through the Isles takes the reader on an unforgettable trip with a celebrated adventurer & writer. ...

The first Rolls-Royce armoured car was a privately owned vehicle fitted with a machine-gun & a limited amount of armour plate at a dockyard in France. It was used by a squadron of the Royal Naval Air Service in Flanders in 1914. Backed by First Lord of the Admiralty Winston Churchill more & better versions followed until by 1915 there were about 100 of them which were then handed over to the Army. They searched the world for War" as Sir Albert Stern said of them & before long there were Rolls-Royce armoured cars operating as far apart as German South West Africa the Western Desert Gallipoli all over the Middle East & the north west frontier of India. All of them used the classic 40/50hp Silver Ghost chassis. They were fast silent & reliable but above all strong. "A Rolls in the desert is above rubies" said Lawrence of Arabia & the Duke of Westminster would have agreed with him following his famous raid to rescue the kidnapped crew of the steamship HMS Tara. At least one car accompanied the adventurous MP Oliver Locker-Lampson on his adventures in Russia. After the war unable to find a better model the War Office simply copied the original Admiralty design with minor improvements. If that was not enough the Royal Air Force also acquired some to support their operations in the Middle East. A new design with a larger body & dome shaped turret also appeared for service in India. They also served in Ireland & even briefly in Shanghai. The 11th Hussars still had Rolls-Royces in Egypt when the war against Italy began & the youngest of these was over fifteen years old when they went into action but after that their numbers dwindled as newer vehicles came along. But then history repeated itself. Britain was threatened with invasion & a new army of veterans was raised to assist with defence. Some battalions built home made armoured cars on private chassis & at least three of these were based on Rolls-Royces." ...

For generations people the world over have been intrigued by the magic of the h&-built motor cars created by the worlds most skilled craftsmen & women. Their workmanship & world-class engineering made Rolls-Royce the benchmark for quality & excellence. The supreme accolade for other products was to be described as the Rolls-Royce of... Ironically the company that became the symbol of privilege & luxury was founded by a self-taught engineer Frederick Henry Royce son of a Lincolnshire farmer who started working at age 10 to help his widowed mother make ends meet. Obsessed with perfection in every task he proclaimed that nothing is ever right or good enough yet he produced the finest motor cars the world had ever seen. Owners range from royalty & billionaires to Hollywood stars & the just plain rich. They shared one aim
- to own the very best.
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Roma" is the story of the ancient city of Rome from its mythic beginnings as a campsite along a trade route to its emergence as the centre of the most extensive powerful empire in the ancient world. Beginning with the prehistory days when Roma was a way station among seven hills for traders & merchants & the founding of the city itself by Romulus & Remus critically acclaimed historical novelist Steven Saylor tells the epic saga of a city & its people its rise to prominence among the city-states of the area & ultimately dominance over the entire ancient Western world. From the tragedy of Coriolanus to the Punic Wars & the invasion by Hannibal the triumph & murder of Julius Caesar & the rise & decline of the Roman Republic & the beginnings of Imperial Rome Saylor's breathtaking novel brings to vivid life the most famous city of the ancient world. " Roma" is Saylor's finest achievement an epic in the truest sense of the word." ...

The book clearly explains & illustrates the mechanics of how Roman commanders
- at every level
- drew up & committed their different

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Like every other school in the country Davys class are working on the Romans. Everyone is to do a piece of work based on the visit they made to a Roman fort & the best will get a prize at the Roman Feast planned by the school. Davys problem is that bossy Molly from next door keeps stealing his ideas. That is until Davey draws inspiration from Julius Sneezer the Roman soldier. A funny & insightful story from the popular prize winning author of The Demon Headmaster. ...

For nearly four centuries Britain served as the western border of the Roman Empire. Invaded in AD 43 it was initially a wild place prone to Celtic uprisings such as those led by Boudicca. However as the decades passed the unrest settled & the Romans set to work building temples roads baths & villas. Life in Britain became similar to life in any of the corners of the empire with the order & culture of the Romans mixing freely with the native cultures. Covering all aspects of Roman British life from family food religion & travel this book allows the reader to discover what it was like to be a citizen of the greatest empire in the world while at the same time living near the edge of the map. ...

Objects made from metal glass baked clay jet & shale bone antler & ivory & of stone
- the small finds discovered on archaeological
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Building & architecture flourished throughtout the Roman Empire. The Romans discovered new techniques to solve problems but also to impress the world. They built aqueducts to bring water into their cities & towns grand baths for cleansing & socialising & elaborate villas for the cream of their society. In this book scientist & archaeologist Tony Rook takes the reader through Roman building techniques. He explores the structures that were found throughout the Roman Empire including roads bridges & aqueducts as well as the Romans answer to under-floor heating
- the hypocaust
- & vaults domes tiles & pipes. Lavishly illustrated with stunning photographs & the authors own detailed line drawings Roman Building techniques looks at Roman innovations practices & materials in a thorough yet readable way.

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