Thomas Glover arrived in Nagasaki in 1859 just as Japan was opening to the West. Within a few years he had played a crucial part in the overthrow of the Tokugawa Shogunate providing the rebels with war-winning Scottish-designedwarships & modern arms. Bankruptcy by the age of thirty was barely a setback & he went on to become a pivotal figure in the rapidly expanding Mitsubishi empire founding shipyards & breweries. As energetic in his love-life as in business & politics Glover had a string of Japanese mistresses one of whom inspired Puccinis Madam Butterfly. This Scottish Samurai was to become an adviser to the Japanese government; he also arranged for many Japanese to visit Britain & see the wonders of the industrial revolution a lesson they enthusiatically absorbed. Today Glover is regarded as one of the founding fathers of the Japanese economic miracle. ...

Tartan! Ah the very symbol of Scotland! The ancient garb of the warlike Scots. Created amid rugged Highland hills a proud beacon of national independence & individual clan loyalty. Skilfully h&-crafted in designs passed down over the centuries; coloured red (for blood); blue (for the lochs & the sea) & violet for the bonnie Scottish heather. This fascinating book looks at what is known with a reasonable degree of historical certainty about tartan & attempts to drive some of the wilder woollier tartan myths back into the misty Celtic twilight. Packed full of peculiar tartan trivia this book contains all you need to know about one of the world's favourite fabrics. A curiositorium of the quirky odd & downright strange. Fact boxes a full glossary timeline & index make the book both fun & informative to use. ...

Packed full of information Scottish Wild Flowers is an ideal guide for both visitors & residents of Scotland who wish to learn about the fascinating wealth of wild flowers that can be found there. Each species is illustrated in full colour with a comprehensive description plus the plants English Latin & Gaelic names. For ease of use the plants are grouped together by the type of habitat in which they can be found including Highlands Lowlands & Coasts. Habitats are arranged from those most influenced by humans progressing towards wilder & more remote areas. The book

Includes:: a section with up-to-date details about places of interest & the best sites for finding some of the most attractive & special species of wild flowers in Scotl&.

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This is a superb new edition full-colour guide to the finest winter climbs in Scotl&. The second edition of this indispensible ...

What would you say if someone gave you a bap a dap or a garron? How would you feel if they called you a dux or a sneuter? Do you know what to do with a flane a hushock a kist or tassie? Could you wear raploch or schort-hoozle? Eat a cake that was gibbery or keggum? & with your nearest & dearest how would you fancy a spot of houghmagandie? North of the Border
- its not just the accent thats different the whole language is not the same. In fact there are several different ways of speaking in Scotland from the Borders in the south to the northernmost Orkney & Shetland Isles. This book will look at them all although it will focus on Scots
- the traditional language of the majority of Scottish people for the past thousand years & more. Fact boxes a full glossary timeline & index make the book both fun & informative to use.

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A trained scout will see little signs & tracks he puts them together in his mind & quickly reads a meaning from them such as an untrained man would never arrive at. A startling amalgam of Zulu war-cry & imperial & urban myth of borrowed tips on health & hygiene & object lessons in woodcraft Robert Baden-Powells Scouting for Boys (1908) is the original blueprint & self-instructor of the Boy Scout Movement. An all-time bestseller in the English-speaking world second only to the Bible this primer of yarns & pictures constitutes probably the most influential manual for youth ever published. Yet the book is at the same time a roughly composed hodge-podge of jingoist lore & tracker legend padded with lengthy"ations from adventure fiction & B-Ps own autobiography & seamed through with the multiple anxieties of its time: fears of degeneration concerns about masculinity & self-restraint invasion paranoia. Elleke Boehmers edition of Scouting for Boys is the first to reprint the original text & illustrations & her fine introduction investigates a book that has been cited as an authority by militarists & pacifists capitalists & environmentalists alike. ...

[ Contains] the best & most useful skills you should have learned but never got around to or once knew but have now forgotten... This is the outdoor handbook brought to you by the people who wrote the rules
- Bear Grylls Chief Scout. Do you know how to build an altar fire? Read a compass or navigate by the stars? Could you construct & steer a raft across a river? Tie a reef knot
- or send a message using Morse code? All these & many many more are included in this incredibly detailed guide to everything you could ever need to know about outdoor adventure. Whether youre a seasoned adventurer looking to brush up on your skills or a complete beginner wanting to find a good starting point this book is for you.

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This is a new luxury edition of the ever popular world famous word game for two to four players. The object of the game is ...

Every word counts! This new edition of Collins Gem Scrabble Dictionary is the perfect companion for all Scrabble games in a handy portable format. Based on Scrabble Words the most comprehensive Scrabble wordlist ever it gives short succinct definitions to help players use the best words for their game of Scrabble. The Collins Gem Scrabble Dictionary is an essential item for all Scrabble players. With short definitions for every word listed players can check meanings of words without having to consult a secondary dictionary. Collins Scrabble Dictionary offers help on the best words to use & remember. The handy size enables players to take this book anywhere on holiday & journeys making it the perfect companion to Travel Scrabble. Collins Scrabble dictionaries are endorsed by Mattel & are an essential reference for all Scrabble players from keen regular players to families playing with children. SCRABBLE (R) is a registered trademark of J. W. Spear & Sons Ltd. a subsidiary of Mattel Inc.A (c) 2000 Mattel Inc. All Rights Reserved. ...

Every word counts! This new edition of Collins Gem Scrabble Dictionary is the perfect companion for all Scrabble games in a handy portable format. Based on Scrabble Words the most comprehensive Scrabble wordlist ever it gives short succinct definitions to help players use the best words for their game of Scrabble. The Collins Gem Scrabble Dictionary is an essential item for all Scrabble players. With short definitions for every word listed players can check meanings of words without having to consult a secondary dictionary. Collins Scrabble Dictionary offers help on the best words to use & remember. The handy size enables players to take this book anywhere on holiday & journeys making it the perfect companion to Travel Scrabble. Collins Scrabble dictionaries are endorsed by Mattel & are an essential reference for all Scrabble players from keen regular players to families playing with children. SCRABBLE (R) is a registered trademark of J. W. Spear & Sons Ltd. a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. (c) 2000 Mattel Inc. All Rights Reserved. ...