A new biography of the Norman king who conquered England in 1066 changing the course of the country forever. Of Franco-Scandinavian descent through his father Duke Robert the Magnificent William the Conquerors life is set against his true background the turbulent Norman Duchy which even after the Conquest of England remained his primary concern. William is revealed as the brutal & violent product of his time much given to outbursts of rage capable of great cruelty autocratic avaricious & prone to a sort of grisly humour yet with all that he could also be a loyal friend & affectionate husband & father. His military reputation rests mainly on his victory at Hastings & he showed little sign of strategic or tactical genius. He was a competent rather than inspired general benefiting from the mistakes & disunity of his foes. Only at Hastings did he meet & defeat a man who was his peer as a leader of men. He inspired great loyalty in some & even greater hatred in others. His primary attribute was his ruthless will which made him the driving force behind Norman ambition in North Western Europe. His propagandists shamelessly manipulated the facts to justify his conquest of England a dubious enterprise if ever there was one. ...

Whether hes wearing a bear suit thats slightly too small for him cloaked in mystery as a fortune teller or unwillingly attired in the robes of a Fairy Queen William is unmistakably himself: trouble in human form. Only Great-Aunt Jane manages to take William on at his own game
- & win!
...

I din take it William said. Ethel took it. She
- she sort of cant help herself. I always he added virtuously tryn put back the
...

Sir William Wallace of Ellerslie now the subject of a major film is one of historys greatest heroes & one of its greatest enigmas
-
...

By no means prepared by birth education or training for leadership Wallace nevertheless rose to prominence during the Wars of Independence leading forces which broke the sequence of English victories & re-energising & inspiring his countrymen in the process. While others ostensibly his betters yielded & collaborated Wallace set an example of constancy & perseverance & became the Guardian of Scotl&. Even his terrible death in London in 1305 can be seen as a victory as it provided inspiration for the continuance of the struggle against English domination. Despite Wallaces almost mythical status
- boosted in no small part by the film Braveheart
- present-day perceptions of him are no always based on the objective analysis of the historical facts. In this revised & expanded biography Andrew Fisher investigates all the aspects of Wallaces life & character treating him as a man of his time. The result is a more authentic picture of the greatest of Scotlands heroes than has been previously available.

...

William Hague has written the life of William Wilberforce who was both a staunch conservative & a tireless campaigner against the slave trade. Hague shows how Wilberforce after his agonising conversion to evangelical Christianity was able to lead a powerful tide of opinion as MP for Hull against the slave trade a process which was to take up to half a century to be fully realised. Indeed he succeeded in rallying to his cause the support in the Commons Debates of some the finest orators in Parliament having become one of the most respected speakers of those times. Hague examines twenty three crucial years in British political life during which Wilberforce met characters as varied as Louis XVI & Marie Antoinette Tsar Alexander of Russia & the one year old future Queen Victoria who used to play at his feet. He was friend & confidant of Pitt Spencer Perceval & George Canning. He saw these figures raised up or destroyed in twenty three years of war & revolution. Hague presents us with a man who teemed with contradictions: he took up a long list of humanitarian causes yet on his home turf would show himself to be a firm supporter of the instincts interests & conservatism of the Yorkshire freeholders who sent him to Parliament. William Hague's masterful study of this remarkable & pivotal figure in British politics brings to life the great triumphs & shattering disappointments he experienced in his campaign against the slave trade & shows how immense economic social & political forces came to join together under the tireless persistence of this unique man. ...

This book covers every aspect of the modern law of wills & is considered to be the definitive practitioner textbook on this area of the law. The new edition contains an extensive collection of precedents both of complete wills & of separate clauses used in wills. It provides a selection of relevant statutes &

Includes:: new sections on post-death instruments & the treatment of foreign property. Williams on Wills Ninth Edition" is fully updated to cover all the changes in legislation since the previous edition. In-depth drafting notes to the precedents assist practitioners in creating the most suitable wills for their clients. This two volume set

Includes:: accompanying CD-ROM (containing forms & precedents) & any supplements upon publication."



...

Roy Williams has a deserved reputation as one of the most exciting young writers whose plays have electrified the sort of audiences most theatres rarely see: streetwise urban youth. His plays have brought the experience of black urban youth onto the stage (Observer). This third collection of plays introduced by the author showcases the diversity the moral probing & the fine ear for authentic dialogue characteristic of his writing: Fallout: first produced in 2003 the play focuses on the aftermath of the killing of a teenager. Slow Time was commissioned & developed by the National Theatres Education Department & toured to London schools. Set in a young offenders institution the play depicts three young men & their fight to survive. Days of Significance was produced by the RSC in 2007 & is revived at the Tricycle Theatre London in March 2008. It was described by the Daily Telegraph as the best new play of the year.. .that powerfully caught the debased spirit of our times. Absolute Beginners
- a stage adaptation of the seminal novel of adolescence set in 1958 London
- produced at the Lyric Hammersmith May 07: bags of energy & highly watchable Daily Mail.

...

Chocolate is one of the good things in life & who better to help you indulge your passion than Willie Harcourt-Cooze. With over 150 delicious recipes from biscuits & cakes to ice creams & puddings Willies Chocolate Bible is essential reading for chocolate lovers everywhere. It was in Venezuela that Willie Harcourt-Cooze discovered his lifetime passion for chocolate bought a hacienda & planted 10 000 cacao trees. From his factory in Devon he makes chocolate from bean to bar. ...

On a dank November day in the late 50s DI Ted Stratton is called to a murder scene in Soho. The victim is Jeremy Lloyd a loner with a taste for religion & spirituality. Stratton's enquiries lead him to his home turf of Suffolk where a Mr Roth has set up a spiritual foundation. There Stratton meets Michael a boy who has been proclaimed as the next incarnation in a long line of spiritual leaders. The boy's mother the same woman whose photograph was cherished by Lloyd has disappeared. When a woman's body is found in woods nearby Stratton initially assumes he has found her but the reality turns out to be far more terrifying. ...