Britain

  • Politics On the Edge: The instant #1 Sunday Times bestseller from the host of hit podcast The Rest Is Politics

    03

    A political journey through turbulent times

    Over the course of a decade from 2010, Rory Stewart went from being a political outsider to standing for prime minister – before being sacked from a Conservative Party that he had come to barely recognise.

    Tackling ministerial briefs on flood response and prison violence, engaging with conflict and poverty abroad as a foreign minister, and Brexit as a Cabinet minister, Stewart learned first-hand how profoundly hollow and inadequate our democracy and government had become. Cronyism, ignorance and sheer incompetence ran rampant. Around him, individual politicians laid the foundations for the political and economic chaos of today. Stewart emerged battered but with a profound affection for his constituency of Penrith and the Border, and a deep direct insight into the era of populism and global conflict.

    Politics On the Edge invites us into the mind of one of the most interesting actors on the British political stage. Uncompromising, candid and darkly humorous, this is his story of the challenges, absurdities and realities of political life; a new classic of political memoir and a remarkable portrait of our age.

    Read more

    £9.60£10.40
  • Britain’s Royal Heritage: An A to Z of the Monarchy

    This book is more than a biography of kings and queens; it is an encyclopaedic work on every aspect of monarchy in Britain from semi-legendary times to the present day. Arranged in an A-Z format, it includes mini biographies on each of the forty-two kings and queens who have ruled since the Norman Conquest, details of the royal lines in Scotland before the Act of Union, the background to the royal houses of Britain and the consorts – largely foreign – who have married into the monarchy. Royal scandals, wars, ceremonies, households, tombs and insignia make fascinating reading, and this book is the ideal reference work for all those who want to know more about individual monarchs and the impressive legacy of myths, traditions, beliefs and practices that have grown up around the institution of the monarchy.

    Read more

    £9.50
  • The Greatest Footballer You Never Saw: The Robin Friday Story (Mainstream Sport)

    07

    Robin Friday was an exceptional footballer who should have played for England. He never did. Robin Friday was a brilliant player who could have played in the top flight. He never did.

    Why? Because Robin Friday was a man who would not bow down to anyone, who refused to take life seriously and who lived every moment as if it were his last. For anyone lucky enough to have seen him play, Robin Friday was up there with the greats. Take it from one who knows: ‘There is no doubt in my mind that if someone had taken a chance on him he would have set the top division alight,’ says the legendary Stan Bowles. ‘He could have gone right to the top, but he just went off the rails a bit.’ Loved and admired by everyone who saw him, Friday also had a dark side: troubled, strong-minded, reckless, he would end up destroying himself. Tragically, after years of alcohol and drug abuse, he died at the age of 38 without ever having fulfilled his potential.

    The Greatest Footballer You Never Saw provides the first full appreciation of a man too long forgotten by the world of football, and, along with a forthcoming film based on Friday’s life, with a screenplay by co-author Paolo Hewitt, this book will surely give him the cult status he deserves.

    Read more

    £9.30£10.40
  • Red Devils: The Trailblazers of the Paras in World War Two

    08

    ‘Riveting . . . Full of daring action, standout characters and cutting edge operations, this is unputdownable’ Damien Lewis

    ‘Gripping and authoritative. Family men, circus performers, solicitors, communists, and reactionaries all fought together and shed blood for their country – a true and moving story of war’ Andy McNab

    ————————————

    Their German enemies called them the ‘Red Devils’. Montgomery described them as ‘men apart – every man an Emperor’. The cards they received on qualifying began: ‘You are the elite of the British army’.

    The Parachute Regiment.

    In this gripping, authorized account, bestselling historian Mark Urban tells the story of the wartime creation and development of Britain’s elite airborne infantry – who ranged from circus performers to solicitors, policemen to gravediggers, Christians and Jews to communists.

    Through the fates of six men – including recently widowed Geoffrey Pine-Coffin, who had to leave his little boy at home to head to the front, and Mike Lewis, whose photographs became iconic images of war – Urban vividly shows what it took to succeed in this new regiment. All six men would shed blood for their country in daring actions at D-Day, Arnhem and across the Second World War; two would not survive, and one would face disgrace.

    Based on deep archival research, British and German sources and new material from the men’s families, and giving overdue recognition to the North African campaign, Urban’s unvarnished history is a compelling and moving depiction of the highs and lows of battle.

    Read more

    £9.00£10.40
  • King Charles III: A special commemorative souvenir book for the 2023 royal coronation

    08

    A SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER

    Stunning, photographic King Charles III memorabilia gift for royal fans

    As the nation celebrates the coronation of a new monarch, The Sun looks back on 100 moments in the life of the man who would be king.

    The longest heir apparent in British history, King Charles has lived a remarkable life during his 70-year wait to be king. From his childhood to his later years, each day of Charles’s life has led up to the moment he ascended to the throne. With exclusive articles from The Sun’s archives, rarely seen photographs and a foreword written by celebrated royal photographer Arthur Edwards MBE, this book paints a unique portrait of the man behind the monarch.

    Featuring the ups and downs, highs and lows, and the key moments that have shaped the life of a son, father, grandfather and king, including:

    • The birth of a prince, 1948
    • From Balmoral to boarding school, 1958
    • Investiture of the Prince of Wales, 1969
    • Blazing a trail for the environment, 1970
    • Charles meets Camilla, 1972
    • Wedding of the century, 1981
    • ‘I’m a dad’, 1982
    • The end of a fairytale, 1992
    • Cool Charles stares down gunman, 1994
    • The death of Diana, 1997
    • Official: he’s world’s best dressed man, 2009
    • Proud Charles walks Meghan up the aisle, 2018
    • Charles’s tearful farewell to Papa, 2021
    • God save the Queen, 2022
    • All hail the King, 2022

    Read more

    £9.00£14.20
  • The Walls Have Ears: The Greatest Intelligence Operation of World War II

    07
    A history of the elaborate and brilliantly sustained World War II intelligence operation by which Hitler’s generals were tricked into giving away vital Nazi secrets

    “A great book.”―Michael Goodman, BBC History Magazine
     
    “An astonishing story of wartime espionage.”―Robert Hutton, author of Agent Jack

    At the outbreak of World War II, MI6 spymaster Thomas Kendrick arrived at the Tower of London to set up a top secret operation: German prisoners’ cells were to be bugged and listeners installed behind the walls to record and transcribe their private conversations. This mission proved so effective that it would go on to be set up at three further sites―and provide the Allies with crucial insight into new technology being developed by the Nazis.

    In this astonishing history, Helen Fry uncovers the inner workings of the bugging operation. On arrival at stately-homes-turned-prisons like Trent Park, high-ranking German generals and commanders were given a “phony” interrogation, then treated as “guests,” wined and dined at exclusive clubs, and encouraged to talk. And so it was that the Allies got access to some of Hitler’s most closely guarded secrets―and from those most entrusted to protect them.

    Read more

    £8.90£10.40
  • From the Mill to Monte Carlo: The Working-Class Englishman Who Beat the Monaco Casino and Changed Gambling Forever

    08
    This is the story of a man who went from Yorkshire mill worker to Monte Carlo millionaire. Amongst the men ‘who broke the bank at Monte Carlo’, Joseph Hobson Jagger is unique. He is the only one known to have devised an infallible and completely legal system to defeat the odds at roulette and win a fortune. But he was not what might be expected. He wasn’t a gentleman or an aristocrat, he wasn’t a professional gambler, he was a Yorkshire textile worker who had laboured in the Victorian mills of Bradford since childhood. What led a man like this to travel nearly a thousand miles to the exclusive world of the Riviera when most people lived and died within a few miles of where they were born? The trains that took him there were still new and dangerous, he did not speak French and had never left the north of England. His motivation was strong. Joseph, his wife and four children, the youngest of whom was only two, faced a situation so grave that their only escape seemed to be his desperate gamble on the roulette tables of Monte Carlo. Today Jagger’s legacy is felt in casinos worldwide and yet he is virtually unknown. Anne Fletcher is his great-great-great niece and in this true-life detective story she uncovers how he was able to win a fortune, what happened to his millions and why Jagger should now be regarded as the real ‘man who broke the bank at Monte Carlo’.

    Read more

    £8.70£9.50
  • The Bottom Corner: Hope, Glory and Non-League Football

    08

    In these days of oligarch owners, superstar managers and players on sky-high wages, the tide is turning towards the lower reaches of the pyramid as fans search for football with a soul.

    Plucky underdogs or perennial underachievers, your local non-league team offers hope, drama or at least a Saturday afternoon ritual that’s been going for decades. Nige Tassell spends a season in the non-league world. He meets the raffle-ticket seller who wants her ashes scattered in the centre-circle. The envelope salesman who discovered a future England international. The ex-pros still playing with undiluted passion on Sunday mornings. He spends time at clubs looking for promotion to the Football League, clubs just aiming to get eleven players on a pitch every week, and everything in between.

    One thing unites them: they all inhabit the heartland of the beautiful game.

    ‘The Bottom Corner is a wonderful journey through life in the lower reaches of the football pyramid. A fascinating tale of a very different world of football from that of the overpaid stars of the television age’ Barry Davies

    Read more

    £8.70£9.50
  • Voices from the Back of the Bus: Tall Tales and Hoary Stories from Rugby’s Real Heroes

    08

    Voices from the Back of the Bus provides a rare behind-the-scenes look at international rugby at the height of a golden period. Recounted with genuine warmth and much humour, over a hundred players recall the scrapes, the games, the laughs, the glory and the gritty reality of the pre-professional game.

    Packed with true rugby tales from the days when men played purely for the love of the game and of their nation, and multimillion-pound contracts and sponsorship deals were unheard of, this refreshing, revealing and often hilarious collection will inspire sports fans of all generations.

    Read more

    £8.60£9.50
  • Too Few Too Far: The True Story of a Royal Marine Commando

    08
    British Commando George Thomsen’s action-filled account of combat during the Falklands War. Seen through the eyes of Section Commander George Thomsen, this inspiring first-hand account, tells of the tension-packed lead up, and the heroic stand, by a tiny band of brothers on one of the most inhospitable islands on the planet – South Georgia. They fought alone – besieged, isolated, and against an overwhelming invasion force – and yet had the enemy reeling on the ropes. This is the story of true British grit, sheer bloody-mindedness, professionalism and ingenuity. The Royal Marines’ courageous action on that extraordinary day changed the balance of the South Atlantic war. This was a modern-day Rorke’s Drift when world events literally took too few too far. Twenty-five years after these events took place, this is George Thomsen’s true story, as told to Malcolm Angel.

    Read more

    £8.50£10.40
  • Surviving the Storms: Extraordinary Stories of Courage and Compassion at Sea

    08

    ‘There’s water in the engine,’ he said. ‘The engine has stopped.’
    This changed everything…

    Surviving the Storms brings together incredible first-hand accounts of rescues carried out by the remarkable RNLI lifesavers.

    In this collection of heart-wrenching and life-affirming missions, we hear blow-by-blow descriptions of some of the most dramatic rescues from the last twenty years. We experience these through the eyes of the lifesavers as they must make life-or-death decisions, face fierce conditions and tackle difficult and dangerous situations. But we also see the optimism, passion and courage that is crucial to a successful rescue, and experience the genuine joy felt by the volunteer crews and lifeguards in being a part of something so important.

    Each remarkable story is one of bravery, jeopardy and an unrelenting commitment to battling the forces of nature and saving every life. Volunteers are the lifeblood of the RNLI – men, women, husbands, wives, fathers and mothers, all forming one big crew determined to protect perfect strangers. They are ordinary people doing the truly extraordinary.

    Read more

    £8.50£9.50
  • The Windsor Diaries: A childhood with the young Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret

    08

    **SPECTATOR BOOKS OF THE YEAR 2020**
    **TIMES BOOKS OF THE YEAR 2020**
    **SUNDAY EXPRESS BOOKS OF THE YEAR 2020**

    ‘A must if you love The Crown’ Good Housekeeping

    ‘For a glimpse into the lives of the young princesses these diaries are riveting’ Daily Mail, Christmas Books 2020

    ‘A wonderful book’ A. N. Wilson, Spectator, Books of the Year 2020

    ‘A new perspective on “Lilibet” as she fell for her future husband’ Sunday Express, Books of the Year 2020

    ‘Funny, astute, poignant and historically fascinating’ The Times

    ‘A compelling and revealing insight into the teenage life of the then Princess Elizabeth and her sister Princess Margaret’ Richard Kay, Daily Mail

    ‘I loved reading this, so reminiscent of my own childhood’ Anne Glenconner, author of Lady in Waiting

    ‘Alathea found herself living in Windsor with the Princesses throughout the Second World War. She captures that tiny, peaceful island in a world on fire’ Charles Moore, Spectator

    ‘This is an enthralling book . . . often funny and sometimes truly moving’ The Oldie

    ‘Fascinating insight into Elizabeth as a teenager’ OK! Magazine

    ************************

    The Windsor Diaries are the never-before-seen diaries of Alathea Fitzalan Howard, who lived alongside the young Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret at Windsor Castle during the Second World War.

    Alathea’s home life was an unhappy one. Her parents had separated and so during the war she was sent to live with her grandfather, Viscount Fitzalan of Derwent, at Cumberland Lodge in Windsor Great Park. There Alathea found the affection and harmony she craved as she became a close friend of the two princesses, visiting them often at Windsor Castle, enjoying parties, balls, cinema evenings, picnics and celebrations with the Royal Family and other members of the Court.

    Alathea’s diary became her constant companion during these years as day by day she recorded every intimate detail of life with the young Princesses, often with their governess Crawfie, or with the King and Queen.

    Written from the ages of sixteen to twenty-two, she captures the tight-knit, happy bonds between the Royal Family, as well as the aspirations and anxieties, sometimes extreme, of her own teenage mind.

    These unique diaries give us a bird’s eye view of Royal wartime life with all of Alathea’s honest, yet affectionate judgments and observations – as well as a candid and vivid portrait of the young Princess Elizabeth, known to Alathea as ‘Lilibet’, a warm, self-contained girl, already falling for her handsome prince Philip, and facing her ultimate destiny: the Crown.

    Read more

    £8.40£23.80
  • The Man Who Never Was: The Remarkable Story of Operation Mincemeat (Now the subject of a major new film starring Colin Firth as Ewen Montagu)

    08

    Now the subject of a major new film starring Colin Firth as Ewen Montagu in Operation Mincemeat.

    In the early hours of 30 April 1943, a corpse wearing the uniform of an officer in the Royal Marines was slipped into the waters off the south-west coast of Spain. With it was a briefcase, in which were papers detailing an imminent Allied invasion of Greece. As the British had anticipated, the supposedly neutral government of Fascist Spain turned the papers over to the Nazi High Command, who swallowed the story whole. It was perhaps the most decisive bluff of all time, for the Allies had no such plan: the purpose of ‘Operation Mincemeat’ was to blind the German High Command to their true objective – an attack on Southern Europe through Sicily. Though officially shrouded in secrecy, the operation soon became legendary (in part owing to Churchill’s habit of telling the story at dinner). Ewen Montagu was the operation’s mastermind, and in his celebrated post-war memoir, The Man who Never Was, he reveals the incredible true story behind ‘Operation Mincemeat’.

    Read more

    £7.60£12.30
  • Queen Consort: The Sunday Times Top Ten Bestseller: the Biography of Queen Consort Camilla

    02

    THE #2 SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER

    ‘A gripping story of human frailty, love, loss, sadness, and tragedy’ Daily Mail

    She is the most public and least understood woman in Britain. Diana called her a Rottweiler. Prince Harry said she was a villain. But spend two minutes with Camilla and you understand why Charles fell for her.

    The relationship between King Charles III and Camilla, Queen Consort, is one of the most extraordinary, star-crossed love stories of the past fifty years. It has endured against all the odds, and in the process nearly destroyed the British monarchy.

    In this compelling biography, Britain’s top royal author paints an intimate portrait of the Queen Consort, revealing for the first time why the King went against his mother and risked everything to have Camilla by his side.

    Previously published as The Duchess.

    Read more

    £7.60£9.50
  • The Duke: 100 Chapters in the Life of Prince Philip

    08

    The Archbishop of Canterbury called him ‘bloody rude’, courtiers feared he was ‘a foreign interloper out for the goodies’, daughter-in-law Sarah Ferguson found him ‘very frightening’ and the Queen Mother labelled him ‘the Hun’. Journalists have continually portrayed him as a gaffe-prone serial philanderer, with European outlets going way off-piste and claiming he has fathered 24 illegitimate children. Prince Philip says ‘the impression the public has got is unfair’, though there is no self-serving autobiography and his interviews with broadcasters or writers are done grudgingly. The Duke sets out to explore the man behind the various myths, drawing on interviews with relations, friends and courtiers and the Duke’s own words. It brings to life some rare aspects of his character, from a love of poetry and religion to his fondness for Duke Ellington and his fascination with UFOs. It also explains why for over seven decades he has been the Queen’s ‘strength and stay’ – and why he is regarded by many as a national treasure.

    Read more

    £7.10£15.20
  • Endgame: 2023’s new biography from the bestselling author telling the true story of the royal family and looking to the future for King Charles III after the death of Elizabeth II

    08

    The explosive new book from longtime royal journalist Omid Scobie and author of the international blockbuster Finding Freedom, Endgame a penetrating investigation into the current state of the British monarchy.

    An unpopular king, a power-hungry heir to the throne, a queen willing to go to great lengths to preserve her image, and a prince forced to start a new life after being betrayed by his own family.

    Queen Elizabeth II’s death ruptured the already-fractured foundations of the House of Windsor – and dismantled the protective shield around it. With an institution long plagued by incidents involving antiquated ideas around race, class and money, the monarchy and those who prop it up are now exposed and at odds with a rapidly modernizing world.

    Relying on his vast experience as a royal reporter and over a decade of conversations and interviews with current and former Palace staff, trusted friends of the royals and even the family members themselves, Scobie pulls back the curtain on an institution in turmoil to show what the monarchy must change in order to survive.

    This is the monarchy’s endgame. Do they have what it takes to save it?

    Read more

    £6.60
  • The People’s Game: How to Save Football: THE AWARD WINNING BESTSELLER

    08

    *WINNER OF BEST SPORTS WRITING AT THE SPORTS BOOK AWARDS 2023*

    *Out now: Includes brand new material*

    THE AWARD-WINNING SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER

    ‘Neville at his authentic best. [He] is the closest thing to a spokesman there is for English football.’ Sunday Times

    ‘Brilliant.’ Mail on Sunday

    ‘Gary Neville usually talks a lot of sense, and writes it too . . . Neville’s words are timely.’ Henry Winter, The Times
    __________

    The beautiful game is under threat. The greed and selfishness of the biggest clubs is harming the sport, with smaller clubs struggling for financial survival and supporters being left behind.

    It’s time to fix football.
    __________

    Football is the people’s game. A sport accessible to everyone and enjoyed by millions around the world.

    But football is broken. Beneath the glamourous sheen of the Premier League, it’s a game that’s rusting and rotten. The growing influence and wealth of the biggest teams is harming the game, leaving fans out of pocket and smaller clubs clinging to survival. The European Super League, which looked to eradicate competition in favour of guaranteed profits, was just the beginning.

    This isn’t what football is about. Something’s got to change. Enough is enough.

    Gary Neville has had a front-row seat in football for over 30 years, witnessing the sport at every level – as a player, a coach, a pundit and an owner. Most of all, he’s a fan. Shocked by the state of the game, Gary looks to find out how we got into this mess, who’s responsible, and what we can do about it.

    The People’s Game is Gary’s vision for a brighter future. Drawing on interviews with those at the epicentre of the sport’s biggest issues – from the role of ownership to the lack of funding in the football league, the rise in racism, ownership models and the future of the women’s game – he explains how football has sleepwalked into this mess and offers a new path forward. With stories from his own playing career, as well as insight into some of the biggest footballing decisions in recent history, this is a total look at the game today.

    This is a passionate, personal and critical account of how football lost its soul, and what we can do to get it back.
    __________

    Read more

    £6.60£10.40
  • At Home with the Queen: Life Through the Keyhole of the Royal Household

    08

    Behind the scenes of the private world at the heart of royalty, as revealed by a distinguished royal commentator.

    This is the real story of what goes on inside the royal palaces, as witnessed by members of the royal staff and household past and present. Buckingham Palace is effectively an independent kingdom with its own rules and customs, now explained by Brian Hoey. Hundreds of anecdotes reveal the conditions in which the staff live and work and also their relationship with the Royals they serve.

    How does one get a job as personal footman to the Queen? Why does Prince Charles still have to send a note to her Page of the Backstairs requesting a meeting with his mother? How much do members of the household earn? Why does the Queen hate men in three-piece suits? Why are the Queen’s bedsheets six inches longer than Prince Philip’s? Why do her maids have to vacuum walking backwards? Why doesn’t the Queen allow square ice-cubes to be put in her drinks?

    Read more

    £6.20£8.50
  • Battle of Brothers: You’ve heard from one side – now read the full, true story of the royal family in crisis

    05

    The Sunday Times and New York Times bestseller

    ‘THE ROYAL BOOK OF THE YEAR … You’ve read their side of the story, now read the real story’ Daily Mail

    THIS CRISIS IS AS BIG AS THE ABDICATION – SAYS LACEY, HISTORICAL ADVISOR TO THE CROWN.

    The world has watched Prince William and Prince Harry since they were born. Raised by Princess Diana to be the closest of brothers, how have the boy princes grown into very different, now distanced men?

    From royal expert and bestselling author Robert Lacey, this book is an unparalleled insider account of tumult and secrecy revealing the untold details of William and Harry’s early closeness then estrangement. It asks what happens when two sons are raised for vastly different futures – one burdened with the responsibility of one day becoming king, the other with the knowledge that he will always remain spare.

    How have William and Harry each formed their idea of a modern royal’s duty and how they should behave? Were the seeds of damage sowed as Prince Charles and Diana’s marriage painfully unraveled for all the world to see? In the previous generation, how have Prince Charles and Prince Andrew’s lives unfolded in the shadow of the Crown? What choices has Queen Elizabeth II made in marshalling her feuding heirs? What parts have Kate Middleton and Meghan Markle played in helping their husbands to choose their differing paths? And what is the real, unvarnished story behind Harry and Meghan’s dramatic departure?

    In the most intimate vision yet of life behind closed doors, with the family’s highs, lows and hardest decisions all laid out, this is a journey into royal life as never offered before.

    Read more

    £5.70£19.00
  • Gunpowder and Geometry: The Life of Charles Hutton: Pit Boy, Mathematician and Scientific Rebel

    01

    August, 1755. Newcastle, on the north bank of the Tyne.

    In the fields, men and women are getting the harvest in. Sunlight, or rain. Scudding clouds and backbreaking labour. Three hundred feet underground, young Charles Hutton is at the coalface. Cramped, dust-choked, wielding a five-pound pick by candlelight. Eighteen years old, he’s been down the pits on and off for more than a decade, and now it looks like a life sentence. No unusual story, although Charles is a clever lad – gifted at maths and languages – and for a time he hoped for a different life. Many hoped.

    Charles Hutton, astonishingly, would actually live the life he dreamed of. Twenty years later you’d have found him in Slaughter’s coffee house in London, eating a few oysters with the President of the Royal Society.

    By the time he died, in 1823, he was a fellow of scientific academies in four countries, while the Lord Chancellor of England counted himself fortunate to have known him. Hard work, talent, and no small share of luck would take Charles Hutton out of the pit to international fame, wealth, admiration and happiness. The pit-boy turned professor would become one of the most revered British scientists of his day. This book is his incredible story.

    Read more

    £5.50£9.50
  • Hunter Killers: The Dramatic Untold Story of the Royal Navy’s Most Secret Service

    08

    HUNTER KILLER: a submarine designed to pursue and attack enemy submarines and surface ships using torpedoes.

    HUNTER KILLERS will follow the careers of four daring British submarine captains who risked their lives to keep the rest of us safe, their exploits consigned to the shadows until now. Their experiences encompass the span of the Cold War, from voyages in WW2-era submarines under Arctic ice to nuclear-powered espionage missions in Soviet-dominated seas.

    There are dangerous encounters with Russian spy ships in UK waters and finally, as the communist facade begins to crack, they hold the line against the Kremlin’s oceanic might, playing a leading role in bringing down the Berlin Wall. It is the first time they have spoken out about their covert lives in the submarine service.

    This is the dramatic untold story of Britain’s most-secret service.

    Read more

    £4.70
  • The Celebrated Captain Barclay: Sport, Money and Fame in Regency Britain

    04
    On 1st June 1809 Captain Robert Barclay undertook what was then the greatest sporting feat ever attempted – to walk 1000 miles in 1000 hours for 1000 guineas. Six weeks later, exhausted and on the verge of collapsing, he completed his challenge and instantly became the most famous sporting figure of Regency times. Gentleman, pugilist, athlete, trainer and soldier – Captain Barclay’s life was reckless, extravagant and thrilling. Enormous sums of money were won and lost on him and he himself earned several fortunes, though he was to die in deranged poverty. His remarkable story opens a window on the world of 18th century sport – a rough, dangerous and often corrupt world driven by money.

    Read more

    £3.20
  • A Victorian Lady’s Guide to Life

    03

    In this delightful and engagingly eccentric treasury of life lessons, redoubtable Victorian Elspeth Marr (1871-1947) reflects on the fundamental topics of life as well as the nuts and bolts of everyday living.

    Part journal, part commonplace book, among many gems you will find enlightenment and advice on everything from Dreams to Garlic; Patriotism to Wrinkles.

    Written throughout her life but only discovered after her death, by her great-great nephew, Christopher Rush, Elspeth’s (known as Aunt Epp) journal was never intended for publication but her style of writing and the subject matter she covers nonetheless reaches a universal audience. Not afraid to put forth views on the big topics – religion, evolution, and ethical issues – she also tackles the nuts and bolts of living – food, sex and health.

    Vital, refreshingly frank and always amusing, A Victorian Lady’s Guide to Life provides a wealth of sound advice.

    Read more

    £1.60

Main Menu