Historical

**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

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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.

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The hidden fabric of a Victorian woman’s life – from family and friends to industry and Empire – told through her unique textile scrapbook.

‘Irresistable’ The Times

‘The story of a singular woman… Kate Strasdin’s forensic detective work has finally let Mrs Sykes – and her book – speak again’ JUDITH FLANDERS

In 1838, a young woman was given a diary on her wedding day. Collecting snippets of fabric from a range of garments she carefully annotated each one, creating a unique record of her life and times. Her name was Mrs Anne Sykes.

Nearly two hundred years later, the diary fell into the hands of Kate Strasdin, a fashion historian and museum curator. Strasdin spent the next six years unravelling the secrets contained within the album’s pages.

Piece by piece, she charts Anne’s journey from the mills of Lancashire to the port of Singapore before tracing her return to England in later years. Fragments of cloth become windows into Victorian life: pirates in Borneo, the complicated etiquette of mourning, poisonous dyes, the British Empire in full swing, rioting over working conditions and the terrible human cost of Britain’s cotton industry.

This is life writing that celebrates ordinary people: the hidden figures, the participants in everyday life. Through the evidence of waistcoats, ball gowns and mourning outfits, Strasdin lays bare the whole of human experience in the most intimate of mediums: the clothes we choose to wear.

‘An extraordinarily rich record of middle-class Victorian life.. [a] fascinating book’ Guardian

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Make room Herodotus, stand down Bede, pipe down Pepys – there’s a new history book in town.

From the chart-topping podcast The Rest is History, a whistle-stop tour through the past – from Alexander the Great to Tolkien, the Wars of the Roses to Watergate. The nation’s favourite historians Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook take on the most curious moments in history, answering the questions we didn’t even think to ask:

– Did the Trojan War actually happen?
– What was the most disastrous party in history?
– Was Richard Nixon more like Caligula or Claudius?
– How did a hair appointment almost blow Churchill’s cover?
– Why did the Nazis believe they were descended from Atlantis?

Whether it is sending historical figures to Casa Amor in a series of Love Island, ranking history’s most famous eunuchs and pigeons (including Winkie, the unsung hero of the Second World War), or debating the meaning of greatness, there is nothing too big or too small for Tom and Dominic to unpick.

So run your Egyptian milk bath, strap up your best Spartan sandals, and prepare for a journey down the highways and byways of the human past. . .

WATERSTONES’ BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: HISTORY

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The Sunday Times bestselling edition of Chips Channon’s remarkable diaries.

‘The greatest British diarist of the 20th century. An astonishing achievement. By turns frivolous and profound.’ Ben Macintyre, The Times

‘Wickedly entertaining. Genuinely shocking, and still revelatory.’ Andrew Marr, New Statesman

‘An irresistible, saucy read . . . One of the most impressive editions of our time.’ The Telegraph

‘They’re among the most glittering and enjoyable diaries ever written’ Observer
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Born in Chicago in 1897, ‘Chips’ Channon settled in England after the Great War, married into the immensely wealthy Guinness family, and served as Conservative MP for Southend-on-Sea from 1935 until his death in 1958. His career was unremarkable. His diaries are quite the opposite.

Elegant, gossipy and bitchy by turns, they are the unfettered observations of a man who went everywhere and who knew everybody. Whether describing the antics of London society in the interwar years, or the growing scandal surrounding his close friends Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson during the abdication crisis, or the mood in the House of Commons in the lead up to the Munich crisis, his sense of drama and his eye for the telling detail are unmatched. These are diaries that bring a whole epoch vividly to life.
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‘Fascinating and sometimes a key historical record. And the man could write.’ Daily Mirror

‘Fascinating stuff.’ The Spectator

‘Gripping reading.’ The Sunday Times

‘Chips perfectly embodied the qualities vital to the task: a capacious ear for gossip, a neat turn of phrase, a waspish desire to tell all, and easy access to the highest social circles across Europe.’ Jesse Norman, Financial Times

‘A masterpiece of storytelling and character assassination.’ Guardian

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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.

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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’.

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A. J. P. Taylor was one of the most acclaimed and uncompromising historians of the twentieth century. In this clear, lively and now-classic account of the First World War, he tells the story of the conflict from the German advance in the West, through the Marne, Gallipoli, the Balkans and the War at Sea to the offensives of 1918 and the state of Europe after the war. Containing photographs and maps, this an essential history of the war that ‘cut deep into the consciousness of modern man’.

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*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
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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.
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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.
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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.

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For seventy years, Queen Elizabeth ruled over an institution and a family. During her lifetime she was constant in her desire to provide a steady presence and to be a trustworthy steward of the British people and the Commonwealth. In the face of her uncle’s abdication, in the uncertainty of the Blitz, and in the tentative exposure of her family and private life to the public via the press, Elizabeth became synonymous with the crown.
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But times change. Recent years have brought grief and turmoil to the House of Windsor, and even as England celebrated the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, there were calls for a changing of the guard.

In The New Royals, journalist Katie Nicholl provides a nuanced look at Elizabeth’s remarkable and unrivalled reign, with new stories from Palace courtiers and aides, documentarians, and family members. She examines King Charles and Queen Consort Camilla’s decades in waiting and beyond-where “The Firm” is headed as William and Kate present the modern faces of an ancient institution. In the wake of Harry and Meghan leaving the Royal Family and Prince Andrew’s spectacular fall from grace, the royal family must reckon with its history, the light and the dark, in order to chart a course for Britain beyond its Queen and to show that it is an institution capable of leadership in an ever-changing modern world.

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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.

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This popular history of the English Civil War tells the story of the bloody conflict between Oliver Cromwell and Charles I from the perspectives of those involved.

The compelling narrative draws on new sources such as letters, memoirs, ballads and plays to bring to life the Roundheads and Cavaliers, the foot soldiers, war widows and witchfinders of one of the most significant turning points in British history, culminating in Oliver Cromwell s triumph and the execution of Charles I.

By blending the political and the personal, Diane Purkiss illuminates both the ideologies behind the English Civil War and the fears of those who fought in it; the men who were destroyed by the conflict and those, such as Oliver Cromwell, who were defined by it.

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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.

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‘An insightful and gripping account that will take you into the dark but fascinating world of a Victorian executioner.’ – Stewart P. Evans

Between 1884 and 1905 James Billington and his three sons, Thomas, William and John, were responsible for 235 executions in Victorian Great Britain and Ireland. They hanged many notorious murderers, but equally fascinating is the story of the family. Did James really feel he served society and justice, or did this position satisfy something more personal?
Billington: Victorian Executioner provides a complete account of the stories behind James Billington’s executions, as well as the real man behind the rope – a man whose business was death. This enthralling biography is an exciting addition to any true crime bookshelf.

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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.

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