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Years Of Hope: Diaries, Letters and Papers 1940-1962
By Tony Benn. 1994
YEARS OF HOPE is a kind of 'prequel' to the published series of DIARIES, and will cover fully the peerage…
renunciation, as well as revealing his early career, touching on schooldays, RAF service during the war, early involvement with politics etc. As a young man he had dealings with Atlee, Bevan, Morrison, Gaitskill and all the major politicians of the post-war Labour Government. This book will be more personal than earlier volumes and will draw on letters and other documents as well as the DIARIES themselves. It will reveal the extraordinary consistency of Benn's political views, as well as showing how he came to acquire them.The World Turned Upside Down: Radical Ideas During the English Revolution
By Christopher Hill. 1975
'His finest work and one that was both symptom and engine of the concept of "history from below" ... Here…
Levellers, Diggers, Ranters, Muggletonians, the early Quakers and others taking advantage of the collapse of censorship to bid for new kinds of freedom were given centre stage ... Hill lives on' Times Higher EducationIn 'The World Turned Upside Down' Christopher Hill studies the beliefs of such radical groups as the Diggers, the Ranters, the Levellers and others, and the social and emotional impulses that gave rise to them. The relations between rich and poor classes, the part played by wandering 'masterless' men, the outbursts of sexual freedom, the great imaginative creations of Milton and Bunyan - these and many other elements build up into a marvellously detailed and coherent portrait of this strange, sudden effusion of revolutionary beliefs.'Established the concept of an "English Revolution" every bit as significant and potentially as radical as its French and Russian equivalents' Daily Telegraph'Brilliant ... marvellous erudition and sympathy' David Caute, New Statesman'This book will outlive our time and will stand as a notable monument to the man, the committed radical scholar, and one of the finest historians of the age' The Times Literary Supplement'The dean and paragon of English historians' E.P. ThompsonA World by Itself: A History of the British Isles
By Jonathan Clark. 1489
Scholarship on the history of the British Isles is currently experiencing a golden age. The breakdown of modernism and the…
eclipse of both the Marxist tradition and the 'Whig interpretation' that sees all history as progress, combined with the trajectories of nationalism in Ireland, Scotland and Wales, have generated unprecedented intellectual activity. Nor has the world stood still: the collapse of communism, the issue of integration into the EU, and the advance of multiculturalism have led more and more people in the English speaking world as a whole to sense that their collective landscape now looks profoundly different from that inhabited by their ancestors even a few decades ago.In A World By Itself, six distinguished historians offer the most definitive and compelling history of the British Isles to date. Tracing the political, religious and material cultures from the Romans to the present day, this is at once an urgent reassessment of our shared past, and an inspirational celebration of British history. It focuses on the major themes and most dramatic moments of the last two millenia: the rise and fall of empires; reformation, revolution and restoration; wars both civil and global; and the enduring question of what it means to be British.The World According to Harry
By Harry Redknapp. 2019
THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER'The beautiful game has taught me a lot, but I’ve had quite a life outside of football…
too. This book is full of my best stories – kickabouts with jumpers for goalposts with Bobby Moore, mine and Sandra’s disastrous honeymoon to Torquay in a dodgy car and my funniest ‘Mr Pastry’ moments – as well as my thoughts on the important things in life. I’m finally sharing what I’ve learned on and off the pitch: from growing up poor in Poplar to the heights of the Premiership and even lying in a coffin with a load of rats on national television. It’s everything I know about true team spirit, hard work, tough times, why family are so important and why everyone deserves respect no matter whether they’re royal or sleeping rough – and, of course, the real joy of a jam roly-poly.'Writings on Irish Folklore, Legend and Myth (Penguin Modern Classics)
By William Yeats. 1993
This collection brings together all of W. B. Yeats’s published prose writings on Irish folklore, legend and myth, with pieces…
on subjects including ghosts, kidnappers, fairies, ancient tribes, precious stones and Gaelic love songs. Through his researches on Irish folklore, Yeats attempted to create a movement in literature that was enriched by and rooted in a vital native tradition. In this volume Yeats’s essays, introductions and sketches are presented chronologically, giving a clear picture of how his analysis developed, increasing in its depth and complexity in his quest to create an Ireland of the imagination.The Wright Stuff
By Rick Glanvill. 1996
Ian Wright is one of the English game's great football heroes. He is an England international and the leading marksman…
and trophy-winner for Arsenal. Yet he also regularly collects yellow cards, and is rarely out of the headlines.From humble beginnings to the heights of international stardom, this is the story of the rise of a boy from South London who has as many enemies as he has friends; of a role model who never forgot his roots; of a superstar, hungry for success, but almost denied the chance to play professional football by blatant discrimination and his own hot-headedness.The Wizard: The Life of Stanley Matthews
By Jon Henderson. 2013
‘Stanley Matthews taught us the way football should be played’ Pelé'I couldn't believe he was just a man. He was…
the best player in the world' Bobby Charlton'He told me that he used to play for just twenty pounds a week. Today he would be worth all the money in the Bank of England' Gianfranco ZolaStanley Matthews is one of the most famous footballers ever to play the beautiful game. Nicknamed ‘The Wizard of Dribble’ for his deadly skills, he made fools of defenders around the world. He played 84 matches for England in a career that spanned an extraordinary 33 years and such was his popularity that attendance for his club teams, Stoke City and Blackpool, more than doubled when he played. He was a global superstar decades before Beckham, Ronaldo or Messi, yet what do we really know about this legendary man?This first full and objective biography looks beyond the public face of the ‘first gentleman of soccer’ to explore a life not without controversy. This was a player who clashed with his managers, who felt undervalued in the age of the maximum wage – leading to a charge of blackmarketeering – and who was criticised for his showmanship and perceived lack of team spirit. There were private dramas too – an unhappy first marriage that produced two beloved children, and a second, to the love of his life, a Czech with a dark secret even Matthews never knew and which acclaimed biographer Jon Henderson reveals for the first time.Recreating the magic on the pitch and analyzing the key moments that made Matthews great, this is a meticulously researched story of a national hero and a fascinating insight into English football in the 20th century.The Worst of Friends: The Betrayal of Joe Mercer
By Colin Shindler. 2009
Before the Thai millions and Abu Dhabi billions, Manchester City was always a club that attracted fierce controversy.July 1965: Manchester…
City are on the scrapheap, managerless and languishing in Second Division mediocrity. Desperate to reverse the club's fortunes, the board turns to Joe Mercer, a respected football veteran hungry for a final chance to achieve management glory. Yet age and ill health are against Joe: he needs an assistant, and volatile, ambitious coaching genius Malcolm Allison is his man. Recently sacked from managing Plymouth, Malcolm is out to prove that his innovative tactics can breathe new life into the staid English game. City is the perfect opportunity to show off his talents - especially since Joe promises him the manager's job in two years' time . . .July 1970: City rule supreme, having just won their fifth trophy in as many seasons. The Mercer-Allison partnership is the most successful management team in the club's history. But, unwilling to let go of his success, Joe breaks his word and refuses to step aside. In order to fulfil his self-proclaimed destiny as the greatest manager in English football, an embittered Malcolm engineers a boardroom takeover that risks everything he and Joe have worked for.Based on real events, Colin Shindler's novel explores the clash of personalities that led to the spectacular rise and fall of Manchester City's 'Golden Age'. Malcolm and Joe's story is a cautionary tale of how ambition and betrayal brought down two men who had the world at their feet and of how two of the greatest management partners in British football history became the worst of friends.Winds of Change: Britain in the Early Sixties
By Peter Hennessy. 2019
Following Never Again and Having It So Good, the third part of Peter Hennessy's celebrated Post-War Trilogy'By far the best…
study of early Sixties Britain ... so much fun, yet still shrewd and important' The Times, Books of the Year Harold Macmillan famously said in 1960 that the wind of change was blowing over Africa and the remaining British Empire. But it was blowing over Britain too - its society; its relationship with Europe; its nuclear and defence policy. And where it was not blowing hard enough - the United Kingdom's economy - great efforts were made to sweep away the cobwebs of old industrial practices and poor labour relations. Life was lived in the knowledge that it could end in a single afternoon of thermonuclear exchange if the uneasy, armed peace of the Cold War tipped into a Third World War.In Winds of Change we see Macmillan gradually working out his 'grand design' - how to be part of both a tight transatlantic alliance and Europe, dealing with his fellow geostrategists Kennedy and de Gaulle. The centre of the book is 1963 - the year of the Profumo Crisis, the Great Train Robbery, the satire boom, de Gaulle's veto of Britain's first application to join the EEC, the fall of Macmillan and the unexpected succession to the premiership of Alec Douglas-Home. Then, in 1964, the battle of what Hennessy calls the tweedy aristocrat and the tweedy meritocrat - Harold Wilson, who would end 13 years of Conservative rule and usher in a new era.As in his acclaimed histories of British life in the two previous decades, Never Again and Having it so Good, Peter Hennessy explains the political, economic, cultural and social aspects of a nation with inimitable wit and empathy. No historian knows the by-ways as well the highways of the archives so well, and no one conveys the flavour of the period so engagingly. The early sixties live again in these pages.Win or Learn: MMA, Conor McGregor and Me: A Trainer's Journey
By John Kavanagh. 2016
Conor McGregor's trainer tells the amazing story of his long road to success in the world's fastest-growing sportGrowing up in…
Dublin, John Kavanagh was a skinny lad who was frequently bullied. As a young man, after suffering a bad beating when he intervened to help a woman who was being attacked, he decided he had to learn to defend himself. Before long, he was training fighters in a tiny shed, and promoting the earliest mixed-martial arts events in Ireland. And then, a cocky kid called Conor McGregor walked into his gym ...In Win or Learn, John Kavanagh tells his own remarkable life story - which is at the heart of the story of the extraordinary explosion of MMA in Ireland and globally. Employing the motto 'win or learn', Kavanagh has become a guru to young men and women seeking to master the arts of combat. And as the trainer of the world's most charismatic champion, his gym has become a magnet for talented fighters from all over the globe. Kavanagh's portrait of Conor McGregor - who he has seen in his lowest moments, as well as in his greatest triumphs - is a revelation. What emerges from Win or Learn is a remarkable portrait of ambition, discipline, and persistence in the face of years and years of disappointment. It is a must read for every MMA fan - but also for anyone who wants to understand how to follow a dream and realize a vision.'For anyone interested in following their dream to the end of the line' Tony Parsons'It kept me up well past my bedtime' Sean O'Rourke, RTE Radio One'Remarkable' Irish Times'Kavanagh is open and honest about his upbringing ... The journey hasn't been easy, but Kavanagh's inbuilt determination has carried him all the way' Irish ExaminerWilliams: The legendary story of Frank Williams and his F1 team in their own words
By Maurice Hamilton. 2009
A story of true drive – now the topic of a major documentaryFounded in 1977 by Sir Frank Williams and…
Patrick Head, Williams F1 represents the last of the true independent teams; a company devoid of corporate dogma and run by enthusiasts driven by a love of racing and the satisfaction that comes with beating the rest of the world. Since its first Grand Prix victory at Silverstone on 14 July 1979, the team has won a further 116 GPs, delivered seven World Champions - among them Nigel Mansell and Damon Hill - and won nine Constructors Championships.This is the definitive history of the Williams team as told by those who have worked for Williams past and present. At the heart of the book are Sir Frank's personal recollections, along with memories and anecdotes from those at every level: from the shop floor to the upper strata of management; from the mechanics and machinists to the drivers - Mansell, Hill, Alain Prost and Alan Jones among them. It relates both the incredible highs of winning against the odds while never shying the terrible lows - the tragic deaths of Piers Courage in 1970 and Ayrton Senna in 1994 among them.Conveying the history and soul of a unique band of people, Williams F1 explains exactly why the Williams team is held in more affection than any other team in Britain, if not the world.William Wallace: Brave Heart
By Dr James Mackay. 1995
Sir William Wallace of Ellerslie is one of history's greatest heroes, but also one of its greatest enigmas - a…
shadowy figure whose edges have been blurred by myth and legend. Even the date and place of his birth have been mis-stated - until now. James Mackay uses all his skills as a historical detective to produce this definitive biography, telling the incredible story of a man who, without wealth or noble birth, rose to become Guardian of Scotland. William Wallace, with superb generalship and tactical genius, led a country with no previous warlike tradition to triumph gloriously over the much larger, better-armed and better-trained English forces. Seven hundred years later, the heroism and betrayal, the valiant deeds and the dark atrocities, and the struggle of a small nation against a brutal and powerful empire, still create a compelling tale.William IV: A King at Sea (Penguin Monarchs)
By Roger Knight. 2015
William IV, the 'Sailor King', reigned for just seven years. Rash and impetuous as a young man, he was sent…
to join the navy by his father, George III, to bring him to order, but he was overpromoted at an early age and saw his years of active service marked by a series of calamities. He was also notorious for his mounting debts and his long relationship with the actress Mrs Jordan, with whom he had ten children.Yet, as Roger Knight, one of Britain's foremost naval historians, shows in this concise and perceptive biography, William's bluff, unpolished sailor's manner made him popular with the people. Inheriting the throne amid strikes, riots and the push for parliamentary reform, he helped see the country through the great constitutional crisis of the era. Despite his many flaws, he was perhaps a better king than sailor, leaving the monarchy in a healthier state than when he found it, and enabling the smooth succession of his niece, Victoria.William III & Mary II: Partners in Revolution (Penguin Monarchs)
By Jonathan Keates. 2014
William III (1689-1702) & Mary II (1689-94) (Britain's only ever 'joint monarchs') changed the course of the entire country's history,…
coming to power through a coup (which involved Mary betraying her own father), reestablishing parliament on a new footing and, through commiting Britain to fighting France, initiating an immensely long period of warfare and colonial expansion. Jonathan Keates' wonderful book makes both monarchs vivid, the cold, shrewd 'Dutch' William and the shortlived Mary, whose life and death inspired Purcell to write some of his greatest music.William II: The Red King (Penguin Monarchs)
By John Gillingham. 2015
William II (1087-1100), or William Rufus, will always be most famous for his death: killed by an arrow while out…
hunting, perhaps through accident or perhaps murder. But, as John Gillingham makes clear in this elegant book, as the son and successor to William the Conqueror it was William Rufus who had to establish permanent Norman rule. A ruthless, irascible man, he frequently argued acrimoniously with his older brother Robert over their father's inheritance - but he also handed out effective justice, leaving as his legacy one of the most extraordinary of all medieval buildings, Westminster Hall.William I: England's Conqueror (Penguin Monarchs)
By Marc Morris. 2016
On Christmas Day 1066, William, duke of Normandy was crowned in Westminster, the first Norman king of England. It was…
a disaster: soldiers outside, thinking shouts of acclamation were treachery, torched the surrounding buildings. To later chroniclers, it was an omen of the catastrophes to come.During the reign of William the Conqueror, England experienced greater and more seismic change than at any point before or since. Marc Morris's concise and gripping biography sifts through the sources of the time to give a fresh view of the man who changed England more than any other, as old ruling elites were swept away, enemies at home and abroad (including those in his closest family) were crushed, swathes of the country were devastated and the map of the nation itself was redrawn, giving greater power than ever to the king. When, towards the end of his reign, William undertook a great survey of his new lands, his subjects compared it to the last judgement of God, the Domesday Book. England had been transformed forever.Whose Side Are You On?
By Teddy Jamieson. 2011
From the late 1960s, Northern Ireland has been mired in violence. Yet it has had seen more than its fair…
share of sporting heroes - from footballer George Best, through snooker champion Alex Higgins, to boxer Barry McGuigan. Life was tough for these working-class lads, but they could shine on the football field or find refuge at the town boxing club. For other kids, like the young Teddy Jamieson, a knockabout in the back-lanes was as good as it got, but at least they had their heroes. Watching McGuigan on telly, Teddy could feel proud to be Northern Irish. But sport - like everything else in Northern Ireland - could quickly turn nasty when politics were involved. This extraordinary journey through sport and the Troubles has it all: from Olympic gold-medals to Gaelic football; from death threats to reconciliations. Then there is Teddy's own story, as we learn how the age-old playground question 'Whose side are you on?' doesn't always have an easy answer.Who Ate All The Pies? The Life and Times of Mick Quinn
By Mick Quinn, Oliver Harvey. 2003
Mick Quinn, the boy from a Liverpool council estate dubbed 'Little Beirut', always loved his birds, booze and betting. They…
said Mick had a sixth sense for great accuracy in his playing days - he could find a party from any range. Quinn says he only put £50 on each horse race - but liked to stay in the bookies for twenty races a day!Sentenced in 1987 to three weeks in prison for twice driving whilst banned, Mick's been accused of punching Peter Schmeichel on the football pitch and John Fashanu off it. On retirement, though, Quinn switched to horse racing, the Sport of Kings, but controversy led the blue bloods of racing to hang the scouse oik out to dry and he was suspended from training for two and a half years.Who Ate All The Pies? is the funniest and most honest football book you'll read for a long, long time.White Eagle, Red Star: The Polish-Soviet War 1919-20
By Norman Davies. 1972
Surprisingly little known, the Polish-Soviet War of 1919-20 was to change the course of twentieth-century history. In White Eagle, Red…
Star, Norman Davies gives a full account of the War, with its dramatic climax in August 1920 when the Red Army - sure of victory and pledged to carry the Revolution across Europe to 'water our horses on the Rhine' - was crushed by a devastating Polish attack. Since known as the 'miracle on the Vistula', it remains one of the most decisive battles of the Western world. Drawing on both Polish and Russian sources, Norman Davies illustrates the narrative with documentary material which hitherto has not been readily available and shows how the War was far more an 'episode' in East European affairs, but largely determined the course of European history for the next twenty years or more.Values, Voice and Virtue: The New British Politics
By Matthew Goodwin. 2023
*THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER**A Financial Times 2023 book to watch*'Forceful ... The fundamental thrust of Goodwin's argument is right ...…
a new centre ground of British politics is being formed - even if both parties have yet to fully comprehend it' The TimesWhat has caused the recent seismic changes in British politics, including Brexit and a series of populist revolts against the elite? Why did so many people want to overturn the status quo? Where have the Left gone wrong? And what deeper trends are driving these changes?British politics is coming apart. A country once known for its stability has recently experienced a series of shocking upheavals. Matthew Goodwin, acclaimed political scientist and co-author of National Populism, shows that the reason is not economic hardship, personalities or dark money. It is a far wider political realignment that will be with us for years to come. An increasingly liberalised, globalised ruling class has lost touch with millions, who found their values ignored, their voices unheard and their virtue denied. Now, this new alliance of voters is set to determine Britain's fate.Sunday Times bestseller, April 2023