Download or read book Unofficial Britain written by Gareth Rees and published by . This book was released on 2020 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: There is a Britain that exists outside of the official histories and guidebooks - places that lie on the margins, left behind. This is the Britain of industrial estates, and tower blocks, of motorway service stations and haunted council houses, of roundabouts and flyovers. Places where modern life speeds past but where people and stories nevertheless collect. Places where human dramas play out: stories of love, violence, fear, boredom and artistic expression. Places of ghost sightings, first kisses, experiments with drugs, refuges for the homeless, hangouts for the outcasts. Struck by the power of these stories and experiences, Gareth Rees set out to explore these spaces and the essential part they have played in the history and geography of our isles. Though neglected and forgotten, they can be as powerfully influential in our lives, and imaginations, as any picture postcard tourist destination. Welcome to Unofficial Britain, a personal and occasionally fevered journey along the edges of a landscape brimming with magic and mystery, tragedy and myth; a story of Britain that gets cut from the narrative; a map of the cracks in the urban façade where unexpected life can flourish.
Download or read book An Unofficial Rose written by Iris Murdoch and published by Open Road Media. This book was released on 2010-07-20 with total page 258 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “A Shakespearean comedy of misaligned lovers” set in the modern English countryside by a Man Booker Prize winner (Publishers Weekly). Hugh Peronett’s life is tinged with regret: the regret of never following his passions and losing the one woman he loved. Twenty-five years ago, he ended an affair with Emma Sands, a detective novelist who had stolen his heart, to be with his wife, Fanny. Now, Fanny is gone, and both Hugh and his grown son, Randall, find themselves at a crossroads of passion and righteousness. As Hugh, Emma, Randall, Randall’s wife, Randall’s mistress, and several others are caught in a dance of romance and rejection in bucolic rural England, they will discover the true meanings of love, companionship, and desire. From the acclaimed author of The Sea, The Sea, An Unofficial Rose is a novel of wit, sorrow and an unparalleled psychological insight.
Download or read book The Stone Tide written by Gareth E. Rees and published by Influx Press. This book was released on 2018-03-08 with total page 254 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When Gareth E. Rees moves to a dilapidated Victorian house in Hastings he begins to piece together an occult puzzle connecting Aleister Crowley, John Logie Baird and the Piltdown Man hoaxer. As freak storms and tidal surges ravage the coast, Rees is beset by memories of his best friend's tragic death in St Andrews twenty years earlier. Convinced that apocalypse approaches and his past is out to get him, Rees embarks on a journey away from his family, deep into history and to the very edge of the imagination. Tormented by possessed seagulls, mutant eels and unresolved guilt, how much of reality can he trust? The Stone Tide is a novel about grief, loss, history and the imagination. It is about how people make the place and the place makes the person. Above all it is about the stories we tell to make sense of the world.
Download or read book The Magic of Terry Pratchett written by Marc Burrows and published by White Owl. This book was released on 2020-07-30 with total page 375 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An in-depth look into the life and writings of the bestselling author of the Discworld novels, Good Omens, and Nation. The Magic of Terry Pratchett is the first full biography of Sir Terry Pratchett ever written. Sir Terry was Britain’s bestselling living author*, and before his death in 2015 had sold more than 85 million copies of his books worldwide. Best known for the Discworld series, his work has been translated into thirty-seven languages, and performed as plays on every continent in the world, including Antarctica. Journalist, comedian and Pratchett fan Marc Burrows delves into the back story of one of UK’s most enduring and beloved authors, from his childhood in the Chiltern Hills, to his time as a journalist, and the journey that would take him—via more than sixty best-selling books—to an OBE, a knighthood and national treasure status. The Magic Of Terry Pratchett is the result of painstaking archival research alongside interviews with friends and contemporaries who knew the real man under the famous black hat, helping to piece together the full story of one of British literature’s most remarkable and beloved figures for the very first time. * Now disqualified on both counts. Praise for The Magic of Terry Pratchett "In this encompassing biography of the prolific fantasy and science-fiction author, writer and comedian Burrows details both the writing accomplishments and the personal life of Sir Terry Pratchett. . . . Burrows spoke to friends and family, and this biography has moments of sadness, especially when discussing Pratchett’s fight with Alzheimer’s. But the book is also funny and conversational in tone, and an excellent tribute to a beloved author.” —Booklist “Affable and consistently engaging . . . Burrow’s buoyant, pun-peppered, and aptly footnote-flecked style . . . helpfully marries his subject matter, propelling us through decade after decade of a heavily writing-centric life while illuminating Pratchett’s complexities and contradictions without any drag in the tempo.” —Locus Magazine “An impressively comprehensive, engagingly written biography. ****”—SFX
Download or read book The Unofficial Countryside written by Richard Mabey and published by Little Toller Books. This book was released on 2010 with total page 184 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: During the early 1970s Richard Mabey explored crumbling city docks and overgrown bomb-sites, navigated inner city canals and car parks, and discovered there was scarcely a nook in our urban landscape incapable of supporting life. The Unofficial Countryside is a timely reminder of how nature flourishes against the odds, surviving in the most obscure and surprising places. First published 1973 by William Collins Sons & Co.
Download or read book The Unofficial Guide to Britain s Best Days Out Theme Parks and Attractions written by Bob Sehlinger and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2011-04-22 with total page 507 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Unofficial Guide to Days Out & Attractions in Britain gives you the perfect guidebook to experience the best theme parks, attractions and days out in Britain. Researched and written to provide the most fun, exciting and diverse range of outings and excursions available to those looking for a great day out, this book provides an eclectic choice of big-hitting theme parks to more local experiences and unusual days out. This guide will help you plan your visit and bring the experience alive for you in a personal way written by a team of experts. For smaller attractions you’ll get the lowdown on what’s best to explore and hidden gems you’d never known about, while on the big theme parks you’ll get smart time and money saving advice designed to maximise your fun and eliminate any stress. With honest reviews, detailed information, invaluable maps and indispensible tips, this guide will give you a book brimming with inspiration to savour for your next day out. Take a look inside. The Unofficial Guide to Days Out & Attractions in Britain includes: Fun: A diverse book of exciting days out, theme parks and attractions, celebrating Britain’s character, from big, roller-coaster theme parks to local adventure experiences and unusual trips to savour and plot your next trip away. Eclectic: A different and eclectic set of day trip choices from hanging upside down at Thorpe Park or Alton Towers to dinosaur parks, famous film locations, steam trains, falconry, motor museums and wildlife sanctuaries. Time & Money Saving tips from a team of experienced experts. Expert advice to provide the most fun and enjoyable days out Honest reviews from a team with extensive training and research experience, plus evaluations based on reader surveys Up-to-date, invaluable and need-to-know information Touring plans based on patented algorithms and sophisticated research designs. Indispensible Maps and plans to show you exactly how to plan your day on the ground. About Unofficial Guides The Unofficial Guides have sold more than four million copies worldwide. This series is the only one that offers evaluations based on reader surveys and critiques, compiled by a team of unbiased inspectors. The Unofficial Guides are unique in their employment of sophisticated research designs and cutting edge science - focused around touring plans based on patented algorithms - to provide readers with extremely valuable information available in no other travel series, saving families time and money. An entire organization collects and compiles information for the Unofficial Guide series, guided by individuals with extensive training and experience in operations research as well as data collection and analysis. The result is a portfolio of guides that give visitors everything they need to know for a stress-free, efficient, fun and enjoyable day out.
Download or read book Slim Unofficial History written by John Douglas and published by Pen & Sword Military. This book was released on 2008 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Like most members of the professional military freemasonry, Slim came to admire "all the soldiers of different races who have fought with me and most of those who have fought against me." Among the most likable of his enemies were the Wazirs of India's Northwest Frontier. In 1920, Slim took part in a retaliatory raid on an obscure village. It was an unusually easy victory over the canny Wazirs, whom the British took by surprise and escaped from with scant loss. Afterwards, in the casual frontier way, the British sent a message to the Wazirs, expressing surprise at the enemy's unusually poor shooting. The Wazirs replied in courtly fashion that their rifles were Short Magazine Lee-Enfields captured in previous fights with the British and that they had failed to sight the guns to accord with a new stock of ammunition. Now, having calculated the adjustment, they would be delighted to demonstrate their bull's-eye accuracy any time the British wanted. "One cannot help feeling," Slim says, "that the fellows who wrote that ought to be on our side." Slim genuinely enjoyed his virtually blood-free skirmishes with such foes as the Turks, the Wazirs and the Italians in 1940 Ethiopia.
Download or read book Car Park Life written by Gareth E. Rees and published by Influx Press. This book was released on 2019-10-22 with total page 209 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Car parks: commonplace urban landscapes, little-explored and rarely featured in art and music, yet they shape the aesthetics of our towns and cities. Hotspots for crime, rage and sexual deviancy; a blind spot in which activities go unnoticed. Skateboarding, car stunts, drug dealing, dogging, murder. Gareth E. Rees believes that the retail car park has as much mystery, magic and terror as any mountain, meadow or wood. He's out to prove it by walking the car parks of Britain, journeying across the country from Plymouth to Edinburgh, much to the horror of his family, friends – and, most of all – himself. He finds Sir Francis Drake outside B&Q, standing stones in a retail park, and a dead body beside Sainsbury's. In this darkly satirical work of non-fiction, Gareth E. Rees presents a troubling vision of Brexit Britain through a common space we know far less about than we think.
Download or read book The Unofficial Guide to California with Kids written by Colleen Dunn Bates and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2008-11-24 with total page 450 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: More than 4 million copies sold! This series is the only one that offers evaluations based on reader surveys and critiques, compiled by a team of unbiased inspectors. • Hotels, attractions, and restaurants in all price categories • Extensive information on shopping, nightlife, and sports • Easy-to-use, two-color design • Detailed, 2-color maps
Download or read book The Gallows Pole written by Benjamin Myers and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2019-02-21 with total page 385 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: ____________________ The inspiration for the BBC TV series, directed by Shane Meadows and starring Tom Burke, George MacKay and Thomas Turgoose WINNER OF THE 2018 WALTER SCOTT PRIZE ____________________ 'Powerful, visceral writing, historical fiction at its best. Benjamin Myers is one to watch' - Pat Barker 'Phenomenal' - Sebastian Barry 'Superb' - The Times ____________________ From his remote moorland home, David Hartley assembles a gang of weavers and land-workers to embark upon a criminal enterprise that will capsize the economy and become the biggest fraud in British history. They are the Cragg Vale Coiners and their business is 'clipping' – the forging of coins, a treasonous offence punishable by death. When an excise officer vows to bring them down and with the industrial age set to change the face of England forever, Hartley's empire begins to crumble. Forensically assembled, The Gallows Pole is a true story of resistance and a rarely told alternative history of the North. ____________________ 'One of my books of the year ... It's the best thing Myers has done' - Robert Macfarlane, Big Issue Books of the Year
Download or read book Marshland written by Gareth E. Rees and published by Influx Press. This book was released on 2013-10-28 with total page 236 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Marshland is a deep map of the east London marshes, a blend of local history, folklore and weird fiction, where nothing is quite as it seems. Cocker spaniel by his side, Rees wanders the marshes of Hackney, Leyton and Walthamstow, avoiding his family and the pressures of life. He discovers a lost world of Victorian filter plants, ancient grazing lands, dead toy factories and tidal rivers on the edgelands of a rapidly changing city. Ghosts are his friends. As strange tales of bears, crocodiles, magic narrowboats and apocalyptic tribes begin to manifest themselves, Rees embarks on a psychedelic journey across time and into the dark heart of London. It soon becomes clear that the very existence of the marshland is at threat. For on all sides, the developers are closing in...
Download or read book The Secret Life of Wallander written by Stafford Hildred and published by Kings Road Publishing. This book was released on 2010-10-14 with total page 200 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Almost 20 years since he first appeared in Henning Mankel's novel Faceless Killers, the sad Swedish detective Kurt Wallander has become a worldwide success story. Mankel's compelling books about the idealistic police inspector -- who is even more miserable that Morse -- have sold more than 30 million copies in 43 different languages and inspired more than 25 film adaptations. In Europe, readers took instantly to the troubled, lonely cop with his horrendous health problems and catastrophic home life. The nine Wallander novels became runaway bestsellers all over Europe, but in Britain and the United States success was slower to take off. But now, since Kenneth Branagh has taken on the central role in the acclaimed and award-winning BBC series, British and American fans have really taken Wallander to their hearts. The popularity of the character has turned the small Swedish town of Ystad into one of the country's top tourist attractions and many British and American visitors are joining the queue to visit murder scenes and immerse themselves in the bleak landscape made famous on screen. Yet Wallander is much more than just another TV crime series. Henning Mankel invented the caring policeman as a vehicle to write about the disturbing increase in violence and racism that was undermining the comfortable social democracy of Sweden. Those problems are as international as Wallander's appeal.
Download or read book Legionary The Roman Soldier s Unofficial Manual written by Philip Matyszak and published by Thames & Hudson. This book was released on 2009-06-29 with total page 246 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An insider's guide: how to join the Roman legions, wield a gladius, storm cities, and conquer the world Your emperor needs you for the Roman army! The year is AD 100 and Rome stands supreme and unconquerable from the desert sands of Mesopotamia to the misty highlands of Caledonia. Yet the might of Rome rests completely on the armored shoulders of the legionaries who hold back the barbarian hordes and push forward the frontiers of empire. This carefully researched yet entertainingly nonacademic book tells you how to join the Roman legions, the best places to serve, and how to keep your armor from getting rusty. Learn to march under the eagles of Rome, from training, campaigns, and battle to the glory of a Roman Triumph and retirement with a pension plan. Every aspect of army life is discussed, from drill to diet, with handy tips on topics such as how to select the best boots or how to avoid being skewered by enemy spears. Combining the latest archaeological discoveries with the written records of those who actually saw the Roman legions in action, this book provides a vivid picture of what it meant to be a Roman legionary.
Download or read book The Last King of America written by Andrew Roberts and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2021-11-09 with total page 1033 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the New York Times bestselling author of Churchill and Napoleon The last king of America, George III, has been ridiculed as a complete disaster who frittered away the colonies and went mad in his old age. The truth is much more nuanced and fascinating--and will completely change the way readers and historians view his reign and legacy. Most Americans dismiss George III as a buffoon--a heartless and terrible monarch with few, if any, redeeming qualities. The best-known modern interpretation of him is Jonathan Groff's preening, spitting, and pompous take in Hamilton, Lin-Manuel Miranda's Broadway masterpiece. But this deeply unflattering characterization is rooted in the prejudiced and brilliantly persuasive opinions of eighteenth-century revolutionaries like Thomas Paine and Thomas Jefferson, who needed to make the king appear evil in order to achieve their own political aims. After combing through hundreds of thousands of pages of never-before-published correspondence, award-winning historian Andrew Roberts has uncovered the truth: George III was in fact a wise, humane, and even enlightened monarch who was beset by talented enemies, debilitating mental illness, incompetent ministers, and disastrous luck. In The Last King of America, Roberts paints a deft and nuanced portrait of the much-maligned monarch and outlines his accomplishments, which have been almost universally forgotten. Two hundred and forty-five years after the end of George III's American rule, it is time for Americans to look back on their last king with greater understanding: to see him as he was and to come to terms with the last time they were ruled by a monarch.
Download or read book Round about Town written by Kevin BONIFACE and published by Uniformbooks. This book was released on 2018-03-20 with total page 128 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Britain and Latin America written by Victor Bulmer-Thomas and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 1989-08-17 with total page 255 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book studies the reasons for the dramatic decline of British relations with Latin America.
Download or read book Unofficial Secrets written by Beatrix Campbell and published by Virago Press. This book was released on 1997 with total page 248 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When in July 1987 the diagnosis of child sexual abuse in some forty families in Cleveland hit the national headlines, society was confronted not only with the spectre of a much wider crisis, but also with a challenge to our stereotypes of both victims and perpetrators. For the children at the centre of the controversy were not the teenagers of popular mythology: they were as young as four years, even four months, from every class, boys as well as girls. When Cleveland Council made child sexual abuse a priority, it led to the appointment of specialist consultants and paediatricians trained in radical new approaches to diagnosis. It was they who uncovered what few others in Britain had seen, or wanted to see, throwing professional services and private lives into turmoil. In this study of the circumstances and implications of the Cleveland case, Beatrix Campbell examines the ways in which the different professions - police, doctors, social workers, health visitors, bureaucrats, educators - interpret the problem according to their particular stake in it. She looks too at the issues raised for every one of us by the evidence of the Cleveland findings: that our assumptions about the nature and frequency of child sex abuse must change before solutions can be found. Beatrix Campbell is the author of Wigan Pier Revisited and The Iron Ladies .
