History
This is an account of a leading 18th century Scottish churchman, the Reverend John Witherspoon. His already colourful and eventful life took an unusual turn when in 1768, as a Minister of the Church of Scotland in a Paisley parish, he was persuaded to accept the office of President of the College of New Jersey, now Princeton University. Within a year of taking up this academic post, he became involved in the Colonies’ struggle for Independence. He was elected to Congress in 1775 and in 1776 was the only clergyman to sign the Declaration of Independence …
Starting early in the 1930s the cuttings are a verbatim record of life in a busy market town and on the Wolds farms it served, including some on fishing disputes between onshore fishermen from rival East Coast towns, where the Wolds meet the sea with precipitous cliffs. The cuttings have been arranged in sections according to subject, each one being chronological; sheep farming, including lambing and shearing, the inevitable problems with weather, and some amusing conversations between farm-hands in dialect overheard by Florence when at Driffield cattle market are all in the farming section. She visited haunted houses in the winter of 1937, interviewing the owners who lived in them …
This is incredible true story of the survival of the Finn, Olavi Veltheim, in Soviet Russia and how his experiences in this “land of dreams” turned into a nightmare. A civil war was raging in Finland, and one of Veltheim’s brothers was fighting on the side of the Reds and the other on the side of the Whites. Olavi’s disability meant that he was unfit for combat and had no future. He left for England to study shipping, was taken on by the Anglo-Russian company, Arcos, and shortly thereafter married an Englishwoman. When the British authorities refused Olavi a visa and he was unwilling to return to Finland, the Soviet Union offered the family the chance of a new life free of “exploitation.” But the reality of this promise was not what they expected.
This book presents one of the most vivid descriptions of day-to-day life in a Japanese POW labour camp to have appeared so far. The story follows the experiences of the Norfolk Territorial Regiment from 1942 to 1945, under the command of Lt. Col. Knights, during and after the fall of Singapore. Many will recollect having seen the film, The Bridge on The River Kwai, this book is drawn directly from a memoir only recently uncovered …
In the nineteenth century a new needlework style ‘Art Embroidery’ gave rise to major commercial ventures of the time. The significance of these ventures is explored, particularly the contribution made by women employed in this industry. These ventures stimulated the commercial side of embroidery in the late nineteenth century, by mobilising commercial activity through numerous agencies, department stores, depots and charitable institutions.
The ancient cathedral was the pinnacle of medieval society’s spiritual and cultural life employing the best designers, artists, craftsmen and materials that available money could buy. Many modern visitors to these magnificent spaces will be overwhelmed by their size and beauty, baffled by their layout and symbolism. They may well ask: Why were they built here and what is so special about the site? Who were the patrons and organizations that commissioned their building? How did they raise the finance to build them? What was the purpose of a cathedral and why were they so big? Where did the design ideas come from and who were the designers? How was it built and by whom? How has it changed over the years and is it still used today? This book aims to answer these and many other frequently asked questions.
In the early hours of 8 August 1963, a crime took place which simultaneously captured the imagination of the general public, and shook the British Establishment to the core in a way that no criminal event had ever done before. The Great Train Robbery, as it subsequently became known, involved the audacious high-jacking of one of Her Majesty’s mail trains, netting the sixteen strong gang over £2.6million, equivalent to almost £50million in 2016. One by one, thanks to the tenacity of the Scotland Yard Flying Squad officers charged with bringing the perpetrators to justice, all known members of the gang were brought to trial and, with one exception, were subsequently convicted and sentenced to imprisonment. However …
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