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When an Anglo-Saxon chieftain named Snot settled in the area and built a wall around the town, he named it Snottingham, meaning homestead for his people. They utilized the caves and passages under the town as homes and workplaces, giving us the oldest subterranean industries in existence and an alternative name Tig guocobauc, meaning the dwelling of caves. When the Normans arrived they subjugated the people and built a fortified castle on the hill. Nottingham Castle subsequently became one of the greatest fortresses of medieval England. Much frequented by early kings, it features in the tales of Robin Hood, that legendary outlaw synonymous with Nottingham and the arch enemy of the sheriff. Nottingham is world renowned for its lace making and Raleigh Bicycle Co., Boots the Chemist and Player's Cigarettes have their roots in Nottingham. It was also home of the Rebel Writers Byron, Lawrence and Sillitoe. With its many and diverse elements, Nottingham is a vibrant new city with a varied and exciting past.

Located on the banks of the River Clyde, Glasgow was once the second city of the Empire, producing ships, locomotives, cars and heavy engineering for the world. Its docks would see huge numbers of exports. But Glasgow is much more than this; it is a religious centre, with one of Scotland's earliest churches, a centre for the Virginia tobacco trade, a home of designers and architects, inventors and entrepreneurs, artists and industrialists. It is that variety of talent, and the melting pot of immigrants and other Scots, sucked into the city at its peak that saw the phenomenal growth in wealth and culture that has left the city with a legacy of fine Victorian architecture, and it is its decline that has seen a legacy of remote council estates. However, Glasgow has risen again, and is truly a vibrant city, thanks to its self-promotion from Dr Michael Kelly's 'Glasgow's Miles Better' campaign to its use in gritty film and TV productions, as well as its ability to look at the past and preserve the best of the old, while producing some of the most startling modern architecture outside of London. Michael Meighan tells the story of Glasgow, from its drumlin days in the Ice Age to the growth of the Church, its industries, its people and the phenomenal expansion of the Victorian era and the legacy it has left us.

When Blackpool Tower was being built, many people said it would be a failure. Originally estimated at GBP150,000, it ended up costing twice that much and John Bickerstaffe nearly went bust building this unique attraction. But he was right. Once the Tower was open, his company made a profit every year that it existed as an independent public entity. Not only was the Tower profitable, but it fuelled the Tower Company as Bickerstaffe built it into the dominant entertainment group in Blackpool. Under his leadership it acquired the Palace and later the Winter Gardens and Opera House. By the 1930s it was running ballrooms, cinemas, live theatre and the famous Tower Circus. The Bickerstaffe brothers were also key figures in Blackpool's civic life. This is a story of the Victorian entrepreneurship that created Blackpool's most iconic building, and led to Blackpool being the apogee of seaside entertainment.