Bøger af Bill McCann

London's Blue plaques celebrate great figures of the past and the buildings that they inhabited. Originally proposed by William Ewart MP in the House of Commons in 1863, the scheme has been running for almost 150 years and is one of the oldest of its kind in the world. English Heritage was given control over the scheme in 1986 and between 10 and 15 new plaques are erected every year. There are currently more than 800 plaques spread throughout the metropolis except in the City of London and in Whitehall. Part of the delight in walking the streets of London is the discovery of a Plaque on a house where someone famous once lived, and the sudden realisation that you are sharing a little bit of what was their daily view of the world. Less of a delight is the discovery of a plaque to someone whose name you are vaguely familiar with, but about whose life or achievements you can recall very little, or even nothing at all. Then there is the discovery of someone of whom you have never heard but who is tantalisingly and briefly described on the plaque itself. Many people, for example are brought up a little short to read "LOVELACE, Ada, Countess of (1815-1852) Pioneer of Computing, lived here" on a house on St. James' Square. A woman? A Countess? Computing? Yes indeed - the daughter of Lord Byron has the distinction of writing the world's first computer program! How many others learn that Sir Samuel Romilly, Law reformer, lived at 21 Russell Square without realising that he committed suicide in the library there a few days after the death of his wife?Experiences such as these provide stimuli to discover more, but very often, by the time we get home and have been distracted by other things, the stimulus has lost much of its power. Even if we make the effort to go to a library, or search the internet, there is no guarantee that we will find all the relevant information, even in a matter of days. This is where Blue Plaques in a Nutshell comes in.This series of books is aimed at both the habitué of London who walks the streets in fine weather or who sits on the top deck of a London bus on a rainy day, and the tourist who tries to cram as much of London as possible into a short visit. It is designed to provide the essential information about each blue plaque instantly. Indeed it does more than that. For the armchair traveller or historical explorer, it provides a handy and ready source of information on the doings and undoings of the residents of London who have made significant contributions to the history and culture of the world.The heart of London's Blue Plaques in a Nutshell lies in the aphorism - a short, pithy summing up of essential facts. The life and achievements of the subject of each plaque is summarised in a number of aphorisms, none of which contains more than 170 characters - including spaces! Crammed into this nutshell you will find the character, achievements, dreams realised, and dreams dashed, peccadilloes and humanity of the great and good (and the not so great and not so good) that once lived and thrived in the great metropolis that is London.Now revised and updated in 9 volumes, containing more than 220,000 words and 2,800 illustrations, this Third Edition includes all map and GPS coordinates to allow the modern traveller to precisely locate each plaque. Volume 5 is right up to date and presents unique portraits of the 74 politicians and 23 members of the Armed and Public Services who have been honoured with a Blue Plaque between 1881 and 2019.

A modern annotated and unabridged issue of the celebrated Lives of the Queens of England by Agnes Strickland.The text is taken unaltered from the 1857 re-issue of the 1852 Second edition.Many of the original footnotes and references to primary sources have been omitted in the interest of clarity and space.A minimum of footnotes have been added to explain what have by now become obsolete linguistic references and usage.This is the first volume in a projected series to cover the entire eight volumes of Strickland's original Second Edition.In it we have trailblazing diligent, enlightening and, at times, entertaining biographies of the first three Norman Queens, Matilda of Flanders, Matilda of Scotland and Adelicia of Louvaine.

A modern annotated and unabridged issue of the celebrated Lives of the Queens of England by Agnes Strickland.The text is taken unaltered from the 1857 re-issue of the 1852 Second edition.Many of the original footnotes and references to primary sources have been omitted in the interest of clarity and space.A minimum of footnotes have been added to explain what have by now become obsolete linguistic references and usage.This is the third volume in a projected series to cover the entire original eight volumes of Strickland's original Second Edition.In it we have trailblazing diligent, enlightening and, at times, entertaining biographies of the last three Plantagenet Queens - Philippa of Hainault, Anne of Bohemia and Isabella of Valois, together with the first of the Lancastrian Queens - Joanna of Navarre.

A modern annotated and unabridged issue of the celebrated Lives of the Queens of England by Agnes Strickland.The text is taken unaltered from the 1857 re-issue of the 1852 Second edition.Many of the original footnotes and references to primary sources have been omitted in the interest of clarity and space.A minimum of footnotes have been added to explain what have by now become obsolete linguistic references and usage.This is the second volume in a projected series to cover the entire eight volumes of Strickland's original Second Edition.In it we have trailblazing diligent, enlightening and, at times, entertaining biographies of the last Anglo-Norman Queen, Matilda of Boulogne, together with those of the first three Plantagenet Queens - Eleanor of Aquitaine and Berengaria of Navarre, and Isabella of Angoulême.

Paper, the umbrella, gunpowder, the compass, porcelain, the civil service, silk, printing, ice cream, football and pasta. These and much else were first given to the world by China. She also has longest continuous civilisation the world has ever known, stretching back for more than 4,600 years. For a little over 4,500 of those years she was ruled by a single emperor. Her history under those emperors stretches from the end of the New Stone Age, through the Bronze and Iron Ages right down to the early 20th century. We are fortunate that the Chinese began to keep detailed records of the lives of the emperors and events in their reigns from an early date. The first reliable written records in China appeared more than 3,200 years ago. For the 1,400 years before that, we have the records of an oral tradition which was written down at a later date. The period covered by this first volume in the Nutshell Series on Chinese Emperors covers the first 1,012 years of that oral tradition. Naturally, there are problems in assigning precise dates to events derived at a distance from any oral tradition and it was no surprise to find that this was the case here. In fact, there is great confusion, and frequent contradiction, in the dates for the earliest emperors quoted in the various histories available to us today in libraries and on the internet. As a result, in order to remain consistent, it was necessary to go back to the basics and produce a revised chronology especially for this series. This was actually an exciting piece of work and incorporated evidence from the latest archaeological work in the areas traditionally associated with the Yellow Emperor and the Xia Dynasty. The precise details of the methodology used in constructing this chronology are set out in Part One. Amongst other results the revised chronology has allowed us to date the first practical instrument for observing the winter solstice; has given us a date for the earliest solar eclipse on record; given us dates for the earliest two earthquakes ever recorded; and has given us a date for the first ever recorded volcanic winter in planet earth's history. Internally, the revised chronology gives us dates for the reign of the Yellow emperor, as the Han Chinese people still look on the Yellow Emperor as the father of their civilisation and their remote ancestor, this date is of deep cultural significance. It has also proposed a working solution to the problems surrounding the dating of the Xia and early Shang Dynasties. The chronology for the Xia Dynasty is internally consistent and can be firmly anchored to the volcanic winter associated with the catastrophic eruption at Thera in 1628 BC. As for the Emperors themselves, we find them heroically fighting devastating floods, composing music and developing new musical instruments, building a solar observatory and maintaining it over a period of more than 500 years, indulging in ornithology and an naming new bird species and, most human of all perhaps, indulging in wild, alcohol fuelled, sex orgies on the surface of a lake filled with wine!

London's Blue plaques celebrate great figures of the past and the buildings that they inhabited. Originally proposed by William Ewart MP in the House of Commons in 1863, the scheme has been running for almost 150 years and is one of the oldest of its kind in the world. English Heritage was given control over the scheme in 1986 and between 10 and 15 new plaques are erected every year. There are currently more than 800 plaques spread throughout the metropolis except in the City of London and in Whitehall. Part of the delight in walking the streets of London is the discovery of a Plaque on a house where someone famous once lived, and the sudden realisation that you are sharing a little bit of what was their daily view of the world. Less of a delight is the discovery of a plaque to someone whose name you are vaguely familiar with, but about whose life or achievements you can recall very little, or even nothing at all. Then there is the discovery of someone of whom you have never heard but who is tantalisingly and briefly described on the plaque itself. Many people, for example are brought up a little short to read "LOVELACE, Ada, Countess of (1815-1852) Pioneer of Computing, lived here" on a house on St. James' Square. A woman? A Countess? Computing? Yes indeed - the daughter of Lord Byron has the distinction of writing the world's first computer program! How many others learn that Sir Samuel Romilly, Law reformer, lived at 21 Russell Square without realising that he committed suicide in the library there a few days after the death of his wife?Experiences such as these provide stimuli to discover more, but very often, by the time we get home and have been distracted by other things, the stimulus has lost much of its power. Even if we make the effort to go to a library, or search the internet, there is no guarantee that we will find all the relevant information, even in a matter of days. This is where Blue Plaques in a Nutshell comes in.This series of books is aimed at both the habitué of London who walks the streets in fine weather or who sits on the top deck of a London bus on a rainy day, and the tourist who tries to cram as much of London as possible into a short visit. It is designed to provide the essential information about each blue plaque instantly. Indeed it does more than that. For the armchair traveller or historical explorer, it provides a handy and ready source of information on the doings and undoings of the residents of London who have made significant contributions to the history and culture of the world.The heart of London's Blue Plaques in a Nutshell lies in the aphorism - a short, pithy summing up of essential facts. The life and achievements of the subject of each plaque is summarised in a number of aphorisms, none of which contains more than 170 characters - including spaces! Crammed into this nutshell you will find the character, achievements, dreams realised, and dreams dashed, peccadilloes and humanity of the great and good (and the not so great and not so good) that once lived and thrived in the great metropolis that is London.Now revised and updated in 9 volumes, containing more than 220,000 words and 2,800 illustrations, this Third Edition includes all map and GPS coordinates to allow the modern traveller to precisely locate each plaque. Volume 1 is right up to date and summarises the history of the Blue Plaques themselves, presents unique portraits of the 44 actors, actresses, playwrights and theatre managers who have been honoured with a Blue Plaque between 1881 and 2019.

London's Blue plaques celebrate great figures of the past and the buildings that they inhabited. Originally proposed by William Ewart MP in the House of Commons in 1863, the scheme has been running for almost 150 years and is one of the oldest of its kind in the world. English Heritage was given control over the scheme in 1986 and between 10 and 15 new plaques are erected every year. There are currently more than 800 plaques spread throughout the metropolis except in the City of London and in Whitehall. The Blue Plaques have now not only become part of the tradition of London, but also a very special part. They are an adventure. They can be a planned adventure or a rollercoaster of discovery where the shades of London's past are waiting around practically every corner of the metropolis to delight and inform you. Part of the delight in walking the streets of London is the discovery of a Plaque on a house where someone famous once lived, and the sudden realisation that you are sharing a little bit of what was their daily view of the world. Less of a delight is the discovery of a plaque to someone whose name you are vaguely familiar with, but about whose life or achievements you can recall very little, or even nothing at all. Then there is the discovery of someone of whom you have never heard but who is tantalisingly and briefly described on the plaque itself. Many people, for example are brought up a little short to read "LOVELACE, Ada, Countess of (1815-1852) Pioneer of Computing, lived here" on a house on St. James' Square. A woman? A Countess? Computing? Yes indeed - the daughter of Lord Byron has the distinction of writing the world's first computer program! How many others learn that Sir Samuel Romilly, Law reformer, lived at 21 Russell Square without realising that he committed suicide in the library there a few days after the death of his wife? Experiences such as these provide stimuli to discover more, but very often, by the time we get home and have been distracted by other things, the stimulus has lost much of its power. Even if we make the effort to go to a library, or search the internet, there is no guarantee that we will find all the relevant information, even in a matter of days. This is where Blue Plaques in a Nutshell comes in. This series of books is aimed at both the habitué of London who walks the streets in fine weather or who sits on the top deck of a London bus on a rainy day, and the tourist who tries to cram as much of London as possible into a short visit. It is designed to provide the essential information about each blue plaque instantly. Indeed it does more than that. For the armchair traveller or historical explorer, it provides a handy and ready source of information on the doings and undoings of the residents of London who have made significant contributions to the history and culture of the world. The heart of London's Blue Plaques in a Nutshell lies in the aphorism - a short, pithy summing up of essential facts. The life and achievements of the subject of each plaque is summarised in a number of aphorisms, none of which contains more than 170 characters - including spaces! Crammed into this nutshell you will find the character, achievements, dreams realised and dreams dashed, peccadilloes and humanity of the great and good (and the not so great and not so good) that once lived and thrived in the great metropolis that is London. Now revised updated in a series of lavishly illustrated individual volumes, the new edition includes all map and GPS coordinates to allow the modern traveller to precisely locate each plaque. Volume 3 is right up to date and presents unique portraits of the 197 poets, novelists, essayists, writers and historians who have been honoured with a Blue Plaque between 1867 and 2015.

A modern annotated and unabridged issue of the celebrated Lives of the Queens of England by Agnes Strickland.The text is taken unaltered from the 1857 re-issue of the 1852 Second edition.Many of the original footnotes and references to primary sources have been omitted in the interest of clarity and space.A minimum of footnotes have been added to explain what have by now become obsolete linguistic references and usage.This is the fifth volume in a projected series to cover the entire original eight volumes of Strickland's original Second Edition.In it we have trailblazing diligent, enlightening and, at times, entertaining biographies of the four Queens in the throes of the Wars of the roses - the determined Katherine of Valois the formidable Margaret of Anjou, greedy, petulant Elizabeth Woodville and much put-upon Ann of Warwick.

This fourth volume in the series covers the papacies of popes 97 to 151, between the years 770 and 1048. These years included what was a very dark period in the history of the Church - the so-called Saeculum Obscurum. To put it mildly, the Throne of St. Peter was up for grabs. Papal elections were a farce; they were nothing more than a trial of strength between opposing factions in the Roman nobility and between Rome and the (German) Holy Roman Emperor. A great many unsuitable candidates ended up on that throne. They frequently scandalised Rome and the known world with their antics, both in public and in their private lives. One of them, the wildly blatant homosexual Benedict IX, was elected three times! It also included what is perhaps the most bizarre trial of all time: the posthumous exhumation, trial, ritual degradation and execution of Pope Formosus' cadaver. The period also saw a number of 'firsts': The first papal canonisation; the first German pope; the first French pope; the first humanist pope; the first papal voluntary abdication; the first pope to be assassinated; and the first papal canonisation. The period also coincides with the rise of the (German) Holy Roman Empire which came to dominate European politics in the Middle Ages and beyond, only becoming extinct in 1806. The Introductory essay in this volume charts the rise and fall of the Empire, whilst the Concluding Essay recalls one of the earliest mass popular movements in European history - The Peace and Truce of God.

Paper, the umbrella, gunpowder, the compass, porcelain, the civil service, silk, printing, ice cream, football and pasta. These and much else were first given to the world by China. She also has longest continuous civilisation the world has ever known, stretching back for more than 4,600 years. For a little over 4,500 of those years she was ruled by a single emperor. Her history under those emperors stretches from the end of the New Stone Age, through the Bronze and Iron Ages right down to the early 20th century. We are fortunate that the Chinese began to keep detailed records of the lives of the emperors and events in their reigns from an early date. The first reliable written records in China appeared more than 3,200 years ago. For the 1,400 years before that, we have the records of an oral tradition which was written down at a later date. The period covered by this second volume in the Nutshell Series on Chinese Emperors covers the Shang Dynasty, the first Dynasty accepted as probably real by Western historians. As with the Xia Dynasty, problems and inconsistencies dating the earliest Shang kings remain and, as in the first volume, some work was needed in order to produce a new chronology that was internally consistent and could be securely anchored to external events.

This is the first volume in a planned series on the Catholic Popes. It takes us from St. Peter in AD 32 to the papacy of Sylvester I and the Council of Nicaea in AD 325. This is the Age of Persecutions, in which many Christians died for their faith and many, many more suffered daily hostility and harassment at. A brief Introduction provides background by introducing the papacy and the Holy See and describing the main features that distinguish a Pope and define his place in the Catholic Hierarchy. The nutshell profiles of the first Popes are followed by a Concluding Essay which attempts to put the Age of Persecutions into its political and social contexts.Few reliable documents have survived from the period covered by this first volume. As result, we can only look through a gauze at the struggles endured and overcome in these first hostile centuries. Nevertheless, we can still see with sufficient clarity how the deeds and fates of these first 33 Popes laid the solid foundations for all that was to come.The Catholic Church is the largest and oldest Christian Church. It is the fount from which the eastern Orthodox Churches and all Christian sects have sprung. It is impossible to underestimate the influence of this Church on the birth and development Western, which is to say European, civilisation and culture. Despite its origins in 1st century Palestine, and despite its universality, the Catholic Church is a European Church at heart. Its centre has always been at Rome, the city it has done so much to build and beautify - and protect from outright destruction during the last dark days of the Second World War.The influence of this Church on the development of European history was immense. It was the influence of the Catholic Church that dragged Europe from the age of lawless and barbaric tribes into the regulated and, relatively, more humane age of the kingdoms of Europe. It was Irish Catholic monks who preserved for us the writings, the learning and the teachings of the ancient Greeks and Romans during the turbulent, frightening and almost catastrophic centuries of the so-called Dark Ages. Without these intellectual treasures, the glories of European culture and civilisation would have been impossible. Without these treasures, the Renaissance, that great outpouring of Thought, of Art, of Music, of Theatre, of Humanism and of Science would have been stillborn.And without the Catholic Church the glories of Thought, of Literature, of Art, of Architecture, and of Music in particular, would have been impossible. Through her direct participation, indirect inspiration and, most especially, liberal patronage she bequeathed us those things that we now treasure as signifiers of an educated and cultural man. Without her we would not today be able to enjoy the visual masterpieces of Michelangelo or Caravaggio or Leonardo da Vinci, for example, nor could we enjoy the Masses of Haydn and Mozart, Handel's Messiah or the Requiems of Faure, Brahms, Berlioz or Verdi, to give but a very few examples of the huge musical debt European Culture owes to the Catholic Church. Of course, the Catholic Church is a human institution and, like all human institutions, she has suffered, and suffers yet, from the whole kaleidoscope of human frailties, foibles and failings. To expect anything else would be unrealistic, to attempt to define the Church wholly in terms of those human weaknesses, as many in the sects that grew out of the Reformation still do, is utterly ridiculous.If those frailties, foibles and failings are to be found in the men who nurtured, developed and governed the Catholic Church, then so too are the faith, fidelity and fearlessness without which no human undertaking can survive. Of those men, the most conspicuous have been the 266 Popes who have led the Catholic Church from its beginning in AD 32 to the present day.

London's Blue plaques celebrate great figures of the past and the buildings that they inhabited. Originally proposed by William Ewart MP in the House of Commons in 1863, the scheme has been running for almost 150 years and is one of the oldest of its kind in the world. English Heritage was given control over the scheme in 1986 and between 10 and 15 new plaques are erected every year. There are currently more than 800 plaques spread throughout the metropolis except in the City of London and in Whitehall. Part of the delight in walking the streets of London is the discovery of a Plaque on a house where someone famous once lived, and the sudden realisation that you are sharing a little bit of what was their daily view of the world. Less of a delight is the discovery of a plaque to someone whose name you are vaguely familiar with, but about whose life or achievements you can recall very little, or even nothing at all. Then there is the discovery of someone of whom you have never heard but who is tantalisingly and briefly described on the plaque itself. Many people, for example are brought up a little short to read "LOVELACE, Ada, Countess of (1815-1852) Pioneer of Computing, lived here" on a house on St. James' Square. A woman? A Countess? Computing? Yes indeed - the daughter of Lord Byron has the distinction of writing the world's first computer program! How many others learn that Sir Samuel Romilly, Law reformer, lived at 21 Russell Square without realising that he committed suicide in the library there a few days after the death of his wife?Experiences such as these provide stimuli to discover more, but very often, by the time we get home and have been distracted by other things, the stimulus has lost much of its power. Even if we make the effort to go to a library, or search the internet, there is no guarantee that we will find all the relevant information, even in a matter of days. This is where Blue Plaques in a Nutshell comes in.This series of books is aimed at both the habitué of London who walks the streets in fine weather or who sits on the top deck of a London bus on a rainy day, and the tourist who tries to cram as much of London as possible into a short visit. It is designed to provide the essential information about each blue plaque instantly. Indeed it does more than that. For the armchair traveller or historical explorer, it provides a handy and ready source of information on the doings and undoings of the residents of London who have made significant contributions to the history and culture of the world.The heart of London's Blue Plaques in a Nutshell lies in the aphorism - a short, pithy summing up of essential facts. The life and achievements of the subject of each plaque is summarised in a number of aphorisms, none of which contains more than 170 characters - including spaces! Crammed into this nutshell you will find the character, achievements, dreams realised, and dreams dashed, peccadilloes and humanity of the great and good (and the not so great and not so good) that once lived and thrived in the great metropolis that is London.Now revised and updated in 9 volumes, containing more than 220,000 words and 2,800 illustrations, this Third Edition includes all map and GPS coordinates to allow the modern traveller to precisely locate each plaque. Volume 4 is right up to date presents unique portraits of the 118 artists, sculptors, designers and photographers who have been honoured with a Blue Plaque between 1881 and 2019, together with many examples of their work.

A modern annotated and unabridged issue of the celebrated Lives of the Queens of England by Agnes Strickland. The text is taken unaltered from the 1857 re-issue of the 1852 Second edition. Many of the original footnotes and references to primary sources have been omitted in the interest of clarity and space. A minimum of footnotes have been added to explain what have by now become obsolete linguistic references and usage. This is the first volume in a projected series to cover the entire eight volumes of Strickland's original Second Edition. In it we have trailblazing diligent, enlightening and, at times, entertaining biographies of the first three Norman Queens, Matilda of Flanders, Matilda of Scotland and Adelicia of Louvaine.

This Special Volume in the Nutshell series on London's Blue Plaques gathers into a single book the details of all the Blue Plaques which commemorate female achievers, and which have been erected up to and including 2018. Every entry here will, naturally, also be found in the appropriate volume of the eight books in the main series. Each entry contains biographical details of the individual, together with portraits, photographs of the plaques, and other illustrations as appropriate and available without copyright restrictions. There are also full postcodes, map, and GPS coordinates to allow the interested reader to precisely locate each plaque on the ground.Also included is an extensive Bibliography section with almost 200 entries. These references will allow the reader to discover more about the lives and achievements of these wonderful and pioneering women. The entries cover publications about rather than by our heroines, . There are two indices to help you to easily find the details for each achiever.i. A standard alphabetical index, andii. An index by profession where an individual can be found listed under one of the 24 professions represented here.Currently, 125 women are honoured by a blue plaque, some of which are shared with their husbands. This represents less than 14% of the 944 plaques in London. The first plaque to a woman was erected in 1876 and honoured the actress Sarah Siddons, however that plaque was lost when the building was destroyed. When English Heritage (EH) took over responsibility for the scheme in 1986, only 45 plaques celebrated women. The Charity has made great efforts to redress the imbalance, erecting more than 80 new plaques in the 30 years since then.

London's Blue plaques celebrate great figures of the past and the buildings that they inhabited. Originally proposed by William Ewart MP in the House of Commons in 1863, the scheme has been running for almost 150 years and is one of the oldest of its kind in the world. English Heritage was given control over the scheme in 1986 and between 10 and 15 new plaques are erected every year. There are currently more than 800 plaques spread throughout the metropolis except in the City of London and in Whitehall. The Blue Plaques have now not only become part of the tradition of London, but also a very special part. They are an adventure. They can be a planned adventure or a rollercoaster of discovery where the shades of London's past are waiting around practically every corner of the metropolis to delight and inform you. Part of the delight in walking the streets of London is the discovery of a Plaque on a house where someone famous once lived, and the sudden realisation that you are sharing a little bit of what was their daily view of the world. Less of a delight is the discovery of a plaque to someone whose name you are vaguely familiar with, but about whose life or achievements you can recall very little, or even nothing at all. Then there is the discovery of someone of whom you have never heard but who is tantalisingly and briefly described on the plaque itself. Many people, for example are brought up a little short to read "LOVELACE, Ada, Countess of (1815-1852) Pioneer of Computing, lived here" on a house on St. James' Square. A woman? A Countess? Computing? Yes indeed - the daughter of Lord Byron has the distinction of writing the world's first computer program! How many others learn that Sir Samuel Romilly, Law reformer, lived at 21 Russell Square without realising that he committed suicide in the library there a few days after the death of his wife? Experiences such as these provide stimuli to discover more, but very often, by the time we get home and have been distracted by other things, the stimulus has lost much of its power. Even if we make the effort to go to a library, or search the internet, there is no guarantee that we will find all the relevant information, even in a matter of days. This is where Blue Plaques in a Nutshell comes in. This series of books is aimed at both the habitué of London who walks the streets in fine weather or who sits on the top deck of a London bus on a rainy day, and the tourist who tries to cram as much of London as possible into a short visit. It is designed to provide the essential information about each blue plaque instantly. Indeed it does more than that. For the armchair traveller or historical explorer, it provides a handy and ready source of information on the doings and undoings of the residents of London who have made significant contributions to the history and culture of the world. The heart of London's Blue Plaques in a Nutshell lies in the aphorism - a short, pithy summing up of essential facts. The life and achievements of the subject of each plaque is summarised in a number of aphorisms, none of which contains more than 170 characters - including spaces! Crammed into this nutshell you will find the character, achievements, dreams realised and dreams dashed, peccadilloes and humanity of the great and good (and the not so great and not so good) that once lived and thrived in the great metropolis that is London. Now revised updated in a series of lavishly illustrated individual volumes, the new edition includes all map and GPS coordinates to allow the modern traveller to precisely locate each plaque. Volume 4 is right up to date presents unique portraits of the 118 artists, sculptors, designers and photographers who have been honoured with a Blue Plaque between 1881 and 2015, together with many examples of their work.

The present book is the first volume in each of two new additions to the Nutshell Books stable; The Nutshell Shakespeare and the Nutshell ESL Readers series. The first three volumes in the Nutshell Shakespeare will present a retelling of the stories behind the plays; too many people, especially younger people, now find the language of the 16th. Century very difficult to understand and, as a result, the glories of Shakespeare remain a blank page to them. This first volume presents the stories behind the eleven Tragedies. The approach to the story telling has not being to write a prose version of the plays, rather to write the stories as if they were the material on which the plays are based. The overall aim is to retain the core story, and the trajectory of the drama, without cluttering it with the theatrical necessities of sub-plots and minor characters. The famous Lamb's Tales from Shakespeare, which was first published in 1807, presented the stories of twenty of the plays, especially written for children. Unfortunately, in the 21st. Century even the language of early 19th.Century England is difficult for many readers young and old today. Whilst many native speakers find the language of Shakespeare, and even the 19th. Century, difficult to understand, it is more or less incomprehensible to learners of English as a second language. This is true not only of Shakespeare but of the folk-tales, fairy tales and nursery rhymes that underpin the native speaker's command of the language. The Nutshell ESL Readers Series is designed to provide these learners with accessible versions of these, and other, foundation texts.

The present book is the first volume in each of two new additions to the Nutshell Books stable; The Nutshell Shakespeare and the Nutshell ESL Readers series.The first three volumes in the Nutshell Shakespeare will present a retelling of the stories behind the plays; too many people, especially younger people, now find the language of the 16th. Century very difficult to understand and, as a result, the glories of Shakespeare remain a blank page to them. This first volume presents the stories behind the eleven Tragedies.The approach to the story telling has not being to write a prose version of the plays, rather to write the stories as if they were the material on which the plays are based. The overall aim is to retain the core story, and the trajectory of the drama, without cluttering it with the theatrical necessities of sub-plots and minor characters.The famous Lamb's Tales from Shakespeare, which was first published in 1807, presented the stories of twenty of the plays, especially written for children. Unfortunately, in the 21st. Century even the language of early 19th.Century England is difficult for many readers young and old today.Whilst many native speakers find the language of Shakespeare, and even the 19th. Century, difficult to understand, it is more or less incomprehensible to learners of English as a second language. This is true not only of Shakespeare but of the folk-tales, fairy tales and nursery rhymes that underpin the native speaker's command of the language. The Nutshell ESL Readers Series is designed to provide these learners with accessible versions of these, and other, foundation texts.

A modern annotated and unabridged issue of the celebrated Lives of the Queens of England by Agnes Strickland. The text is taken unaltered from the 1857 re-issue of the 1852 Second edition. Many of the original footnotes and references to primary sources have been omitted in the interest of clarity and space. A minimum of footnotes have been added to explain what have by now become obsolete linguistic references and usage. This is the third volume in a projected series to cover the entire original eight volumes of Strickland's original Second Edition. In it we have trailblazing diligent, enlightening and, at times, entertaining biographies of the next four Plantagenet Queens; from the saintly Eleanor of Provence to the scandalously cheating and treacherous Isabella of France, wife to the unhappy Edward II.

In this, the third of the series on the history of the Catholic Popes, we come to a very important epoch in the history of the Catholic Church, spanning the entire 7th. and 8th. centuries and the reigns of thirty two popes. It begins in 604 with the election of Pope Sabinian and ends with the reign of Leo III who died in 816. The culmination of the epoch was the crowning of Charlemagne as the Holy Roman Emperor by Leo III on Christmas Day in 800. From that day, the Catholic Church emerged onto the world stage as a temporal, as well as a spiritual, power that was to play a decisive role in the shaping of European culture and civilisation for centuries to come. Neither Leo nor Charlemagne will have been aware of this. It is the tragedy of human history that those who make the most significant contributions to the advance of civilisation die without knowing the real greatness or far-reaching consequences of their own achievements. The Introductory Essay traces the rise and fall of the Kingdom of the Lombards in northern Italy. The Lombards played an important part in the politics of the Italian peninsula during our period and were hostile or favourable to the papacy, depending on the politics and the personalities involved. The concluding essay traces the rise and fall of the Empires of Islam, which began to emerge in our period. This religion also played an important part in the future development of Europe and continues to influence events on that continent today. Western civilisation and culture are, of course, European civilisation and culture, and, the Catholic Church is a European Church at heart. Its centre has always been at Rome, the city it has done so much to build and beautify - and protect from outright destruction during the last dark days of the Second World War. The influence of this Church on the development of European history was unquestionably immense. It was the influence of the Catholic Church that dragged Europe from the age of lawless and barbaric tribes into the regulated and more humane age of the kingdoms of Europe. It was Irish Catholic monks who preserved the writings, the learning and the teachings of the ancient Greeks and the Romans during the turbulent, frightening and almost catastrophic centuries of the so-called Dark Ages. Without the Catholic Church the glories of Western Thought, of Literature, of Art, of Architecture, and of Music would have been impossible. Through her direct participation, indirect inspiration and, most especially, liberal patronage she bequeathed us those things that we now treasure as signifiers of an educated and cultural man. Without these we would not today be able to enjoy the visual masterpieces of Michelangelo or Caravaggio or Leonardo da Vinci, for example, nor could we enjoy the Masses of Haydn and Mozart, Handel's Messiah or the Requiems of Faure, Brahms, Berlioz or Verdi, to give but a very few examples of the huge musical debt European Culture owes to the Catholic Church. Of course, the Catholic Church is a human institution and, like all human institutions, she has suffered, and suffers yet, from the whole kaleidoscope of human frailties, foibles and failings. To expect anything else would be unrealistic. If those frailties, foibles and failings are to be found in the men who nurtured, developed and governed the Catholic Church, then so too are the faith, fidelity and fearlessness without which no human undertaking can survive. Of those men, the most conspicuous have been the 266 Popes who have led the Catholic Church from its beginning in 32 to the present day. It is with the lives and the deaths, the triumphs and the failures, the manipulations and the machinations, the sanctity and the hypocrisy of those 266 men that the present series of little books will deal. With them, and through them, we can distil into a nutshell the whole panorama of the development of the European moral, political and cultural order on which our modern Western world is built.

London's Blue plaques celebrate great figures of the past and the buildings that they inhabited. Originally proposed by William Ewart MP in the House of Commons in 1863, the scheme has been running for almost 150 years and is one of the oldest of its kind in the world. English Heritage was given control over the scheme in 1986 and between 10 and 15 new plaques are erected every year. There are currently more than 800 plaques spread throughout the metropolis except in the City of London and in Whitehall. The Blue Plaques have now not only become part of the tradition of London, but also a very special part. They are an adventure. They can be a planned adventure or a rollercoaster of discovery where the shades of London's past are waiting around practically every corner of the metropolis to delight and inform you. Part of the delight in walking the streets of London is the discovery of a Plaque on a house where someone famous once lived, and the sudden realisation that you are sharing a little bit of what was their daily view of the world. Less of a delight is the discovery of a plaque to someone whose name you are vaguely familiar with, but about whose life or achievements you can recall very little, or even nothing at all. Then there is the discovery of someone of whom you have never heard but who is tantalisingly and briefly described on the plaque itself. Many people, for example are brought up a little short to read "LOVELACE, Ada, Countess of (1815-1852) Pioneer of Computing, lived here" on a house on St. James' Square. A woman? A Countess? Computing? Yes indeed - the daughter of Lord Byron has the distinction of writing the world's first computer program! How many others learn that Sir Samuel Romilly, Law reformer, lived at 21 Russell Square without realising that he committed suicide in the library there a few days after the death of his wife?Experiences such as these provide stimuli to discover more, but very often, by the time we get home and have been distracted by other things, the stimulus has lost much of its power. Even if we make the effort to go to a library, or search the internet, there is no guarantee that we will find all the relevant information, even in a matter of days. This is where Blue Plaques in a Nutshell comes in.This series of books is aimed at both the habitué of London who walks the streets in fine weather or who sits on the top deck of a London bus on a rainy day, and the tourist who tries to cram as much of London as possible into a short visit. It is designed to provide the essential information about each blue plaque instantly. Indeed it does more than that. For the armchair traveller or historical explorer, it provides a handy and ready source of information on the doings and undoings of the residents of London who have made significant contributions to the history and culture of the world.The heart of London's Blue Plaques in a Nutshell lies in the aphorism - a short, pithy summing up of essential facts. The life and achievements of the subject of each plaque is summarised in a number of aphorisms, none of which contains more than 170 characters - including spaces! Crammed into this nutshell you will find the character, achievements, dreams realised, and dreams dashed, peccadilloes and humanity of the great and good (and the not so great and not so good) that once lived and thrived in the great metropolis that is London.Now revised and updated in 9 volumes, containing more than 220,000 words and 2,800 illustrations, this Third Edition includes all map and GPS coordinates to allow the modern traveller to precisely locate each plaque. Volume 2 is right up to date presents unique portraits of the 134 composers, singers, pianists, conductors, prime ballerine, artistes, sportsmen and women, film actors and actresses and impresarios who have been honoured with a Blue Plaque between 1881 and 2019.

This fourth volume in the series covers the papacies of popes 97 to 151, between the years 770 and 1048. These years included what was a very dark period in the history of the Church - the so-called Saeculum Obscurum. To put it mildly, the Throne of St. Peter was up for grabs. Papal elections were a farce; they were nothing more than a trial of strength between opposing factions in the Roman nobility and between Rome and the (German) Holy Roman Emperor.A great many unsuitable candidates ended up on that throne. They frequently scandalised Rome and the known world with their antics, both in public and in their private lives. One of them, the wildly blatant homosexual Benedict IX, was elected three times! It also included what is perhaps the most bizarre trial of all time: the posthumous exhumation, trial, ritual degradation and execution of Pope Formosus' cadaver.The period also saw a number of 'firsts': The first papal canonisation; the first German pope; the first French pope; the first humanist pope; the first papal voluntary abdication; the first pope to be assassinated; and the first papal canonisation.The period also coincides with the rise of the (German) Holy Roman Empire which came to dominate European politics in the Middle Ages and beyond, only becoming extinct in 1806. The Introductory essay in this volume charts the rise and fall of the Empire, whilst the Concluding Essay recalls one of the earliest mass popular movements in European history - The Peace and Truce of God.

London's Blue Plaques in fewer than 170 characters - including spaces! Never has a nutshell been bursting with such wisdom, humanity, dreams realised, and dreams dashed. The heart of London's Blue Plaques in a Nutshell lies in the aphorism - a short, pithy summing up of essential facts. The life and achievements of the subject of each plaque is summarised in a number of aphorisms, none of which contains more than 170 characters. Crammed into this nutshell you will find the character, achievements, peccadilloes and humanity of the great and good (and the not so great and not so good) who once lived and thrived in the great metropolis that is London. The Blue Plaques have now become part of the tradition of London, but a very special part. They are an adventure. They can be a planned adventure or a rollercoaster of discovery where the shades of London's past are waiting around practically every corner of the metropolis to delight and inform you. Part of the delight in walking the streets of London is the discovery of a Plaque on a house where someone famous once lived, and the sudden realisation that you are sharing a little bit of what was their daily view of the world. Less of a delight is the discovery of a plaque to someone whose name you are vaguely familiar with, but about whose life or achievements you can recall very little, or even nothing at all. Then there is the discovery of someone of whom you have never heard but who is tantalisingly briefly described on plaque itself. Experiences such as these provide stimuli to discover more, but very often, by the time we get home and have been distracted by other things, the stimulus has lost much of its power. Even if we make the effort to go to a library, or search the internet, there is no guarantee that we will find all the relevant, or most interesting, information. This is where Blue Plaques in a Nutshell comes in. This book is aimed at the habitué of London who walks the streets in fine weather or who sits on the top deck of a London bus on a rainy day, and at the tourist who tries to cram as much of London as possible into a short visit. It is designed to provide the essential information about each blue plaque instantly. Indeed it does more than that. For the armchair traveller or historical explorer, it provides a handy and ready source of information on the doings and undoings of the almost 900 residents of London who have made significant contributions to the historical, cultural, scientific and economic development of the western world over the past six centuries. Now revised updated in a series of lavishly illustrated individual volumes, the new edition includes all map and GPS coordinates to allow the modern traveller to precisely locate each plaque. Volume 2 is right up to date presents unique portraits of the 56 composers, singers, pianists, conductors, prime ballerine, and theatre managers who have been honoured with a Blue Plaque between 1881 and 2014.

Hallowe'en is now a multi-million dollar international celebration, but very few people know exactly what they are celebrating. There are many websites that claim to tell the story of Hallowe'en, but the vast majority have managed to jumble history, surmise and fiction into a range of fanciful concoctions. In fact, Hallowe'en is the oldest celebration in the West, going back at least 3,000 years. Using information from a wide range of sources, including the oldest Literature in Western Europe and modern DNA studies, this little book brings you the fascinating story of why and how this festival was first celebrated and how it evolved into the modern night of ghosts and of witches, of Trick or Treat and of pumpkins.

In this, the third of the series on the history of the Catholic Popes, we come to an extremely important epoch in the history of the Catholic Church, spanning the entire 7th. and 8th. centuries and the reigns of thirty two popes. It begins in 604 with the election of Pope Sabinian and ends with the reign of Leo III who died in 816.The culmination of the epoch was the crowning of Charlemagne as the Holy Roman Emperor by Leo III on Christmas Day in 800. From that day, the Catholic Church emerged onto the world stage as a temporal, as well as a spiritual, power that was to play a decisive role in the shaping of European culture and civilisation for centuries to come.Neither Leo nor Charlemagne will have been aware of this. It is the tragedy of human history that those who make the most significant contributions to the advance of civilisation die without knowing the real greatness or far-reaching consequences of their own achievements.The Introductory Essay traces the rise and fall of the Kingdom of the Lombards in northern Italy. The Lombards played an important part in the politics of the Italian peninsula during our period and were hostile or favourable to the papacy, depending on the politics and the personalities involved.The concluding essay traces the rise and fall of the Empires of Islam, which began to emerge in our period. This religion also played an important part in the future development of Europe and continues to influence events on that continent today.Western civilisation and culture are, of course, European civilisation and culture, and, the Catholic Church is a European Church at heart. Its centre has always been at Rome, the city it has done so much to build and beautify - and protect from outright destruction during the last dark days of the Second World War.The influence of this Church on the development of European history was unquestionably immense. It was the influence of the Catholic Church that dragged Europe from the age of lawless and barbaric tribes into the regulated and more humane age of the kingdoms of Europe. It was Irish Catholic monks who preserved the writings, the learning and the teachings of the ancient Greeks and the Romans during the turbulent, frightening and almost catastrophic centuries of the so-called Dark Ages. Without the Catholic Church the glories of Western Thought, of Literature, of Art, of Architecture, and of Music would have been impossible. Through her direct participation, indirect inspiration and, most especially, liberal patronage she bequeathed us those things that we now treasure as signifiers of an educated and cultural man. Without these we would not today be able to enjoy the visual masterpieces of Michelangelo or Caravaggio or Leonardo da Vinci, for example, nor could we enjoy the Masses of Haydn and Mozart, Handel's Messiah or the Requiems of Faure, Brahms, Berlioz or Verdi, to give but a very few examples of the huge musical debt European Culture owes to the Catholic Church. Of course, the Catholic Church is a human institution and, like all human institutions, she has suffered, and suffers yet, from the whole kaleidoscope of human frailties, foibles and failings. To expect anything else would be unrealistic. If those frailties, foibles and failings are to be found in the men who nurtured, developed and governed the Catholic Church, then so too are the faith, fidelity and fearlessness without which no human undertaking can survive. Of those men, the most conspicuous have been the 266 Popes who have led the Catholic Church from its beginning in 32 to the present day. It is with the lives and the deaths, the triumphs and the failures, the manipulations and the machinations, the sanctity and the hypocrisy of those 266 men that the present series of little books will deal. With them, through them, we can distil into a nutshell the whole panorama of the development of the European moral, political and cultural order on which our modern Western world

This is the Second volume in a planned series on the Catholic Popes. It takes us from St. Mark in AD 325 to the papacy of Gregory The Great which ended in AD 604. This is the Age of Heresies, a particularly difficult period in the early Church. Not only was there the, often fierce, internal arguments about doctrine which inevitably gave rise to a number of heresies, but there was political turmoil as the Western Roman Empire collapsed and Rome itself was sacked by the Germanic hordes.An Introductory Essay outlines the rise and fate of the succeeding Byzantine Empire, whilst the Concluding Essay summarises the thirty-one heresies that arose in the early centuries of the Church.Few reliable documents have survived from the period covered by this first volume. As result, we can only look through a gauze at the struggles endured and overcome in these first hostile centuries. Nevertheless, we can still see with sufficient clarity how the deeds and fates of these first 33 Popes laid the solid foundations for all that was to come.The Catholic Church is the largest and oldest Christian Church. It is the fount from which the eastern Orthodox Churches and all Christian sects have sprung. It is impossible to underestimate the influence of this Church on the birth and development Western, which is to say European, civilisation and culture. Despite its origins in 1st century Palestine, and despite its universality, the Catholic Church is a European Church at heart. Its centre has always been at Rome, the city it has done so much to build and beautify - and protect from outright destruction during the last dark days of the Second World War.The influence of this Church on the development of European history was immense. It was the influence of the Catholic Church that dragged Europe from the age of lawless and barbaric tribes into the regulated and, relatively, more humane age of the kingdoms of Europe. It was Irish Catholic monks who preserved for us the writings, the learning and the teachings of the ancient Greeks and Romans during the turbulent, frightening and almost catastrophic centuries of the so-called Dark Ages. Without these intellectual treasures, the glories of European culture and civilisation would have been impossible. Without these treasures, the Renaissance, that great outpouring of Thought, of Art, of Music, of Theatre, of Humanism and of Science would have been stillborn.And without the Catholic Church the glories of Thought, of Literature, of Art, of Architecture, and of Music in particular, would have been impossible. Through her direct participation, indirect inspiration and, most especially, liberal patronage she bequeathed us those things that we now treasure as signifiers of an educated and cultural man. Without her we would not today be able to enjoy the visual masterpieces of Michelangelo or Caravaggio or Leonardo da Vinci, for example, nor could we enjoy the Masses of Haydn and Mozart, Handel's Messiah or the Requiems of Faure, Brahms, Berlioz or Verdi, to give but a very few examples of the huge musical debt European Culture owes to the Catholic Church. Of course, the Catholic Church is a human institution and, like all human institutions, she has suffered, and suffers yet, from the whole kaleidoscope of human frailties, foibles and failings. To expect anything else would be unrealistic, to attempt to define the Church wholly in terms of those human weaknesses, as many in the sects that grew out of the Reformation still do, is utterly ridiculous.If those frailties, foibles and failings are to be found in the men who nurtured, developed and governed the Catholic Church, then so too are the faith, fidelity and fearlessness without which no human undertaking can survive. Of those men, the most conspicuous have been the 266 Popes who have led the Catholic Church from its beginning in AD 32 to the present day.

This is the Second volume in a planned series on the Catholic Popes. It takes us from St. Mark in AD 325 to the papacy of Gregory The Great which ended in AD 604. This is the Age of Heresies, a particularly difficult period in the early Church. Not only was there the, often fierce, internal arguments about doctrine which inevitably gave rise to a number of heresies, but there was political turmoil as the Western Roman Empire collapsed and Rome itself was sacked by the Germanic hordes. An Introductory Essay outlines the rise and fate of the succeeding Byzantine Empire, whilst the Concluding Essay summarises the thirty-one heresies that arose in the early centuries of the Church. Few reliable documents have survived from the period covered by this first volume. As result, we can only look through a gauze at the struggles endured and overcome in these first hostile centuries. Nevertheless, we can still see with sufficient clarity how the deeds and fates of these first 33 Popes laid the solid foundations for all that was to come. The Catholic Church is the largest and oldest Christian Church. It is the fount from which the eastern Orthodox Churches and all Christian sects have sprung. It is impossible to underestimate the influence of this Church on the birth and development Western, which is to say European, civilisation and culture. Despite its origins in 1st century Palestine, and despite its universality, the Catholic Church is a European Church at heart. Its centre has always been at Rome, the city it has done so much to build and beautify - and protect from outright destruction during the last dark days of the Second World War. The influence of this Church on the development of European history was immense. It was the influence of the Catholic Church that dragged Europe from the age of lawless and barbaric tribes into the regulated and, relatively, more humane age of the kingdoms of Europe. It was Irish Catholic monks who preserved for us the writings, the learning and the teachings of the ancient Greeks and Romans during the turbulent, frightening and almost catastrophic centuries of the so-called Dark Ages. Without these intellectual treasures, the glories of European culture and civilisation would have been impossible. Without these treasures, the Renaissance, that great outpouring of Thought, of Art, of Music, of Theatre, of Humanism and of Science would have been stillborn. And without the Catholic Church the glories of Thought, of Literature, of Art, of Architecture, and of Music in particular, would have been impossible. Through her direct participation, indirect inspiration and, most especially, liberal patronage she bequeathed us those things that we now treasure as signifiers of an educated and cultural man. Without her we would not today be able to enjoy the visual masterpieces of Michelangelo or Caravaggio or Leonardo da Vinci, for example, nor could we enjoy the Masses of Haydn and Mozart, Handel's Messiah or the Requiems of Faure, Brahms, Berlioz or Verdi, to give but a very few examples of the huge musical debt European Culture owes to the Catholic Church. Of course, the Catholic Church is a human institution and, like all human institutions, she has suffered, and suffers yet, from the whole kaleidoscope of human frailties, foibles and failings. To expect anything else would be unrealistic, to attempt to define the Church wholly in terms of those human weaknesses, as many in the sects that grew out of the Reformation still do, is utterly ridiculous. If those frailties, foibles and failings are to be found in the men who nurtured, developed and governed the Catholic Church, then so too are the faith, fidelity and fearlessness without which no human undertaking can survive. Of those men, the most conspicuous have been the 266 Popes who have led the Catholic Church from its beginning in AD 32 to the present day.

London's Blue plaques celebrate great figures of the past and the buildings that they inhabited. Originally proposed by William Ewart MP in the House of Commons in 1863, the scheme has been running for almost 150 years and is one of the oldest of its kind in the world. English Heritage was given control over the scheme in 1986 and between 10 and 15 new plaques are erected every year. There are currently more than 800 plaques spread throughout the metropolis except in the City of London and in Whitehall. Part of the delight in walking the streets of London is the discovery of a Plaque on a house where someone famous once lived, and the sudden realisation that you are sharing a little bit of what was their daily view of the world. Less of a delight is the discovery of a plaque to someone whose name you are vaguely familiar with, but about whose life or achievements you can recall very little, or even nothing at all. Then there is the discovery of someone of whom you have never heard but who is tantalisingly and briefly described on the plaque itself. Many people, for example are brought up a little short to read "LOVELACE, Ada, Countess of (1815-1852) Pioneer of Computing, lived here" on a house on St. James' Square. A woman? A Countess? Computing? Yes indeed - the daughter of Lord Byron has the distinction of writing the world's first computer program! How many others learn that Sir Samuel Romilly, Law reformer, lived at 21 Russell Square without realising that he committed suicide in the library there a few days after the death of his wife?Experiences such as these provide stimuli to discover more, but very often, by the time we get home and have been distracted by other things, the stimulus has lost much of its power. Even if we make the effort to go to a library, or search the internet, there is no guarantee that we will find all the relevant information, even in a matter of days. This is where Blue Plaques in a Nutshell comes in.This series of books is aimed at both the habitué of London who walks the streets in fine weather or who sits on the top deck of a London bus on a rainy day, and the tourist who tries to cram as much of London as possible into a short visit. It is designed to provide the essential information about each blue plaque instantly. Indeed it does more than that. For the armchair traveller or historical explorer, it provides a handy and ready source of information on the doings and undoings of the residents of London who have made significant contributions to the history and culture of the world.The heart of London's Blue Plaques in a Nutshell lies in the aphorism - a short, pithy summing up of essential facts. The life and achievements of the subject of each plaque is summarised in a number of aphorisms, none of which contains more than 170 characters - including spaces! Crammed into this nutshell you will find the character, achievements, dreams realised, and dreams dashed, peccadilloes and humanity of the great and good (and the not so great and not so good) that once lived and thrived in the great metropolis that is London.Now revised and updated in 9 volumes, containing more than 220,000 words and 2,800 illustrations, this Third Edition includes all map and GPS coordinates to allow the modern traveller to precisely locate each plaque. Volume 8 is right up to date and presents unique portraits of the 115 Foreign Guests, Religious, and Historic Sites honoured with a Blue Plaque between 1881 and 2019.

A modern annotated and unabridged issue of the celebrated Lives of the Queens of England by Agnes Strickland. The text is taken unaltered from the 1857 re-issue of the 1852 Second edition. Many of the original footnotes and references to primary sources have been omitted in the interest of clarity and space. A minimum of footnotes have been added to explain what have by now become obsolete linguistic references and usage. This is the second volume in a projected series to cover the entire eight volumes of Strickland's original Second Edition. In it we have trailblazing diligent, enlightening and, at times, entertaining biographies of the last Anglo-Norman Queen, Matilda of Boulogne, together with those of the first three Plantagenet Queens - Eleanor of Aquitaine and Berengaria of Navarre, and Isabella of Angoulême.

A modern annotated and unabridged issue of the celebrated Lives of the Queens of England by Agnes Strickland.The text is taken unaltered from the 1857 re-issue of the 1852 Second edition.Many of the original footnotes and references to primary sources have been omitted in the interest of clarity and space.A minimum of footnotes have been added to explain what have by now become obsolete linguistic references and usage.This is the sixth volume in a projected series to cover the entire original eight volumes of Strickland's original Second Edition.In it, we have trailblazing diligent, enlightening and, at times, entertaining biographies of the first three Tudor Queens - Elizabeth of York, Katharine of Arragon and Anne Boleyn!

To many Europeans, perhaps to a great many, Islam is something of a puzzle. In the news media and on the Internet they witness scenes of great piety during the hajj in Mecca, but also witness scenes of great barbarity in that same holy city itself and in other great cities and the deserts of Islam.They can experience the glorious and highly sophisticated architectural, horticultural and culinary delights of Moorish Spain, but are then faced with evidence of corruption, depravity, and terrible slaughter within and by the Muslim communities in their own cities.And now, in the 21st century fear and hatred have returned to the streets in the cities of Europe. Modern Europeans are themselves experiencing that hate and those fears that once stalked the pages of their mediaeval history. And they ask why?This book seeks to understand Islam. Not to defeat it, but to answer the question - why? Is there anything in this religion that encourages the use of the barbaric violence that we are now witnessing in its name?Its conclusions may anger some, and irritate others, but they should surprise no one.