In March 1941, the Royal navy scored one of the greatest one-sided victories against the Italian Fleet the Regia Marina at Matapan. It brought to an end six months of remarkable success for the Royal Navy in the Mediterranean. When France fell and Italy declared war on Britain, Admiral Dudley Pound had wanted to evacuate the Mediterranean altogether and concentrate on home defence. Churchill overruled him, regarding such a move as the death knell of the British Empire. His decision made th...

On 4 September 1944, Allied forces and local resistance fighters captured the Belgian port of Antwerp, the largest harbour in Europe. Once opened to Allied shipping, the port would revolutionise the Allies’ delivery of supplies into mainland Europe, stores which were still having to make the long overland journey from Normandy and places such as Cherbourg. But to enable this to happen, the Scheldt Estuary and, more importantly, the island of Walcheren also needed to cleared of Hitler’s for...

The Fresh Prince Architect: The Life and Legacy of Samm-Art Williams III is the untold story of a television titan whose pen shaped a generation.From the rural roots of Burgaw, North Carolina to the glimmering sound stages of Hollywood, Samm-Art Williams rose through the ranks as a playwright, screenwriter, producer, and visionary behind some of the most iconic Black stories to ever hit American screens. While millions remember The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air,...

It is no coincidence that many of Alistair MacLean's most successful novels were sea stories. In 1941, he was called up after volunteering for the Royal Navy and served as Ordinary Seaman, Able Seaman, and Leading Torpedo Operator. For the majority of his service, he was on HMS Royalist, a modified Dido-class light cruiser, seeing action in the Arctic, and operations against the German battleship Tirpitz . The ship then deployed to the Mediterranean taking part in Operation Dragoon the inv...

In the extraordinary life of Mark Simmons, a tall 6'6" force of humor and compassion, an epic tale of laughter, inspiration and transformation unfolds. Hailing from Cherokee, Iowa, Mark has traversed the diverse realms of public school education and stand-up comedy. Mark's comedic prowess emerged as a beacon of laughter, illuminating the lives of countless individuals in his quest for stardom as an actor and stand-up comedian. Yet, it was his calling as an educator that truly set him on th...

UNFORTUNATELY, THEY BELIEVE IN HIM...Christopher Csejthe doesn't believe in vampires. Not until he becomes one. He doesn't believe in witches or werewolves, either. Not until they make him an offer he can't refuse....Flight of the Living DeadA scream sliced the night air—an animal sound as far removed from a human voice as the previous scream of tortured metal. It was a sound that went on and on as we hurried toward the RV. Moonclou...

The elaborate Allied schemes to keep Spain and Portugal out of WWII—featuring the real-life spy work of Ian Fleming, creator of James Bond.Historian Mark Simmons reveals the various Allied operations designed to keep the Iberian Peninsula out of WWII. It is a tale of widespread bribery of high ranking Spanish officials, the duplicity of Adm. Wilhelm Canaris, head of the Abwehr, and an elaborate scheme developed by a Naval Intelligence commander who would later crea...

The relationship between Britain and Cyprus over the course of the past 100 years has been a constantly evolving one. Since the First World War, Cyprus has played a key role in British defence strategy, and, after the withdrawal from Egypt, the island became the British Middle East headquarters. Today, Britain retains two sovereign bases in Cyprus and the island has become a popular holiday destination for many British tourists. Using previously unpublished letters and per...

A woman on an expedition becomes stranded on a frigid island in the Arctic Ocean. A pilot is forced to make an emergency landing on a frozen lake in the Canadian wilderness. An explorer gets lost in a raging blizzard on Antarctica. These remarkable true tales could have ended in tragedy—but they didn't! What happened to three people who found themselves caught in the ice and snow? And how did they survive to tell their tales? Young readers will find out in this easy-to-read hi-lo graphic n...

In 1811, while exploring the cliffs near Lyme Regis, England, 12-year-old Mary Anning made the find of a lifetime. There in the rocks was the skeleton of a strange creature. Mary's find was later named Ichthyosaurus, a reptile that lived more than 250 million years ago. Anning went on to have a long career finding and identifying dinosaur fossils. However, her work often went unrecognized by male scientists of the time, and she received little credit until long after her death. Le...

On September 11, 2001, terrorists attacked the World Trade Center in New York City. Narly 3,000 people were killed, and many were trapped under the collapsed buildings. When Canadian police officer James Symington heard about the attacks, he knew he and his trained search and rescue dog, Trakr, had to help. Follow Trakr’s lead as he and Symington bravely search and dig through the rubble to help rescue survivors of one of the deadliest days in U.S. history.

When Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, many cities were destroyed and left in ruins. Among the rubble were many dangerous, unexploded bombs and mines. But thanks to the hard work of a well-trained Jack Russell terrier named Patron, Ukraine’s streets have become more secure. Follow along with Patron as he sniffs out hundreds of deadly explosives and helps the people of Ukraine feel safer in their homeland.