In June 1940, Britain's front line against the German armies was the coast of Kent and Sussex. Across the Channel, Hitler's forces gathered, preparing for invasion, as the Home Forces struggled desperately to recover from the disaster and miracle of Dunkirk. Occupation of these islands was nearer than for almost nine hundred years. Kent and Sussex 1940, tells the story of the communities that found themselves in the front line, placing their experience within the context of huge historic e...

We think of the Stephensons and Brunel as the fathers of the railways, and their Liverpool and Manchester and Great Western Railways as the prototypes of the modern systems. But who were the railways' grandfathers and great-grandfathers? The rapid evolution of the railways after 1830 depended on the juggernauts of steam locomotion being able to draw upon centuries of experience in using and developing railways, and of harnessing the power of steam. Giants the Stephensons a...

Reporting the Blitz takes a fresh look at the home front during World War Two, using local newspaper archives from around the country to throw light on some relatively neglected aspects of those years. It explores the unspoken attitudes and values of those wartime communities; the ways in which local firms sought sometimes unexpected business opportunities from the hostilities; how officialdom and the local media sought to jolly the community along, and to keep bad news from them....

In Reading in the 1950s Stuart Hylton gives a fascinating account of the town and its people during a decade of rapid and memorable change. The story begins in the drab atmosphere of the early postwar years, with their austerity, sense of shrinking empire and declining national prestige. It ends with the brash new world of the swinging sixties, which brought The Beatles, the miniskirt and the Mini car. From television and labour-saving appliances which revolutioni...

The Great War of 1914–1918 was the world's first total conflict. It drew the whole population into the war effort as never before. The armed forces recruited on a scale that was previously unimaginable, and the munitions industries drew more and more citizens into the labour market. The entire national economy was thrown onto a war footing. The local newspapers of those years provide a unique picture of these momentous changes, and Reporting the Great War uses their words to recapture the ...

Did you know?Reading Football Club was founded in 1871, the same year as the FA Cup, and is the oldest football league club south of the River TrentNewbury Racecourse housed a prisoner-of-war camp during the First World WarThe Duke and Duchess of Cambridge's current coat of arms features three acorn sprigs – one for each of the Middleton children, who were born in BerkshireThe Little Book of Berkshire is an ...

We think of the Stephensons and Brunel as the fathers of the railways, and their Liverpool and Manchester and Great Western Railways as the prototypes of the modern systems. But who were the railways' grandfathers and great-grandfathers? The rapid evolution of the railways after 1830 depended on the juggernauts of steam locomotion being able to draw upon centuries of experience in using and developing railways, and of harnessing the power of steam. Giants the Stephensons a...

In Reading in the 1950s Stuart Hylton gives a fascinating account of the town and its people during a decade of rapid and memorable change. The story begins in the drab atmosphere of the early postwar years, with their austerity, sense of shrinking empire and declining national prestige. It ends with the brash new world of the swinging sixties, which brought The Beatles, the miniskirt and the Mini car. From television and labour-saving appliances which revolutioni...

The Little Book of the 1950s is a fast-paced and entertaining account of life in Britain during an extraordinary decade, as we moved from post-war austerity to the swinging sixties. There are dramas, tragedies, scandals and characters galore, all packaged in an easily readable 'dip-in' format. We can see how major national and international events impacted on the population at home, the progress made by technology and the fads and fancies of fashion and novelty. W...

Did you know?In 1824 a Pendleton tollkeeper set up Britain's first true public bus service, thought to be one of the first in the world.Communism can claim to have been conceived, if not born, in Manchester as Friedrich Engels and Karl Marx used to meet in the city.Manchester has the grim distinction of being the place where the first death of the English Civil War occurred.The Little Book of Manchester is a...

It is hard, from a distance of nearly two centuries, to imagine the impact the coming of the railways must have had at the start of the nineteenth century. Their physical impact was dramatic enough – great mechanical horses, breathing fire and smoke and drawing impossibly heavy trains at unimaginable speeds, across a landscape transformed by the embankments and cuttings, viaducts and tunnels their passage demanded. However, they would also transform the way war was conducted and peace was ...

From Victorian manufacturing town, famous for the ‘three Bs’ – beer, bulbs and biscuits – to its current status as a major centre for service industries and cutting-edge technology, Reading has a proud and distinctive identity. This extraordinary history is embodied in the buildings that have shaped the town. Reading in 50 Buildings explores the history of this rich and vibrant community through a selection of its greatest architectural treasures. From the medieval Abbey Gateway to the mod...