Emminent ancestors include James Lancaster 1610- 1699 a member of the Valiant Sixty the earliest activists of the Society of Friends. John 1822-1880 and Joseph 1827-1880 Cash who started the silk weaving business in Coventry in 1846, later famous for their name tapes. Professor John Barlow 1815-1856 professor of Veterinary Studies at Edinburgh University and introduced the microscope there. General George Monck 1608-1670 restored Charles II to the throne. George Cadbury 1839-1922 founder o...

Antony Barlow comes from a very old Quaker family, dating back to the earliest days of Quakerism in the 17th Century, when members were still being persecuted for their beliefs. On the death of his mother, Joan Barlow in 2007 at the age of 93, he became the custodian of the invaluable collection of family archives, including fading ancient letters, crumbling historical documents, dageurreotypes and perhaps most importantly, their old family Bible dating from 1616. This wonderful old book h...

Bestselling biography of the enduringly fascinating Wallis SimpsonOne of Britain's most distinguished biographers turns her focus on one of the most vilified women of the twentieth century. Historian Anne Sebba has written the first full biography by a woman of Wallis Simpson, Duchess of Windsor.'That woman', as she was referred to by the Queen Mother, became a hate figure for ensnaring a British king and destabilising the monarchy. Neither beautiful nor br...

Deborah Devonshire is a natural writer with a knack for the telling phrase and for hitting the nail on the head. She tells the story of her upbringing, lovingly and wittily describing her parents (so memorably fictionalised by her sister Nancy); she talks candidly about her brother and sisters, and their politics (while not being at all political herself), finally setting the record straight.Throughout the book she writes brilliantly about the country and her deep attachment to it ...

Margaret Rutherford was without a doubt one of Britain’s best-loved comic actresses. But behind the kindly, serene front Rutherford presented to the world lay a life of trauma and repeated nervous breakdown – the legacy of the legacy of family tragedy that saw her father murder her grandfather during a bout of mental illness and her depressive mother later kill herself.Andy Merriman’s acclaimed biography intrigued and shocked readers with these revelations when it was published in ...

Love history? Know your stuff with History in an Hour.Elizabeth II is the longest lived and, after Queen Victoria, second longest reigning monarch of the United Kingdom. From her coronation in 1953 to her Diamond Jubilee in 2012, Queen Elizabeth II has stood on the world stage as the figurehead for Britain.The Queen: History in an Hour tells the story of the Queen Elizabeth II’s life and long reign, her royal duties, service during the Second World War, public perception an...

For more than 70 years, the marriage of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip was at the centre of the nation's life. Now, in My Husband and I, Ingrid Seward reveals the real story of their loving and enduring relationship.When a young Princess Elizabeth met and fell in love with the dashing Naval Lieutenant Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark, it wasn't without its problems. The romance between the sailor prince and the young princess brou...

When Wallis & Edward was first published in 1986, weeks after the death of the Duchess of Windsor, it caused a sensation: this was the story the world had been waiting for. For the first time, the story of Wallis Simpson and King Edward VIII was revealed in their own words. Michael Bloch's edition of their intimate correspondence takes us from the moment they met in 1931 up to their marriage in 1937, and includes Wallis Simpson's diary of their affair in form of her weekly letters...

This is a diary packed with famous names and extraordinary stories. It is also rich in incidental detail and wonderful observation, providing both a compelling record of five remarkable decades and a revealing, often hilarious and sometimes moving account of Gyles Brandreth's unusual life -- as a child living in London in the 'swinging' sixties, as a jumper-wearing TV presenter, as an MP and government whip, and as a royal biographer who has enjoyed unique access to the Queen and her famil...

For fans of the ‘Windsors’ and ‘Now we are Sixty’: a beautifully illustrated collection of amusing and affectionate stories from inside the royal family.Arriving at the theatre, the Queen and the Queen Mother appeared to be having words. ‘Who do you think you are?’ demanded the Queen Mother. ‘The Queen, Mummy, the Queen.’About twenty years ago the Guardian first published two camp anecdotes about the Queen Mother. Readers reeled to see stories actually printed in a national...

The essential humour gift book of the year returns in the anticipated fourth volume of this bestselling series Ð guaranteed to provoke laughter and amazement.The first volume of unpublished letters to the Daily Telegraph, Am I Alone in ThinkingÉ?, not only became a Christmas bestseller but also established the paperÕs letter-writers as a uniquely waggish, eccentric and maverick institution. They can be relied upon,particularly in the letters slightly too pungent or off-the wall to ...

"An exemplary book." —Martin Amis, The New Yorker"In Monarch, Robert Lacey makes you feel like you're right there—in the palace, in the castle...I was absolutely riveted." —Dominick DunneElizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor—who became Elizabeth II, Queen of England on February 6, 1952—has been loved and loathed, revered and feared, applauded and criticized by her people. Still she remained a captivating figure in the British m...