For almost a century, the United Kingdom's road network rumbled to the sound of haulage and delivery vehicles almost exclusively made up of trucks built on home soil. From the 1920s right through to the 1960s, British manufacturers became renowned the world over for their production of reliable workaday lorries and quite rightly earned a reputation for quality engineering. The likes of Albion, Commer, Foden and Scammell would eventually become household names, greatly contributing to the c...

You will be reminded of the life cycle of the salmon and when and how best to fish for them, and you will be encouraged to rethink what it is to be a salmon fisher in these more enlightened times, when stocks are less plentiful and good codes of practice are essential to ensure the long-term future of this fascinating fish.

The Little Book of Scooters traces the originals of the scooter from the 19th Century when vehicle invention and experimentation was still in its infancy. Yet it was not until the late 1950s that the scooter, as we know it today, had become established. With its popularity growing as an affordable form of transport among the youths of the "modern community" or "Mods" - scootering became fashionable in 1960s Britain. The Little Book of Scooters charts the development of this often disparage...

The Little Book of Porsche, written by Philip Raby, motoring journalist, tells the story of one of the world's most exciting cars, from the days of Ferdinand Porsche right up to the present day. We take a look at the chronological story of the car, with fascinating detail about its conception and birth. Also included are Top Trumps style specifications for 40 models.

This colourful introduction to the first decades of the motor car covers its earliest iterations, when the automobile represented the very peak of technological innovation. It is packed with fascinating facts about the experimental origins of the motor industry, when these 'horseless carriages' were largely constructed in back-street workshops, many simply resembling the frame and bodywork of a horse-drawn carriage but fitted with a petrol engine. Experimentation was rife, however, and the...

Britain's waterways have been used as a source of transport ever since man needed to convey large quantities of minerals, raw material and mass produced commodities. The Romans introduced canals to these islands as early as AD 120 and by the late 1700s a network of man-made arteries linked major rivers and sea ports to land-locked industrialised cities and towns across the country.These days there are more than 4,000 miles of navigable waterways with many more earmarked for restora...

Following in the tradition of Ghost Rider and Traveling Music, Rush drummer Neil Peart lets us ride with him along the backroads of North America, Europe, and South America, sharing his experiences in personal reflections and full-color photos. Spanning almost four years, these twenty-two stories are open letters that recount adventures both personal and universal — from the challenges and accomplishments in the professional life of an artist to the birth of a child. Thes...

On 15 April 2012, 100 years will have passed since the Royal Mail Steamer Titanic hit an iceberg and foundered in the North Atlantic with the loss of 1,503 lives. Had the disaster not occurred, what is now the best-known ship in the world would have lost the title of the largest liner within just two years. She was certainly not the fastest passenger ship of the time and can be considered a technological throwback, yet Titanic captures the imagination like no other. This b...

Why is so much heroism attached to the sinking of the Titanic? Why do we accord impossible glory to the miserable, misbegotten drowining of the equivalent of a small town? What process led to the creation of champions? Who were the real heroes, and how were they overlooked? What did society - and the press - do with an overriding need for blame? By identifying the fable-making, and finally throwing off a blanket of boasting, this book enables a fresh, sharp focus ...

The Titanic is one of the most famous maritime disasters of all time, but did the Titanic really sink on the morning of 15 April 1912? Titanic's older sister, the nearly identical Olympic, was involved in a serious accident in September 1911 – an accident that may have made her a liability to her owners the White Star Line. Since 1912 rumours of a conspiracy to switch the two sisters in an elaborate insurance scam has always loomed behind the tragic story of the Titanic. C...

Captain Stanley Lord and his vessel, the Californian, were accused of ignoring the Titanic's distress calls. This book offers an evidence which prompted the British Government to re-open the case surrounding Captain Lord and the Californian and proved that the captain and his ship could not have been the ship seen from the decks of the Titanic.

Robert Hichens has gone down in history as the man who was given the famous order to steer the Titanic away from the iceberg and failed. Following this, his falling out with the 'Unsinkable Molly Brown' over the actions of the lifeboats saw him branded a coward and his name indelibly tarnished. A key witness at both US and British Inquiries, Robert returned to a livelihood where fellow crewmen considered him jinxed. But Robert had a long career and was a hardworking, ambit...