The very first issue of the - still current - magazine, The Autocar was on 2 November 1895. It gave three pages of coverage to The Horseless Carriage Exhibition organised by Sir David Salomons, the Mayor of Tunbridge Wells. Driving a horseless carriage on the highway was still illegal without a man walking in front, so even the assembling of a tangible proportion of the cars existing in the south east of England must have been very difficult. In the event four of the six exhibits listed ap...

Reproduced for the first time in over 50 years, the classic tale from the birth of modern motor sport Behind the Scenes of Motor Racing is a tale of sporting chivalry, heroism and humour — but also one of tragedy through the loss of so many of the author’s friends and colleagues among the young drivers of the day. Ken Gregory, at the time “Britain’s most famous manager”, not only raced himself, but also became a racing car constructor with the Kieft Comp...

As Britain moved from austerity to prosperity in the 1950s and 1960s, it became clear that British Railways needed to modernise its equipment and rationalise its network if it was to hold its own in the face of growing competition from road and air transport.After attempting to maintain pre-war networks and technology in the 1950s, a reversal of policy in the 1960s brought line closures, new liveries and the last breath of steam, as Dr Beeching and his successors s...

'With his Diaries, he has written himself into the life of our times with a panache and candour that ranks him next to Boswell or Pepys' The TimesThe first two volumes of Alan Clark's were irresistible, irreverent, infamous, outrageous. This last volume is a fitting finale to the work of a man who has been described as 'the best diarist of his century'.The third volume begins in 1991 with Alan Clark contemplating quitting as an MP. Life at...

For the first half of the twentieth century, Great Britain led the world in motorcycle design and production, exporting its products to countries all over the globe.However, by 1960 this once-great industry had fallen into what was to be a terminal decline. During the 1960s and '70s Britain still manufactured a wide range of machines, but a combination of poor management, lack of investment, foreign competition (notably from Japan), and the arrival of the small, af...

Running a railway is a complex business. However organised it is, there will always be surprises: often hilarious, frequently unexpected, but sometimes serious.Along Different Lines includes such bizarre 'everyday' events as coping with hurricanes, rogue locomotives and runaway wagons; PR successes and otherwise; the Brighton Belle, Flying Scotsman and Mallard; training-course capers; a wino invasion; trackside antics; the Eurost...

On his day, Peter Williams was the best motorcycle road racer in the world and is one of that small band of sportsmen, 'the best never to win a World Championship'. Peter's unique career in the 1960s and 1970s as racer, designer and development engineer culminated in many great victories on bikes from 125cc to 750cc. For two months in 1967 he lead the 500cc class of the World Championship on his single cylinder 500cc MkI Arter Matchless Special against the much more powerful Honda and MV A...

A glorious insight into the history, landscape and people of Britain, from The Sunday Times bestseller.The line between Great Yarmouth to London brought holidaymakers flocking to the coast and transported herrings, fresh vegetables and milk into London. Starting in Great Yarmouth, Michael Portillo’s journey takes him through the coastal resorts of Southwold and Southend via innovative swing bridges at Reedham and Yare, and towards the capital itself, the scene of frenzied construct...

Britain's rail network is now among the safest in the world, but the journey that brought it to that point has been long and eventful. Early incidents like the felling of William Huskisson MP by Stephenson's Rocket (1830) showed how new ideas could bring new dangers; yet from disaster came new safety measures, and within fifty years better signalling and braking methods had been made mandatory. The twentieth century saw accident repeatedly lead to action and further advances in rolling sto...

From the bestselling author of "Hamlyn's Top 10 of Everything" series comes a special collection of 250 unique lists that observe of the idiosyncrasies of our Isles and encompass everything British. Discover hundreds of essential, intriguing and bizarre facts about your country's most iconic subjects, including: the 10 most produced plays by Shakespeare; 10 defunct British national holidays; the 10 longest seaside piers; the 10 lowest-scoring UK Eurovision entries; the 10 latest winners of...

'FASCINATING' Daily Mail'FULL OF AMAZING FACTS' The QI ElvesEach of the United Kingdom's 124 postcode areas has a story to tell, an unexpected nugget to dust off and treasure.Mark Mason has embarked on a tour of the country, immersing himself in Britain's history on a roundabout journey from AB to ZE. On the lookout for interesting place names and unusual monuments, along the way he discovers what the Queen ...

The story of the most iconic railway company of the great age of steam.The initials ‘GWR’ conjure an evocative picture of a Brunswick green locomotive hauling tea-and-cream-coloured coaches through a verdant West Country landscape. But the GWR was not just engines and trains.In this comprehensive history, Colin Maggs, one of the country’s foremost railway historians, tells of other, perhaps less well-known aspects of the company’s history. Its construction and expansion; th...