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he became the custodian of the invaluable collection of family archives, including fading ancient letters, crumbling historical documents, dageurreotypes and perhaps most importantly, their old family Bible dating from 1616.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...

The New York Times –bestselling biography that "explores the mind of one of the most vilified women of the twentieth century" ( USA Today ).This is the story of Wallis Simpson, the American divorcee notorious for allegedly seducing a British king off his throne. "That woman," so called by Queen Elizabeth, The Queen Mother, was born Bessie Wallis Warfield in 1896 in Baltimore. Nei...

The autobiography of one of Britain's most beloved figures, last of the Mitford sisters, renowned writer and social figure.Deborah Mitford, Duchess of Devonshire, is the youngest of the famously witty brood of six daughters and one son that included the writers Jessica and Nancy, who wrote, when Deborah was born, "How disgusting of the poor darling to go and be a girl." Deborah's effervescent memoir Wait for Me! chronicles her remarkable life, from an eccen...

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...

The official companion to the Emmy-winning Netflix drama chronicling the reign of Queen Elizabeth II, and starring Claire Foy and John Lithgow, The Crown by Peter Morgan, featuring additional historical background and beautifully reproduced archival photos and show stillsElizabeth Mountbatten never expected her father to die so suddenly, so young, leaving her with a throne to fill and a global institution to govern. Crowned at twenty-five, she was already ...

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...

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 ...

Once renowned as a place to dump criminals, and with a past steeped in smuggling, the Isle of Wight provides copious tales of corruption, violence and delinquency. From the customs officer who had both his hands severed by smugglers, to Bembridge witch Molly Downer who embarrassed the vicar by making him her heir, this book contains a vast array of misdeeds and miscreants. Featuring criminals such as Michael Morey, who butchered his grandson, and thirteen-year-old John Lei...

Why did London Underground once employ a one-legged man to ride up and down the escalators at Earl's Court tube station? What did Hitler plan to do with Nelson's Column? Why is London's only medieval mummy a prostitute named Clarice la Claterballock? How did a beer flood in Tottenham Court Road drown nine people? Where can you see a pair of Queen Victoria's knickers?Containing chapters covering London past and present; buildings and streets; famous and unexpected Londoners; arts, li...