Sir David Rivett was an Australian chemist and Chief Executive Officer of CSIR between 1927 and 1945. He became Chairman from 1945 to 1949, retiring when CSIR was reorganised and became CSIRO. Because of Sir David's unique contributions to many fields of science and his efforts directed towards CSIR's early development, CSIR became Australia's major research agency. In April 1961 the Prime Minister of Australia, Sir Robert Menzies, commenting on the death of Rivett, said: 'David Rivett was on...

An updated edition of Ben Pimlott’s classic biography of the Queen: ‘There is no better biography of Elizabeth II.’ PETER HENNESSY, Independent on Sunday‘A magisterial biography and the only one that seriously deals with her constitutional and political role' Tim Shipman, Sunday TimesThe royal family have been through a tumultuous decade, but with the wedding of Prince William to Kate Middleton, Prince Philip’s 90th birthday and the forthcoming Diamond Jubilee cele...

A fascinating study of successful author, pioneering aviator, and skilful engineer, Nevil Shute. Shute the Messenger traces his early life in the UK describing his lifelong passion for air travel from early airships to fixed wing machines. His engineering and organisational skills made him an asset to the growing industry and kept him grounded during the Second World War. Eventually with Shute as sole pilot he and a friend flew a tiny plane across the world to Australia where he settled wi...

A fascinating insight into the political and private life of Australia's longest-serving prime minister.As Australia's longest-serving Prime Minister and the founder of the Liberal Party, Sir Robert Menzies is a towering figure in our political and cultural history. Letters to My Daughter is a collection of letters written by Menzies to his only daughter, Heather, throughout the fifties, sixties and seventies, when she was living overseas with her diplomat...

In the century before the great famine of the late 1840s, the Irish people, and the poor especially, became increasingly dependent on the potato for their food. So when potato blight struck, causing the tubers to rot in the ground, they suffered a grievous loss. Thus began a catastrophe in which approximately one million people lost their lives and many more left Ireland for North America, changing the country forever. During and after this terrible human crisis, the Briti...

Great Australian Speeches brings together a diverse and often moving collection of more than 40 speeches ranging from colonial times to the present day. Some have resonated with power enough to shape the nation; others encapsulate the best and worst of the Australian character. This selection proves that stirring oratory is not simply the preserve of politicians and military figures. Bushranger Ned Kelly makes a speech within a speech as his death sentence is passed, interrupting ...

'An extraordinary history' - Peter Ackroyd, The Times'A lively account of (Bazalgette's) magnificent achievements. . . graphically illustrated' - Hermione Hobhouse'Halliday is good on sanitary engineering and even better on cloaca, crud and putrefaction . . . (he) writes with the relish of one who savours his subject and has deeply researched it. . . splendidly illustrated' - Ruth Rendell...

David Lange ushered in a revolution in New Zealand when he came to power in 1984, aged just 41. His Labour government introduced sweeping new legislation that unchained the country from its old conservative bonds, established the world's first nuclear free state and let loose a free market economic agenda that radically transformed the country. It was a rapid climb to the very top for the overweight doctor's son from working class South Auckland. As leader during the final years of the Col...

First published in 1984, this is the first biography of Stanley Baldwin for more than ten years, although there had been four in the preceding decade. This is strange, for Baldwin has recently begun to swim back into fashion. In part this is a function of growing nostalgia for his period of power, the 1920s and 1930s. Still more, however, it is " because Mrs Thatcher's brand of Conservative leadership has made him an object of contrasting interest in a way that Harold Macmillan's or Edward...

Eamon de Valera – 'The Long Fellow' – remains a towering presence whose shadow still falls over Irish life. The history of Ireland for much of the twentieth century is the history of de Valera.From the 1916 Rising, the troubled Treaty negotiations and the Civil War, right through to his retirement after a longer period in power than any other 20th-century leader, Eamon de Valera has both defined and divided Ireland. He was directly responsible for the Irish Constitution, Fianna Fai...

The years of the Irish revolution were the crucible of modern Ireland. Richard Killeen's authoritative survey of the period is an ideal introduction to this tumultuous time. The Irish revolution began with the Ulster crisis of 1912 followed by the Irish Nationalist Party securing the passage of the Home Rule Act in 1914. By then, however, the Great War had broken out: the Act was suspended for the duration of the war, with the violent Ulster opposition to it still unresolved. But the war c...

The H Block protest is one of the strangest and most controversial issues in the tragic history of Northern Ireland.Republican prisoners, convicted of grave crimes through special courts and ruthless interrogation procedures, campaigned for political status by refusing to wear prison clothes and daubing their cell with excrement.Were they properly convicted criminals, or martyrs to political injustice?In this masterpiece of investigative journalism, Coogan provides ...