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The Victorian belief that women were the 'weaker sex' who were expected to devote themselves entirely to family life, made it almost inconceivable that they could ever be capable of committing murder.

From the birth of our first Elizabeth to the death of our last, these three women lived through wars and coronations, births and deaths, celebration and tragedy and between them they experienced some of the most exciting and troubled times in English history.

"Christmas is the most hyggelig of seasons, and in this book Becci shares over fifty ideas to bring a touch of Scandinavian cosiness to your home this winter. The chapters cover everything from sumptuous edible gifts and home-made presents with a Nordic flavour, to traditional Danish crafts with which to decorate your space. Projects include a wild winter birch wreath, woven julestjerner star chandelier, five-minute sock gnomes and even a Christmas tree bath scrub! Try your hand at a quick finger-crochet scarf, scented white clay ornaments, or make bangles, cushions and baubles from a pre-loved sweater. Becci's favourite recipes for the ultimate in Danish festive comfort food cover both baking and the all-important Christmas Eve feast, plus there are traditional after-dinner games for all the family to enjoy"--Publisher's description.

This accessible guide, with its attractive and original photos, will help you to build an everlasting bond with your local wildlife and woodlands, thus enriching your well-being and life.

In 1495, William, Viscount Beaumont, was declared unfit to take care of himself and given into the care of a guardian, due to unspecified mental health problems. Notably, his treatment was very kind, and runs contrary to many of our ideas of late medieval attitudes to mental illnesses.

Safely convicting criminals relies on finding the truth. But what is the truth and can we ever get the complete picture?

A hitherto unexamined history of the wider Bonaparte family, presented in a new way and shedding fresh light on their eventful lives in Britain.

Martin Bowman's considerable experience as a military historian has spanned over forty years, during which time he has spent hundreds of hours interviewing and corresponding with numerous men and women and their relatives, in Britain, America and beyond.

The first book ever to tackle the dual careers of Bolan and Bowie as a single story.

Profusely illustrated by contemporary photographs and numerous maps, the narrative supplemented by a number of first hand accounts; the whole is supported by several walking and car tours.The Battle of Belleau Wood has a prominent place in the history of the United States Marine Corps; it took place between 6 and 27 June 1918 (sometimes considered to be 1-26 June). However, when on 6 June 1918 the marines launched their attack on the wood, the biggest German threat here was nearly over.Its significance to the Corps is underlined by the presence not only of a monument to the 4th (Marine) Brigade of the US 2nd Division but also by a preserved part of the wood, which is situated to the rear of the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery. The fighting here marks the first major battle by the USMC in Europe.The battle came - although the participants were unaware of this - at the end of the the third great German offensive of Spring 1918, the Blucher-York Offensive, also known as the 3rd Battle of the Aisne, which was launched on 27 May and officially ended on 4 June. Like its predecessors that Spring, an offensive which had started with startling territorial gains had almost ground to a halt by the time that the 2nd Division, and thus the marines, were called in to assist the French Sixth Army in holding the line and in retaking, where possible, crucial positions.What started out as preventing the Germans from breaking through the French lines and pushing on to Paris ended in a three-weeks long slogging match in and around Belleau Wood. It was on French General Duchêne's instigation that the woods were attacked; but in reality the marines could have just held the line and been satisfied with that. As it was, they were flung into action with little time to prepare. The fighting in Belleau Wood was extremely brutal and involved several attacks and counter-attacks; neither side was willing to yield an inch of the terrain of a feature that had local strategic significance, particularly to the Germans. Although the offensive locally here came to an end and the initial German threat in the area was nearly overcome, the focal point of the fighting moved to Villers Cotterêts, twenty-five kilometres north-east of Belleau. The Americans were not quite finished when Belleau Wood was finally captured, as the nearby village of Vaux was taken by an army brigade of the 2nd Division in a text book attack on 1 July.The USMC has always had a good 'publicity machine' and Belleau Wood was certainly well known to the wider American public in the war years, particularly as it was an early action by a formation of the AEF. Although largely forgotten since the Second World War - the memory perhaps kept alive by the unusual preserved remnant of the battlefield, Belleau Wood's reputation has been enhanced by increased interest in the war since the turn of the century. Nowadays, the battle is sometimes called a 'pivotal event in the First World War and an iconic battle in US Marine Corps history' by several American authors, which some of their European counterparts might regard as somewhat exaggerated.Although there have been several guide books on Belleau Wood published in recent years (a clear indication of American interest in the battle today), what differs in this book is the number of points to visit as well as the clear narrative that precedes the tours section. Not only are many new points of interest explored in Belleau itself, but the surrounding countryside is not forgotten. Headquarters, temporary burial sites and other features are included. The book is profusely illustrated by contemporary photographs and numerous maps, the narrative supplemented by a number of first hand accounts; the whole is supported by several walking and car tours.This is the latest in a series of Battleground books by Maarten Otte on the American Expeditionary Forces, with several more in preparation. The AEF's performance in the war is relatively little known, not least in the USA; Belleau Wood is one of the few engagements that still carries some resonance. It is fortunate that so many of the AEF's actions took place in parts of France that have seen little development and are in agricultural or wooded country, which means that traces of their fighting are relatively plentiful.

The Gurkha Army Service Corps, the predecessor of The Queen's Own Gurkha Logistic Regiment, was raised in Singapore in 1958 ten years after the transfer of Gurkha regiments from the Indian Army to the British Army and towards the end of the Malayan Emergency. Within four years of being formed, it was committed to continuous operations in Brunei and Borneo during Confrontation with Indonesia between 1962-66. It was also redesignated the Gurkha Transport Regiment in 1965 to reflect changes to the Army's logistic structure.Between 1966-71, the Regiment was substantially reduced in size, along with the rest of The Brigade of Gurkhas, as Britain withdrew its forces from East of Suez. Concentrated in Hong Kong, the Regiment provided transport support to the Garrison for the next 20 years. In 1991, a composite squadron was sent to reinforce British Forces in the Gulf War after which, in preparation for the handback of Hong Kong to China, the Regiment moved to and became permanently stationed in the UK. In recognition of its past services, it was granted the royal title 'The Queen's Own Gurkha Transport Regiment' in 1992.The following two decades saw it undertake multiple operational tours to the Balkans, Iraq, Cyprus and Afghanistan as well as providing humanitarian assistance to the Ebola crisis in Sierra Leone. It also expanded both its role, to incorporate supply and catering, and size, which led in 2001 to it being redesignated to its current title 'The Queen's Own Gurkha Logistic Regiment'.This history records the events and activities of the Regiment during its first 60 years of service to the Crown. While of wider interest to military historians, it is principally written for members of the Regiment, past, present and future.

Railways have been used for the carriage of mail since soon after the Liverpool & Manchester Railway opened in 1830, the development of the first travelling post offices following, enabling the Post Office to achieve maximum efficiencies in mail transportation. As the rail network grew the mail network grew with it, reaching a peak with the dedicated mail trains that ran between London and Aberdeen.The Post Office also turned to railways when it sought a solution to the London traffic that hindered its operations in the Capital, obtaining powers to build its own narrow gauge, automatic underground railway under the streets to connect railway stations and sorting offices. Although construction and completion were delayed by the First World War, the Post Office (London) Railway was eventually brought into use and was an essential part of Post Office operations for many years.Changing circumstances brought an end to both the travelling post offices and the underground railway but mail is still carried, in bulk, by train and a part of the railway has found a new life as the Mail Rail tourist attraction.Author Peter Johnson has delved into the archives and old newspapers to uncover the inside story of the Post Office and its use of railways to carry the mail for nearly 200 years.

The reign of Antoninus Pius is widely seen as the apogee of the Roman Empire yet, due to gaps in the historical sources, his reign has been overlooked by modern historians.

The Territorial Force (TF) is often ignored by students of the Great War. However, these 'Saturday Night Soldiers' played a vital and underestimated part in the Allied victory. There were equal numbers of New Army and TF divisions, who were the first called to aid the regular troops in 1914. This book aims to re-dress this oversight.Badges of the Territorial Force Infantry, 1914-1918 is based on over thirty years of research in museums, archives and collections. It is an exhaustive study of the development of the battalion, brigade and divisional signs of the TF units that served overseas during the war.While the divisional signs are well known, there has been little work on those worn by the infantry battalions. This book illustrates the cap and shoulder titles used, as well as cloth signs worn to provide easy recognition in the trenches. Every battalion that served overseas has a listing, along with a brief history and detailed information on the badges worn. It is profusely illustrated and contains information about why a shape or color was chosen, when it was adopted, what size it was, whether it was worn on the helmet, what color the helmet was and even what colors were used on horse transport.What helps make the information accurate and authoritative is that much of it comes from material collected at the time and shortly after the war. Further information came from personal correspondence with hundreds of veterans during the 1980s, some of whom still had their badges and often had razor-sharp recollections about wearing them. Using the illustrations will allow many of the unidentified photographs in family albums and collections to be identified and come to life

The years between 1066 and 1086 saw the largest transfer of property ever seen in English History, comparable in scale, if not greater, than the revolutions in France in 1789 and Russia in 1917.

Some of the most famous memoirs of Britain's long war against Napoleon have come from the pens of members of Wellington's Light Division, but many wonderful accounts were never published and have sat in archives, libraries, museums, and private collections, forgotten for 200 years.

This book portrays the life and character of 'Good King Billy', one of Britain's most endearing sovereigns.

Archaeology provides a fascinating insight into the lives of the aviators of the First World War.

John Gordon Smith wrote one of the most vivid, honest and readable personal accounts of the Battle of Waterloo and the ensuing campaign, where he served as a surgeon in the 12th Light Dragoons, but his classic narrative was only published in a limited edition in the 1830s and since then it has been virtually unknown.

Motorsport has many iconic names attached to it. It has many that are celebrated as heroes in their chosen sport. However, what perhaps is less well known is how many of the motorsport icons of the twentieth century carried out acts of real-life bravery, many during war time, but some in selfless acts of bravery in saving the lives of their fellow competitors.Some of the iconic names of motorsport are linked to the great conflicts of the twentieth century. Enzo Ferrari served during World War One, the most revered of the 1920s Bentley Boys were all World War One veterans such as John Duff, Bernard Rubin, Woolf Barnato, Sammy Davis and Glen Kidston. World War One American flying ace Eddie Rickenbacker was an Indianapolis 500 racing driver. Muriel Thompson, Military Medal, who became a World War One ambulance driver, was not only a chauffeur for suffragette Emeline Pankhurst, but raced at Brooklands before the war.Commentator Murray Walker was a World War Two tank commander, fellow commentator Raymond Baxter was a Spitfire pilot who was mentioned in dispatches for bravery. Carroll Shelby was a United States Army Airforce pilot and instructor with a reputation for great leadership. His friend, engineer and racing driver Ken Miles, served throughout the war as a specialist in tank recovery, landing as part of the D-Day operations.These are just a few of the most notable names from a group of men and women who risked all in conflict, before risking all on the track profiled in this book.

When the samurai warlord and respected castle architect Todo Takatora died in 1630, the funeral attendants responsible for preparing his body were shocked to note that there was not a single part of his body not scarred or disfigured by sword, spear, glaive or matchlock gun wound.Todo Takatora lived a life that unfolds like a drama. Born to a small landholding samurai family, the maverick youth worked his way to the top, becoming one of the most successful of daimyo warlords. He had served on the front lines of some of the most violent of battles, turning points that forged the nation. In a land and time in which loyalty was held dear, he changed his allegiances a record seven times, serving a record ten lords, more than any other samurai in history. Because of this, he has long been held in contempt by the Japanese.Standing 6 feet tall in a time when the average Japanese man stood between 5 and 5 1/2 feet, Todo Takatora was a giant among men. He died aged 74, when the normal life span was around 50. He was also the finest, most innovative of castle architects, responsible for the design and construction of over 30 of the strongest, most innovative Japanese castles and structures, and influencing samurai castle construction across Japan.In explaining his life, his reasons for having served so many lords, his achievements in battle and in castle design, his political and personal ideals and how these attributes were shaped during the course of his adventurous life, this book will reveal the man, and show why Takatora deserves the epithet of National Hero.In this fascinating biography, the first ever published in the English language, Chris Glenn explores Todo Takatora's remarkable, and influential, life, the battles he fought in, the political intrigues he was part of, as well as detailing the magnificent castles he built.

A hand-written account by William, the author's grandfather, was found in her mother's papers, long after his death. This book describes a year of his time fighting in the First World War, from December 1915 to December 1916.

"[A] delight for modelers, history buffs, and people who are just interested in weapon." -- A Wargamers Needful ThingsWhile the Red Army's arsenal at the start of the Second World War included weapons dating back to the Great War or earlier, the 1930s' modernization program had introduced the automatic Tokarev pistol and self-loading Tokarev rifle.Its small arms were soon replaced by mass-produced sub-machine guns, such as the PPSh 1941, nicknamed the 'PePeSha, '. Supplementing the submachine guns, the Degtyarev Light Machine Gun DP-27. Fitted with a circular pan magazine, it received the not-unsurprising nickname 'Record Player.'New mortars and towed artillery pieces, ranging from 76mm to 203mm, entered service in the pre-war years. In addition to a wide range of towed, self-propelled and anti-tank guns, the Soviets fielded the Katyusha rocket launchers in 1941, nicknamed the 'Stalin's organ' by the Germans.The 1930s saw the introduction of the BT light tank series. The iconic T-34 medium tank series came into service in late 1940, joined by the IS-2 heavy tank from early 1944, the prefix letters 'IS' translates to Joseph Stalin. These formidable AFVs led the Red Army to victory in May 1945 over Nazi Germany.All these weapons and more are covered with numerous images in this authoritative overview of the subject.

In the early 1980s, I began to visit South Wales on a regular basis to photograph the railway scene. At that time, the collieries and steelworks were generating a lot of rail traffic with Class 37 diesels being the usual motive power.Passenger trains were in the hands of Class 47s and 37s, while 'Peaks' and Class 50s would also appear on occasion. HSTs, DMUs, Sprinters and Pacers were, of course, also common.As time went on, collieries closed and the coal traffic reduced, but there always something new and interesting. Rugby Internationals at Cardiff regularly produced a number of special trains which arrived from various parts of the country, often bringing interesting motive power to the Welsh capital.The Class 37s were slowly replaced by Class 56s, and later Class 60s, on many duties in South Wales, but the Rhymney Valley saw Class 37 diesels working passenger trains into the twenty-first century, and on Rugby International days, privately-owned Class 50s were also used on occasion.I also visited the Central Wales line a number of times and particularly enjoyed the time I spent at the small country stations, before the semaphore signals were replaced.This book contains a selection of photographs taken in the latter part of the 20th and in the very early 21st Century, covering the railways of South Wales and the Welsh section of the Central Wales line. A few photographs of the principal heritage railways in more recent times are also included.

The four seasons pass by like a gliding ship, each signalled by a transformation of changing colors and hues of light, thus providing a form of marker to these passages of time. Living in the temperate zone we experience four distinct seasons. The railway scene reflects such in its own special character - cold winter air enhances the bountiful steam escaping from the hissing steam locomotive impatiently awaiting its departure, while autumn enchants with trees that exude a variety of hues which embellish any image of even the most mundane suburban train. Springtime blossom and wild flowers bestow railway cuttings with a bounty of generous bright colors while coastal railways often look most inviting on warm sunny days as they pass alongside azure seas and golden beaches. The seasons each add their own dimension for the photographer to encapsulate, and railways passing through the ever-changing landscape provide their own tribute to this inspirational tapestry. As readers travel through each season, so they are invited to share this awe and constant source of inspiration from nature's kaleidoscope of color.Photographs are provided with captions and reflective commentary to enlighten the knowledgeable rail enthusiast alongside those who equally enjoy such a portrait of landscape and scenery through the seasons. The range of photographs ranges from the mid -1980's to the present with the majority from the last two decades.