Everyman Paperbags

When penniless businessman Mr. Bedford retreats to the Kent coast to write a play, he meets by chance the brilliant Dr. Cavor, an absentminded scientist on the brink of developing a material that blocks gravity. Cavor soon succeeds in his experiments, only to tell a stunned Bedford that the invention makes possible one of the oldest dreams of humanity: a journey to the moon. With Bedford motivated by money, and Cavor by the desire for knowledge, the two embark on the expedition. But neither are prepared for what they find—a world of freezing nights, boiling days, and sinister alien life, in which they may be trapped forever. First time in Penguin Classics Includes a newly established text, a full biographical essay on Wells, suggestions for further reading, and detailed notes  

"Open this book with reverence. It is a hymn to England - the old England, the England of beach huts and Constable skies." (Clive Aslet). This beautiful book acts both as a touchstone for people's memories and as a guide to the visually lovely places and artefacts that we can still see and enjoy today, but as far away from a traditional 'tourist' guide as can be imagined. There is probably no illustrated book as eclectic as this. Where else will a Hornby clockwork train be happy alongside a Tiptree jam jar, or a Romney Marsh church rub along with a set of Len Deighton book jackets? This is a personal natural history of fungi and flowers will segue into an essay on Typhoo tea packets; London transports of delight into unique views of English market towns. Ruined Norfolk churches, the pleasures of seaside holidays, the mysteries of landmark fir trees. All these things are written about with passion, knowledge and humour.

From the end of the last Ice Age (10,000 years ago) to the death of Winston Churchill in 1965, Adrian Sykes narrates the history and achievements of these islands,their inhabitants and their origins,through the stories of some 3000+ men & women who have shaped not just our history but the modern world. The story is interspersed with countless inventions, deeds of daring do and wickednesses, as well as the origins of innumerable words and phrases,often surprisingly early. From Nosey Parker - Elizabeth I of her Archbishop of Canterbury,to mayonnaise - the battle of Mahon,which the victorious French admiral celebrated by inventing mayonnaise and after which we hanged Admiral Byng who lost it "to encourage the others",as Voltaire put it. Sykes astonishes on every page, whether with the origin of everyday phrases or nursery rhymes or the countless inventions of the British, from the lead pencil (1568), the tin can, the bicycle, screw propeller and jet engine to DNA, LCD crystals, cement, the electric kettle, the vacuum cleaner and Marmite. Beautifully illustrated and with maps of exceptional clarity,this is a book hard to put down in which you learn something very surprising on every page.