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Humour is a vital ingredient for the morale of a nation at war. From Britain’s John Bull mocking a diminutive Napoleon carving up the world, the caricatures of a bombastic Kaiser in the First World War, to an often demented looking Hitler, cartoons have not only portrayed the enemy in a satirical light but have raised a smile in the darkest of times.Self-depreciating humour is also a facet of cartoons during wartime – making fun of incumbent politicians and incompetent generals – while at the same time challenging the decisions of those in powerful positions in a manner meant to embarrass. Indeed, cartoons often carry a serious message which exemplifies the subject far more impactfully than the written word.It is also the case that cartoons can broach subjects too sensitive to be touched upon in editorials or by columnists. Such is the case with this absorbing, if light-hearted view of the Second World War portraying the seismic events of the conflict in a fashion which everyone at the time could understand and nod their appreciation to with a smile on their lips.The Second World War in Cartoons begins in the aftermath of the First World War. It then covers the events that lead to a resurgent Germany and the slow march to war. This is followed by the inevitable references to the Phoney War and to Hitler’s ‘Sink-on-Sight Navy’ after the Graf Spee had been scuttled by her captain.A more serious tone is undertaken during Britain’s darkest hour, the cartoons reflecting both Churchill’s stubborn determination to resist as well as encouraging the fighter boys to stop Goering’s Luftwaffe. Gradually, the mood changes as Britain’s strategic position improves. When the war ended with victory in Europe, a cartoon of Germany depicts a notice ‘Under New Management’.Churchill’s defeat in the 1945 general election resulted in one cartoonist declaring that Britain had ‘dropped its pilot’ and, ever a cartoonist’s favourite character, among the final images is that of Churchill declaring an Iron Curtain had descended across the Continent, as the Cold War took its grip.This is the biggest book ever published on political cartoons and each of these wonderful cartoons is provided with a full explanation of the historical background, and its relevance to the events of the day.

During the Ardennes Offensive in December 1944, Kampfgruppe Peiper ran out of fuel in the small village of La Gleize, surrounded and caught in a vice-like grip by three elite American divisions: the 82nd Airborne Division, the 3rd Armored Division and the 30th Infantry Division.Behind it, 1. SS Panzer-Division ‘Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler’ did everything it could to come to its rescue and resume the offensive. A race against time ensued between the Americans, who wanted to annihilate the fighting group of one of Germany’s most famous SS commanders, and the German soldiers who tried to come to the rescue of their brothers in arms.The clash between these units of seasoned veterans resulted in a bloody melee around the perimeter of La Gleize.Would Peiper be able to pull through once again?

The Pink Panther series is one of the most enduring and financially successful franchises in movie history, beginning with 1963’s The Pink Panther, which introduced audiences to the iconic Inspector Clouseau, unforgettably played by Peter Sellers.Drawing on previously unseen material and ‘exclusive’ interviews with stars of the films and crew members, along with friends and colleagues of Peter Sellers, Robert Sellers presents, for the very first time, the untold story and some of the secrets behind the Pink Panther films.The original Pink Panther movie proved popular enough to spawn eight sequels. The films also inspired a popular animated TV series based on the pink panther cartoon character that appeared in the film’s credit sequences. There were also spin-off toys, games, clothes, even breakfast cereal. In the 2000s, comedy legend Steve Martin twice stepped into the role of Inspector Clouseau.But behind the laughs, there was madness and darkness, and at the series’ heart was one of cinema’s most tragic figures: Peter Sellers. A comedic genius, Sellers could be temperamental, unprofessional, and unpredictable. Add to that a heart problem Sellers feared could kill him at any moment.This book reveals many of the Pink Panther’s secrets for the first time, shining a spotlight behind the scenes at the making of some of the most beloved comedies of all time, and the extraordinary personalities that brought them to life.

From their first introduction at the Battle of the Somme in the First World War, tanks proved to be one of the most important military developments in the history of warfare. Such was their influence on the battlefield, both as infantry support and as an armoured spearhead, their presence could determine the outcome of any battle.Another significant development during the 1930s was that of airborne forces, with a number of countries experimenting with air-dropped troops. Such a concept offered the possibility of inserting soldiers behind the front lines to sow fear and confusion in the enemy’s rear. However, such troops, parachuting from aircraft, could only be lightly armed, thus limiting their effectiveness. It is understandable, therefore, that much thought was given to the practicalities of air-lifting tanks that could be dropped, or deposited, alongside paratroopers.Tanks, though, are heavy, cumbersome vehicles and before there could be any thought of carrying them by air, much lighter models would have to be produced. Charles Roberts’ fascinating book opens with an investigation into the efforts in the 1930s by Britain, the Soviet Union and the USA into the development of, or adaptation of, light tanks for airborne operations.It was, inevitably, the start of the Second World War which accelerated efforts to produce an airborne tank and the means of delivery. The use of conventional powered aircraft to carry the tanks, limited their use to existing airfields which negated their employment with airborne troops landing in the open countryside. Another method of delivery had to be found, and this took the form of the glider, which could be landed in a field behind enemy lines. The combination of light tank and glider made the aim of airborne forces being supported by armour a realistic proposition – and as a result, the 28th Airborne Tank Battalion was born.This detailed and comprehensive study deals with every aspect of design and deployment of American airborne tanks from the earliest concepts to their actual use, by British units, on D-Day and during Operation Varsity, the Rhine crossing.

This is the story of an exceptional young man whose war-time experience was long, considerable and so unusual as to be almost unique.Roy Lane joined the RAF in 1938 as soon as he was old enough. He trained to fly Hurricanes - single-seater fighter-planes. His war-time journey took him from the Battle of Britain via McIndoe’s pioneering plastic surgery to the Merchant Ships’ Fighter Unit and the so slow-moving Atlantic and Arctic convoys. In 1942 he commanded a small RAF base at Archangel on the White Sea. Posted to India in 1943, he volunteered to become the Air Liaison Officer attached to Brigadier Bernard Fergusson’s Chindit Brigade. Its secret mission, ‘Operation Thursday’ would take it hundreds of miles on foot through the jungle-covered mountains of North-West Burma to the hoped-for turning point in the land war with Japan.Roy, the eldest ,had two brothers Richard and Peter who also became airmen and a sister, Diana, who joined the WAAF later in the war. The family home was in Southampton, soon to be very much in the front-line of the war with Germany.Roy’s letters from Burma urged his family to keep them to supplement the material he was gathering for ‘my book’ in his diaries. His five war diaries were last seen in the late 1960s in the bottom a wardrobe in Southampton. Searching for them uncovered much that was unknown, unexpected and sometimes extraordinary. Private letters, official correspondence, newspaper cuttings and personal recollections reveal moments of high drama - a family house destroyed by a bomb; a plane crashing in flames - good times; friends and family, some long lost.The ‘logic of war’, the context, is explored to explain why there and why then? The interplay of fate and chance brings the story to its cruel conclusion.

This retelling of the sixteenth century introduces the reader to a gallery of amazing women, from queens to commoners, who navigated the patriarchal world in memorable and life-changing ways. Amy Licence has scoured the records from Europe and beyond to compile this testament to female lives and achievements, telling the stories of mistresses and martyrs, witches and muses, pirates and jesters, doctors and astronomers, escapees and murderesses, colonists and saints.Read about the wife of astrologer John Dee, the women who inspired Michelangelo, the jester who saved the life of Henry IV of France, the beloved mistress of the Sultan Suleiman the Great, the wife of Ivan the Terrible, whose murder unleashed terror, set against the everyday lives of those women who did not make the history books.Introducing a number of new faces, this book will delight those who are looking to broaden their knowledge on the sixteenth century and celebrate the lost women of the past.

“This book tells of the awe in which the veterans of World War 2 were held by the post war generation, the close bonds of trust and loyalty within tank crews and the deep respect, often expressed through humour, between tanks and infantry. It also gives a human feel for the early Cold War conditions in the British Army of the Rhine.”**- Brigadier Gavin Thompson, Colonel Commandant, The Royal Tank Regiment**Jim (James) Selway, a subaltern with the Royal Tank Regiment in the Korean War - relates a young officer''s experiences from 1949 until his retirement from the army in 1959, initially as a Tank Troop Commander and later as B Squadron''s ''Battle Captain''. Jim''s hard-earned experience of soldiering in combat and peacetime gives a rare and fascinating flavour into the life of an RTR officer.In Part One, Jim Selway writes about his initial service and training in the Post-war British army. He recalls the disappointment of Officer training which didn’t capitalise on real world lessons and the vastly more valuable training environment within the regiments. He talks about the experience of preparing for and travelling to a distant misunderstood war and his experiences on the ground as a troop commander in Korea, the last time British and United Nations forces held off an numerically overwhelming, politically indoctrinated but technically inferior force. The motto of the Royal Tank Regiment is ‘Fear Naught’ and Jim’s account will show how the Regiment lived up to it in the face of what Brigadier Brian Parritt vividly described as ‘Chinese Hordes and Human Waves’ in his book on the conflict.Following the unrestrained fighting in Korea, Part Two of his memoirs describes, through the lived experience of postings to Suez, Britain, Germany and Norway, how budgetary constraints and the challenges of the Cold War diluted the focus of the army from operational excellence with the requirement to maintain morale. Jim argues that the brass’s insistence on various values, particularly the retention of sporting traditions, helped overcome the disappointments and challenges of ‘budget’ soldiering in a peacetime army.Technology may have changed much since the 50s, but this deeply personal memoir provides insight into the leadership styles and challenges faced by a generation long exposed to war and remains relevant for soldiers today. We should neither forget nor underestimate the value of their experience and knowledge.

Boris Karloff, Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee: three middle-class Englishmen whose names are synonymous with the history of the horror movie. Karloff was born in 1887, the year of Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee, and Lee, the youngest, died in 2015, when Queen Elizabeth II became the longest-reigning British monarch.Most books about movie stars focus solely on the films but this ingeniously linked biography of Karloff, Cushing and Lee describes the cataclysmic social and political upheavals which shaped them along with the film industries of Britain and Hollywood. During their lifetimes they saw magnificent theatres repurposed as cinemas, which were in turn transformed into bingo halls as television became the medium which posed a threat to the movies, but would ultimately save their careers and make their classic films accessible to younger generations.The three had much in common. They were born within a few miles of each other – Karloff in Camberwell, Cushing in Croydon and Lee in Belgravia. None of them had a happy childhood and they struggled at school. They all wanted to act, which was not the sort of career that their backgrounds had equipped them for. Curiously, they were all middle aged before they became not simply well known, but world famous.All three are forever associated with the two key stories from which the horror genre emerged – Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and Bram Stoker’s Dracula – stories with universal and contemporary resonance. They knew that they were typecast and, with some reservations, accepted it and never stopped working. They knew that while we smile at horror films they play into our deepest anxieties about the modern world. Since their deaths, the horror film – often written off – has seen a resurgence and a critical appreciation which, in part, relies on the worldwide affection for these three great stars of the screen.

Sometime before 1518 Edward Seymour, the brother of Queen Jane Seymour, third wife of Henry VIII, married Catherine Filliol. Catherine gained connections in the highest echelons of Tudor society and Edward the prospect of a large inheritance. It should have been a match made in heaven, but instead, within a decade, they were engulfed in uncertainty and scandal. Catherine was repudiated, and the two sons she had borne her husband eventually disinherited.The nature of this scandal is unclear but later historians accused Catherine of an affair with her father-in-law. Her exact fate remains uncertain, but by 1535, Edward was free to marry again, and he turned his attention to another heiress, Anne Stanhope, who would, in her own way, prove to be just as scandalous. Katherine Parr would call Anne “that hell”, but she was strong, opinionated and fiercely intelligent. A friend of Anne Askew, a connection that almost cost her her life, Anne lived to see her brother-in-law, her half-brother, and her husband go to the block. Imprisoned in the Tower herself she managed to keep her head and ultimately emerged wealthy and powerful, dying peacefully on the 16th April 1587 at Hanworth Palace. Anne was the ultimate Tudor survivor.

London’s Royal Parks are among its most beautiful and beloved spaces: just as much as the Houses of Parliament, Buckingham Palace or St Pancras Station, the mere mention of Hyde Park or Greenwich Park is enough to evoke the capital in all its glory for residents and tourists alike. They have a magnificent history – some were royally owned as far back as the Norman conquest, others were acquired by Henry VIII during the Reformation and were great hunting grounds for successive monarchs – and since being opened to the public, they have hosted some of London’s great events, including the Great Exhibition in Hyde Park and innumerable jubilees, international games and competitions and celebrations. Today, the Royal Parks are visited by over 77 million visitors. But what are the ingredients of these magnificent green spaces? We often think of wider landscapes of trees, grass, lakes, meandering footways, bedding displays and herbaceous borders. But the Royal Parks are much more than this. Defined as ‘parkitecture’, we find royal palaces, stately homes, villas, monuments, memorials, statues of national figures and war heroes, public art, often controversial yet inspiring, sculpture, bandstands, gates and railings of exquisite designs, fountains, refreshments rooms, lodges and pavilions, bridges and boathouses. Each of the Royal Parks is defined by its ‘parkitecture’, from the formality of Regent’s and St James’s Parks to the rurality of Bushy and Richmond Parks. This new book is a long overdue complete celebration of the many buildings and monuments of London’s Royal Parks with over 250 beautiful illustrations.

Formed in 1881 through the amalgamation of two line infantry regiments, 72nd Regiment and 78th (Highland) Regiment, the Seaforth Highlanders fought in various late colonial wars in Africa (invasion of Egypt, Mahdist War, 2nd Boer War) and India (Hazara Campaigns and Chitral Expedition, Northwest Frontier) as well as serving in the Far East.In the First World War its battalions saw service in the Middle East (Mesopotamia, Kut, Baghdad, Palestine) as well as most of the major battles of the Western Front, from Le Cateau in 1914 to the breaking of the Hindenberg Line in 1918 (and including Aubers Ridge, Messines, 2nd Ypres, The Somme and Passchendaele in between). Between the wars they were involved in ‘colonial policing’ again on the Northwest Frontier, Palestine and elsewhere.During the Second World War, 1st Battalion fought in the East throughout (Malaya, Burma, India) while 2nd Battalionsaw action in the Battle of France and was forced to surrender to Rommel’s troops at St. Valery-en-Caux.A particular strength of this book is the personal story of one of the regiment’s soldiers - his time on the North West Frontier and coverage of his four years of captivity and forced labour in PoW camps as suffered by many 2nd Battalion veterans during World War 2. This comes courtesy of exclusive access to this PoW’s correspondence home. Meanwhile, the reconstituted 2nd Battalion redeemed itself through its participation in the Second Battle of El Alamein, the invasions of Tunisia, Sicily and Italy, D-Day and the Normandy Battles, and the invasion of Germany (operations Veritable and Plunder). Overall, this is an excellent and overdue account of the loyal service and many campaigns and battles of the Seaforth Highlanders Regiment across eighty years, from its raising to its amalgamation into the Queen’s Own Highlanders in 1961.

Petilius Cerealis is one of the few Imperial Roman officers, below the level of Emperor, whose career it is possible to follow in sufficient detail to write a coherent biography. Fortunately his career was a remarkably eventful and colourful one. With a knack for being caught up in big events and emerging unscathed despite some hairy adventures (and scandal, usually involving some local wench) he appears to have been a Roman version of Blackadder and Flashman combined.Cerealis was in Britain when Boudicca''s revolt erupted (60 or 61 AD) and marched to confront her. He lost most of his force but narrowly escaped with his own skin intact. In 69 AD, the infamously tumultuous '' year of the four emperors'', he was in Rome, the seat of conspiracy. When his uncle, none other than Vespasian, decided to make his own bid for the imperial purple (he was to become the fourth emperor that year), Cerealis'' life was at risk of being killed as a traitor and had to escape from the city to join his uncle who was marching to force his way in. A short while later he was commanding a force on the Rhine when the Batavian mutiny broke out. This time he only escaped death because he was in bed with a local girl rather than in his own tent. And so it goes on…''Imperial General is both a fascinating insight into the life of an imperial Roman officer during the period of the Principate, and a rollicking good tale told in Philip Matyszak''s trademark lively style.

When it set sail on its ill-fated maiden voyage, RMS Titanic was a marvel of modern technology and the latest in luxury, providing a gilded setting and false sense of security for its passengers to act out their imagined ideal lives in a reflection of pre-First World War society. When disaster struck in the form of an iceberg four days into its maiden voyage, that society was frozen in a moment of time, revealing class, gender and racial discrimination that pervaded contemporary social attitudes.Kevin Brown takes a fresh approach in exploring the social attitudes to class, manliness, heroism and cowardice, social redemption, the proper role of women and the social, religious and racial prejudices revealed by the sinking. He re-evaluates the code of women and children first, revealing how attitudes glorifying manliness influenced the behaviour of passengers and crew during the sinking, as well as suggesting a narrative of chivalry and self-sacrifice to create heroes from the victims and brand the surviving men as cowards; an interpretation that is challenged here.Eyewitness accounts evoke the horror of the night and reveal the underlying ideas of the day. They also show that women played a less passive role than expected of them. The responses to the sinking by politicians across the spectrum, the labour movement and suffragettes, suffragists and anti-suffragists is explored to show more critical contemporary responses to the disaster that challenge the heroic narrative. It was a world that was never so confident in modernity after the disaster but yet still held on to illusions of chivalry.

Cataphracts were the most heavily armoured form of cavalry in the ancient world, with riders and mounts both clad in heavy armour. Originating among the wealthiest nobles of various central Asian steppe tribes, such as the Massegatae and Scythians, they were adopted and adapted by several major empires. The Achaemenid Persians, Seleucids, Sassanians and eventually the Romans and their Byzantine successors.Usually armed with long lances, they harnessed the mobility and mass of the horse to the durability and solid fighting power of the spear-armed phalanx. Although very expensive to equip and maintain (not least due to the need for a supply of suitable horses), they were potential battle winners and remained in use for many centuries. Erich B Anderson assesses the development, equipment, tactics and combat record of cataphracts (and the similar clibinarii), showing also how enemies sought to counter them. This is a valuable study of one of the most interesting weapon systems of the ancient world.

This new volume from Martin Bowman examines the first three years of the Second World War, consolidating first-hand accounts from German fighter pilots caught up in some of the most dramatic night time conflicts of the early war years.Viewing Bomber Command''s operations through the eyes of the enemy, the reader is offered a fresh and intriguing perspective. Set in context by Bowman''s historical narrative, these snippets of pilot testimony work to offer an authentic sense of events as they played out.

Today Trooping the Colour gathers crowds of tourists; along with the pomp and ceremony it is an event filled with tradition that spans many hundreds of years. In that history lies duty, a call to arms, and a rallying in battle. The regimental colours were presented to the soldiers daily so that they would recognize it in the melee of battle and rally toward it. In 1748 the Grenadier Guards began this tradition, also called the Kings Birthday Parade, which is now held annually at Horse Guards Parade in London.Boots, buckles and busbies gleaming, formations perfect and eyes right, Trooping the Colour is the culmination of months of hard work by the staff of the London District and the Royal Household, without whom state ceremonial and public duties would not exist. From regimental bands and gun salutes to Lord Lieutenants and Yeoman, it is the personalities and traditions that make the history of ceremonial duties so colourful.Trooping the Colour describes the histories of the key personalities and units of the London District, the Royal Household. Their histories are intertwined in one of the most complex narratives of the modern age. It describes the numerous moments, stories and traditions behind the many appointments that produce some of the most awe-inspiring displays now taken for granted. The book examines those defining moments in contemporary British history when planning and experience have delivered breathtaking spectacles of grandeur enjoyed by billions of people around the globe. Though it''s not all parades and pomp though, these fine regiments have served with distinction in battles across the world and through time. This book explores London''s Ceremonial Regiments at war and on parade.