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This nationally important book reveals the untold story of the Irish tricolour: its true origins, a forgotten heroine, and the emblems it replaced. For the first time, a fully referenced history corrects long-standing myths and slurs surrounding Ireland’s national flag. It also reinterprets iconic Irish symbols — from the harp and shamrock to the tri-spiral — placing them within the broader journey toward Irish nationhood and national identity. Along Ireland’s road to a republic, key figures are restored to their rightful place — from Owen Roe O’Neill and Wolfe Tone to Thomas Meagher and Padraig Pearse. The book explores crucial turning points — the rise of green as Ireland’s colour, the rebellions of 1642, 1798, 1848, and 1916, Catholic Emancipation, and the flag’s later use — and misuse. A bold, insightful retelling of Ireland’s story through its symbols.

The late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries witnessed the dawn of a golden age of science, during which time there was a dedicated drive to accurately categorise nature and explain the natural world. Enthusiastic naturalists, amateur and professional, set off to collect and classify plants and animals across the New World, and many of these finds still bear the names of those who discovered them today. In this new and updated edition, The Noble Quest profiles nine notable naturalists of the pre-Darwinian age: early naturalists William Bartram and Alexander von Humboldt; inquisitive aristocrats Charles Waterton and Prince Maximilian of Wied; professional collectors David Douglas, John Kirk Townsend and John Richardson; and the last of the field naturalists Henry Walter Bates and John Wesley Powell. All faced great adventures and hardship as they undertook their groundbreaking work and strived to quantify, categorise and rationally explain the planet’s flourishing ecosystems.

County Wicklow’s landscape is dotted with pre-Christian sites – Baltinglass is known as the ‘Hillfort Capital of Ireland’. Saint Patrick landed in Wicklow in 432 AD and the county also boasts ecclesiastical sites, the most impressive being Glendalough. Following the Anglo-Norman invasion of 1169–70, Normans occupied the lowlands, but native Irish inhabited the uplands, leading to conflict throughout the Middle Ages. Wicklow became the last county to be shired in 1606. Wicklow witnessed more violence through the seventeenth century, and it was only after 1700 that the elite felt safe enough to build great houses such as Powerscourt and Russborough. Wicklow was in turmoil during the 1798 rebellion. Economic recovery was halted by the tragedy of Famine. Later in the nineteenth century, the Parnells led the Home Rule movement, the Land League and the Ladies’ Land League. The twentieth century saw war, revolution and hardship before better times arrived after 1960. Meticulously researched, this clear, user-friendly book is an invaluable resource which will appeal to everyone interested in the history of County Wicklow.

‘A fresh look at the author’s enduring grip on our imagination.’ – SUNDAY MIRRORLondon had a special place in Agatha Christie’s heart. In her childhood, she would visit the capital to stay with her Auntie Grannie; as an adult, she owned several homes in the city. A reoccurring location in her stories, London is where Poirot and Hastings, and Tommy and Tuppence reside, and even Miss Marple cannot resist a trip up to town to shop in its department stores. Avoid red herrings, examine the clues to discover several of her former homes, use your little grey cells to detect where she worked during the Second World War, and probe where the former ‘Detection Club’ met. Gather the evidence to reveal the fashionable restaurants, luxury hotels and other locations that she and her characters frequented. On completion of your investigation, your denouement will reveal the final twist: just how important London was to Agatha and her stories.

Witches have existed in society for centuries. Traditionally, they were the midwives, the providers of herbal medicines, the people who understood biology and nature. They were real people who lived amongst you. They were your neighbours – you knew them. But when the Scottish Reformation Party pushed through the Witchcraft Act in 1563, the healers would become the hunted. The Aberdeen City and Aberdeenshire Archive is a treasure trove of documentation, dating as far back as the twelfth century. Amongst its shelves are the original, handwritten court records from the Aberdeen witch trials of 1597 – first-hand accounts of the words spoken on those dreadful days. Covering a brief history of the Scottish witch trials, the role of an obsessed king, and how it all came to an end, Contagious Enemies: The Aberdeen Witch Trials brings you these court records, transcribed and translated into modern day English. None were guilty, few were innocent.

Two of the most fertile types of myth and legend are the Celtic and the Arthurian. For the first time these are brought together in an authortative guide to the people, places, events and traditions associated with Arthur and Ireland, Wales and the Celtic fringe. Based on wide research and reflecting the latest scholarship, A Companion to the Arthurian and Celtic Myths and Legends provides us with a unique reference tool to some of the most colourful stories and traditions in history. From Gidolin to Lancelot, Tir na n-og to Morgan-le-Fay, and Aed Ruadh to Zel, we discover a wealth of material, Lancelot and Guinevere's love story has been retold many times; that Gidolin was a dwarf who was said to keep flasks of hag's blood warm on the 'hearth of hell' is less well-known. Aed Ruadh was a tyrannical king whose own champion inviked the powers of the sea, sun, wind and firmament against him; Zel is a mythical king who is said to have buried on horseback within Silbury Hill. Romance, magic, betrayal, humour and horror are mixed together within the pages of Mike Dixon-Kennedy's intriguing book. It encompasses the Celtic Golden Age, the invasion of the Romans when Celtic society began to collapse, and the later Celtic revival in the Gaelic countries of Brittany, Ireland, Scotland, Wales and in England. This richly illustrated A-Z guide is a must-have for all those enthralled by Arthurian history and the Celts, mythology and legends.

Forget 1066 – the making of England began centuries earlier. After decades of devastating raids, Viking armies first overwintered in England in 850. In doing so, they opened a century of conflict and reaching ambition. In Norway, Harald Fairhair rose from a regional chieftain to become its first king, while in England Alfred the Great preserved Wessex from conquest and laid the foundations for unity. His successors extended that vision, leading to the creation of a single English kingdom after the meeting of kings at Eamont Bridge in 927. Meanwhile, the struggle for Norway’s throne erupted among Harald’s heirs, with Eric Bloodaxe briefly claiming the Crown before being overthrown by his younger brother, Hakon. Upon fleeing to Britain, Eric was allowed the York throne by King Edred. After his violent death in 954, there would be no more kings in York. This turbulent century saw kings rise and fall; it saw rivalry, betrayal and open conflict. Out of the chaos of shifting allegiances and warfare, England and Norway began to take shape as the forebears of the countries we know today. In First Kings, join R.A.J. Waddingham on an action-packed, page-turning adventure through the age of the Vikings.

SCOTLAND is a land steeped in romance – often these stories end happily but, inevitably, they must sometimes end in tragedy too. The tale of love, faith and heartbreak has been told across the ages, a story that humanity never tires of reading. Such timeless magic weaves through the folk tales of this ancient land, now scattered across the pages of this book. Within this collection we learn of love in its many and varied forms; love between two people, between parents and children and between friends and communities. From selkies and fairies to witches, ghosts and even the Devil, these ancient Celtic myths are entwined with Scottish folk tales to bring to life experiences of doomed love, cursed love and love foretold by dreams. These tales have been carefully chosen and retold by Orkney storyteller Tom Muir and lovingly given form through the artwork of Hester Aspland.

Were the Huns, Goths, Vandals, Franks and Saxons as mindlessly violent as popular belief suggests? Or were they only too human, struggling for freedom and surviva? ociety was in turmoil – political instability and economic uncertainty divided loyalties in Europe. Entrepreneurs and opportunists were prepared to risk all in bids for power. Men such as Attila the Hun, Gaiseric the Vandal and Alaric the Goth pitted their wits against the leaders of the rapidly mutating Roman establishment in the fourth to sixth centuries. Studded with painstakingly researched anecdotes of scandal, court gossip, superstition and fanatical religious beliefs, Warriors of the Dark Ages takes a refreshing look at a complex story of pawns and manipulators, saints and sinners, which was resolved when people with very different values and outlooks learned to accept each other. The finale was uplifting – a tale of human conflict painfully moulded into a brilliant new future as modern Europe and its component states. Through the writings of ancient commentators, glimpse the love, hate, treachery and, at times, humour as prevalent in the European Dark Ages as they are today.

Did you kno? new species of cat-like dinosaur, yet to be named, was discovered on the Isle of Wight in 1988. Darwin began his world-famous ‘On the Origin of the Species' while staying at the Kings Head Hotel. There are 21 tourists to every Island resident. The Little Book of the Isle of Wight is a funny, fact-packed compendium of the sort of frivolous, fantastic or simply strange information which no one will want to be without. The Island’s most eccentric inhabitants, blood-curdling murders and literally hundreds of facts combine to make this required reading for locals and visitors alike. Illustrated with humorous cartoons and delivered with wit and flair, this captivating compendium is almost impossible to put down.

‘We all owe a great deal to George Edwards, though few people will know how much until they read this biography’ - Sir John MajorHe was the designer of Britain’s first V-bomber, the leader of the British Concorde team, and the man who made the bouncing bomb bounce. Yet George Edwards’s name is all but forgotten today. The son of a widowed tobacconist from the East End of London, Edwards started his career in aviation in 1935, when he became a junior draughtsman in Vickers Aviation’s Surrey factory for the princely sum of 5 guineas a week. Within ten years he was their chief designer; within thirty-five he was the managing director of British Aircraft Corporation. Written using thirty hours of exclusive interviews with Edwards himself, From Bouncing Bombs to Concorde is an illuminating look at a man who helped shape post-war Britain’s aviation industry.

Port Vale Football Club – the name gives no clue to its whereabouts, but this book will tell you all of the highs, lows and downright strange happenings at a club that has been in existence in the Potteries for over 150 years. Port Vale became the first club to defeat all of the other 91 teams in league games in the main four divisions as of 2021 and have kept up the record in every season since then. Vale fan and player Tom Pope was the leading scorer in Britain in 2012/13 with 33 goals, none of them being penalties. Cardiff City once offered a blank cheque for winger Colin Askey, and the club turned it down! Vale Park once held over 49,000 fans for an FA Cup tie v Aston Villa. From an FA Cup semi-final to expulsion from the league, and from four Wembley appearances to a ten-goal home defeat when the goalkeeper lost his glasses in the mud, it’s all here. Recounting the record wins, defeats and attendances, the highs of classic giant-killings and the lows of going into administration, The Port Vale Miscellany is a book on the Valiants like no other, packed with facts, stats, trivia, stories and legends.

‘Biggs deftly blends historical research with creative retelling, bringing prison records to full and chilling life.’ - The New StatesmanCambridge University is renowned worldwide for its academic prowess, but below the surface lurks a murky past. During the nineteenth century, the university became infamous for its dogged determination to cling to ancient laws allowing it to arrest and imprison unchaperoned women found walking the streets of Cambridge after dark. Mistakes were made. Violence and legal action followed until finally an Act of Parliament put an end to the university’s jurisdiction over the women of Cambridge.

Scotland''s ''Stone of Destiny'' is the most famous symbol of both Scottish nationhood and the British monarchy. Nick Aitchison has produced the first fully researched and illustrated study of its history, mythology and cultural significance.Having first traced the origin, evolution and function of myths surrounding the Stone and the ancient prophecy that gives the Stone its name, he examines the stone itself and for the first time reveals the Stone''s original function and the origins of its symbolic sanctity. The Stone''s historic contexts and its role in royal inauguration and coronation rituals are also discussed, including an analysis of the rich symbolism surrounding the Stone and its changing nature over time. The book concludes with a discussion of the Stone''s symbolic significance with the creation of the Scottish parliament.

Everything you ever wanted to know about the Second World War: from the highest-rated fighter aces to the most inventive escape equipment used to break out of Colditz; from army pay by rank to the largest battleships; from the most stirring speeches to the biggest tactical errors; from the strangest regimental mottoes to the plays most performed by ENSA; and from the dates each country joined the war to the most unlikely spies.All the major events and dates in the war are covered in detail, but equal emphasis is placed on the human experience of combat. Often poignant and always revealing, World War II: the Book of Lists offers a unique insight into the deadliest conflict in human history.

This miscellany explores the fascinating and enigmatic world of Sherlock Holmes, his place in literary history and how he has become the iconic, timeless character who is loved by millions.Containing facts, trivia and quotes from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s legendary stories, the reader can also explore the often weird and wonderful characters who graced Conan Doyle’s pages. Do you know the difference between a Penang Lawyer and a Tide-Waiter? And if you think a ‘life preserver’ is a cork-filled flotation device, how does Wilson Kemp fit one into the sleeve of his jacket?Sherlock Holmes: Inspiring Lives is light-hearted and highly informative, and perfect for both the Sherlock aficionado and those new to the world of 221B Baker Street.