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In 1860, Fyodor Dostoevsky wrote that ‘The degree of civilisation in a society can be judged by entering its prisons’. He meant not only that a society can be judged by how it treats its prisoners, but by who it chooses to incarcerate. 66 years earlier, Britain’s newest prison had opened its gates in Clerkenwell, north London. Built on the principles of John Howard, the most vocal and committed prison reformer of the eighteenth century, the new Coldbath Fields House of Correction was intended to be a flagship for the humane improvements that Howard championed. Instead, within just a few years, it would become notorious for its cruelty and injustice. The history of the prison and the stories of its inmates, including not only thieves, vagabonds and prostitutes, but political reformers, mutineers, writers and clergymen, provides an extraordinary new insight into the forces of radical change shaking Georgian England to its core.

‘I summoned my courage, took a hammock and some maps and set out to walk in the stunning landscapes of Lofoten and beyond. For years I had wondered if it would still be possible to go out and collect stories. Raw stories that had been passed on by word of mouth since before people could read.''Norway’s tiny population has a vibrant storytelling tradition – myths, legends and sagas from the bogs and snow-capped peaks of Norway, some lyrical, others outlandish, all united by their connection to a harsh but splendid nature. In this collection by wandering storyteller Georgiana Keable, you will find beloved classics retold for modern times, alongside stories never printed before.

Whitney Straight made his own way in life. Born in New York with a silver spoon in his mouth, he would earn his living in the board rooms of some of Britain’s greatest companies. He dropped out of Cambridge to become an outstanding racing driver, and run a team of Maseratis across Europe and Africa. A qualified pilot at 17, he revolutionised aircraft design for the enthusiast, and his extraordinary war saw him rise from Pilot Officer to Air Commodore. He survived the invasion of Norway, a crash-landing in occupied France and a year as a PoW to emerge with an MC, DFC and US Legion of Merit. Rejecting Churchill’s proposal of a career in politics, he became CEO of BOAC, transforming it into a national airline to be proud of. At Rolls-Royce, he railed against a company dominated by engineers who made poor businessmen, and played a founding role in the separate paths of the aero and auto businesses still seen today. An incurable romantic, he could never imagine being married to anyone other than his wife, yet he had numerous relationships. Paul Kenny has been granted unfettered access to Straight’s diaries and photograph albums, and has scoured archives on both sides of the Atlantic, leaving no stone unturned in pursuit of the full story of one of the twentieth century’s greatest mavericks.

Explore the legacy of one of the greatest battles in military history – the Battle of Waterloo – through this finely crafted collection of objects, each telling their own story of the day.Bullet-pierced armour and dramatic battledress bring you closer to the heart of the action, and the tragedy of the death toll is made ever more poignant by the personal mementoes left behind.From the grim reality of the teeth of the dead turned into dentures to the romance of Napoleon’s steeds, swash-buckling swords and ballgowns, each object offers new insight into the incredible events that unfolded on 18 June 1815.This is a fascinating journey through 100 objects, from the rare to the memorable, in a unique testimony to the importance of the Battle of Waterloo, 200 years on.

While the so-called ‘honey trap’ is a Hollywood cliché, it is also an enduring piece of tradecraft in the real-life world of spy versus spy. Employed by virtually every intelligence service in times of war and peace, the work of femme fatales and Romeo spies have shaped policy and history through seduction, betrayal and scandal. Perhaps the most well known though least understood element of espionage, the use of honey traps can be found throughout history in religious texts, lurid headlines and pop culture mythology.Honey Trapped is the first book to fully examine the oldest and consistently effective piece of tradecraft, from the ancient world to cyber seductions. Honey Trapped tells the stories of those spies, both famous and obscure, who used sex and leveraged love to acquire sensitive information. From Greek mythology to recent investigations, the potent mix of sex and espionage is sure to enthral and entertain.

1298: Alexander of Wells watches William Wallace’s army across the field at Falkirk. Hours later, he is dead, cut down by the Scots.1381: Hated collector of the Poll Tax, Robert Hales, is dragged from the Tower of London and executed, his head paraded through the streets before being placed on a spike on London Bridge.1490s: John Kendal sends coded letters to Perkin Warbeck’s supporters and hires an astrologer to murder Henry VII.These men were not scheming lords: they were Knights Hospitaller. Commonly known as warrior monks, they were a religious and military order that fought to defend the Holy Land, supposedly above war and petty politics. But in Europe they became entangled in local government, taking up positions as royal commanders, administrators and politicians. They led armies, attended Parliaments, and joined court intrigues and civil wars.While the Knights Templar have long captured the public imagination, the Hospitallers were just as influential, yet their story has been left largely untold – until now. From the English invasion of Ireland through to Henry VIII’s Dissolution of the Monasteries and beyond, the Hospitallers’ story in Britain and Ireland sees the brethren drawn into civil wars, violent feuds, duels, assassinations and witchcraft.Employing the latest research, Warrior Monks reveals the fascinating account of medieval Britain through the eyes of the Knights Hospitaller: a powerful order that made kings, toppled regimes and shaped history.

The name ‘Somerset’ usually conjures up visions of green hills, picturesque harbours and sleepy villages with thatched cottages and quaint pubs – but this is only part of the story. What about the slaughter on Sedgemoor in July 1685, or its terrible aftermath, the infamous Bloody Assizes? What dark deeds took place on the coast during the heyday of the smugglers? Who was the curate who ended up in a cauldron, or the abbot who was hanged, drawn and quartered? Why were there riots at Radstock in 1830? The answers to these and many other morbid questions can be found in this book, as we take a look into the darker corners of Somerset’s history, and meet the unusual people who shaped the history of this popular county in unexpected (and sometimes horrifying) ways.

‘Rachel Trethewey has done the seemingly impossible in a book about the Mitfords: she has found something original to say, thanks to her excellent scholarship, and has written Muv’s story exceptionally well.’ – SIMON HEFFER, author of Sing As We Go: Britain Between the WarsNancy, Pamela, Diana, Unity, Jessica, Deborah: these are the flamboyant Mitford Girls, the Bright Young Things who defined their era. The trials, tribulations and outrageous escapades of these six controversial sisters continue to fascinate us. Yet what about the seventh and arguably most vital Mitford woman of them all – their mother?Sydney Redesdale, known as ‘Muv’, is often portrayed as different from her daughters – outside of that exclusive girl gang. Without doubt, she was a divisive character, her daughters squabbling about the ‘real Muv’ for even longer than they argued about their political differences. They could never agree: was she a scapegoat or saint, mother or manager? Even later biographers couldn’t quite pin her down: just who was this elusive woman who nurtured such colourful children?How could these exceptional daughters have sprung from such apparently ordinary parents? In reality, Sydney was far from ‘ordinary’: she was the original Mitford girl, from whom much of her daughters’ legendary strong will, self-confidence and extremism was born. Set against the backdrop of a country and a family divided, the story of her life – one of eccentricity, tragedy and resilience – is told here in full for the first time.

In 1825 the Stockton & Darlington Railway began operations as the world’s first public railway to be operated by steam. The first train, which opened the railway on 27 September, was drawn by the locomotive that became known as LOCOMOTION No.1.It is from this origin that all public railways the world over developed to become the driving force behind economic progress. The brief history that accompanied the locomotive’s preservation in 1857 was both inadequate and factually incorrect.In anticipation of the railway’s bicentenary, a major archival and archaeological study was initiated by the National Railway Museum to establish the true history of the locomotive both in service and during retirement.Compiled by experts Michael R. Bailey and Peter H. Davidson, this is the story revealed by the study, correcting and expanding the historical record for future generations of railway enthusiasts and historians.

‘What a wonderful book. Wolves through a prism of love, understanding and fascination.’ Derek Gow, author and ecologistWolves have been hunted to extinction in many countries, clung on in isolated populations near human communities and thrived in remote wilderness: theirs is a story of adaption and survival that is not yet finished.Once prevalent in Britain, the wolf has been much maligned and persecuted, but it has also been missed, and the ‘return of the wolf ’ in this compendium of tales mirrors the aspiration to reintroduce this ancient species to Britain’s recovering wild places.The wolf has wended its way into our collective imagination through traditional narratives around the world. Known as shapeshifter, this animal has weaved itself into our folklore for centuries; from the compelling protagonist and agent of change to the wily trickster and persecutor, and today as a totem of hope for the rewilding movement.Storyteller and outdoorsman Chris Salisbury ensures the legacy of this beloved creature lives on in an unforgettable collection of wolfish tales to tell out loud.

1971 was a great year for cinema.Woody Allen, Robert Altman, Dario Argento, Ingmar Bergman, Stanley Kubrick, Sergio Leone, George Lucas, Sam Peckinpah, Roman Polanski, Nicolas Roeg and Steven Spielberg, among many others, were behind the camera, while the stars were also out in force. Warren Beatty, Marlon Brando, Michael Caine, Julie Christie, Sean Connery, Faye Dunaway, Clint Eastwood, Jane Fonda, Dustin Hoffman, Steve McQueen, Jack Nicholson, Al Pacino and Vanessa Redgrave all featured in films released in 1971.The remarkable artistic flowering that came from the ‘New Hollywood’ of the ’70s was just beginning, while the old guard was fading away and the new guard was taking over. With a decline in box office attendances by the end of the ’60s, along with a genuine inability to come up with a reliable barometer of box office success, studio heads gave unprecedented freedom to young filmmakers to lead the way.Featuring interviews with cast and crew members, bestselling author Robert Sellers explores this landmark year in Hollywood and in Britain, when this new age was at its freshest, and where the transfer of power was felt most exhilaratingly.

A few days after Paris was liberated from the Nazis in August 1944, the most notorious fashion couturiere in the world collapsed on a hotel bed in Switzerland after escaping the French capitol and certain death. How did an exhausted Coco Chanel get there and who helped her evade warring Allied and German troops?For 80 years, this incredible feat of courage, luck, and ingenuity in the midst of immense danger has been deliberately shrouded in disinformation and secrecy by family, friends, wary governments, risk-averse business partners, and fellow collaborators. But now, with the aid of new information contained in previously unreleased private French Résistance papers and a new assessment of discredited evidence from organised crime figures, what really happened to Coco Chanel during that fascinating and scandalous period of her life between 1944 and 1954 can finally be revealed.

Magic pervades every inch of Wales, from Anglesey in the north to the Vale of Glamorgan in the south, from the Marches in the east to the shores of the west. Every corner of this landscape has stories of local magicians and witches, yet so many of these figures are relatively unknown outside of Wales and are overshadowed by their English counterparts.Set in encyclopedia format, Of Doves & Ravens invites readers on a tour through the rich folklore of this landscape. Discover the recollections of market fortune-tellers who historically plied their trade in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and meet the gwrach who dwell in lonely places; the dynen hysbys who help find lost cattle and protect against the malevolence of witches; and the legendary magicians who summon demons and often are buried in the walls of church.This is magical Wales revealed.

George Ward Price rose to prominence as the leading journalist in the 1930s, thanks to a string of world exclusives on Nazi Germany. He spent an hour alone with Hitler and Göring after the remilitarisation of the Rhineland, stood next to Hitler as he addressed a crowd on the night of the invasion of Austria, and joined him for afternoon tea at the Eagle’s Nest following his historic first meeting with Neville Chamberlain.These stories made Ward Price world famous, but he often seemed uncomfortable in the glare of the spotlight, hiding his true self behind a carefully cultivated veneer of suave and easy-going charm. It meant that he left unanswered questions: what drove his all-consuming ambition? Was his success down to journalist brilliance, or was there something more sinister that lay behind it? And were there any lengths to which he would not go to make sure that, as one of his colleagues put it, he ‘always got his story’?Interviewing Hitler is the first book to explore the real Ward Price and the truth behind his reporting on the Nazis. It is a journey that takes us through a series of century-shaping events and deep into the dark heart of British journalism. As well as being one of the most controversial figures in newspaper history, Ward Price’s career serves as a warning for today’s world of disinformation and fake news.

‘Highly enjoyable’ – Ancestors‘A fascinating recreation of the Tower as the life-and-death blood of the nation’ – Oxford TimesServing as both a palace and a prison, the Tower of London has been at the centre of more intrigue, terror and crucial turning points in history than any other site in England. Diehl and Donnelly take us behind the grim, grey walls which circumscribe England’s greatest fortress to discover true stories of the rebels, rogues, despots, lovers, spies and conmen who lived or were held captive there, and whose various, strange fates have added to the Tower’s sinister reputation. It is a place where court intrigues, clandestine liaisons, gruesome tortures and grisly executions took place with frightening regularity.Tales from the Tower of London is more than the factual history of a great building; it is storytelling at its best. The fifteen stories in this book are made all the more poignant by the fact that they are all true and focus on individuals royal and common, good and bad, heroic and villainous, who lived, loved, plotted and died there.The characters you will meet include: William the Conqueror Richard II and the forlorn ‘Princes in the Tower'' Wat Tyler Lady Jane Grey Guy Fawkes Colonel Thomas Blood Henry Laurens Sir Roger Casement Whether you are a lover of history, adventure, intrigue and romance, or just appreciate a ripping good yarn, you will find Tales from the Tower of London a classic page turner.

A pioneering female politician who thought women didn’t need the vote; a conservative who shared platforms with communists; a shy public speaker who travelled the world speaking for Spanish refugees: the formidable Duchess of Atholl was full of contradictions.Born into an ancient Scottish family and married to a philandering duke, Kitty rose above the constraints of class and convention to become a tireless advocate for women and children. By her election as the first Scottish female MP in 1923, she was one of the most prominent women in Scotland – and that was well before she shocked Westminster with outspoken rebellions against her own government.She stood with Spanish refugees and challenged fascism, visited war zones and campaigned with her political opponents, criticised tyrants and wrote her own political playbook. In Red Duchess Kitty Atholl’s extraordinary life is brought to the spotlight she has long deserved – a compelling story of courage, conviction and a woman who refused to play by the rules.