This book provides new historical and ethno-linguistic evidence powerfully confirming the author’s provocative thesis, first presented in Forgotten Wolves of Wilkinaland (Archway, 2020), about the etymology of his family surname. A long hidden story, it is now revealed in the medieval Baltic region’s tense history between the Angles, Danes, Frisians, and Saxons and their sometime allies, sometime foes— the Slavic Wends (aka Polabian Slavs). The origin of the Wilk-root personal and surnames...

The city is sweet and summered and partly asleep. The city is angry. And tonight: one of us is going to die.On the eve of the biggest deal of her career, Saskia, an uber-successful property developer runs from the meeting, all the way home down the Grand Union Canal. Plagued by phone calls and ghosts, she meets a myriad of characters looking to make or break her. She realises, as her shiny life unravels, that she doesn't know herself anymore or the city she once loved. Can...

Some guys listen to music, some guys like to sing. I like to work people out.Rainer is a solitary delivery rider, moving across London, delivering food to whoever will summon her. From luxury flats to leafy suburbs, she loves to create stories in her head, re-imagining London as one of her favourite sci-fi films or Scorsese's Taxi Driver. She loves her life. Until reality starts to slip and she begins forgetting stuff – even the city she knows so well. And when he...

The prevailing explanation that all forms of Wilk/Wilkin beginning surnames being variants of “diminutive for William” or “son of diminutive for William”—and the presumption that this is of Norman in origin—is simply not accurate.J.C. (Max) Wilkinson presents this provocative thesis in his book, challening an etymological presumption that is seemingly ubiquitous, woefully incomplete, and arguably almost totally wrong for the vast majority of “Wilk” root surname lineages.Ins...

For over 20 years, the Greyhound of the Seas, the Cunard Liner "Mauretania" held the record for the fastest Transatlantic crossing. Much loved and admired, after two decades as the pinnacle of ocean liners, her time came to end. First laid up and then, in a fanfare of nostalgia, consigned to the breaker's yard in Rosyth, she ended her life at the hands of a breaker's torch. Although modern historians revile such an ignominious fate, the "Mauretania's" demise helped to rek...

A young soldier returning from the trenches of the First World War recollects a love that dare not speak its name. Almost one hundred years later, a groom-to-be prepares for his gay wedding.Queers celebrates a century of evolving social attitudes and political milestones in British gay history, as seen through the eyes of eight individuals.Poignant and personal, funny, tragic and riotous, these eight monologues for male and female performers cover major events – su...

Michael Palin's bestselling diaries of the 1980s.After a live performance at the Hollywood Bowl, The Pythons made their last performance together in 1983 in the hugely successful MONTY PYTHON'S MEANING OF LIFE. Writing and acting in films and television then took over much of Michael's life, culminating in the smash hit A FISH CALLED WANDA (for which he won a BAFTA for Best Supporting Actor), and the first of his seven celebrated television journeys for the BBC. He...

The story of the daughter of Alfred the Great, who fought against Viking invaders and ruled a kingdom in the tenth century.Alfred the Great's daughter defied all expectations of a well-bred Saxon princess. The first Saxon woman ever to rule a kingdom, Aethelflaed, Lady of the Mercians, led her army in battle against Viking invaders. She further broke with convention by arranging for her daughter to succeed her on the throne of Mercia.To protect her people a...

On Friday 14 June 1968 Suhaili, a tiny ketch, slipped almostunnoticed out of Falmouth harbour steered by the solitary figure at herhelm, Robin Knox-Johnston. Ten and a half months later Suhaili,paintwork peeling and rust streaked, her once white sails weathered andbrown, her self-steering gone, her tiller arm jury rigged to the rudderhead, came romping joyously back to Falmouth to a fantastic receptionfor Robin, who had become the...

'You know you're in for a treat when you open a Jenny Oliver book' Debbie Johnson One Summer Night at the Ritz is the enchanting fourth story in Jenny Oliver’s delicious Cherry Pie Island series. For Jane Williams, balmy August evenings are usually spent swimming in the river or lounging on her house boat on Cherry Pie Island. But, this summer, a set of tragic wartime diaries has changed all that. Now, Jane’s heading for an appointment with Will Blackwell, one of the world’s most infamous ...

Learn the easy and humorous way about some serious topics. These non technical chapters will provide a light hearted but informative understanding of the topic. Many many suggestions for making your life at sea (or anchor) more comfortable and fun.

Originally published as Ben’s Gift.The heart-warming true story of a little boy and the cat that changed his life.Nine-year-old George was severely autistic; quiet and withdrawn, he appeared lost in his own world most of the time. His mother Julia despaired as she couldn’t bring George out of his shell. But when a black-and-white stray cat appeared in their garden, everything changed.George’s new four-legged friend, Ben, had a wonderful and unexpected side-...