This is a wonderfully colourful and deeply poignant memoir of growing up in a 'single end' - one room in a Glasgow tenement - during and immediately after the Second World War. Although young Robert Douglas's life was blighted by the cruel if sporadic presence of his father, it was equally blessed by the love of his mother, Janet. While the story of their life together is in some ways very sad, it is also filled with humorous and happy memories. "Night Song of The Last Tram" is a superb ev...

In the final instalment in his autobiographical trilogy, Robert Douglas takes us through the sixties and into the eighties with his memories of life as a prison officer, and, at the end of his career, as an electricity chargehand driving around the Yorkshire Dales. He tells us of his prison experiences, with anecdotes about many of the most famous criminals in British history -- the Krays, the Richardsons, the Great Train Robbers, Soviet spies and many more. Told in the same endearing and ...

We left Robert a long way from home, a sixteen-year-old recruit in the RAF. Now, we follow his escape from the Forces (until National Service a few years later!), his return to Glasgow and life down the pit. Once more, Robert's fantastic memory for people, places and anecdotes, combined with an ear for individual voices and the brilliant ability to evoke a bygone sense of community, will enchant his readers and sometimes appal them with the brutality of conditions he experienced.

"With the London-Scottish Regiment During the First World WarThe 'Cockney Jocks' at war in Flanders and FranceThe wide distribution of Scots throughout Britain and the Empire led to the formation new 'Scottish' regiments and the London Scottish, formed in 1859 as a volunteer rifle corps and originally commanded by Lord Elcho, was a primary example. Elcho, anxious to embrace all the fighting men of Scotland into one brotherhood irrespective of their clan origins, uniquely clad...

**A TIMES and SPECTATOR Book of the Year'The best book about reading I have read for a very long time'** STEPHEN FRY'A glittering gem of a book' NATALIE HAYNESA joyful and enlightening masterclass in how reading attentively can change our livesAs an English literature professor, Robert Douglas-Fairhurst has delighted in sharing his love of reading with his students. Bringing together more than twenty years ...

"The Ladies From Hell" was the nickname applied to the kilted units of the British and Canadian armies in the First World War . Clearly this is meant to paint the men in question as something out of the ordinary; soldiers so tough that they can cross-dress and still be shining examples of fighting manhood. R. D. Pinkerton's 'The Ladies From Hell' tell of his experience from the First World War.

A darkly comic and moving memoir on what it means to be human in a world where nothing is certain, from the award-winning Oxford professor.‘A book that will stay with you for life’NATALIE HAYNES‘The best book about multiple sclerosis’THE TIMESWe all have trapdoors in our lives. Sometimes we jump off just in time... But sometimes we are unlucky. My own trapdoor was hidden in the consulting ...

Nightmares can’t really hurt you… can they?An evil from beyond the stars haunts a young boy and his father at Roswell Airbase. The survivors of a sunken warship take refuge on a deserted island, and discover they are not alone. And terror checks in at an old motel, when a vacationing family finds themselves trapped in an ancient curse…Scare Street journeys into the night to bring you a new volume of skin-crawling terror. This macabre collection con...

This is an utterly charming story about twelve families and their tightly knit street in 1950s Maryhill. Following the end of the war, the close rebuilds its ties and the strong sense of community and friendly neighbourhood bonds are soon back in place. There is young love for Rhea and Robert; a surprising new start for James; a change of direction for George; and all overseen by the matriarch of the street - Granny Thomson. And of course, all buoyed up by a big helping of Scottish humour ...

The dark side is waiting…Fish N’ Chips lead a curious traveler to a sinister island, where the residents are more than they seem. Forbidden occult knowledge strands a pair of friends in a terrifying nexus of evil. And an ancient ice storm forces a wandering tribe to choose between following a bloodthirsty shaman, or the glowing lights in the sky…Venture into new realms of terror with Scare Street’s latest bone-chilling collection. This spine-tingli...

This series of 15 books - The Food Service Professional Guide To Series -from the editors of Food Service Professional magazine are the best and most comprehensive books for serious food service operators available today. These step-by-step guides are invaluable. The information is boiled down to the essence and covers all the bases.

Glasgow, 1971. The old way of life is under threat for the tight-knit community in Dalbeattie Street, Maryhill. The shadow of the wrecker's ball looms large over their homes, and they must face the choice of moving to a new estate or dispersing throughout the city. But powerful friendships refuse to be broken. These characters have gone through too much together to be destroyed by some measly planning scheme. They'll face this with the same inimitable Scottish humour and strength of spirit...