For the Love of Darlo is the inspirational autobiography of multi-award-winning writer and Darlington FC devotee Paul Hodgson, who overcame severe disability to achieve his ambitions.When Paul was seven months old, he was struck down by meningitis and left severely disabled. On being sent to boarding school in 1973, he had almost no speech, had to be propped up and could neither dress nor feed himself. But by the time he left, he could sit up unaided and t...

What were Darlington FC's most memorable matches of the last 50 years? Paul Hodgson is better placed than most to weigh in on the matter. He's been a regular presence at games for the past half-century. What's more, as a disabled fan attending games in a wheelchair, he offers a unique and fascinating perspective on the matchday experience. The story begins in the 1972/73 season when Paul's mother took him to his first game: Southport at home. The Quakers were soundly thrashed 7-0, yet the ...

In the blood-soaked trenches of WWI, Private John Wray carries a forbidden secret. A chance encounter with Hans-a college friend turned enemy soldier-changes everything, forcing John to weave a Web of Lies to survive the front.Decades later, John is pulled back into the fray as an undercover MI5 agent in Nazi Berlin. Hunted by the SS and betrayed by his own handlers, he must rely on Han's father to navigate a city of Shadows. In a high-stakes race for the Swiss border, John must de...

The no-holds-barred autobiography of former Scotland international and top-flight English Football League striker David Speedie.Written with multi-award-winning writer Paul Hodgson.Born in Scotland but raised in Yorkshire, David dreamed of swapping his job as a Doncaster coal-miner for a career in professional football. Not only did he achieve this, but he played at the highest level for clubs such as Chelsea, Coventry City, Blackburn Rovers, Liverpool and ...

"The rich and diverse history of the British aircraft industry is captured in superb detail by the author in this weighty tome." —Aviation NewsGreat Britain's aircraft industry started in 1908, with the first formally registered organization in the world to offer to design and build an aeroplane "for commercial gain." This book tells the complete story of the 110 years since the start, all the companies formed and the aircraft they produced, highlighting the advance...

Brought to you by Penguin.With a death toll of between 50 and 100 million people and a global reach, the Spanish flu of 1918–1920 was the greatest human disaster, not only of the twentieth century, but possibly in all of recorded history. And yet, in our popular conception it exists largely as a footnote to World War I.In Pale Rider, Laura Spinney recounts the story of an overlooked pandemic, tracing it from Alaska to Brazil, from Persia to Spain, ...

Disabled as a result of childhood meningitis, Paul Hodgson has written this autobiography in order to challenge the stereotype of the wheelchair-bound victim. Far from being a passive spectator, we learn how Paul struggled to care for his mother through several strokes and Alzheimer's disease and of the rift this caused within his family. He also speaks of the Community Care system, his experiences of education and employment, and the loyalty of his friends. This is his account of life as ...

The haunting story of a virus that triggered the worst pandemic of modern times.**“Both a saga of tragedies and a detective story.” —**The GuardianThe flu pandemic of 1918–1920 was one of the greatest human disasters of all time. It infected a third of the people on Earth—from the poorest immigrants of New York City to the king of Spain, Franz Kafka, Mahatma Gandhi, and Woodrow Wilson. But despite a death toll far higher than that ...

The chilling and little-known story of Adolf Hitler's eight-year march to the pinnacle of German politics.On the night of January 30, 1933, Adolf Hitler leaned out of a spotlit window of the Reich chancellery in Berlin, bursting with joy. The moment seemed unbelievable, even to Hitler. After an improbable political journey that came close to faltering on many occasions, his march to power had finally succeeded.While the path of Hitler's rise has been told i...

In The Improbability Principle, the renowned statistician David J. Hand argues that extraordinarily rare events are anything but. In fact, they're commonplace. Not only that, we should all expect to experience a miracle roughly once every month.But Hand is no believer in superstitions, prophecies, or the paranormal. His definition of "miracle" is thoroughly rational. No mystical or supernatural explanation is necessary to understand why someone is lucky enough to win the lo...

From a Bancroft Prize-winning historian, a biography of the famed poet, courtier, and colonizer, showing how he laid the foundations of the English EmpireSir Walter Ralegh was a favorite of Queen Elizabeth. She showered him with estates and political appointments. He envisioned her becoming empress of a universal empire. She gave him the opportunity to lead the way.In Walter Ralegh,Alan Gallay shows that, while Ralegh may be best known for founding...

A revelatory examination of the global impact of Emmanuel Macron's tumultuous presidency.A political novice leading a brand new party, in 2017 Emmanuel Macron swept away traditional political forces and emerged as president of France. Almost immediately he realized his task was not only to modernize his country but to save the EU and a crumbling international order. From the decline of NATO, to Russian interference, to the Gilets Jaunes (Yellow Vest) protestors, Ma...