A cornucopia of some of Britain's oldest and most beloved native trees, this book weaves together their rich history, folklore and traditions.This lovely book will enable the reader to identify Britain's trees and enjoy reading the rich folklore and traditions connected with them. From hawthorn to holly, from beech to blackthorn, each of Britain's 40 or so native trees are illustrated and a text weaves together the fascinating natural history, folklore, traditions, and remedies con...

Fifty stories of adventure and exploration over more than two hundred years of human history. The Great Horizon features those who set out to conquer new territories and claim world records alongside those who contributed to our understanding of the world all but accidentally. Published in association with the Royal Scottish Geographical Society, and with full access to their extensive records, the book includes unique images and insights from the RSGS archives, along with never-before see...

Ranulph Fiennes has travelled to the most dangerous and inaccessible places on earth, almost died countless times, lost nearly half his fingers to frostbite, raised millions of pounds for charity and been awarded a polar medal and an OBE. He has been an elite soldier, an athlete, a mountaineer, an explorer, a bestselling author and nearly replaced Sean Connery as James Bond.In his autobiography he describes how he led expeditions all over the world and became the first person to tr...

We went on the day on the boat train…I was 7, I had never seen a ship before... it looked very big... everybody was very excited, we went down to the cabin and that's when my mother said to my father that she had made up her mind quite firmly that she would not go to bed in that ship, she would sit up at night... she decided that she wouldn't go to bed at night, and she didn't!This is the amazing story of how Eva survived the sinking of the Titanic the disaster that claime...

'Goodbye Miss Young. Good luck to you and don't forget to remember me to the folks back home.'Major Archibald Butt (1865-1912)The sinking of the Titanic on her maiden voyage in 1912 is one of the most dramatic stories in maritime history. The largest passenger steamship in the world, fitted with more advanced safety features than any of her rivals, she was proclaimed to be virtually unsinkable.More than 1,500 people perished when th...

“A flower is not a flower alone; a thousand thoughts invest it.”Daffodils signal new beginnings, daisies innocence. Lilacs mean the first emotions of love, periwinkles tender recollection. Early Victorians used flowers as a way to express their feelings—love or grief, jealousy or devotion. Now, modern-day romantics are enjoying a resurgence of this bygone custom, and this book will share the historical, literary, and cultural sig...

Love history? Know your stuff with History in an Hour.The sinking of the Titanic 100 years ago in 1912, and the subsequent deaths of over 1,500 passengers, sent shock waves around the world. Never before or since has a maritime disaster in a time of peace had such an impact.TITANIC: HISTORY IN AN HOUR is an entertaining and well researched account of the events leading up to the sinking of this ‘unsinkable’ ship, providing an fascinating commentary on the pressures of the W...

Marking the centenary of the Titanic disaster, ‘Titanic Lives’ is an utterly compelling exploration of the lives of the passengers and crew on board the most famous ship in history.The RMS Titanic was built as one of the world's largest and most luxurious liners. A marine Ritz, it was a 45,000-tonne hotel of thin steel plates, travelling at a speed of 21 knots across the North Atlantic.On the night of 14 April 1912, midway through her maiden voyage, the seemingly unsinkable...

'Goodbye Miss Young. Good luck to you and don't forget to remember me to the folks back home.'Major Archibald Butt (1865-1912)The sinking of the Titanic on her maiden voyage in 1912 is one of the most dramatic stories in maritime history. The largest passenger steamship in the world, fitted with more advanced safety features than any of her rivals, she was proclaimed to be virtually unsinkable.More than 1,500 people perished when th...

An insightful, beautifully written study of how nature has influenced popular fairy tales like Rapunzel and Little Red Riding Hood—pairing 12 modern retellings with detailed histories of Northern European forests.Fairy tales are one of our earliest cultural forms, and forests one of our most ancient landscapes. Both evoke similar sensations: At times, they are beautiful and magical, at others—spooky and sometimes horrifying. Maitland argues that t...

From the author of Ninety Degrees North, a spellbinding account of how officers of the British Navy explored the world after the Napoleonic Wars.In 1816, John Barrow, second secretary to the British admiralty, launched the most ambitious program of exploration the world has ever seen. For the next thirty years, his handpicked teams of elite British naval officers scoured the globe from the Arctic to Antarctica, their mission: to fill the blanks that litter...

On 15 April 2012, 100 years will have passed since the Royal Mail Steamer Titanic hit an iceberg and foundered in the North Atlantic with the loss of 1,503 lives. Had the disaster not occurred, what is now the best-known ship in the world would have lost the title of the largest liner within just two years. She was certainly not the fastest passenger ship of the time and can be considered a technological throwback, yet Titanic captures the imagination like no other. This b...