During the international coronavirus lockdowns of 2020–2021, millions of children, youth, and adults found their usual play areas out of bounds and their friends out of reach. How did the pandemic restrict everyday play and how did the pandemic offer new spaces and new content? This unique collection of essays documents the ways in which communities around the world harnessed play within the limiting frame of Covid-19.Folklorists Anna Beresin and Julia Bishop adopt a multidisciplin...

One of the Spectator's Books of the Year 2012'Farewell and adieu to you fair Spanish ladiesFarewell and adieu to you ladies of SpainFor we've received orders for to sail for old EnglandBut we hope in a short while to see you again'**One of the great English popular art forms, the folk song can be painful, satirical, erotic, dramatic, rueful or funny. They have thrived when sung on a whim to a handful of friends in a pub; they ...

The aim of this book is to offer an informed account of changes in the nature of the relationship between play, media and commercial culture in England through an analysis of play in the 1950s/60s and the present day.

On the rubbish dump, a baby cried.The cry was weak, and fading. The wild dogs had picked up the cries, and the scent, and were circling, closing in.Bessie walked towards the sound and found a day-old baby girl. She had been abandoned because of her sex. It happened often here, in south west China.If Bessie did nothing, the baby would be torn to pieces. So she picked her up, carried her to safety, and later adopted her. Yet, in saving her life, did Bessie condemn the...

Updated with the latest archaeological research new chapters on the most influential yet widely unrecognised people of the British isles, In Search of the Dark Ages illuminates the fascinating and mysterious centuries between the Romans and the Norman Conquest of 1066.In this new edition, Michael Wood vividly conjures some of the most important people in British history such as Hadrian, a Libyan refugee from the Arab conquests and arguably the most importa...

The authoritative and fascinating history of the rise and fall of the state-owned British Rail'Wolmar's book is impeccably organised and makes a fast, enjoyable read' THE TIMES Literary Supplement________British Rail wasn't how we're asked to remember it . . .From ancient rolling stock to patchy service, stale sandwiches to the wrong kind of snow, British Rail - our last great state-owned or...

****An International Bestseller**Fake news about the past is fake history.**Did Hugo Boss design the Nazi uniforms?Did medieval people think the world was flat?Did Napoleon shoot the nose off the Sphinx?*Spoiler Alert* The answer to all those questions is no.From the famous quote 'Let them eat cake' - mistakenly attributed to Marie Antoinette - to the apocryphal horns that adorned Viking helmets, fake history continues to shape ...

UPDATED WITH A NEW CHAPTER ON THE 2024 ELECTIONA GUARDIAN AND DAILY TELEGRAPH POLITICS BOOK OF THE YEAR'BRILLIANT' ANDREW MARR'MAJESTIC' GUARDIAN'ESSENTIAL' JON SOPEL'A CRACKING READ' FINANCIAL TIMES'A SHARP INSIDER ACCOUNT' NEW STATESMANThe full inside story of fourtee...

Enter the haunted world of Ancient Japan in this spine-tingling collection of ghostly tales told and retold across the centuries.From Goblin infested caves and haunted Tombs, to vengeful spirits and strange, sinister happenings, Ancient Japan was a country and culture that lived with between realms: the world of everyday and the world of supernatural. The Snow Ghost and Other Tales brings together some of the best and scariest tales that endured across cen...

'A brilliant, funny and thought-provoking book' - Jonn Elledge'Compelling, provocative, and utterly brilliant' - Dr Estelle ParanqueTHIS PAPERBACK FEATURES ADDITIONAL MATERIAL ON HER MAJESTY QUEEN ELIZABETH IIHow the monarchs of England and Scotland met their deaths has been a wonderful mixture of violence, infections, overindulgence and occasional regicide. In Mortal Monarchs, medical historian Dr ...

WINNER OF THE WAINWRIGHT PRIZE FOR CONSERVATION 2023 The Sunday Times Science Book of the Year As seen on Countryfile‘If anyone was born to save Britain’s rainforests, it was Guy Shrubsole’ Sunday TimesShortlisted for the Richard Jefferies Society Literary PrizeTemperate rainforest may once have covered up to one-fifth of Britain, inspiring Celtic druids, ...

A TIMES BEST NEW THRILLER PICK'Runs at breakneck speed through a dark and dangerous universe populated with characters who are never what they seem' KATHLEEN KENT, author of Black Wolf'A perfect thriller - page-turning excitement, expert plotting, a good dose of wit, and above all a fierce heroine you can't get enough of.' ASIA MACKAY, author of Killing ItMeet ...