This book is to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Mines Rescue Service in the Rhondda Valleys and South Wales Based at the Dinas Mines Rescue Station, Rhondda many thousands of volunteer miners were trained to become members of their colliery rescue team; to deal with the many hundreds of varied underground emergencies, sadly many resulting in loss of life. All coalfields in Britain and Europe and many worldwide had a trained Mines Rescue Service.

My name is Leslie Joy (Les to my friends), and I was born on the 16th March 1923 in Bradford, Yorkshire. This is my true story of how at the age of 19 I joined the RAF, fell in love with a Tiger Moth, got my wings and flew as a Lancaster Bomber pilot in World War II, and survived just!

Orford Ness was so secret a place that most people have never even heard of it. The role it played in inventing and testing weapons over the course of the twentieth century was far more significant and much longer than that of Bletchley Park.Nestled on a remote part of the Suffolk coast, Orford Ness operated for over eighty years as a highly classified research and testing site for the British military, the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment and, at one point, e...

A World War II veteran details wartime life in Yorkshire and his postwar efforts to build a museum and restore a Halifax bomber.Between 1935 and 1945, Yorkshire became home to 41 military airfields, the majority located in the Vale of York. The area was often referred to as a land-based aircraft carrier. At 16, Ian Robinson began working for the Handley Page aircraft manufacturer at their repair depot at Clifton, York. There, Halifax bombers used by 4 Group RAF and ...

An enjoyable history of one of the long vanished branch line stations on the Great Western Railway.East Garston is no more. The site remains, but there is little to show where this once bustling village railway station and its level crossing once stood. East Garston handled a wide variety of agricultural freight, as well as passengers and parcels.In this book we learn when East Garston was built and why. The impact the station had on the surrounding area is explained and th...

The nineteenth century was an era of scientific advance like no other in history. And no nation gained more from its forward momentum than Britain and her Empire. Railways were built, bridges constructed, rivers tamed and electricity harnessed, to the great benefit of all But progress was only achieved at high cost. Impatience for achievement too often resulted in catastrophe and disaster. In 1879, the Tay Bridge was the longest in the world and a wonder of its age. But on a stormy night i...

The seventh book in the best-selling series of Unpublished Letters, this is a year in review made up of the wry and astute observations of the unpublished Telegraph letter writers.In a year in which even the most seasoned commentators have struggled to keep pace with the news cycle, letter writers to The Daily Telegraph have once again provided their refreshing take on events. Readers of the Telegraph Letters Page will be fondly ...

This walk is one of twelve walks in John Wilks' Walks Through History - Birmingham series which contains twelve walks within the city. The whole book is available as an ebook or physical book or you could try this one out first. The book is a celebration of the beauty and poetry of the county. Each walk in this book has been chosen not only because it is a pleasant walk in its own right, but also because it goes past sites which reveal the rich and varied history of the county. Each walk i...

At 10.15 a.m. on Saturday 3 June 1944, a shaft of sunlight fell across my board, sending a brilliant white reflection into my eyes. Bother, I thought, now the ink will dry too quickly … Moving so that the shadow of my head covered my work I became aware that Joe Smith and a military officer had entered the hangar and were approaching the Chief Draughtsman’s office … Stella Rutter, the first woman employed in the Drawing Office of Supermarine, would that evening play the role of hostess at ...

Nevil Shute was a writer whose books were frequently looked down on by literary critics and yet when he died in 1960 he was one of the best selling novelists of his day. Today, books such as A Town Like Alice and On the Beach continue to attract new generations of fans. However there was more to Shute than his books, a great deal more.Richard Thorn explores Shute’s personal and professional life, drawing from extensive research carried out using archives and sourc...

Every year, the collection of the best letters that didn’t quite make it into the Telegraph – because just too left-field, outrageous or hilarious for an august Letters page – offers an alternative review of the year. For this fifth volume the potential agenda is just as enticing as ever, with Telegraph readers variously waggish, whimsical or just plain steamed-up about Chris Huhne’s speeding points, a new Pope, the Royal baby and mansion taxes. Once again, it will be one of the humour bes...

From AD 61, when Queen Boudicca – outraged at her treatment at the hands of the Romans – marched on the city and burned it to the ground, London has been hit by wave upon wave of destruction. This fascinating and unique book tells the story of over 2000 years of disaster – fire, water, disease, pollution, accident, storm, riot, terrorism and enemy action. It chronicles well-known episodes like the Great Plague of 1665 and the Blitz, as well as lesser-known events such as w...