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 phenomenal number one bestseller and a major BBC TV series.A Richard and Judy Book Club Pick.Winner of the Specsavers National Book Award and Waterstones Book of the Year.**Beautiful, intoxicating and filled with heart-pounding suspense, Jessie Burton's historical novel set in Amsterdam, The Miniaturist, is a story of love and obsession, betrayal and retribution.'Completely immerses the reader in ...

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...

**The Top Five Sunday Times Bestseller'Excellent . . . persuasive . . . convincing' – The Times'Funny, whipsmart and devastating. Sanity on steroids' – Emily Maitlis'Fantastic. An exquisite analysis' – The Secret Barrister**Why does nothing work in Britain?It’s harder than ever to get a GP appointment. Burglaries go unpunished. Rivers are overrun with sewage. Real wages have been stagnant for years, even as the cost of housing rises i...

**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, fa...

Told for the very first time, this is the shocking and extraordinary story of the most-conniving and manipulative Tudor family you've never heard of . . .'A tour-de-force of Tudor history. Remarkable' DAN JONES'Exciting and immersive. An immensely entertaining history' SUNDAY TIMES'This is riveting stuff: death, desire, power and scandal'SPECTATOR'A twist on the Tudors . . . E...

**LONGLISTED FOR THE WOMEN’S PRIZE FOR NON-FICTION 2024**‘Unmissable’ Stephen Fry'A delight' Katherine Rundell‘Illuminating’ Susie Dent'Brilliant' Philippa Perry'Enthralling' Jeanette WintersonWhat do three murderers, Karl Marx's daughter and a vegetarian vicar have in common?They all helped create the Oxford English D...

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...