Alfred the Great’s daughter defied all expectations of a well-bred Saxon princess. The first Saxon woman ever to rule a kingdom, Aethelflaed, Lady of the Mercians, led her army in battle against Viking invaders. She further broke with convention by arranging for her daughter to succeed her on the throne of Mercia.

To protect her people and enable her kingdom...

A simplified explanation of probiotics and what they can do for and to the human body is long overdue. Despite the fact that people use the term probiotics a lot in the media as well as in everyday life there appears to be some confusion as to whether probiotics are something that occurs naturally in a healthy human gut or ‘biome’, something that is added...

After dinner at the Wolfs Lair it was Hitlers custom to retire to his private quarters where Hitler and his entourage often listened to gramophone records of Beethoven symphonies, selections from Wagner while Hitler would hold forth with lengthy and rambling monologues touching on a wide variety of subjects. Hitler was invariably joined by Keitel and his...

What did a Victorian lady wear for a walk in the park? How did she style her hair for an evening at the theatre? And what products might she have used to soothe a sunburn or treat an unsightly blemish? Mimi Matthews answers these questions and more as she takes readers on a decade-by-decade journey through Victorian fashion and beauty history.

Women’s...

Innovator. Tyrant. Consummate showman. Passionate lover of women.

After the death of King Louis XIII in 1643, the French crown went to his first-born son and heir, four-year old Louis XIV. In the extraordinary seventy-two years that followed, Louis le Grand - France’s self-styled ‘Sun King’ - ruled France and its people, leaving his unique and permanent mark...

The world of the circus has a long and colourful history but it was with a man named Philip Astley that the ‘modern’ circus was founded. It was 250 years ago, in April 1768, that Astley pegged out a circular ride on the banks of the river Thames and gave performances of trick riding to a paying audience. Trick riding was nothing new, so what made Astley so...

Full with innovative, sculptural and outrageous footwear this book celebrates all shoes from the pump to the platform and the court shoe to the stiletto.

Shoes are no longer regarded just for their practical purpose of protecting the feet as they have now become iconic works of art that would not look out of place displayed in a gallery. Collectable Names...

Wife to Richard, Duke of York, mother to Edward IV and Richard III, and aunt to the famous ‘Kingmaker’, Richard, Earl of Warwick, Cecily Neville was a key player on the political stage of fifteenth-century Britain England.

Mythologically rumoured to have been known as ‘the Rose of Raby’ because of her beauty and her birth at Raby Castle, and as ‘Proud Cis’...

For 150 years, up and down the country, from large cities to rural areas and the remotest islands and highlands, district nurses have been visiting the sick in their own homes. Here they have provided healthcare, and given moral support and advice to people of all ages the length and breadth of Britain.

Follow the story of how, in the 1860s, the Liverpool...

Which racing motorcycles or sidecar outfits have made the strongest contributions to the Isle of Man TT over the last century? If you had to choose twenty-five individual machines for a fantasy museum, which ones would they be? Matthew Richardson has made his choices, and describes each one in vivid detail in this perceptive and highly illustrated book. He...

When you think about the 1970s, what comes to mind? Flares? Queen? Rocky?

The 1970s was one of the most exciting, innovative and colourful decades of recent history. With major events in music, film and television, the introduction of new technology, and the rising tide of socio-political change, the decade played a key role in British social history.

This...

''Gardening is where science meets art, where nature meets nurture and where food and health unite.''

In an age of clean eating and fad diets, the term super food has become synonymous with inflated prices and overstated claims about the disease-fighting, anti-aging, life-enhancing powers of certain foods.

Sales of fruits and vegetables like kale, beetroot...

Trailblazing Women of the Georgian Era offers a fascinating insight into the world of female inequality in the Eighteenth Century. It looks at the reasons for that inequality – the legal barriers, the lack of education, the prejudices and misconceptions held by men – and also examines the reluctance of women to compete on an equal footing. Why did so many...

Mankind has always had a morbid fascination with poisonous plants; how their poisonous properties were discovered and developed will most likely be left unknown. Over the centuries poisonous plants have been used to remove garden pests, unwanted rivals and deceitful partners. They have also been used for their medicinal qualities, as rather dangerous...

In 9th century England Bishop Ælfheah the Bald is dabbling with magic. By collecting folk remedies from pagan women he risks his reputation. Yet posterity has been kind, as from the pages of Bald’s book a remedy has been found that cures the superbug MRSA where modern antibiotics have failed. Within a few months of this discovery a whole new area of medical...

Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall...these fictional masterpieces are all recognised as landmarks of English Literature. Still inspirational and challenging to readers today, upon release in the mid-nineteenth century they caused a veritable sensation, chiefly due to their subject matter and unconventional styles. But the greatest...

THE LADY LORD MAYORS OF NORWICH 1923–2017 offers an entertaining and revealing insight into the diverse lives, both personal and civic, of seventeen remarkable women, who from 1923 to 2017, have each held the honour of being First Citizen of the City of Norwich in Norfolk, England. Moreover, the pioneer Ethel Colman, daughter of the mustard giant Jeremiah...

Almost all of us have happy memories of excursions and holidays spent beside the sea. For many, these will have included the Yorkshire coast which runs unbroken for more than one hundred miles between the two great rivers, the Tees and the Humber. Within those boundaries are the popular seaside resorts of Whitby, Scarborough, Filey and Bridlington as well...

The YEARBOOK OF ASTRONOMY 2018 is a book no stargazer should be without.

Recognised by both amateurs and professionals alike as an indispensable guide to the night sky, the Yearbook of Astronomy is one of the only reference books to be fully revised each year.

The Yearbook of Astronomy is one of the longest-running series of books on astronomy and the night...

VERY few authors can ever dream of coming close to the legacy left by A A Milne. He remains a household name in almost every corner of the globe thanks to a phenomenally popular collection of whimsical children’s stories about a boy named Christopher Robin and his beloved teddy bear.

Generations of children have grown up loving the tales of Winnie The Pooh...

Walter Tull would have been a remarkable individual no matter when he had been born, but to achieve what he did, during the time that he did, makes him even more remarkable. He was an orphan at just six years of age, and despite not wanting to, his step mother, Clara, had no choice but to place him and his elder brother, Edward, in to a children's home in...

From elaborate Victorian cat funerals to a Regency era pony who took a ride in a hot air balloon, Mimi Matthews shares some of the quirkiest—and most poignant—animal tales of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

Meet Fortune, the Pug who bit Napoleon on his wedding night, and Looty, the Pekingese sleeve dog who was presented to Queen Victoria after the...