Showing titles in Great Britain

Alone, unprepared, and weak. These are generally the words used to describe Britain's position in 1940, part of a narrative that has been built up ever since the end of World War II. However, the reality is very different. On land, sea, and in the air, Britain was prepared. It had the most powerful navy in the world; the RAF was relatively strong, but more importantly, was operating as part of a plan and a joined-up group system that was in reality never in any real danger of being defeated; even the post-Dunkirk British Army was better armed than the post-war narrative tells us.

In 2020, the world faced its biggest crisis in a generation: a global pandemic. In the UK, it exposed deep divisions within society and laid bare a toxic culture war that had been raging beneath the surface. From the outset, Piers Morgan urged the nation to come to its senses, once and for all, and held the government to often ferocious account over its handling of the crisis. COVID-19 shed shocking light on the problems that plague our country. Stockpilers and lockdown-cheats revealed our grotesque levels of self-interest.

Imagine you could travel back to the 14th century. What would you see? What would you smell? More to the point, where are you going to stay? And what are you going to eat? Ian Mortimer shows us that the past is not just something to be studied; it is also something to be lived. He sets out to explain what life was like in the most immediate way, through taking you to the Middle Ages. The result is the most astonishing social history book you are ever likely to read: evolutionary in its concept, informative and entertaining in its detail.

The headlines may be all COVID now; as a few short months ago, they were all Brexit, but breakdown of the UK's political sphere has been a long time coming and it is a symptom of a much deeper malaise. We seem to have lost our faith in all our social institutions, from parliament and the press to banking and religion. It is this wider disillusionment that All in It Together, a cultural, political and social history of Britain from 2000 to 2015, explains.

Step into the lost world of ancient Britain, where fierce warriors painted themselves blue and wise Druids practiced mysterious magic. This audiobook uncovers the untold story of the Britons—an ancient people often overshadowed by Roman invaders and Anglo-Saxon conquerors. Yet, their legacy, filled with culture, strength, and resilience, is the true foundation of modern Britain.

HG-76 sailed from Gibraltar to Britain in December 1941 and was specially targeted by the Germans. A wolfpack of U-boats was sent against it, and the Luftwaffe was heavily committed too in a rare example of German inter-service cooperation. German intelligence agents in Gibraltar and Spain also knew every detail of HG-76 before it had even sailed, seemingly stacking the odds in favour of the Kriegsmarine. Despite this the convoy fought its way through.

Drawing on their unrivalled access throughout the Labour party, the Times and Sunday Times investigative duo behind Left Out now present the explosive inside story of Labour’s transformation and general election under Starmer. This is the definitive telling of a momentous time for the party: either their election as the first Labour government since the Blair/Brown era, or a catastrophic mishandling of a huge lead in the opinion polls. Either way, the story centres on Starmer's relentless and single-minded pursuit of power, and on the inevitable turmoil and carnage.

The British wars began on the morning of 23 July 1637, heralding 200 years of battles. Most were driven by religious or political conviction, as Republicans and Royalists, Catholics and Protestants, Tories and Whigs, and colonialists and natives vied for supremacy. Of the battles not fought on home territory, many took place across Europe, America, India, and also at sea. Schama's examination of this turbulent period reveals how the British people eventually united in imperial enterprise, forming 'Britannia Incorporated'.

This is an audiobook about a poet, about a poem, about a city, and about a world at a point of change. More than a work of literary criticism or literary biography, it is a record of why and how we create and respond to great poetry. This an audiobook about a poet, W. H. Auden, a wunderkind, a victim-beneficiary of a literary cult of personality who became a scapegoat and a poet-expatriate largely excluded from British literary history because he left.

In Failed State, respected political analyst Sam Freedman offers a devastating analysis of where we’ve gone wrong. Speaking to politicians of all stripes, civil servants, workers on the frontline and key thinkers across the world, this audiobook bursts with insight on the real problems that are so often hidden from the front pages. The result is a witty, landmark audiobook that paves the way for a fairer and more prosperous Britain.

In the early 1970s, Britain seemed to be tottering on the brink of the abyss. Under Edward Heath, the optimism of the '60s had become a distant memory. Now the headlines were dominated by strikes and blackouts, unemployment and inflation. As the world looked on in horrified fascination, Britain seemed to be tearing itself apart. And yet, amid the gloom, glittered a creativity and cultural dynamism that would influence our lives long after the nightmarish '70s had been forgotten.

Who owns England? Behind this simple question lies this country’s oldest and best-kept secret. This is the history of how England’s elite came to own our land, and an inspiring manifesto for how to open up our countryside once more.

Christopher Lee's highly acclaimed and award-winning BBC Radio 4 history of the British Empire.

The story of the love affair between Wallis Simpson and King Edward VIII, and his abdication in order to marry the divorcée, has provoked fascination and discussion for decades. However, the full story of the couple's links with the German aristocracy and Hitler has until now remained untold. Meticulously researched, 17 Carnations chronicles this entanglement, starting with Hitler's early attempts to matchmake between Edward and a German noblewoman.

A comprehensive history of Britain's greatest bomber plane. The Spitfire and the Lancaster were the two RAF weapons of victory in the Second World War, but the glamour of the fighter has tended to overshadow the performance of the heavy bomber. Yet without the Lancaster, Britain would never have been able to take the fight to the German homeland. Highlights the scale of the bomber's achievements, including the famous Dambusters attacks. With its vast bomb bay, ease of handling and surprising speed, the mighty Lancaster transformed the effectiveness of the Bomber Command.

Since the release of Strange Sheffield Adrian Finney found himself as the host of the Strange Sheffield Ghost Tours under his Strange Britain brand. In this role he quickly found himself deluged with stories sent to him from the people of Sheffield and he began researching. Those stories are what are at the core of Stranger Sheffield.

In 1647, the Parliamentarians were divided. They had won the first civil war and the king was in custody, but disagreements over the way forward had led to a stalemate. As the leader of one party, Oliver Cromwell found himself again at the center of events. In the second volume of his pioneering biography, Ronald Hutton traces Cromwell's career from 1647 through to his seizure of supreme power.

In On This Day in History, Dan Snow, Britain's favourite historian, tells the story of an important event that happened on each day of the year. From the signing of the Armistice treaty at 11 a.m. on the 11th day of the 11th month in 1918 to Rosa Parks refusing to give up her bus seat on 1 December 1955, our past is full of all kinds of fascinating turning points.

A Journey is Tony Blair’s first-hand account of his years in office and beyond. Here he describes for the first time his role in shaping our recent history, from the aftermath of Princess Diana’s death to the war on terror. He reveals the leadership decisions that were necessary to reinvent his party, the relationships with colleagues, the gruelling negotiations for peace in Northern Ireland, the battles over education and health, the implementation of the biggest reforms to public services since 1945.

Ah, Britain. So special. The greatest nation on earth, some say. And we did it all on our own. Didn’t we? Well, as it happens Britannia got its name from the Romans, and almost none of the kings and queens of England were actually English. But then, as Horrible Histories author Terry Deary argues, nations and their leaders are defined by the enemies they make.