When I was researching for one of my early books, George Demidowicz, the buildings archaeologist, got special permission to take me to see this site.
It was one of the most special moments of my life. I had taught at Matthew Boulton College; here I was in a place where the great man had walked. If I am a fan, George is an absolute expert. No, it’s not an easy read for the layperson, but it’s immensely rewarding for its insights into the period and the great cathedral of industry that made me gasp with wonder!
This volume provides a comprehensive analysis of the ground-breaking historic industrial complex created to the west of Birmingham in the eighteenth century and associated with Matthew Boulton, James Watt, and William Murdoch. The Soho Manufactory (1761-1863) and Soho Mint (1788-1850s) were both situated in the historic parish of Handsworth, now in the city of Birmingham, and the Soho Foundry (1795-1895) lay in the historic township of Smethwick, now within Sandwell Metropolitan Borough. Together they played a key role in the Industrial Revolution , achieving many world 'firsts': the first working Watt steam engine, the first steam-engine powered mint and the…
Who doesn’t love a hedgehog? I adore them. I even write a blog for one that visits my garden every night on a Facebook page called Hedgehog Highways founded by Hugh Warwick.
Hugh writes with such love and authority and illustrates his little handbook with such sensational photos that I keep it beside my bed. Open it at page 14 and I defy you not to smile!
The Hedgehog Book is the latest in the compact, accessible Nature Books series, exploring our relationship with some of Britain’s best-loved wild creatures. A welcome visitor heard rustling through our hedges or spotted shuffling across our lawns, hedgehogs are a celebrated addition to every garden and their proper care and conservation valuable to numerous other species. Through informative chapters ranging from the physiological and environmental to the inclusion of the hedgehog in myth, legend, art and literature and the vital work being undertaken to conserve this species, The Hedgehog Book is an ideal guide to its subject for all nature…
Customs and social mores may change, but human beings remain much the same. Jane Austen speaks as loudly to today’s reader as she did in her all too brief lifetime.
This is the perfect story of love between two people who have lived long enough to make mistakes and rule them. I can think of no more perfect last chapter. Enjoy!
'In Persuasion, Jane Austen is beginning to discover that the world is larger, more mysterious, and more romantic than she had supposed' Virginia Woolf
Jane Austen's moving late novel of missed opportunities and second chances centres on Anne Elliot, no longer young and with few romantic prospects. Eight years earlier, she was persuaded by others to break off her engagement to poor, handsome naval captain Frederick Wentworth. What happens when they meet again is movingly told in Austen's last completed novel. Set in the fashionable societies of Lyme Regis and Bath, Persuasion is a brilliant satire of vanity and pretension,…
June 1861, Victorian England. A house full of academics should imply calm and quiet, but much to housekeeper Harriet Rowsley's dismay some of the guests seem to have problems with the estate's unconventional practices and aren't afraid of voicing their concerns. Having Harriet and her husband and interim estate manager Matthew as the hosts of Thorncroft House, while his lordship is ill and the trustees are seeking for his heir, is not to everyone's taste!
But Harriet won't let their patronising opinions get in the way. She and her husband seem to have things under control until a series of unusual accidents occur. To make matters worse, one of these accidents proves fatal... With a house now full of suspects, Harriet and Matthew have to find out who is causing chaos and why.
