Bøger i The Biography serien

Penzance sits in the heart of beautiful Mount's Bay - the centre of Cornwall's most westerly region. Penzance: The Biography tells the story of the town, from its earliest times to the 400th anniversary in 2014 of its borough status. It tells of its growth from two small neighbouring villages to its thriving industrial Victorian heyday and beyond, a tale of disaster and success, drama and survival. Penzance has survived attacks from Celts, Vikings, Saxons, Normans, African corsairs, Spanish galleys, English Parliamentary troops and Second World War bombing. Its fortunes have rested upon tin mining, shipping and tourism among a wealth of other industries, including, of course, smuggling. Famous characters' stories are revealed: its first 'founder', Alice de Lisle; the Pretender, Perkin Warbeck; the pioneer of modern chemistry, Humphry Davy; the father of Methodism, John Wesley; and others from all strands of society who have trodden Penzance's streets. Herein lies a rich pageant of history that created the town and its ongoing story.

The Welsh: The Biography tells the story of the remarkable survival of the oldest nation and oldest language in Europe. We see how the four original major Celtic tribes are still reflected in the location of Britain's four oldest cathedrals, and how after one and a half millennia of constant invasions and eventual conquest, the Welsh retained their sense of nationality. The story of the Welsh is one of defending the nation against overwhelming odds, and of a major contribution to European literature. Its tenth century laws are acknowledged as the most progressive in the world until the later twentieth century. Almost uniquely in the world, Wales has had heroines as well as heroes, princesses as well as princes who contributed to its progress. Wales has given heroes such as Owain Glyndwr who are recognised across the globe, and men such as David Lloyd George, to whom Hitler attributed the winning of First World War. The character of the Welsh - their pacifism, literary abilities and influence - is splendidly described in this unique history of the Welsh as a people.

'If only stones could speak.' Often, when we visit historic towns, churches, castles, or old family mansions, we wish that the people who were once connected with those places could step out of the shadowy walls and tell us stories about their distant past. This book aims to do just that, combining the history of the great city of Norwich with revelations concerning the lives and labours, the lamentations and loves, of rich and poor, the great and the ungodly, throughout the last 1,000 years. Drawing on information derived from historic documents, tomb inscriptions, parish records, diaries and newspapers, Norwich: The Biography conjures up a vivid panorama of life in one of Britain's most warm-hearted and fascinating cities.