Books

It’s World Book Day, the internationally celebrated holiday where literature is praised around the globe, and children are encouraged to pick up a book and put down their phones. Of course, there are an almost infinite amount of loveable characters from hundreds of years of publishing. And while Alice in …

The Harry Potter main novel series may be over, but that doesn’t mean that’s the end of official books set in JK Rowling’s Wizarding World. Following last year’s Harry Potter Wizarding Almanac comes Christmas at Hogwarts. Unveiled today by Bloomsbury and Scholastic, the festive illustrated book focuses on Harry’s first …

The Majdanek death camp (Image: Sovfoto/Universal Images Group via Getty Images) Amid the barbed wire, gas chambers and shooting pits of the horrific Majdanek concentration camp in Nazi-occupied Poland, Countess Janina Suchodolska was a surprising yet frequent visitor in 1942. A pretty brunette with blue-green eyes, an aristocratic air and …

Fandom has always had its good and bad sides and now Game of Thrones author George RR Martin has spoken out on the toxic elements.  The 75-year-old, who is still working on the long-delayed The Winds of Winter, took to his blog this week to have a really good vent.  …

Staff at Manningtree, Essex were delighted when Great Prime Ministers by John Whittle was handed in by relatives of the borrower who took it out on June 30 1979. The UK has since had 10 Premiers – and current PM Rishi Sunak was not even born then. Essex Library Service …

Morris dancers, a quintessentially English tradition (Image: In Pictures Ltd./Corbis via Getty Images) A sun-dappled village fair. Children gaily spinning around a maypole. Cricketers on the village green. Few things evoke the splendour and tradition of an English summer so perfectly. And then come the Morris dancers, a quintessentially English …

Inside story of real-life spy who discovered Holocaust – but went completely ignored (Image: Getty) Yet Winthrop Pickard Bell’s claims largely fell on deaf ears and a genuine opportunity to avert global calamity was missed, a new book claims. “Winthrop was the first who left a publishing trail warning about …

Keanu Reeves has just announced he will be expanding the universe of his graphic novel, BZRKR, with his first-ever novel. The Book Of Elsewhere will continue the story the Hollywood actor began back in 2021, which went on to become a number-one best-selling debut of a new comic property in …

Tree Wisdom: a guide to nature’s restorative energy and wellbeing (Image: Getty) The UK itself is home to 123 million of them and has many historic giants, like the 1,000-year-old Allerton Oak in Liverpool. Sadly, over the last century, Britain has lost 50 per cent of its ancient woodland – …

Clooney’s ‘Boys In The Boat’ misses British Olympic triumph (Image: Getty) Exclusive – It’s the Chariots of Fire-style true story of a scrappy working class team of rowers from Washington state who beat posh and privileged Ivy League university rivals to qualify for the 1936 Berlin Olympics, where they overcame …