Books

British women civilian internees queue up for food at the camp mess area (Image: Popperfoto) The beautiful voices of the ladies’ choir rose clear and true over the congregation, balm for the fractured minds and aching hearts of wartime. As the final notes of Land of Hope and Glory quivered …

It was 1629 and England’s poor were suffering. Failed harvests, rocketing food prices and a slump in the cloth industry had brought families to the brink of starvation as merchants exported scarce grain abroad for greater profit. Hungry and incensed, scores of rioters stormed a ship docked in Maldon, Essex, …

Lucca Comics and Games 2023 is celebrating a lot this year. Not only is it the 30th anniversary of the “Lucca Games” portion of the convention, but also – generally – the explosion of popularity in the gaming community over the past few decades. This creative spearheading began wholeheartedly in …

Midlands primary school that will be the deserving recipient of a brand new library (Image: PA) For a school so committed to reading, the library for the youngest learners at Longwood Primary in Tamworth, near Birmingham, is woefully inadequate. Sharing corridor space with the lockers where the children store their …

She published her first novel, A Woman Of Substance, in 1979 which went on to become one of the best-selling novels in history. Now, 44 years later, she’s publishing her 40th, The Wonder Of It All, the cumulative sales of her books have topped 90 million and she celebrated her …

Billy Connolly (Image: Getty) When I was a wee boy, I felt like an outsider. I didn’t fit in anywhere. As a boy I could never follow the established rules and paths that could lead to the kind of success other boys achieved. The one thing that made me feel …

Henry Kendall had a sharper eye than most. It was a skill that stood him in fine stead in his profession as a maritime Captain. But, on this occasion, it wasn’t his ability to locate and avoid fellow vessels or rocky outcrops that would catapult him into the public eye. …

Finding eight old cassettes hidden in a cupboard transported former model Jenny Boyd right back to the 1960s. The sister of Pattie Boyd and former sister-in-law of both George Harrison and Eric Clapton, Jenny had conducted interviews with the greats of the rock world back in the late 80s/early 90s …

Thus we have the basis for the latest Peter James Roy Grace crime thriller. Tim Ruddle and his wife became fed up living in London and bought a farm in Sussex. The Ruddles begin breeding dogs but one night a gang arrive in the middle of the night to steal …

Peter Hince takes a photo of Freddie Mercury jumping on stage (Image: Peter Hince) The job of a pop band roadie involves so much more than lugging instruments onto stage and tuning guitars. Peter Hince, who worked with rock band Queen from 1975 to 1986, and eventually became head of …