This England

BOOKS BRIEFS

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Atlas Obscura is a glittering array of more than 600 of the most curious and unusual destinatio­ns around the globe. Each page has amazing and almost unbelievab­le facts and figures, with hundreds of great photos. (Workman, 470pp, hardback, £25)

ISBN 9780-7611-69086 Telling Tails (from hopeless hounds to tryrannica­l tortoises) is a highly amusing collection of animal letters sent to The Daily Telegraph. The pocket book is also superbly enhanced by many wonderful Matt cartoons (see above). (Aurum, 184pp, hardback, £8.99)

ISBN 9781-7813-15927 Telling Tales is available by post from This England.

Are you a quizmaster? Then you will welcome both The Excellent Pub Quiz Book and The Biggest British Quiz Book, each containing 10,000 questions. (Carlton, 512pp, paperback, £9.99) ISBN 9781-7809-78895 & ISBN 9781-7809-78833

In Yorkshire Stridings, Ian Mcmillan’s poems and Ian Beesley’s photos give a fine account of our largest county’s urban and rural landscapes. (Souvenir, 96pp, hardback, £15)

ISBN 9780-2856-43444

Military historians will welcome the reissue of Kitchener’s New Army by Edgar Wallace. First published in 1915, it is wellwritte­n and illustrate­d with a huge number of contempora­ry photos, explaining how the country was mobilised and trained for the First World War conflict. (Amberley, 190pp, paperback, £17.99)

ISBN 9781-4456-22927

Heathrow Airport, an Illustrate­d History is a personal account of our main air transport hub by Kevan James, containing many black and white images. (Fonthill, 236pp, paperback, £18.99)

ISBN 9781-7815-55118

Botanists will be enchanted by Wild Flowers of Britain, Month by Month. Margaret Wilson began painting them for a friend more than 70 years ago and they were eventually donated to the Kendal Natural History Society who recently offered them for publicatio­n. Packed with images similar to the one (below), this little book is pure magic and a great guide to our annual flora. (Merlin Unwin, 164pp, hardback, £8.99)

ISBN 9781-9107-23319

Wild Flowers of Britain is available by post from This England. For further details see page 89.

If you are looking for a bedside book to dip into then Everything You Know About London is Wrong by Matt Brown is just the ticket. Crammed full of quirky facts, it is hard to put it down. Did you know Clapham Junction is in Battersea (not Clapham) or that Abbey Road station on the Docklands Light Railway is nowhere near where The Beatles recorded, so much so that the station now displays a poster to that effect? (Batsford, 190pp, hardback, £9.99)

ISBN 9781-8499-43604

Do you know how to look after or fix a bike, maybe for your children or even your grandchild­ren? If not then help is at hand because Mel Allwood’s The Total Bike Maintenanc­e Book (DIY repairs made easy), has all the answers. (Carlton, 300pp, hardback, £16.99)

ISBN 9781-7809-77850

Ronald Searle was a famous cartoon illustrato­r and Searle’s Cats is a short but witty compilatio­n of some of them. (Souvenir, 40pp, hardback, £9.99)

ISBN 9780-2856-43482

Has modern photograph­y left you behind? If so then try Digital Camera School by Ben Hawkins, which tells you how to adapt. (Carlton, 208pp, hardback, £20)

ISBN 9781-7809-78819

The Mitford sisters were wellknown but their wider family is not. This has now been rectified and in The Mitford Family — nearly a thousand years of history, Hugh Mitford Raymond goes back in time as far as the Normans, in fact slightly longer. This will interest social historians. (Zymurgy, 240pp, hardback, £16.99)

ISBN 9781-9035-06448

Cookery a la Carte by David Steadman and Melvyn Tarran, is not quite what you think because it is linked to the D’oyly Carte Gilbert and Sullivan Opera Company from which 100 stars down the years have each contribute­d a recipe. Well presented and informativ­e, all G& S fans will love it. (Choir Press, 218pp, hardback, £24.99)

ISBN 9781-9108-64043

There is something strange yet compelling about a preserved battlefiel­d and none has been better kept than the Somme. In The First Day of the Somme, a Visitors’ Guide by Jon Cooksey and Jerry Murland, you can easily follow the maps and places as you discover who did what and where. (Pen & Sword, 230pp, paperback, £14.99)

ISBN 9781-4738-38031

Shire continue to turn out an excellent selection of small books which, despite their diminutive size, manage to summarise their topics both interestin­gly and remarkably comprehens­ively.

Social historians and transport enthusiast­s will therefore welcome both the following new titles: Coal Mining in Britain by Richard Hayman, and British Diesel Locomotive­s of the 1950s and 1960s (Shire, 65pp, paperback, £7.99) ISBN 9781-7844-21205 ISBN 9781-7844-20338

Beautifull­y illustrate­d in colour the Field Guide to the Amphibians and Reptiles of Europe will delight all interested in this vast array of snakes, frogs, toads, lizards and the like. Helpful maps and fascinatin­g text make this an invaluable natural history reference book. Highly recommende­d.( Bloomsbury, 432pp, paperback, £19.99)

ISBN 9781-4081-54595

 ?? Edited by Iain Hollingshe­ad, ??
Edited by Iain Hollingshe­ad,
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 ??  ?? Lord Hailsham, the real Lord Chancellor (left) with John Reed, the G & S star who famously sang “The Lord Chancellor’s Nightmare Song” in Iolanthe. A difficult patter tongue twister, it goes at quite a lick! You can find 100 varied and splendid recipes...
Lord Hailsham, the real Lord Chancellor (left) with John Reed, the G & S star who famously sang “The Lord Chancellor’s Nightmare Song” in Iolanthe. A difficult patter tongue twister, it goes at quite a lick! You can find 100 varied and splendid recipes...
 ??  ?? Following the Beeching Report, diesel locos were all set to replace steam engines but D0260 “Lion”, dubbed “the great white hope”, turned out to be more “the great white elephant” (see British Diesel Locomotive­s of the 1950 and 1960s).
Following the Beeching Report, diesel locos were all set to replace steam engines but D0260 “Lion”, dubbed “the great white hope”, turned out to be more “the great white elephant” (see British Diesel Locomotive­s of the 1950 and 1960s).
 ??  ?? If you don’t know a spanner from a saddle, a gear changer from a derailleur, a pump from a puncture, or a chain ring from cantilever and calliper brakes, then you need help with the family bicycle! No need to panic, however, because The Total Bike...
If you don’t know a spanner from a saddle, a gear changer from a derailleur, a pump from a puncture, or a chain ring from cantilever and calliper brakes, then you need help with the family bicycle! No need to panic, however, because The Total Bike...
 ??  ?? A circus cat secretly rehearsing Hamlet (see Searle’s Cats).
A circus cat secretly rehearsing Hamlet (see Searle’s Cats).

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