Cornwall has been marketed as the Land of Legend since tourists began visiting in the nineteenth century, and there have been plenty of books written to publicise it. My first action when planning this book was to search the Cornwall...

Born and raised in the southeast London Borough of Greenwich, by the time I had reached the legal drinking age, I had already been frequenting many of my borough’s pubs for probably around the previous two years, I remember going...

I don’t know how it happened, but it just did, but either way, blame Barry Sheene… There was very little history of sport of any kind in my immediate family, but I had an inkling my uncles messed around with...

The term ‘Steam roller’ has become part of the English language, rather like Biro or Hoover. Steam rollers originated in the 1860s and the most common three-point design with a wide two-piece roll mounted in a steering fork at the...

Introduction Mr Hastings, by his quality, being the son, brother, and uncle to the Earls of Huntingdon, and his way of living, had the first place amongst us. He was peradventure an original in our age, or rather the copy...

This book in the ’Secret’ series features the London Borough of Newham in the East End of London. This was formed in 1965 by the merger of two former County Borough Councils, East Ham and West Ham. The area is...

Sharing A National Gardening Legacy Elvaston Castle and Country Park on the edge of Derby was first a Viking settlement, and the Church is mentioned in the Domesday Book. The property passed between various families before becoming the home of...

Choosing 50 buildings from what is one of the best-known cities in the world was probably the most challenging aspect of writing this book. In a city of so many architectural treasures it was always going to be a question...

Introduction To write a book about the history of the pubs in Loughborough is to follow in the footsteps of giants. Eric Swift in his short booklet Inns of Leicestershire, written in 1976, covers a remarkable amount of ground, both...

Strange Discoveries and Reflections in Warwickshire Whilst researching my Warwickshire books for Amberley, my main focus is always the people at the centre of the stories I tell. Under the various headings - whether rural crimes, hoaxes, or strange customs...