British History

Test your knowledge or brush up on it with this unofficial Trivia Book. If you want to remember some of the great moments (with the expanse of time, we couldn’t remember them all!) of one of the most loved television shows ever, this book is for you.

New Zealand and the British Empire: The History of New Zealand under British Sovereignty analyzes the expeditions that discovered New Zealand and the early settlements and conflicts waged there from 1650 to 1850. You will learn about New Zealand under British sovereignty like never before.

TV presenter and all-round car nut Ant Anstead takes the listener on a journey that mirrors the development of the motor car itself from a stuttering 20mph annoyance that scared everyone's horses to 150mph pursuits with aerial support and sophisticated electronic tracking. The British Police Force's relationship with the car started with the chasing of pioneer speeding motorists, who were often caught by policemen on bicycles.

This book is a testament to how low human nature can get and offers a comprehensive breakdown of the cases’ key dates before looking into the gritty details. In the chapters, you will learn about the origin of the word “serial killer”, dispel common myths about murderers, and get one step closer to understanding why people kill.

The landscape of the British Isles is filled with history, much of which we miss as it flashes past the car window. Do we even realise that we're following the same path as the Tolpuddle Martyrs, or that we're driving past the exact spot where King Harold was killed, shot through the eye with an arrow? As a lover of both history and the British countryside, Charlie Connelly decided to rectify this, and set out on a series of walks that recreate famous historical journeys. En route he retells the story of the original trip while discovering who and what now inhabit these iconic routes.

The Third British Empire. Sir Alfred Eckhard Zimmern (1879–1957) was an English classical scholar, historian, and political scientist writing on international relations. His book, The Third British Empire, was among the first to apply the expression "British Commonwealth" to the British Empire. He is also credited with the phrase "welfare state", which was made popular a few years later by William Temple.

Behind the locked doors of three mansions in London's exclusive Kensington Palace Gardens neighborhood, the British Secret Service established a highly secret prison in 1940: the London Cage. Here recalcitrant German prisoners of war were subjected to "special intelligence treatment." The stakes were high: the war's outcome could hinge on obtaining information German prisoners were determined to withhold. After the war, high-ranking Nazi war criminals were housed in the Cage, revamped as an important center for investigating German war crimes.

By the time of his death, Wellington had been prime minister twice, a shrewd personal advisor to four British monarchs, and one of the nation's most prominent politicians for three decades. Despite his nearly four decades of peacetime service in and out of politics, Wellington has remained one of the titans of the 19th century because of one June day in 1815. Then, as now, the duke of Wellington is best remembered for defeating Napoleon in the famous battle of Waterloo.

For over three and a half years, from 1779 to 1783, the tiny territory of Gibraltar was besieged and blockaded, on land and at sea, by the overwhelming forces of Spain and France. It became the longest siege in British history, and the obsession with saving Gibraltar was blamed for the loss of the American colonies in the War of Independence. Located between the Mediterranean and Atlantic, on the very edge of Europe, Gibraltar was a place of varied nationalities, languages, religions and social classes.

As the Japanese swept across Asia in the early years of World War II, the retreating Allies looked for ways to keep up the fight. In Malaya and Burma, agents had been left behind to stir resistance behind enemy lines, building up anti-Japanese operations from the safety of the jungle. In China, the American Office of Strategic Services helped both Nationalists and Communists in resisting the Japanese.

After being captured in Singapore and transported to the infamous Burma railway, Colonel Owtram was appointed the British Camp Commandant at Chungkai, one of the largest POW camps. Many ex-prisoners testified to the mental and physical courage that he showed protecting POWs from the worst excesses of their captors. Of course his account does not admit to this, but what is clear is that in addition to the deprivation and hardship suffered by all POWs, the author bore heavy responsibility for those under his charge and the daily trauma of dealing with the unpredictable Japanese.

Eine Sammlung der Episoden aus dem Erfolgspodcast #100malMusiklegenden, die thematisch geordnet wird. In diesem Band geht es um die britische Pop- & Rockszene in den 60er Jahren. Angefangen mit Apache, dem ersten britischen Rockhit der Shadows bis hin zum Ende der 60ies mit den Beatles und ihrer Single Lea it be. Dieses Hörbuch ist gemacht für Musikliebhaber:innen, die noch den ein oder anderen Hintergrund Ihrer Lieblingsmusik wissen möchten.

Lords e hooligans; gentlemen e gente do povo; chá da tarde formal e pubs nem tanto; família real e tabloides escandalosos; táxis e ônibus de dois andares trafegando pela esquerda... Esses ícones nos parecem muito familiares, assim como o futebol, que nos foi apresentado pelos ingleses. Mas será que conhecemos tão bem os habitantes da “terra da rainha”? A dupla de historiadores Peter Burke e Maria Lúcia Garcia Pallares-Burke (ele inglês, ela brasileira) nos apresenta novas faces desse povo fascinante.

Nine thousand men of the First British Airborne Division were parachuted into the peaceful countryside that surrounded Arnhem. Their objective was to capture and hold the bridge over the Rhine ahead of the advancing British Second Army. Nine days later, after some of the fiercest street-fighting of the war, 2,000 paratroopers managed to escape to safety.

The fighting in North Africa during World War II is commonly overlooked, aside from the famous battle at El Alamein that pitted the British under General Bernard Montgomery against the legendary 'Desert Fox', Erwin Rommel. But while the Second Battle of El Alamein would be the pivotal action in North Africa, the conflict in North Africa began all the way back in the summer of 1940 when Italian dictator Benito Mussolini declared Italy’s entrance into the war.

Gambling captures as nothing else the drama of the "long eighteenth century" between the age of religious wars and the age of revolutions. The society that was confronted with games of chance pursued as commercial ventures also came to grips with unprecedented social mobility, floated by new wealth from new sources created fortunes from trade in sugar, cotton, ivory, silk, tea, or enslaved human beings. The Gambling Century focuses like no previous work on those who enabled, facilitated, and profited from gambling, as well as on efforts to regulate or outlaw it.

The conflict between the Israelis and Palestinians is technically 69 years old and counting, but it has its roots in over 2,000 years of history. Over time, it has become exceedingly difficult for even sophisticated political pundits and followers to keep track of it all. In 1947, the British delegated the issue of partitioning the British Mandate to the United Nations. The UN General Assembly eventually came up with what is now known as the UN Partition Plan of 1947.

A daring captain. A ship full of weapons. And a sinister plot that could cripple Britain. In the heart of world war one, a devious plan devised by the German navy led to Naval Officer Captain Karl Spindler embarking on a perilous and secret mission. His task - to deliver German weaponry to Ireland and spark what would become the Easter Uprising. Departing from Norway with a disguised ship, Spindler undertook a perilous mission with a small crew and a hold full of explosives.

In the early morning of 20th April 1949, HMS Amethyst was fulfilling orders to travel to Nanking to stand guard for the British Embassy during the height of the Chinese Civil War when she was fired upon by guns from the riverbank. Shells pounded into the ship, killing the commanding officer and destroyed the bridge before the ship grounded on the bank. How did the Amethyst escape the battering of Chinese Communist guns?

Twenty of the most crucial moments in Britain's history. BBC History Magazine asked a selection of leading historians to choose and describe the twenty most important turning points in British history from AD 1000 to 2000. Collected together, their choices present a new way of looking at our nation's story.