England Biography

Beginning in 1786, Captain John Meares of Great Britain bravely explored the North Pacific, but his attempt to dominate the fur trade between the Northwest Coast and Asia was frustrated when the Spanish navy seized his ships off Vancouver Island. Meares missed the opportunity to explore the Strait of Juan de Fuca or discover the Columbia River. Hence, he was almost a hero.

We're living in some incredibly dark and strange times, but whatever coronavirus throws at us, it's failed to dent the great British spirit. Every day, we're heartened by incredible stories of rare and wonderful people going above and beyond - and some sadly losing their lives in the process. With celebrities turning their hands to educating our children with daily sports and music lessons and weekly community doorstep celebrations for our incredible NHS and service industries who are stalwartly keeping us fed and nurtured, our get-up-and-go attitude is in full swing!

A female thief, with four husbands, a lover, and, reportedly, over 12 children, is arrested and tried for the murder of her stepson in 1872, turning the small village of West Auckland in County Durham upside down. Other bodies are exhumed, and when they are found to contain arsenic, she is suspected of their murder as well. The perpetrator, Mary Ann Cotton, was tried and found guilty and later hanged on 24 March 1873 in Durham Gaol. It is claimed she murdered over 20 people and was the first female serial killer in England.

During World War II the "special relationship" between the United States and Great Britain cemented the alliance that won the war. But the ultimate victory of that partnership has obscured many of the conflicts behind Franklin Roosevelt's grins and Winston Churchill's victory signs. Synthesizing an impressive variety of sources, from memoirs and letters to histories and biographies, Lewis Lehrman explains how the Anglo-American alliance worked - and occasionally did not work - by presenting portraits and case studies of the men who worked the back channels and back rooms.

Very few lives can be described as fit for a Hollywood film. Audrey Hepburn’s life, however, is undoubtedly one of those few. After a difficult childhood that saw her parents divorce and her young existence shattered by the Nazi invasion of the Netherlands, Audrey Hepburn’s career as an actress knew no bounds. Audiences flocked to see her, and actors yearned to star alongside her. Dressed often exclusively by Givenchy, Audrey was the epitome of chic and elegance.

Penguin presents the audiobook edition of Henry VIII: The Quest for Fame by John Guy, read by John Banks. Henry VIII's reign transformed the physical and spiritual landscape of England. Magnificent, tyrannical, a strong ruler, a 'pillager of the commonwealth', this most notorious of kings remains a figure of extreme contradictions: a devout traditionalist who oversaw a cataclysmic rupture with the church in Rome, a talented, charismatic, imposing figure who nevertheless could not bear to meet people's eyes when he talked to them.

This is the story of the final 24 hours of the life Mary, Queen of Scots. From the news that after 19 years in prison she would be finally going to her death, to the final moments of drama on the scaffold at Fotheringhay. The story is told in a dramatic minute by minute countdown which ends with the botched blows of the executioner.

Alan Whicker joined the Army Film and Photo Unit as an 18-year-old army officer, following the Allied advance through Italy, from Sicily to Venice. He filmed the troops on the front line, met Montgomery, and other military luminaries, filmed the battered body of Mussolini after his execution and accepted the surrender of the SS in Milan. This is remarkable account of the Italian campaign of 1943 and 1944 as he retraces of his steps over sixty years later.

This is the true story of an unknown American politician who played a critical role in ending centuries of conflict in Northern Ireland. Without the president's permission, and breaking every conventional rule about how to deal with terrorists, former congressman Bruce Morrison helped end a conflict that most observers thought would continue indefinitely.

In the waning days of World War I, William K. Dean was brutally murdered, his body hog-tied and dumped in a rainwater cistern on his farm in the quiet town of Jaffrey, New Hampshire. Suspicion quickly fell on Dean's wife, an invalid in the early stages of dementia. Her friends, outraged at the accusations, pointed instead to a former tenant of Dean's, whom many suspected of being a German spy. Others believed that Dean's best friend, a politically powerful banker and judge, was involved.

It took three tortured days in 1876 for Charles Bravo to die from the poison that burned its way through his body. The subsequent investigation revealed many people with a grudge against the young barrister. The dramatic inquest was covered in sensational detail by the press, but no one was convicted of his murder. Over a century later, James Ruddick draws on new evidence to solve one of the most famous murders in criminal history.

After his surrender to the Royal Navy, Napoleon became the object of massive English public interest. He would live out his last years on the island of St. Helena without ever admitting to being a prisoner. This close study of Napoleon in captivity attempts to reconstruct an authentic portrait of the fallen emperor by examining contemporary documents and records of public opinion.

If David Goethel were a cat, he would be in the market for more lives. But David is a small boat fisherman, an endangered species, who works tirelessly for himself and others like him to survive. Follow along on that journey with sea stories and autobiography mixed with twists and turns of science and management as David and his family work relentlessly to feed America sustainable seafood.

In diesem detailliert beschriebenen Tagebuch des Jagdfliegers Rüdiger von Kirchmayr wird der Luftkrieg über Europa in eine neue Dimension gehoben. Wir begleiten den Soldaten durch seine Ausbildung hin zum Jagdflieger, seine ersten Einsätze an der Front und auch die ersten Verluste unter den Kameraden. Die Ritterlichkeit im Luftkampf unter Jagdfliegern wird ebenes beschrieben wie die unschöne Bombardierung von Zielen als Schlachtflieger Ersatz im Erdkampf.

Winston Churchill possessed an iron will and a subtle conscience. His staunch patriotism, tenacity, appetite for a fight, and, above all, towering rhetoric inspired the British people to mount a gallant defense of their island nation. Having set a new bar for national heroism, he earned a place in the pantheon of the world’s greatest leaders. Churchill, a fearless soldier, was a veteran of countless battles and a rider in one of Britain’s last cavalry charges. He was also a gifted writer, a winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature, whose war reporting made his name.

Meet Harry Kane - Ultimate Football Hero. When Harry Kane was released by Arsenal at nine years old for being too small, he had to use all his self-belief to prove that he could make it as a footballer. Now a superstar striker for Tottenham Hotspur and England, his hard work and determination have paid off. Kane is the amazing story of how the boy from North London became the Premier League's most lethal goalscorer.

History for busy people. Listen to a succinct account of the life and reign of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II in just one hour. Elizabeth II is the longest lived and, after Queen Victoria, second longest reigning monarch of the United Kingdom. From her coronation in 1953 to her Diamond Jubilee in 2012, Queen Elizabeth II has stood on the world stage as the figurehead for Britain.

The Beacon Bike is the inspirational tale of one man's quest to fulfil the promise he made to himself as a small child, nestled in the bed of an attic room while the glow of Dungeness lighthouse flashed past his window—a comforting, ever-present companion.

The proud owner of a sprawling £14 million estate in the Cotswolds, boasting a stable of eventing horses, a fleet of supercars and neighbouring the royal family, Neil Woodford was the most celebrated and successful British investor of his generation. But, in 2019, after a stream of poorly judged investments, Woodford's asset management company collapsed, trapping hundreds of thousands of rainy-day savers in his flagship fund and hanging £3.6 billion in the balance.

Agatha Christie, born in upper-middle-class British society during the late Victorian era, turned into one of the most prolific and popular mystery writers of all time. Her novels have been translated into 44 languages and have sold over two billion copies worldwide. Her mysteries continue to sell as new generations of readers discover the delights of her main characters, Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple. In addition, Christie’s plays have been a tremendous success, with The Mousetrap running in London for the past 70 years.