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77147 BRANDS HATCH: The Definitive


History by Chas Parker The story of Brands Hatch is inextricably linked with the career of one man. Not only will the name of John Webb forever be synonymous with the Kent race track, but his vision, enterprise and sheer hard work moulded the


structure of British motor racing over nearly four decades. It is Britain’s best loved motor-racing circuit, an undulating track providing a real challenge for drivers and unrivalled viewing opportunities for spectators. This definitive history has been written with the help of people who have worked, raced and marshalled there over the years with an emphasis on the circuit, complemented by glorious archive photographs. Here are the great races - early off-road motorcycling events, club racing, Formula Ford and Formula 5000, truck racing, rally cross and of course International Formula One and sports car racing events. Charting the transition of what was originally a steeply sloping mushroom field first used by cyclists in 1926, through its growth as a motorcycle grass track and subsequent motor racing road course, to its heyday as a fully-fledged international Grand Prix circuit, charted are all the changes of ownership, periods of decline and recent re-emergence to the premier motorsport venue. With


contributions from riders and drivers such as Bernie Ecclestone, Sir Stirling Moss, Nigel Mansell, John Surtees, Jodie Scheckter and Johnny Herbert, plus the great John Webb and Nicola Foulston, the current owner Jonathan Palmer. 272 huge pages, colour and b/w photos on glossy paper published by Haynes, 2008.


£30 NOW £12 76202 GOLDEN AGE OF STEAM: Flying


Scotsman Book and DVD by Alex Sharkey Presented in the format of an LP size album cover, this fabulously illustrated 64 page book has a 70 minute DVD entitled ‘Flying Scotsman’ at the centre of the packaging. It is the ultimate pictorial record of how the world’s most famous express locomotive steamed triumphantly into the Millennium, reborn with far greater power than Sir Nigel Gresley had ever envisaged. A professional TV documentary crew intensely filmed the engine in action during her first year back on the mainline. The result is a unique two part film, ‘A Day in the Life’ and ‘A Year in the Life’, the star of them both is the Flying Scotsman. The accompanying book in this gift set explains the romance of the Age of Steam which revolutionised travel, industry and even holidays in the latter part of the 19th century and the part played by the iconic steam loco. Illus, colour. £12.99 NOW £6.50


75975 DIESELS IN DEPTH: Class 40 by David Clarke


Provides the railway modeller and historian with fact- filled text is complemented by a comprehensive selection of photos. The 200 members of the English Electric Type 4 (Class 40) were amongst the most distinctive of all the designs to emerge as a result of the modernisation Plan of 1955. Created initially for express passenger services, the first ones were allocated to the Eastern Region, where they replaced steam on the London- Norwich main line. Then this class’s area of operation extended to the London Midland, North Eastern and Scottish regions and included parcels and freight traffic. A number of these distinctive locomotives survive in preservation. 98 pages 25.5cm x 19cm, colour and mono photos and scale drawings. £16.99 NOW £5


76019 TROLLEYBUS MEMORIES BRIGHTON by Glyn Kraemer-Johnson and John Bishop With over 175 colour and mostly mono photographs, this book is a nostalgic look back at a bygone and much- loved form of transport. Brighton Corporation ran a fleet of open-top tram cars from 1901 to 1939 when, in one fell swoop, the whole system was replaced by 44 trolleybuses and 21 motor buses, all of AEC/Weymann manufacture. Mileage and receipts in the Brighton and Hove area were pooled on a percentage basis. Overhead and electrical equipment was provided by the Corporation and eight new trolleybuses were delivered in 1939 and extended to serve new housing estates in the 1950s. March 1959 saw the first stage of the abandonment. 80 large glossy pages in softback. £14.99 NOW £4.50


76620 MY GOLDEN FLYING YEARS by Air Commodore D’Arcy Greig


The story begins in France in late 1918 when Greig was flying FE2b night bombers, then through the early 1920s as he served in Iraq, piloting Bristol fighters for three years against rebel insurgents and dissident tribesmen. Back in England, Greig became an instructor at the Central Flying School and finally he recalls his experiences commanding RAF’s High Speed Flight and participating in the 1929 Schneider Trophy Race. A highly entertaining and amusing read, Greig is the master of practical joking, having fun with explosives and enjoying daredevil high flying adventures with other airmen, already famous or who gained future fame. All in all it is an inspirational and experienced RAF pilot in the 1920s whom we meet both through his tale and with his private family photos. With useful information about the characters and written over 40 years ago for his own amusement, we are lucky to have had this book, restored by the renowned historian Norman Franks and aviation collector Simon Muggleton. 276pp with 16 pages of photos. £20 NOW £7


ORDER HOTLINE: 020 74 74 24 74 76020 MANCHESTER TROLLEYBUS


by Michael Eyre and Chris Heaps et al The story of the Manchester trolleybus network is an unusual one. They gave the city a system of the highest quality. Then Ashton found itself swept along in Manchester’s wake. The Stalybridge, Hyde, Mossley and Dukinfield Transport and Electricity Board, SHMD, wanted to operate trolleybuses too, but never managed to do so - any plans for a modest fleet being frustrated by the outbreak of war. The war also caused major changes to Manchester’s plans. The need to conserve fuel supplies resulted in the trolleybuses bought for the conversion of the Hyde tram service being used instead to replace motor buses in Moston, bringing trolleybuses to places that not even their most enthusiastic supporters had foreseen. A nostalgic memory of their stalwart service. 112 pages 29cm x 22cm with colour and b/w photos, vehicle and service details and route maps. £16.99 NOW £6


76052 OPERATIONS HANDBOOK: Seaplane, Skiplane And Float/Ski Equipped Helicopter


by The U.S. Department of Transportation After reviewing the rules and regulations for inland and international waters, the book covers the basics of seaplane characteristics and of water operation. Normal and crosswind take-offs are covered in a section on pre- flight and take-offs, and landings include downwind, rough water and confined area landings. Skiplane Operations focus on types of snow and ice, with sections on glaciers, lakes, rivers and tundra, while float and ski equipped helicopters have a different range of operations again. The subject of emergency open sea operations has a chapter to itself. Designed for Federal Aviation Authority certificated pilots and based on the regulations in force in the U.S. Charts and diagrams. 80pp. £9.99 NOW £3.50


76152 BONHOMME RICHARD vs SERAPIS by Mark Lardas


Sub-titled Flamborough Head 1779, this is the account of machines of war pitted against each other and the combatants who operated them. The clash between the American Bonhomme Richard and the British HMS Serapis during the Revolutionary war is perhaps the most famous single-ship duel in history. It occurred off the coast of Britain in September 1779 and created two naval heroes - in victory John Paul Jones became a figure that all future American naval officers would aspire to emulate, while Richard Pearson in defeat became a hero to the British for a tenacious defence that allowed the merchant vessels under his protection to escape. With full colour artwork, unrivalled detail, cutaway artwork, 80pp in large Osprey softback. £12.99 NOW £5


76451 BRIGHT UNDERGROUND SPACES: The Railway Stations of Charles Holden by David Lawrence


The radically new architecture of the London Underground which began in the mid-1920s and continued until the outbreak of war in 1939 and which retains its iconic status to this day was the result of the collaboration of architect Charles Holden (1875-1960) and his client acting on behalf of London Underground, Frank Pick (1878-1941). The stations they designed are one of the first examples of “total design”, whereby the stations, platforms, signal cabins, electrical supply buildings, signage, advertising panels, even door handles formed part of a project that would transform the travelling environment and redefine the railway station - a safe way to travel, compact yet spacious, well-lit buildings that would be instantly recognisable as Underground stations. Here are the designers, artists and sculptors they enlisted and each’s involvement with each building. The use of hundreds of photos and original plans, sketches and technical drawings enlighten an excellent narrative. Part two is a “station by station” chronological survey of Holden’s stations. Examples such as the Angel and the Oval were openings in pre- existing street façades, via the freestanding octagonal and rectangular foyers of Ealing Common and Sudbury Town. Concludes with a fascinating selection of unrealised sketches and discarded microfilms which show how the Underground was expected to develop had war and economics not got in the way. 300 colour and b/w photos and drawings, 192pp, 8½”×11". £25 NOW £11


76203 SPITFIRE: Defender of the Skies Book and DVD


by Les Perera


Presented in what looks like an LP album cover, the 50 minute DVD is inserted in the centre of the packaging and behind which is a stunning 64 page album sized illustrated book which tells how R. J. Mitchell’s design for a single-engine fighter became the legend that it is. Not just an air-defence fighter, this aesthetically-pleasing aeroplane has received plaudits for its capabilities both as a fighter-bomber and as a fast, high-flying reconnaissance aircraft. Today only a handful remain in an airworthy condition but it never fails to captivate with its elegant lines and the sound of its Rolls Royce Merlin or Griffin engine. The DVD programme includes a wealth of archive footage. £12.99 NOW £7


76452 LONDON’S CLASSIC BUSES IN BLACK AND WHITE


by John A. Gray The London Transport


“Routemaster” rear entry/exit bus first hit the streets of the capital in 1954. This superb selection of fully captioned b/w photos taken between 1948 and 2001celebrates London’s great buses and the routes


they plied. Gray’s eye for minutiae is quite amazing: he spots the smallest details pertaining to bus, driver, conductor, passengers, roads, other vehicles and even street furniture like pillar boxes and signage which turns this into far more than just a collection of photos. And the adverts - “Wool, the Wealth of the Commonwealth”, Capstan Non-Filters and Eno’s Fruit Salt - wonderful stuff! 96pp, 9"×10", over 130 photos, many full page. £14.95 NOW £7


77165 UNUSUAL MOTORCYCLES by François-Marie Dumas


Big, glossy, colourful Haynes publication celebrating the most peculiar and innovative motorcycles and their stories. It looks at all sorts of offbeat machinery - scooters, side cars and engines as well as motorcycles - largely forgotten by today’s world. Containing 500 illustrations, the book explores strange niches. Examples include a highly advanced French motorcycle created by an aviation pioneer Louis Clément in 1920, the first German motorcycle with shaft drive (Krieger-Gnädig 1921) and a streamlined machine with its radial engine mounted within the front wheel (Killinger and Freund 1938). There are sections about two-wheel drive motorcycles including the 1937 Rex-OEC and the Yamaha WR of the 2000s, three-seater machines, electric motorcycles and motorcycles fitted with skis and caterpillar tracks. Racing machinery includes the landmark Peugeot twin-cylinder overhead camshaft Grand Prix racers of 1913-23, the 1949 DKW Gegenläufers and the radical but unsuccessful BSA MC1250 of 1954.


Drawings, period adverts, 500 photos in both colour and b/w. 208 large pages.


£25 NOW £12


75296 COMMUTER CITY: How the Railways


Shaped London by David Wragg Here is a history of the railway age and its impact not only on London but also on the Home Counties, as well as an analysis of the decisions taken by the railway companies, Parliament and local government. It shows how, in 1906, an outlying district like Golders Green was a muddy country crossroads without a building in sight, but by 1939 it had become a built-up, affluent suburb. This intriguing volume looks at the railways both in peacetime and during the Second World War, when deep level tube stations were used as air-raid shelters. It looks at how they were routed through slum areas so that they displaced poorer sections of society, but did not offend rich and influential landowners. 296 pages with archive photos, maps, chronology. £19.99 NOW £6


76320 SINKING OF THE TITANIC edited by Jay Henry Mowbray Published in 1912, within months of the sinking of the Titanic, this memorial edition of first-hand accounts by survivors, people in rescue boats and other on-the-scene witnesses, offers gutting testimony about the great disaster. Surviving passengers recount heart-breaking tales of parting from loved ones, watching the great ship sink while the steadfast band played ‘Nearer My God To Thee’ and some floated helpless for long hours on icy seas. Enhancing the sad text are drawings of the ship’s decks and luxurious interiors, along with numerous rare photographs of celebrity passengers, captain and crew, poignant images of survivors huddled in lifeboats, and many more striking scenes. 287 paperback pages illus in b/w. £9.99 NOW £3.50


MODERN HISTORY & ECONOMICS


What Britain needs is an iron lady. - Margaret Thatcher


76824 LIFE IN 1940s


LONDON by Mike Hutton With the help of people who lived through the tremendous contrasts of war and peace in the most momentous decade in London’s colourful history, the author, a social historian, vividly recreates the atmosphere of a city that was then far removed from the London we know today. The war gave birth to


a heady brew of bravery, fear, stoicism, cowardice and a vast increase in crime - all set to a background of popular music from the likes of Vera Lynn and Glenn Miller. For some, London was vibrant and exciting but, even during the war years, it was still divided by class and wealth. Thousands of lower income Londoners sheltered from the bombs each night on the platforms of the underground, and came out in the morning to find their homes gone, while the privileged few enjoyed the relative comfort of the capital’s poshest hotels. During the early 1940s London witnessed the effects of the internment of innocent people who had German ancestry, shrugged off the Blitz and was overwhelmed by an ‘invasion’ of American soldiers. Even when victory was in sight, there were still the terrifying Buzz Bombs to be feared. After the war, servicemen returned home as strangers, often to resentful wives, who did not want to give up their jobs and become kitchen slaves again. A royal wedding and the 1948 Olympics cheered up the public, but they still had to cope with the continuing grinding austerity of post-war rationing and food shortages. Then, too, the first influx of West Indian immigrants caused anger, and a proliferation of graffiti demanding ‘Keep Britain White’. Difficult times realistically described. 220 pages with b/w archive photos.


£20 NOW £7.50


Modern History


77186 SECRET HISTORY OF AL-QA’IDA


by Abdel Bari Atwan Published in 2006 while Osama bin Laden was still alive, this book was described by Tony Benn as by far the best on the subject, and it is still a fascinating and chilling read. Atwan is a journalist with insider knowledge who in 1996 spent three days with bin Laden in his Tora Bora hideout, and a profile of the Al Qa’ida chief starts the book. In that


year he was approached by bin Laden’s representatives offering an interview with their leader who was then in hiding. Although the situation was highly dangerous, Atwan agreed, as also did a British Channel Four news team. The business of getting across several borders in disguise was tense, but unlike other visiting journalists Atwan was not blindfolded on his approach to the Tora Bora Eagle’s Nest, which the mujahedin had captured from the Soviets. Bin Laden hinted at a strike on US home territory, but Atwan failed to appreciate the significance of this until much later. Atwan condemns attacks on innocent citizens in the west, but he also feels that the world response to bin Laden was ill-conceived. He examines the significance of cyber-warfare for the concept of jihad, the Al Qa’ida strategy of forcing up oil prices, and the psychology of the suicide bomber. 292pp, paperback.


£8.99 NOW £4


76840 BRIGHT YOUNG THINGS: Life in the Roaring


Twenties by Alison Maloney After the horrors of the First World War, life was never to be the same again. Peppered with first-person accounts that convey the spirit of the era in the words of those who lived it, here is a frank look at a changing world. Life below stairs vanished for ever, loose morals ran riot, and new inventions made it


seem as if anything was possible. With this book, readers can step into a time of hot jazz and even hotter all-night dance halls, as the author shares the gossip in a scintillating celebration of a truly iconic decade. Read all about high society’s scandalous exploits, fresh new fashions, the Charleston dance craze, costume parties, talking movies and, of course, the feisty flapper. Take, for instance, the reputation of the American actress Tallulah Bankhead. She aroused the interest of MI5, who suspected her of seducing schoolboys! Need we go on? 192 pages with bespoke illustrations by Katie May and list of websites. £9.99 NOW £5


76903 DICTATOR’S HANDBOOK Why Bad Behaviour is Almost Always Good Politics


by Bruce Bueno de Mesquita and Alastair Smith


The authors, political scientists who for the past 20 years have been examining the successes and failures of autocrats, democrats and major company CEOs, have reached a simple but critical


conclusion - leaders will do whatever it takes to stay in power. If you think that seems a little obvious, hardly an earth-shattering insight for two decades’ work, then consider the implications of that simple truth: it lays bare the logic of politics, cutting straight through the spin, misdirection and lies and explains all we need to know about how countries and corporations of all kinds are run. Leaders remain leaders by attending primarily to the interests of whatever coalition is necessary to keep them in power. Whether that coalition is a cabal of five generals, a group of 50 tribal chiefs or 50 million voters, the techniques of persuasion and coercion are the same: the only practical difference between dictatorships and democracies is the number of backs that require scratching, and it is that number which determines the pursuit of war or peace, economic equality and the extent of corruption. Having explained their theory of political survival, the authors then apply it to explain some of the most perplexing questions: Why do leaders who destroy their countries hold power for so long? Why do autocracies have such disastrous economic policies? Why are resource-rich nations often home to deprived populations? Why do “natural disasters” hit poorer nations harder? Why do terrible leaders collect so much in foreign aid? Why are democracies so good at war? This incomparable and profoundly necessary portrait of politics and power brilliantly strips it down to the bones. 319pp, US first edition. £18.99 NOW £6


76908 FAREWELL THE TRUMPETS: An Imperial


Retreat by Jan Morris The Pax Britannica trilogy by acclaimed historian Jan Morris published between 1968 and 1978 remains to this day the definitive examination of the British Empire from Queen Victoria’s accession in 1837 to, appropriately enough 50 years on, the death of Winston Churchill in 1965. This is the third volume which covers the years


from Victoria’s diamond jubilee in 1897 to 1965 and with the author’s characteristic brilliance it describes the long retreat and final dissolution of the Empire. In 1897 the Empire and Britain’s position in the world order appeared unassailable, with many recent gains in Africa, the last unconquered continent. The cracks were, however, beginning to show as the already overstretched mother country was further embattled by the Boers in South Africa, increasing unrest in Ireland and ever-louder rumblings of discontent from the sub-continent. Germany was also busy in Africa, and it had not escaped Britain’s notice that the arms it was stockpiling seemed a little excessive for adventures up the Nile. The new world


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