Great Britain

Following the toppling of Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq in 2003, the SAS launched one of the most intense and secretive operations in its history: Task Force Black.

The name Captain James Cook is one of the most recognisable in Australian history - an almost mythic figure who is often discussed, celebrated, reviled and debated....

A road trip book with a difference. Stars of Outlander - Sam Heughan and Graham McTavish - explore Scotland, a land of raw beauty, poetry, feuding, music, history and warfare....

The last half century has seen society, technology, the character of conflict and the British Army itself all change greatly. From a low point in the 1970s, the Army’s war fighting capability increased in the 1980s in the face of a prospective war with the Soviet Union.

Imagine you could travel back to the 14th century. What would you see? What would you smell? More to the point, where are you going to stay? And what are you going to eat....

n Heirs and Graces Eleanor Doughty draws on her unparalleled access to a bewildering range of dukes, duchesses, earls and others to create a vivid picture of who they are and how they tick.

Power and the Palace will examine how the relationship between the sovereign and the country's political leadership has changed over the last 200 years....

From the Stone Age to the 21st century, The History of Britain chronicles the epic story of this small but turbulent kingdom. Fully revised and updated to include the latest political developments, this fascinating book helps listeners to navigate this vast and enthralling history....

Told through seven fascinating burial sites, this groundbreaking prehistory of Britain teaches us more about ourselves and our history: how people came and went, how we came to be on this island....

From the Norman Invasion in 1066 to the eve of the First World War, Stick a Flag in It is a thousand-year jocular journey through the history of Britain and its global empire....

Centuries on, what the Reformation was and what it accomplished remain deeply contentious. Peter Marshall's sweeping new history argues that 16th-century England was a society neither desperate for nor allergic to change, but one open to ideas of "reform" in various competing guises....

Bill Bryson is the world's funniest travel writer, and a master of comic observation....

The British Secret Service has been cloaked in secrecy and shrouded in myth since it was created 100 years ago. MI6 provides a unique and unprecedented insight into this secret world and the reality that lies behind the fiction....

Covering the Ice Age to the recent Scottish Referendum, the acclaimed historian and author explores the history of the Scottish nation....

Aunt Munca never told the truth about anything. Calling herself after the mouse in a Beatrix Potter story, she was already a figure of mystery during the childhood of her nephew Ferdinand Mount....

Ronald Hutton is known for his colorful, provocative, and always exhaustively researched studies on original subjects. This work is no exception: the first full-scale scholarly study of the only religion England has ever given the world, that of modern pagan witchcraft....

When diplomatic efforts to introduce opium to the Chinese market failed, the British Parliament approved an alternative: war. There were two wars: one from 1839 to 1842, and another from 1856 to 1860. They are collectively known as the Opium Wars....

Where would Britain be without coal? In this brilliant social history, Jeremy Paxman tells the story of how the black stuff has shaped every aspect of Britain....

The Battle of Culloden in 1746 has gone down in history as the last major battle fought on British soil....

There has been a great deal written about Tudor queens, but less so about those women who surrounded the throne, who may have held even more power and influence than those who actually wore the golden crown. This is the story of the ladies of the Tudor court....

Timothy West reads the third and concluding volume of award-winning historian Simon Schama's compelling chronicle of the British Isles....

The explosive love story and full details behind Diana and Charles's relationship have never been revealed ... until now. Their breakup sent shock waves around the world, as growing suspicions were officially confirmed: Their fairy-tale marriage was just that—a fairy tale....

Was World War II really the 'Good War'? In the years since the declaration of peace in 1945, many myths have sprung up around the conflict. In this audiobook, Peter Hitchens deconstructs the many fables which have become associated with the narrative of the 'Good War'....

A riveting and authoritative history of the single most important event in English history: The Norman Conquest....

A personal account of the life and character of Britain's longest-reigning monarch....

The last half century has seen society, technology, the character of conflict and the British Army itself all change greatly. From a low point in the 1970s, the Army’s war fighting capability increased in the 1980s in the face of a prospective war with the Soviet Union. This capability was then tested on operations from Kuwait in 1991 through to Afghanistan in 2001 and the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

The Book of Kells is a mystery. It is distinct from all copies of the gospels from the early Middle Ages, not only in the quality and amount of its decoration but also in the peculiarities of the ordering of its contents, the oddness of its apparatus, the appearance of the script, the interplay of text and ornament, and the erratic forms of its Latin. The Book of Kells is probably the most famous manuscript in the world – and Victoria Whitworth's masterly treatment offers something new.

Willie, Willie, Harry, Stee, Harry, Dick, John, Harry three. One, two, three Neds, Richard Two, Henries, four, five, six, then who? Charlie Higson has always been interested in the story of the fabled English monarchy: from the b*stardly to the benevolent, brilliant to the brutal. In this wonderful new book, with the famous rhyme he learned at school as his trusty guide, Charlie takes the plunge into the storied history of this most treasured of institutions – introducing listeners to every single ruler since poor Harold was shot in the eye at the Battle of Hastings.

Parker unlocks secrets that point to more complex motivations within the marauding army that in the late-9th century voyaged to the shores of eastern England in its sleek, dragon-prowed longships. Exploring legends from forgotten medieval texts, and across the varied Anglo-Saxon regions, she depicts Vikings who came not just to raid but also to settle personal feuds, intervene in English politics and find a place to call home. Native tales reveal the links to famous Vikings like Ragnar Lothbrok and his sons, Cnut, and Havelok the Dane.

As a walking tour guide for 15 years, Jonnie Fielding has made it his mission to uncover all there is to know about London, from forgotten facts to the history hiding in plain sight. Packed full of pub-quiz trivia, Why Is Downing Street Painted Black? includes 365 of his favourite quirks, anomalies and eccentricities from all over town.

This book began as a podcast—a chance to explore some of Britain’s most intriguing unsolved mysteries. From strange lights in the sky to vanished men, haunted houses to entire stretches of countryside steeped in unease, each episode set out to capture both the history and the enduring sense of the uncanny that clings to these tales. Collected here, the stories form something different. Listened to together, they reveal patterns: how ordinary lives collide with the inexplicable, how mystery resists tidy explanation, and how the unknown remains part of our national imagination.

In June 1944, an Allied army of British, American, and Canadian troops sought to open up a Second Front in Normandy. But they were not only fighting to bring the Second World War to an end. After decades of Anglo-American struggle for dominance, they were also contending with one another—to determine who would ascend to global hegemony once Hitler's armies fell. Marc Milner traces this bitter rivalry as it emerged after the First World War and evolved during the fragile peace which led to the Second.

Matthew Mills uncovers and draws together vibrant contributions to Marian doctrine and devotion by some of those then living in England under the sixth-century Rule of St. Benedict: the Benedictines and their successors, the Cistercians. In a thematic unfolding of Mary's life and identity, a picture emerges of a Mariology shaped by the constant of monastic liturgy, anchored in the biblical and patristic wisdom cherished and transmitted by the Venerable Bede, and animated by love. Towering figures are also placed within a wider landscape alongside lesser known but still significant others.

عد الفيلسوف الفرنسي فرانسوا ماري آروويه المعروف باسم فولتير من أبرز رموز حركة التنوير في أوروبا ومن أكثر من ساهموا في تمهيد الطريق للثورة الفرنسية من خلال نقده الحاد والجريء للواقع الاجتماعي والسياسي والديني الذي كانت تعانيه أوروبا آنذاك. فقد وجه سهام نقده اللاذع نحو فساد رجال الدين واستغلالهم لمناصبهم في ترسيخ الطغيان ونشر الإرهاب الفكري وقمع الحريات وتكريس التخلف والبؤس والمعاناة بين الشعوب. من بين أعظم أعماله يبرز كتابه الشهير "الرسائل الفلسفية" والذي يعتبر وثيقة فكرية وتاريخية فريدة من نوعها.

War is often remembered through the lens of soldiers, battles, and political leaders, but one of its most enduring human stories belongs to those too young to fight—the children. At the outbreak of the Second World War, governments across Europe launched evacuation programmes designed to protect their youngest citizens from the horrors of modern warfare. Operation Pied Piper in Britain uprooted nearly 1.5 million people in just a few days, most of them children carrying gas masks and small suitcases, their names tied to their coats like parcels.

The Royal Marines Commandos: Britain’s Amphibious Elite takes listeners deep inside one of the most formidable and respected fighting forces in the world. For more than 350 years, the Royal Marines have stood at the cutting edge of Britain’s military power, combining the traditions of naval service with the skill and ferocity of elite infantry. From their origins in the 17th century as “soldiers of the sea” to their modern role as expeditionary warriors, the Commandos have embodied adaptability, courage, and a relentless will to overcome.

This definitive book will offer a unique and captivating exploration of football's rich legacy, told through 100 carefully selected objects from the unrivalled collection of the National Football Museum – the world's largest. Delving into the sport's social, cultural, and technological evolution, it will take you inside moments of high drama, euphoric success and crushing heartbreak to peel back the layers of the world's favourite game.

This is the story of Miss White, a woman who lived in the author’s village 80 years ago, a pioneer who realised her ambition to become a farmer during the Second World War, and how she worked to become accepted within this community. Nicola Chester, too, dreamed of becoming a farmer but working with horses was the only path open to her. Was it easier for women to become farmers in the 1940s than it is now?

She wore black for forty years. And ruled a world in mourning. Queen Victoria didn’t just wear the crown — she became it. Through grief, silence, and sheer symbolic power, she turned herself into the emotional architecture of an empire that never stopped expanding. While others fought, conquered, and colonized, she sat — cloaked in black — and let the myth do the work. Victoria: The Widow Who Ruled the World is not a sentimental biography.

Une brève histoire du Celtic Football Club retrace avec intensité et précision le parcours légendaire du club de Glasgow, depuis sa fondation caritative en 1887 par le frère Walfrid jusqu’à son rayonnement mondial actuel. À travers dix chapitres, Derek Monaghan explore les grandes étapes de l’histoire du Celtic : ses premiers titres, sa résilience pendant les guerres, l’ère dorée de Jock Stein et des Lisbon Lions, les rivalités culturelles avec les Rangers, et les défis du football moderne.