In the process, it shows how the story of Dick Whittington and his cat has connections with the ancient Middle East, explains why lions rather than ravens at the Tower of London were once felt to be inextricably bound up with the city’s fate, and pinpoints precisely where the story of Sweeney Todd, the demon barber of Fleet Street, was first recorded. Exploring everything from local superstitions, to ghost stories, to annual customs, this is an enchanting guide to the ancient legends and deep-rooted beliefs that can be found the length and breadth of the city.

    . .Why Richard hollered for a horse;Why Eleanor was such a catch;Why no one liked the Spanish Match;The pros and cons of Laissez Faire;Smart Georgian ladies' underwear;Why Charles the Second went to plays;Why Queen Jane reigned for just nine days;The causes of the Irish trouble;The bursting of the South Sea Bubble;That giant glasshouse in Hyde Park;The First World War's igniting spark . . .Brought up with the iambic pentameters of Hilaire Belloc's Cautionary Verses ringing in his ears, James Muirden has written his rhyming history of Britain in an equally simple and entertaining form. Charmingly irreverent, magically humorous yet rigorously accurate, and delightfully illustrated by David Eccles, this is the perfect gift for any Anglophile.

    One of today's most popular spiritual writers and commentators interweaves the Old and New Testament Scripture with prayers of hope and repentance, offering ancient ways of seeing Christ that will feel new to readers of all denominational backgrounds.

     In trunks, under floorboards, in remote ravines — even in their own beds — the bodies of those for whom their lovers’ passion proved fatal have been found, and often through the stench of decay. One ingenious killer boiled down his wife’s remains in a vat at his sausage factory. Another throttled and incinerated a perfect stranger in order to stage his own death and thus escape the charge of bigamy. Then there were the lesbian schoolgirls who bludgeoned to death the mother of one of them with a brick in a stocking. Her crime: she had tried to keep them apart. Whilst one woman kept her lover in a secret attic for years until he shot her husband dead. A dark narrative, Adrian Vincent expertly brings together some of the world’s most notorious killer. In sixteen fascinating case histories, Fatal Passions tells the true stories of those who have literally loved someone to death. Praise for Adrian Vincent ‘A skilfully written account’ – Kirkus Reviews. Adrian Vincent worked in Fleet Street for twenty-seven years, becoming managing editor of IPC’s educational magazines. He is the author of many books on art and antiques, novels and true crime.

    Grounded in extensive research, this balanced account of a country and its people explores the greatness and grandeur of Iraq’s achievements, the brutality and magnificence of its ancient empires, its contributions to the emergence of the world’s enduring monotheistic faiths, and the role the great Arab caliphs of Baghdad played in the medieval cultural flowering that contributed so much to the European Renaissance and the eventual rise of the West.Fascinating and thought-provoking, Robertson’s work sheds light on a remarkable story of world history, one that has been too often overlooked. Wide-ranging and extensive in approach, it is sure to be greatly appreciated by historians, students and all those with an interest in this diverse and enigmatic country.

    1 SOFTCOVER BOOK

     These two words are among the most explosive words any human can utter.The Apostles' Creed has shaped and guided Christian faith for almost two thousand years. Shared by Protestant, Roman Catholic, and Eastern Orthodox traditions, it is perhaps the most compelling statement of Christian doctrine the world has ever known. But do we know what it really means—and how it applies to us today?In The Apostles' Creed, renowned theologian and pastor R. Albert Mohler Jr. works line-by-line and phrase-by-phrase through each section of the Creed, revealing the rich truths it contains, including: the profound mystery of the Trinitythe miracle of the Incarnationthe world-shaking truth of the resurrectionthe hope of Christ's returnthe theological heritage contained in this ancient statementThe Apostles’ Creed is an often-overlooked treasure that contains the power to shape us for vibrant and steadfast living today, equipping believers to live faithfully in a post-Christian culture.

    A much-needed rejoinder to those who dream of an easy alliance between the two faiths.

    Here are the most remarkable stories imaginable of maroons, castaways, and other survivors from the 1500s to the present - their moral dilemmas, their personalities, and their influence on society, literature, and art.

    This biography, written by his close spiritual disciple Elder Isaac and universally recognized as the most authoritative account of his life, has been reprinted numerous times in numerous languages. The life and virtues of the elder are exhaustively and accurately sketched in profound simplicity, revealing the spiritual brilliance which shone forth from his heart, enveloping on all who drew near. In part one, we are led step by step through the development of a contemporary saint: from his origins in Cappadocia and early spiritual zeal, through his monastic beginnings in the monastery and ascetic struggles on Athos and Sinai, to his outpouring of spiritual consolation to his fellow man and his blessed repose in the Lord. In part two, we are presented with the full spectrum of his spiritual personality: his virtues, way of life, spiritual gifts, self-offering and teaching. The life of Elder Paisios of Mount Athos resembles a garden adorned with countless flowers in bloom, radiant and colourful, beautiful to the eyes of man's spiritual heart, letting off an otherworldly aroma of holiness. The reader is invited to enter into his life and words, to "lay aside all earthly cares", to see life from the divine perspective, to understand the mystery of the Gospel by standing under, submitting and entrusting oneself to experience and wisdom this God-bearing Holy Father.

    Shirer's new book - written in his ninth decade - explores the passionate, highly charged, and extraordinary lives of Leo and Sonya Tolstoy. It is a compelling illumination both of the nature of genius and of the universal problems of love, sex, and marriage - themes that Tolstoy played out in his great fiction and that haunted him in his tangled domestic life. Rich in anecdotes, wise, full of sweeping history, and imbued with Shirer's profound knowledge of literature and life, Love and Hatred ranks beside such works as Robert Massie's Nicholas and Alexandra and Nigel Nicolson's Portrait of a Marriage as a masterly, intuitive, and sympathetic exploration of the love/hate relationship between two famous, bigger-than-life people. Beginning in 1862, when Tolstoy committed the blunder of asking his young bride to read his diaries of his bachelor life so there should be no secrets between them, and ending with his tragic flight from home (and marriage) in 1910 while the whole world waited for news of him, Love and Hatred tells the story of a great romance between two people who could live neither together nor apart - a romance that exhausted and obsessed them both, and that forms the basis for much of Tolstoy's work. The final book of William L. Shirer's long and brilliant career, it is - appropriately - a masterly re-creation of a time, of two extraordinary people, and of the very nature of love, marriage, and old age.

      Unshakeable is a teaching unlike any other from best-selling author John Eckhardt onbreaking the most binding, demonic force: double-mindedness. Through this powerfulbook you will develop a firm, Christlike identity that will not be easily shaken by this world.You will learn how to overcome the manifestations of double-mindedness that result in:Broken marriages and divorceIndecision and passivityBitterness and angerHurt and offenseFear and rejectionSpiritually rooted sickness and diseaseAnd much more!

    Illustrated history ofroyalty in Britain