Helena, Napoleon Bonaparte is embarrassing the British, and England is now the laughing stock of Europe. The answer is a new Governor: Lord Horatio Hornblower. The British government is betting that Hornblower's background, being so similar to Bonaparte's, will earn the Corsican's respect. Both men rose from humble beginnings to nobility by his achievements alone. Both have commanded men and lead them to victories. Hornblower's mission is simple: deal with the greatest military genius of the modern era and make him behave. Hornblower discovers a Bonaparte that history never knew, and learns the truth about the man who would be Emperor of the world.

    In 1942, before El Alamein turned the tide of war, the German merchant fleet was re-supplying its war machine with impunity. So Operation Frankton, a daring and secret raid, was launched by Mountbatten's Combined Operations and led by the enigmatic 'Blondie' Hasler - to paddle 'Cockleshell' canoes right into Bordeaux harbour and sink the ships at anchor.

    Kim Il Sung wasted little time before plunging the country into a futile war which cost more than two million people their lives. His son, Kim Jong Il, would wallow in obscene luxury as North Korea suffered one of the Twentieth Century’s most terrible famines. Kim Jong Un has only recently ascended to power. However, he has already ordered his own uncle’s execution by antiaircraft gun. The North Korean people are told that they are the most fortunate in the world. In reality they are the most oppressed. North Korea is a country where criticising the government, or even watching a foreign film, can lead to imprisonment and death.North Korea: A Bare Bones History tells the story of one of the world’s most enigmatic nations. It’s an extraordinary history of war, assassination, kidnapping, terrorism, and an attempt to decapitate a rival head of state.