Metro Publishing – The Bell Bookshop

The Class of ’37

Emma — Thu, 28 Apr 2022 00:00:00 +0000

LONGLISTED FOR THE RSL ONDAATJE PRIZE___’A moving microhistory of working-class girlhood’ BBC History Magazine___It is 1937 in a northern mill-town and a class of twelve- and thirteen-year-old girls are writing about their lives, their world, and the things that matter to them. They tell of cobbled streets and crowded homes; the Coronation festivities and holidays to Blackpool; laughter and fun alongside poverty and hardship. They are destined for the cotton mill but they dream of being film stars. Class of ’37 uses the writing of these young girls, as collected by the research organisation Mass Observation, to rediscover this lost world, transporting readers back in time to a smoky industrial town in an era before the introduction of a Welfare State, where once again the clouds of war were beginning to gather. Woven within this rich, authentic history are the twists and turns of the girls’ lives from childhood to beyond, from their happiest times to the most heart-breaking of their sorrows. A compelling social history, this intimate reconstruction of working-class life in 1930s Britain is a haunting and emotional account of a bygone age.___Praise for Class of ’37’A treasure trove of childhood’ – i paper’A fascinating account’ – Bolton News’We’re used to Mass Observation revealing adult treasures, but to have them from these irrepressible children is doubly rewarding. An engrossing and gently heart-breaking insight into this chatter of still lives before everything changed, and a wonderful rear-view glimpse of their vanishing world’ – Simon Garfield’Characters […] shine brightly from every page’ – Daily Mail

Red Herrings and White Elephants

Emma — Thu, 28 Oct 2021 00:00:00 +0000

‘The man with all the answers in Albert Jack’ Daily Express’Square meal’ ‘Load of old codswallop’ ‘Egg on your face’ ‘In the limelight’. . .The English language is littered with everyday expressions like these, but have you ever stopped to wonder what they really mean and where they come from? Red Herrings and White Elephants delves deep into the fabric of English phraseology and in doing so explores the wide-ranging factors and fascinating linguistic history which continues to inform the way we speak to this day. So whether you want to impress whilst hobnobbing with clever folk, lick your pub quiz knowledge into shape, or simply add a feather to your linguistic cap, you’ll soon be full of incredible facts that leave you feeling as bright as a button.

Operation Trojan Horse

Emma — Thu, 22 Jul 2021 00:00:00 +0000

‘Damning’ – Mail on Sunday’Gripping and shocking […] an unputdownable read’ – Stephen Grey, award-winning investigate journalist and author of GHOST PLANE and THE NEW SPYMASTERS’This investigation rings true’ – Publishers WeeklyOn 1 August, 1990, British Airways Flight 149 departed from Heathrow airport, destined for Kuala Lumpur. It never made it there, and neither did its nearly 400 passengers. Instead, Flight 149 stopped to refuel in Kuwait, as Iraqi troops amassed on the border – delivering the passengers and crew into the hands of Saddam Hussein and the Iraqi army, to be used as ‘human shields’ during their invasion.Why did BA flight 149 proceed with plans to refuel in Kuwait City, even as all other flights were rerouted – and even though British and American governments had clear intelligence that Saddam was about to invade? The answer lies in an exchange of favours at the highest echelons of government, and a secret, unaccountable organization – authorised by Margaret Thatcher – carrying out a ‘deniable’ intelligence operation to sneak in a group of intelligence offers into Kuwait aboard the flight. The plane was the ‘Trojan Horse’, and the plan – as well as the horrific, traumatic consequences for the civilian passengers – has been lied about, denied and covered up by successive British Governments ever since. Soon to be a major TV drama, this explosive book is written with the full cooperation of the survivors, as well as astonishing and conclusive input from a senior intelligence source. It is a story of scandal, betrayal and misuse of intelligence at the highest levels of UK and US governments – which has had direct, horrifying impact on terror attacks in the West and the shape of the Middle East today. It is high time the truth is told.