Showing results by narrator "Peter Noble" in All Categories

The thrilling true account of Hitler's first defeat. One of Britain's most remarkable victories of the Second World War. In the summer of 1940, the Nazi war machine was at its zenith. France, Denmark, Norway and the Low Countries were all under occupation after a series of lightning military campaigns. Only Britain stood in the way of the complete triumph of Nazi tyranny. But for the first time in the war, Hitler did not prevail.

The shy, young Duke of Sale has never known his parents, Instead, his Grace Adolphus Gillespie Vernon Ware (Gilly for short) has endured 24 years of rigorous mollycoddling form his uncle and valet. But his natural diffidence conceals a rebellious spirit. So when Gilly hears of Belinda, the beautiful foundling who appears to be blackmailing his cousin, he absconds with glee. No sooner has he entered this new and dangerous world than is he plunged into a frenzy of intrigue, kidnap and adventure.

Germany, 1945. British agent Stephen Felinski is parachuted into Hitler's fast-collapsing empire with orders to reorganize a group of Soviet agents abandoned by Moscow. Thirty years later, a top British politician defects to the Russians, and Felinski is called out of retirement to help - because of a friendship formed among the ruins of Nazi Germany. The link is The Special Collection, a daring and meticulously planned Soviet attempt to bring social and industrial chaos to Britain.

Based on new research conducted across Europe and in the United States, The Celts reveals when and how we came to call much of Europe "Celtic," why this idea mattered in the past, and why it still matters today, as the tide of nationalism is once again on the rise.

Operation Chastise was one of the most extraordinary episodes of the Second World War, yet it has also become one of the most misunderstood. Max Hastings tells the gripping story of the Dambusters raid, from the invention of the bouncing bomb to the moonlit cockpits of young pilots flying at treetop height through lethal enemy fire. But Hastings also challenges what we think we know about the Dambusters, bringing to light the difficult truths that have often been left out of the legend.

For many years an atheist, C. S. Lewis vividly describes the spiritual quest that convinced him of the truth and reality of Christianity, in his famous autobiography. "In the Trinity Term of 1929 I gave in, and admitted that God was God...perhaps the most dejected and reluctant convert in all England." Thus Lewis describes memorably the crisis of his conversion. Surprised by Joy reveals both that crisis and its momentous conclusion that would determine the shape of Lewis' entire life.

Summer 1630. The Swedish army is fighting its way down through Germany, with Jack Fiskardo and his company of scouts, or 'discoverers', fighting the guerrilla war ahead of the main advance. There are new allies to be made, new perils to overcome, new enemies to outwit and new adventures to pursue; but there is also a fortune for the taking, a mystery to be solved, and a destiny to fulfil—one that will see Jack brought face-to-face at last with his sworn enemy, Carlo Fantom.

A wide-ranging selection of George Orwell's essays, written in the clear-eyed, passionate and uncompromising style that has earned him a reputation as one of Britain's greatest writers.

A comprehensive history of Britain's greatest bomber plane. The Spitfire and the Lancaster were the two RAF weapons of victory in the Second World War, but the glamour of the fighter has tended to overshadow the performance of the heavy bomber. Yet without the Lancaster, Britain would never have been able to take the fight to the German homeland. Highlights the scale of the bomber's achievements, including the famous Dambusters attacks. With its vast bomb bay, ease of handling and surprising speed, the mighty Lancaster transformed the effectiveness of the Bomber Command.

GCHQ is the largest and most secretive intelligence organisation in the UK, and has existed for 100 years - but we still know next to nothing about it. In this ground-breaking book - the first and most definitive history of the organisation ever published - intelligence expert Richard Aldrich traces GCHQ’s development from a wartime code-breaking operation based in the Bedfordshire countryside into one of the world leading espionage organisations.

Fred awoke to find that a snake was watching him and that there was an aeroplane in the trees. It was on fire. Being on fire was a quality it shared with much of the surrounding jungle. After crashing hundreds of miles from civilisation in the Amazon rainforest, Fred, Con, Lila and Max are utterly alone and in grave danger. They have no food, no water and no chance of being rescued. But they are alive, and they have hope. As they negotiate the wild jungle, they begin to find signs that something - someone - has been there before them.

Through a stellar cast of politicians, diplomats, spies and soldiers, including T. E. Lawrence, Winston Churchill and Charles de Gaulle, A Line in the Sand vividly tells the story of the short but crucial era when Britain and France ruled the Middle East. It explains exactly how the old antagonism between these two powers inflamed the more familiar modern rivalry between the Arabs and the Jews and ultimately led to war between the British and the French in 1941 and between the Arabs and the Jews in 1948.

On July 12th, 1776, Captain James Cook, already lionized as the greatest explorer in British history, set off on his third voyage in his ship the HMS Resolution. Two-and-a-half years later, on a beach on the island of Hawaii, Cook was killed in a conflict with native Hawaiians. How did Cook, who was unique among captains for his respect for Indigenous peoples and cultures, come to that fatal moment? Hampton Sides' account of Cook's last journey both wrestles with Cook's legacy and provides a narrative of the titanic efforts and continual danger that characterised exploration in the 1700s.

As a boy, Alexander dreamed of matching the heroic feats of Achilles. At 18 he led the Macedonian cavalry to a stunning victory against the Greeks. By 25 he had crushed the Persians in three monumental battles and was the master of the greatest empire the world had ever seen. Men began to call him a god. But behind the legend was another, more complex story.

King Charles faces many challenges as he succeeds his mother to the throne. Despite his hard work and genuine concern for the disadvantaged, King Charles III has struggled in the past to overcome his unpopularity. After Diana’s death, his approval rating crashed to 4% and has been only rescued by his marriage to Camilla. In unearthing many secrets and dramas surrounding King Charles, Bower’s book, relies on the testimony from over 120 people employed or welcomed into the inner sanctum.

Astronomers have recently discovered thousands of planets that orbit stars throughout the Milky Way. Much of what has captured the imagination of planetary scientists and the public is the unexpected strangeness of these distant worlds. The quest to find other worlds brims with possibility, and Donald Goldsmith presents the science of exoplanets and the search for extraterrestrial life in a way that even Earthlings with little to no background in astronomy or astrophysics can understand and enjoy.

The greatest World War Two story of all time is not over.... By the end of 1943, all evidence of the abortive German attempt to assassinate Winston Churchill has been carefully buried in an unmarked grave in the Norfolk village of Studley Constable. But two of the most wanted ringleaders are still alive.... In the fourth hard winter of war, British Intelligence pick up disturbing reports from Heinrich Himmler’s power base in Wewelsburg Castle. The mission is not yet accomplished. For the Fatherland, the Reichsfuhrer is demanding the Eagle’s return....

1368. War is coming between France and Spain, and England, and in Italy the pope and the Visconti princes are battling for bloody supremacy. The worst years of Sir William Gold's life are about to begin. Leaving the side of his commander, Sir John Hawkwood, William embarks on a journey to serve the Count of Savoy, finding fame and favour in his service. But when his wife and children are struck down by the plague, William uses the poisoning of the Duke of Clarence as an excuse to escape on a witch hunt across Southern France and embark on a pilgrimage that he'd always pledged to do.

Assassin-for-hire Victor is in Bucharest, Romania, to kill two targets meeting to exchange stolen intelligence his client wants back. It should be a simple task - until he realises the second of his targets is a former ally. Even for a man of Victor's twisted morality, he's not prepared to kill someone to whom he owes his life. To atone for not completing the job, Victor agrees to take on the kind of dangerous assignment he would otherwise avoid. At a conference on international relations, he must identify and assassinate a killer just like him and remain unseen.

In the early morning hours of 6th November 1943, SS Reichsfuhrer Heinrich Himmler, receives the coded message he has been waiting for, 'the Eagle has landed.' It was to become known as the most daring enemy mission of the entire war: Operation Eagle, Himmler's audacious plan to kidnap Winston Churchill on British soil. But, despite spectacular secrecy, there was to be no surrender without a fight. For in that remote corner of Norfolk, an elite unit is gathered together. Ready to do battle for a nation against the most ruthless taskforce ever assembled.