A travel book like no other

These places will NOT be found an any map or in any atlas.

This book describes a large number of little-known tourist sights from around the world. A book for the discerning traveller who has been everywhere else.

Read about the earwax museum called Monsieur Tussauds in London and the unhappy beaches of The Maldives. Discover small islands in the Pacific, Atlantic and Mediterranean. Read reviews of little-known museums in England and Canada.

East Uist, just to the West of South Uist, is a mysterious place. In amongst the peat bogs, crow-filled craggy peaks and lochans, archaeologists have found evidence of stone circles and cromlechs that were built on artificial platforms about two inches in height. The theory is that the people of East Uist were practising their skills gradually and learning from their mistakes on smaller projects, before heading off to the Orkney Islands where much larger and higher platforms were required.

When Captain James Cook sailed around the world, he must have been feeling extremely hungry. This can be the only explanation for the number of places he named after the humble sandwich. In no particular order, they are as follows:
Sandwich Islands was the name given to Hawaii.
South Sandwich Islands, an archipelago, part of the British overseas territory of ‘South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands’ in the south Atlantic Ocean.
Sandwich Island, a former name of the uninhabited atoll Manuae in the Cook Islands in the South Pacific Ocean.
Sandwich Island, a former name of Efate Island in The Republic of Vanuatu in the South Pacific Ocean.

31st August – Book Review – The Tudors

Comprehensive coverage of the reigns from Henry VII to Elizabeth I and including all the famous characters of the time ranging from Lady Jane Grey to William Shakespeare via Edmund Spenser, Walter Raleigh, The Earl of Leicester, Mary Stuart, and Anne Boleyn.

This was a fascinating period when England fought off the Spanish Armada having 30 years earlier had a Spanish king who made decisions that affected the English people.

Not just politics is covered, but literature, architecture, and taxation, every facet of life in fact. Who would have imagined that the amount gathered in tax fell substantially during the reign of Elizabeth and that Lord Burghley, the Lord Treasurer was one of those evading his taxes.

A travel book like no other

These places will NOT be found an any map or in any atlas.

This book describes a large number of little-known tourist sights from around the world. A book for the discerning traveller who has been everywhere else.

Read about the earwax museum called Monsieur Tussauds in London and the unhappy beaches of The Maldives. Discover small islands in the Pacific, Atlantic and Mediterranean. Read reviews of little-known museums in England and Canada.

East Uist, just to the West of South Uist, is a mysterious place. In amongst the peat bogs, crow-filled craggy peaks and lochans, archaeologists have found evidence of stone circles and cromlechs that were built on artificial platforms about two inches in height. The theory is that the people of East Uist were practising their skills gradually and learning from their mistakes on smaller projects, before heading off to the Orkney Islands where much larger and higher platforms were required.

When Captain James Cook sailed around the world, he must have been feeling extremely hungry. This can be the only explanation for the number of places he named after the humble sandwich. In no particular order, they are as follows:
Sandwich Islands was the name given to Hawaii.
South Sandwich Islands, an archipelago, part of the British overseas territory of ‘South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands’ in the south Atlantic Ocean.
Sandwich Island, a former name of the uninhabited atoll Manuae in the Cook Islands in the South Pacific Ocean.
Sandwich Island, a former name of Efate Island in The Republic of Vanuatu in the South Pacific Ocean.

Book Review – Medieval Britain – A very short introduction.

Medieval Britain was a dangerous place especially if you were a king who didn’t have the backing of the nobles and knights. Edward II came out second best after an encounter with a red-hot poker, Richard II was killed in Pontefract castle, Henry VI was murdered in the Tower of London on the day of the Battle of Tewkesbury, and Edward V, one of the Princes in The Tower, was done away with on the orders of…well Richard III is usually cited as the culprit but there’s insufficient proof in my opinion. And of course Richard III was killed at the Battle of Bosworth in 1485 by Henry VII.

This period was the time of The Hundred Years War – which lasted 116 years from 1337 to 1453 – the Wars of The Roses, campaigns against Wales and Scotland and various rebels including Wat Tyler in 1381 and John Cade in 1450. There was also The Black Death which accounted for about 1/3 of England’s population at the end of the 1340s and the beginning of the 1350s plus further outbreaks of plague in the next 20 years or so.

Yes, it was a wonder the country survived at all, especially after the hammerings by the Scots at Bannockburn in 1314 and Otterburn in 1388. But England did survive and thrived somehow especially in terms of administration, government, and the beginnings of a parliamentary system.

Julian Worker is a writer of travel books, mystery stories, and fictional lists. His work can be seen here.

A travel book like no other

These places will NOT be found an any map or in any atlas.

This book describes a large number of little-known tourist sights from around the world. A book for the discerning traveller who has been everywhere else.

Read about the earwax museum called Monsieur Tussauds in London and the unhappy beaches of The Maldives. Discover small islands in the Pacific, Atlantic and Mediterranean. Read reviews of little-known museums in England and Canada.

East Uist, just to the West of South Uist, is a mysterious place. In amongst the peat bogs, crow-filled craggy peaks and lochans, archaeologists have found evidence of stone circles and cromlechs that were built on artificial platforms about two inches in height. The theory is that the people of East Uist were practising their skills gradually and learning from their mistakes on smaller projects, before heading off to the Orkney Islands where much larger and higher platforms were required.

When Captain James Cook sailed around the world, he must have been feeling extremely hungry. This can be the only explanation for the number of places he named after the humble sandwich. In no particular order, they are as follows:
Sandwich Islands was the name given to Hawaii.
South Sandwich Islands, an archipelago, part of the British overseas territory of ‘South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands’ in the south Atlantic Ocean.
Sandwich Island, a former name of the uninhabited atoll Manuae in the Cook Islands in the South Pacific Ocean.
Sandwich Island, a former name of Efate Island in The Republic of Vanuatu in the South Pacific Ocean.

Book Review – The World Turned Upside Down by Christopher Hill

The middle decades of the 1600s saw the greatest upheaval that has yet occurred in Britain. It can and should be called The English Revolution. However, this book doesn’t rehash how the New Model Army of the Long Parliament overcame the forces of King Charles I, executed the king and established a short-lived republic though in the end, the consequences of the Revolution were all to the advantage of the gentry and ruling classes.

What this book concentrates on are the attempts of various groups of the ‘common people’ to impose their own solutions to the problems of their time, in opposition to their so-called ‘betters’ who had called them into political action at the start of the 1640s. This revolt within The Revolution took many forms. Levellers, Diggers, and Fifth Monarchists offered new political solutions. The Diggers and Gerrard Winstanley offered new economic solutions. Baptists, Quakers, and Muggletonians offered new religious solutions. Others asked awkward questions about the institutions of the times and the beliefs of the time – Seekers, Ranters, and the Diggers again. All these groups and sects are dealt with in this amazing book about an incredible time, and left me with the feeling of a massive opportunity lost. The crucial turning was the defeat of the Leveller regiments at Burford in 1649 and perhaps the death of Henry Ireton in 1651. Ireton would have been a worthy successor to Oliver Cromwell.
This book will lead me to find out more about The Diggers and Gerrard Winstanley and who knows where that will lead. For me this is what marks a great book, it’s the start of a journey with no known destination.

Julian Worker is a writer of travel books, mystery stories, and fictional lists. His work can be seen here.

Office Life

Office Life details 5 Days in the life of an English office. There’s lots of banter and insults flying around in this story. One person goes to the wrong place for the weekend, another has horrible personal habits, and a couple have sex over a desk when no one is watching, but someone is listening. The main character undergoes a transformation after losing a race and feels better for it.

The official category for this book is dark humour, but really it’s a combination of British humour, irony, and sarcasm. If you like all or any of these categories of humour, this book could be for you.

Office Life is available until 27th August at a knockdown price. 

Office Life is a story about the voyage of Albert Merton from a boorish anti-environmentalist to a supporter of the fight against Global Warming.
 
The book is not just about Albert, but also includes a number of diverting characters. There’s a rather fat, jolly contractor, who is exceedingly good at programming, there’s a lady who dresses like her mother did 30 years previously, but who is very practical. There’s a loudmouth character who doesn’t know when to shut up, a woman who doesn’t have sex often enough for her own liking, a man who drives his car into a motorway barrier at 100 mph sideways, and a man who can’t stop breaking wind and who has to go outside and emit his farts in the fresh air. These people and others interact with and influence Albert.
 

Book Review – Fear on the Phantom Special

A very readable story of 350 pages, the 17th in the Railway Detective series by Edward Marston

The murderer(s) are not obvious at all. At various times I suspected most of the leading characters but none of them were the ones who dunnit! There is a slightly weird ending which to my mind needs some explanation and I hope there’s a sequel explaining the ending. The only quibble is the method deployed to murder a character, which I think would have been heard by someone, but maybe not.

This book is recommended and I especially like how there are two mysteries in one, one being investigated by Robert Colbeck in the Lake District and another by his wife in London of a less serious nature.

Julian Worker is a writer of travel books, mystery stories, and fictional lists. His work can be seen here.

Office Life

Office Life details 5 Days in the life of an English office. There’s lots of banter and insults flying around in this story. One person goes to the wrong place for the weekend, another has horrible personal habits, and a couple have sex over a desk when no one is watching, but someone is listening. The main character undergoes a transformation after losing a race and feels better for it.

The official category for this book is dark humour, but really it’s a combination of British humour, irony, and sarcasm. If you like all or any of these categories of humour, this book could be for you.

Office Life is available until 27th August at a knockdown price. 

Office Life is a story about the voyage of Albert Merton from a boorish anti-environmentalist to a supporter of the fight against Global Warming.
 
The book is not just about Albert, but also includes a number of diverting characters. There’s a rather fat, jolly contractor, who is exceedingly good at programming, there’s a lady who dresses like her mother did 30 years previously, but who is very practical. There’s a loudmouth character who doesn’t know when to shut up, a woman who doesn’t have sex often enough for her own liking, a man who drives his car into a motorway barrier at 100 mph sideways, and a man who can’t stop breaking wind and who has to go outside and emit his farts in the fresh air. These people and others interact with and influence Albert.
 

10 favourite British islands

Scotland is home to many of the best-loved islands, but there are also atmospheric places off England and Wales