Gordon Thorburn
Author
Language
English
Description
For Bomber Command, the term 'Phoney War' never really meant much. Five Blenheims of 107 Squadron were among the blood and bullets the day after war was declared and only one came back.
On 14 December 1939, in a disastrous raid on shipping, 99 Squadron lost six Wellingtons with only three survivors out of thirty-six crew. Even worse, in the biggest air battle so far, 18 December, Wilhelmshaven, five Wellingtons of 9 Squadron went down, four of 37...
Author
Language
English
Description
No 9 Squadron of Bomber Command converted from the Wellington to the Lancaster in August 1942. W4964 was the seventieth Lanc to arrive on squadron, in mid April 1943. She flew her first op on the 20th, by which time No 9 had lost forty-one of their Lancs to enemy action and another five had been transferred to other squadrons and lost by them. No 9 would soon lose a further thirteen of the seventy. All of the remaining eleven would be damaged, repaired,...
Author
Language
English
Description
In the earliest days of World War One, when IX Squadron was formed, we went to the fight in little 50mph machines that were barely capable of taking pilot and observer, a gun and a few small, hand-held bombs into the sky, especially on a windy day. When we took a wireless set, to spot for the artillery and report on troop movements, the extra load forced the defenceless pilot to leave his observer behind.A century later, IX (B) Squadron flies jets...
Author
Language
English
Description
In the country, holidaymakers were a rarity. The railways could take you almost anywhere, but it was only the middle classes who went. So there were no crowds, and many of our pictures show tourist hotspots before they were hot, before there was any such thing as a car park. The text provides local knowledge and background to the photographs and is an enjoyable read in itself, but the real pleasure is in seeing Brighton, Margate, Scarborough, Broadstairs,...
Author
Language
English
Description
A helpful guidebook to growing herbs successfully and safely, with photos included.
Herbs have been used since ancient times both to flavor food and as natural medicines. In this easy-access guide, gardener Gordon Thorburn reveals different types of herb gardens to suit your needs-from those that don't require a lot of attention (mint and rosemary don't need much watering, but basil and the beautiful Vietnamese coriander are very demanding), to classic...
Author
Language
English
Description
"In 1943, there was no thought of good times for two battalions of Scottish soldiers. For them, India meant a new and unimaginably arduous kind of training.
Some of the Black Watch boys had seen action in Somaliland, Crete and Tobruk. Some of the Cameronians had fought the Japs in the Burma retreat. Even for these, such training was trial by ordeal. Many more of the Jocks were new, just shipped out from Scotland, but all of them were ordinary men,...
Author
Language
English
Description
Is there really a pub called The Toad Rock Retreat? Which one town has the pubs with both the longest and the shortest names? How many Lions, Crowns, and Horses are there? How many pubs are called The Speculation, The Triple Plea, The Welcome Stranger? Why would you give your pub a name like The Geese Have Gone Over The Water? The author, in his valiant attempt to answer these and many other questions, has produced a book which is surely essential...
Author
Language
English
Description
Read about the Berkshire restorer who saw a heap of old iron in the bushes and realized it used to be a 1926 bullnose Super Sports, and the seven year old boy in Norfolk, Virginia, who read a book called The Red Car and knew that, one day, he would have to have a TC, and the Dutch boy who saw an MGB on his way to school and knew something similar.
There's the French boy aged nine whose nana gave him a model kit to assemble, and the USAF fighter pilot...
Author
Language
English
Description
Allotments are enjoying a renewed popularity because people want to know exactly what they’re eating, save money, eat seasonally and save on carbon footprints. As well as men, more and more women are taking up the challenge to create their own sustainable food source with allotments, as well as experiencing the enjoyment of seeing things grow, not just fruit and vegetables, but also flowers. As well as potatoes and sunflowers, exotic plants such...
Author
Language
English
Description
From 11 June 1943 (the date of Lancaster Mark III EE136 WS/R's first op) to her last with 9 Squadron (on 19 October 1944), eighty-six Lancasters were assigned to Number 9. Of these, fifty were lost to enemy action, another five crashed at home, three crashed in Russia on the first Tirpitz raid and four were transferred to other squadrons only to be lost by them, leaving just twenty-four still flying.As more came in, three of those twenty-four were...
Author
Language
English
Description
As the globe warms, everything runs out and people become the willing slaves of small electronic machines, we have our response: the Golden Age of Sheds. We can look out from our sheds and see those unfortunates, the slaves in question, the ones who would rather be stripped naked and whipped through the market square than be separated, for one nanosecond, from their portable telephones and I-thingies, and we can smile.
This book is where the smilers...
Author
Language
English
Description
A nostalgic trip down the British high street, remembering once famous names such as Woolworths, Athena and C&A and also featuring current favorites, including the ubiquitous Tesco and Marks & Spencer which started life as a penny market stall to become a retail giant that has had to adapt to survive. Full of fact boxes and quirky facts about much-loved shops and the people behind them just who was W.H. Smith and what did those famous initials stand...