Wisdom of the Ancients

Discover inspiring stories of heroism, adventure, endurance and survival from throughout history. <BR><BR>Captain Robert Falcon Scott didn't start out life as a hero. In fact, as a boy he was considered small, frail and shy. So what was it that turned this ordinary man into a legend?<BR><BR> Through his gripping account of how this modest naval officer became Scott of the Antarctic, Neil Oliver vividly relates the awe-inspiring tales of brave men that inspired Britain's greatest hero, including Nelson, Sir John Moore, and the Demons of Camerone. <BR><BR>And alongside these epic stories of courage, fortitude and sacrifice, Oliver recounts how the spirit of Scott lives on - from Neil Armstrong and the Apollo 13 mission, to the SAS and the Battle of Mirbat. <BR><BR>Young and old alike will enjoy reading these brave stories of men who understood - as Scott always did - that it was more important to die a hero than live a coward's life.<BR>________<BR><BR> 'A joy from start to finish' Sunday Telegraph<BR><BR>'A great book . . . I shall treasure it' Sir Ranulph Fiennes<BR><BR>'A must-have collection' The Times

"Everyone should have two copies - one for the car and one for the house to plan journeys. . . a reminder to think more about the places you pass and less about your route, because every British journey is through rich history." (Edward Stourton)<BR><BR>From much-loved historian Neil Oliver, comes this beautifully written, kaleidoscopic history of a place with a story like no other.<BR><BR>The British Isles, this archipelago of islands, is to Neil Oliver the best place in the world. From north to south, east to west it cradles astonishing beauty. The human story here is a million years old, and counting. But the tolerant, easygoing peace we enjoy has been hard won. We have made and known the best and worst of times. We have been hero and villain and all else in between, and we have learned some lessons.<BR><BR>The Story of the British Isles in 100 Places is Neil's very personal account of what makes these islands so special, told through the places that have witnessed the unfolding of our history. Beginning with footprints made in the sand by humankind's earliest ancestors, he takes us via Romans and Vikings, the flowering of religion, through civil war, industrial revolution and two world wars. From windswept headlands to battlefields, ancient trees to magnificent cathedrals, each of his destinations is a place where, somehow, the spirit of the past seems to linger.

Who were the first Britons, and what sort of world did they occupy? <BR><BR>In A History of Ancient Britain, much-loved historian Neil Oliver turns a spotlight on the very beginnings of the story of Britain; on the first people to occupy these islands and their battle for survival. <BR><BR>There has been human habitation in Britain, regularly interrupted by Ice Ages, for the best part of a million years. The last retreat of the glaciers 12,000 years ago brought a new and warmer age and with it, one of the greatest tsunamis recorded on Earth which struck the north-east of Britain, devastating the population and flooding the low-lying plains of what is now the North Sea. The resulting island became, in time, home to a diverse range of cultures and peoples who have left behind them some of the most extraordinary and enigmatic monuments in the world.<BR><BR>Through what is revealed by the artefacts of the past, Neil Oliver weaves the epic story - half a million years of human history up to the departure of the Roman Empire in the Fifth Century AD. It was a period which accounts for more than ninety-nine per cent of humankind's presence on these islands.<BR><BR>It is the real story of Britain and of her people.