Ubiquitous in ever supermarket and corner shop, it is hard to imagine a world without bananas. But it was once so! Britain's love affair with the humble banana is as much the story of Elders & Fyffes, a company set up to import the golden fruit into the United Kingdom. Originally, British imports were of the small Cavendish banana from the Canaries but the British Government was keen to see some trade from the West Indies and in 1901 Elders & Fyffes was formed to import and distribute bananas. The first ships arrived in 1902 and the company grew and expanded. During both world wars, the fleet of Elders & Fyffes served their country as armed merchant cruisers. The ships themselves were a common sight in the ports of Avonmouth, Bristol, Southampton, Portsmouth, Garston, Manchester, Liverpool, Glasgow and Cardiff. Campbell McCutcheon uses his fabulous collection of images of Elders & Fyffes to tell the story of this famous shipping line from its inception to the present day.

Product Description: Two weeks before Dunkirk, Anthony Eden, Minister of War, announced to the nation on BBC radio his concept of a Local Defence Volunteer force. The Germans were routing the French and British in Belgium and France, Norway was already lost, and within two weeks the cream of Britain’s fighting forces would be weaponless and kitless, seeking rescue from the beaches of Dunkirk...read more

Product Description: The biggest shipping loss of both world wars was the hospital ship Britannic, at almost 50,000 tons. Supposedly safe to travel the seas, many hospital ships were lost in both wars. From the smallest of motor launches through steam yachts and converted ocean liners, Campbell McCutcheon tells the story of the First World War hospital ships...read more

Product Description: In 1944, the end of the war was in sight, with resistance blooming and major cities being liberated.In January, the Allies successfully landed at Anzio. The landings were successful, and although there was five-month stalemate, the battle set the wheels in motion for the liberation of Rome in June...read more

Product Description: Bradshaw’s Guide of 1863 was the staple book to what’s what and where’s where for the mid-Victorians and it gives the modern reader a unique insight into the world of the nineteenth-century railway travelers. Built primarily to serve industry and the mail packets to Ireland, the railways of Wales would go on to open up the Principality to tourism for the first time...read more

Product Description: The fifth year of the war was a decisive one for the Allies. It began positively with the German surrender at Stalingrad in February, and the Russians making significant progress in liberating Nazi-held cities.The middle of the year saw the launch of Operation Chastise, better known as the Dambusters Raid...read more

Product Description: This is a unique look at the fourth year of the Second World War, through the medium of old photographs. Although it was not quite the beginning of the end for the Germans, many see 1942 as the turning point of the war. This book, the fourth in a series covering the Second World War year by year, covers the war in Russia, where Hitler's forces were being held back; the battle at El Alamein; and the war in the Pacific...read more

He called himself Jones and was more pirate than charter boat captain. His protective streak was suffocating. His kisses devastating. And the bullet scar on his back, the gun tucked in his pants, told Ann that there was plenty the sexy stranger wasn't telling her. Perhaps even more than she wasn't telling him. Because she wasn't Ann Smith, island-hopping rich girl. She was Analiese Tremaine, and she was there to find and rescue her missing brother. But how long could she hold on to her carefully constructed identity when her search had already landed her in deep trouble with no one but Jones to help her out alive?

Product Description: 1941 At the beginning of the year, Britain stood alone against Germany and Italy. The war in Africa dominated the headlines, with huge swathes of the North African desert changing hands continually. At sea, Germany’s Bismarck sank HMS Hood, but was soon sunk herself, while Fortress Britain endured night after night of heavy Blitz and the horrors of the Luftwaffe’s incendiary bombs...read more

Product Description: The twelfth volume in the popular Bradshaw’s Guide series covers the north-eastern section of the East Coast Main Line from York to Edinburgh. This is the most northerly section of this important railway route from London’s King’s Cross up to Scotland...read more

Product Description: 1940 began with a whimper and ended with a bang. The war in the air and on land had not gone beyond the odd small raid and sabre-rattling at the border of France and Germany. In April all hell was let loose as the Germans invaded Norway and Denmark...read more

Product Description: 1915, the second year of the Great War, was to see the failure of the Dardanelles landings and the sinking of the Lusitania, shown below, with the loss of 1,198 people, as well as the first bombing of mainland Britain by Zeppelin and the entry of Italy into the war...read more

Hell's Angels: Taking Care of Business is the ground-breaking book that launched Yves Lavigne's investigative series into the Hell's Angels. This book traces the growth of the Hell's Angels organization from the early, rowdy "club" to the insidious, far-reaching superstructure that now exists. Today's Angels still value the grinning death's head, but they keep it for funerals, runs, initiations, and laying heavies. Angels, like the undercover policemen who tail them, prefer street clothes to blend with their surroudings. In a world of drugs, prostitution and pornography, the shadow the Angels' wings falls on all of us. Hell's Angels: Taking care of Business is a fascinating and startling read.

Product Description: In August 1914, after almost a decade of sabre-rattling, arms races and localized wars, Europe erupted into the greatest conflict man had ever seen. The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand saw the beginning of the war to end all wars, a war that it was reckoned would be over by Christmas but which, in reality, lasted over five years...read more