Farewell My Beloved, Goodbye Dear Leader

The only certainty in life is death. Even the most powerful leaders throughout history were unable to cheat the Grim Reaper. World leaders, whether revered or reviled, are rarely allowed to exit gracefully from life but instead receive a state funeral, a major international event incorporating splendid symbols and messages, religious faith, and tradition.

The body of Tsar Alexander III was carried across half of Russia before finally being buried in St. Petersburg. People paid obscene amounts of money for a room that gave a glimpse of Queen Victoria’s fascinating State funeral. The cortège for China’s Empress-Dowager Cixi was not to be photographed – nevertheless photos showed up a century later. For political reasons Generalissimo Franco’s body was exhumed decades after his death. The world became acquainted with a rather unusual ancient Roman Catholic ritual, when Pope John Paul I died. The body of India’s Indira Gandhi was confined to sacred flames. The last journey of Marshal Tito turned into an event of “Funeral Diplomacy”, whilst Khomeini’s funeral ended in frenzy and tumult. In 2021 the massive restrictions imposed due to the Covid-19 pandemic meant a rigid downsizing of Prince Philip’s funeral, hardly any guests were allowed to attend.

This revealing and entertaining book provides an insight into unique obsequies from across the world, seen as both a celebration of life and the honouring of death.

Brian Jones, the Founder of the Rolling Stones

The Rolling Stones were founded by Brian Jones who selected Jagger, Richards, Stewart, Wyman and Watts to join his group. He continues to be vilified as a callous nerd, and those who perhaps give him credit for musical creativity and a good dress style, quickly hasten to claim his character was flawed. Despite persistently badmouthed as a misfit who had some of the devil in him, the truth is that the devil did not impregnate his mother any better than the Holy Ghost impregnated Mary mother of Jesus.

He was the product of an abysmally dysfunctional family with bigoted Christian parents inflicting malicious manipulation on their son, whose only failure was not to be what his parents wanted. His father was an intolerant, egotistical tyrant convinced of paternal omnipotence as the head of the family. Brian Jones’ mental development was thwarted in the hands of his parents who neglected their son’s emotional needs, and his distress manifested itself as the psychosomatic asthma he developed. An alleged social bastard without ethics, he was, in fact, a badly mistreated human being with problems. The depth of his artistic talent goes painfully unrecognized. Like a stray cat in the street, he died as a result of human mistreatment, yet like everyone else, Brian Jones deserves to be considered in his circumstances.

Aris

This book is a torn page from the History of World War II.

It cost the author 20 years of research.

It cost the Greek National Resistance thousands of dead and wounded in battles and acts of sabotage that have remained unsung.

The inspiration and the leader of the unorthodox and harsh war without prisoners against the invaders was Aris; a charismatic 36-year-old man with an iron will. He created ELAS, the largest volunteer army in the history of Greece, and a “Free Greece” within enslaved Europe. But when the invaders left, Aris clashed with the political leadership of both the right and the left and he took to the mountains again, where he committed suicide on June 15, 1945, hounded by all of them.

1st August

When ethnarchy emerged as an institution in Syria, the Cypriots were federated under the Koinon and continued to do so during the next five centuries. Well-known Roman personages were connected to the island including Marcus Cato and Cicero. The first religious leaders, Saint Paul, Barnabas, and Lazarus came one century later. Christian emissaries came in the fourth century, starting from Saint Helena. Later, Spyrido, Epiphany and others implemented the imperial orders issued by the emperors up to the time of Justinian. These emissaries abolished the Koinon, and the Synod convened by the Church took over temporal authority.

The Crusaders, as from the end of the 12th century, established a feudal rule under Kings Guy, Aimery, Hugh I, Henry I [the fat], Hugh II, Hugh III, John I, Henry II, Hugh IV, Peter I, Peter II, James I, Janus, John II, James II, and Katerina Cornaro. During their reign, they were under the suzerainty Frederic II, Emperor of Germany, replaced by the Pope, as from 1233.

From the time of King John II, in 1432, a second embassy left for Kairo, recognizing one more servitude to the Mamluk Sultan and the payment of tax. Venice took over in 1489 and the Ottomans in 1571. The quasi-ethnarchy under Constitutio Cypria came to an end and was replaced by the Oath of Submission to the Ottoman Sultan enforced up to 1927; however, Archbishop Makarios III retained the ethnarch title during his lifetime up to the year 1977.

Orphans of the Holocaust

Orphans of the Holocaust tells the remarkable true story of Ottó Komoly, a Hungarian-Jewish engineer and Zionist leader who helped save thousands of Jewish lives during the Holocaust. As head of the Budapest Aid and Rescue Committee, Komoly worked tirelessly to assist Polish and Slovakian Jews to escape and hide in Hungary. After German troops entered Hungary in March 1944, Komoly helped organize ‘Department A’ of the International Red Cross in Budapest. As its director, he oversaw the setting up of shelters and orphanages for some 5,500 Jewish children who lost their parents during the Nazi siege of Budapest and supported the ghetto and Jewish hospitals with food and medication.

The book chronicles Komoly’s lifesaving rescue campaign through his personal diary from 1944, providing a raw, firsthand perspective of his tireless efforts organizing and aiding Hungary’s Jews despite the mortal danger he faced. Despite having the opportunity to escape, Komoly chose to remain in Budapest to carry out his life-saving work until his arrest and presumed death at the hands of Hungary’s fascist Arrow Cross in January 1945. Orphans of the Holocaust sheds light on this selfless hero who risked everything for the sake of humanity.

Tributes:

“I have to highlight what an extraordinary man Ottó Komoly was. He was a model of calm and determination in the worst of times. He came to me looking for assistance, and I am happy to have worked with him. An idea is always best understood through people. I am not competent to talk about Zionism, it is up to those who are entitled to talk about it. For me, this idea has acquired beauty and greatness since I got to know Ottó Komoly. His wisdom and goodness has awakened in me the feeling that it must be a great idea to have such leading personalities.”

– Albert Bereczky, protestant bishop and Hungarian Secretary of State, in March 1946.

“… Ottó Komoly was a Zionist: he planted his feet firmly in the midst of the deluge of ordinances, and dared to say: we must initiate resistance, we must rescue, we must gain time and lives. He had no special exemptions from the German authorities, he did not bribe the nyilas leaders - his Zionist consciousness gave him courage and strength to oppose the ruling regime. … He placed his efforts of resistance and rescue under a single authority: the International Red Cross. But the power did not come from that authority, but from the person of Otto Komoly - from his radiant determination, from his ability to instil security in his voluntary partners. That was what gave power to the authority.”

– One of his co-workers, László Szamosi, in 1975.

“A man of irreproachable character, Komoly played a prominent, though unfortunately not a decisively important, role during the catastrophe of Hungarian Jewry. …He was practically the only person that all Zionist factional leaders looked upon without rancour or malice. He was a pacifier and unifier by nature and did everything possible to put an end to the perennial conflicts within and among the various Zionist groups and organizations.”

– Randolph Braham in The Politics of Genocide (1981).

The History of Skipton

The History of Skipton is the most comprehensive history of the town for almost 150 years. The book focuses on the life of ordinary Skipton townsfolk and their health, hygiene, work and recreation. Covering the period from the Norman Conquest to the 21st century, The History of Skipton uses long-forgotten reports and archives to reveal many details which have never been published before.

RAF 100 Group - Kindred Spirits

This remarkable book brings together for the first time writings of RAF 100 Group who, during WWII, flew secret operations deep into the heart of Germany - identifying and jamming enemy radar, working with Bletchley Park and the Y-Service, supporting SOE and the Resistance.Over 55,000 men died in Bomber Command, the highest casualty rate of any Unit. On VE Day, Churchill praised those who contributed to victory, with one glaring omission - Bomber Command, of which this Group was a valued part. What happened to his stirring words: ‘The fighters are our salvation, but the bombers alone provide the means of victory'?Seventy years on, RAF 100 Group remains shrouded in mystery, their families unaware as veterans take their secrets to the grave.This book represents a tribute, a Memorial, proof of their existence, finally giving them recognition so richly deserved.

One Family’s Journey Through Ten Centuries

We trace one family, generation by generation, throughout the one thousand years of the second millennium. The trilogy sets the family within its social environment, describing its migration from the continent, and across England, Scotland, and Ireland to settle in the New World. From that we get a vivid picture of what affected, motivated, worried, and encouraged this Saxon family and how they coped. Since the migration of this family was typical for the time, this study is relevant to millions of people in the United Kingdom, Canada, and the United States, whose ancestors followed the same general migratory path.Book I specifically covers the feudal period in the Middle Ages (1000 – 1560), where a feudal autocrat and an avaricious pope, between them, owned and controlled everything. Throughout, the family became our witnesses to many of the historic events of the feudal period: the Battle of Hastings, Anglo-Saxon resistance, the plague, the Little Ice Age, the Great Starvation, Guilds, the building of great cathedrals and castles, and the gradual decline in the king’s power and control.In 1067 William the Conqueror appointed Honfroi de Insula de L’lle as the Dominus of the area around the feudal village of Combe, Wiltshire. He permitted Honfroi to live and build a motte and bailey castle there to assist in keeping the peace. The front image is Castle Combe as it appears today.

On Five Dollars a Day

In the summer of 1965, Will MacIntosh, a naive but highly inquisitive twenty-two-year-old from Canada, embarks on a life-changing excursion through Europe. Arriving there, he finds the trauma of the Second World War still fresh on every street and in every person's mind.While his high-minded purpose is to investigate the political complexities of the region and envelop himself in its cultural treasures, Will finds himself drawn to more earthly pursuits — usually alcoholic, but occasionally amorous in nature. Amongst his many adventures, Will is mysteriously spied on in Denmark, tries to discuss politics with some very polite Neo-Nazis in Lübeck, is menaced by East German guards at Checkpoint Charlie, inadvertently joins a deadly demonstration in Athens and is mistaken for the devil in Crete.Tempering Will's youthful insights and enthusiasms with its author's more measured view of the world, On Five Dollars a Day is a vivid and engaging snapshot of one man's interactions with people and places all over Europe. It provides a fascinating record of the continent at a particularly critical moment in its history.

Manchester United in Tears

This book takes you back to that black and white era, in the days of the maximum wage, when football was still fun. The ‘Busby Babes’, seeking a third consecutive Championship title made a blistering start to the 1957/58 season and, with three England regulars – Byrne, Edwards and Taylor – attracted huge crowds wherever they played as spectators revelled in their adventurous, attacking football. As the season progressed, surprisingly United's form became patchy and by the end of the year, they sat in fourth position. The New Year brought more consistency and progress to the F. A. Cup Fifth round and Quarter Finals of the European Cup.Fate was to play a terrible hand when, on returning from Belgrade via Munich, their chartered plane crashed whilst attempting a third take-off, killing seven players and other passengers. Tragically, fifteen days later, Duncan Edwards also lost his fight for life. Manchester United completed the season and amazingly reached the F. A. Cup Final.The story of this eventful season is told on a day by day, match by match basis, providing a fascinating insight into the world of football in the 1950s.

Kendall's Longitude

Lost at sea: every mariner’s fear.Maritime navigational tools could find latitude, but finding longitude remained elusive until Harrison developed the reliable sea clock, H4. Building on H4’s success, Kendall made a series of nautical timekeepers, K1, K2 and K3. This is the story of the K2 timekeeper; its adventurous voyages, the people it touched, and its place in history. K2’s first voyage, accompanied by the young Nelson, was nearly its last in the crushing Arctic ice. The next two expeditions saw it survive kidnappings, nautical intrigue, and gunpowder plots of the American revolutionary wars. The slave coasts of Africa followed.Bligh took K2 on the Bounty, but lost it in a fight with the mutineers in 1789. It was recovered by an American Quaker from Nantucket, only to be stolen by the Spanish. It rode on mules along the Andes before sailing into the Opium Wars. K2 finally returned to Greenwich in 1963.DRAMATIC, THREE NATION 'STORY OF TIME'

Jack the Ripper, The Works of Francis Thompson

Francis Thompson in 1888.He was an ex-medical student with a dissecting scalpel, and a history of mental illness and trouble with the police. He had just broken up with a prostitute and had written about cutting women's stomachs open.At the same time, a few yards from his refuge, a woman was knifed, as part of a spate of prostitute murders, which one coroner said was by someone who had considerable anatomical skill and knowledge.Richard A. Patterson sets out a compelling case for English poet Francis Thompson as the prime suspect for Jack the Ripper in this must-read for Ripperologists the world over.