In 1951, the Festival of Britain commissioned a series of short guides they dubbed 'handbooks for the explorer'. Their aim was to encourage readers to venture out beyond the capital and on to 'the roads and the by-roads' to see Britain as a 'living country'. Yet these thirteen guides did more than celebrate the rural splendour of this 'island nation': they also made much of Britain's industrial power and mid-century ambition – her thirst for new technologies, pride in manufacturing and passion for exciting new ways to travel by road, air and sea. Armed with these About Britain guides, historian Tim Cole takes to the roads to find out what has changed and what has remained the same over the 70 years since they were first published. From Oban to Torquay, Caernarvon to Cambridge, he explores the visible changes to our landscape, and the more subtle social and cultural shifts that lie beneath. In a starkly different era where travel has been transformed by the pandemic and many are journeying closer to home, About Britain is a warm and timely meditation on our changing relationship with the landscape, industry and transport. As he looks out on vineyards and apple orchards, power stations and slate mines, vast greenhouses and fulfilment centres for online goods, Cole provides an enchanting glimpse of twentieth and early twenty-first century Britain as seen from the driver's seat.

When it comes to immigration, the population explosion, the collapse of the family, the north-south divide, devolution, or the death of the countryside, common wisdom tells us that we are in trouble; however, this is far from the truth. In his brilliant anatomy of contemporary Britain, leading geographer Daniel Dorling dissects the nation and reveals unexpected truths about the way we live today, contrary to what you might read in the news: The human mosaic: Most children who live above the fourth floor of tower blocks in England are Black or Asian. The higher you go in a building, the darker skinned children tend to be. Relationships: The more times a person's heart is broken, the nearer they will tend to move to the sea. If you want to find a good man to marry head for the countryside. North and South: People in the south move home on average every seven years and job every eight years. This is a year faster than in the north of England, but a year slower than is usual in Scotland. Optimum population: Emmigrant nation - There are twice as many grandchildren of British-born people living over-seas as there are people living in Britain who have grandparents who were themselves born abroad. The problem now is more about getting pregnant than a population explosion and we need more immigration not less. Immigration: Muslims are far more likely to marry non-Muslims in Britain than Christians are to marry non-Christians. The elderly: Most people in Britain never live long enough to experience being burgled. In some areas you would have to live for over five hundred years to have an 'evens' chance of being a crime victim. Town and Country - divided since the enclosures: Step children are most commonly found in the most leafy of idyllic rural villages. Nuclear family homogeneity is now an inner city phenomena. Why are there no cheap homes in the countryside any more? Transport: The greatest threat to life in Britain of all those aged under 40 is the car. For adults aged over 24 they most likely die as a driver, over 15 as a passenger, and over age 4 as a pedestrian. Work: There is no need for us to work until we drop - all could retire early. Reviews for Injustice: "A geographer maps the injustices of Selfish Capitalism with scholarly detachment." --Oliver James. "Dorling provides the brain-cleaning software we need to begin creating a happier society. " --Richard Wilkinson author of The Spirit Level.

How do you see Britain? That might depend on your point of view, and as long time British foreign correspondent, Michael Peel has come to understand, it can look very different from outside. It's tempting to think of the UK as a fundamentally stable and successful nation. But events of the past few years, from Brexit to exposés of imperial history, have begun to spark fierce public debates about whether that is true. Is Britain, just a marginal northern European island nation, marked by injustices, corruption and with a bloody history of slavery, repression and looting? And yet UK politics, media, and public opinion live constantly in the shadow of old myths, Second World War era nostalgia, and a belief in supposedly core British values of tolerance, decency and fair play. British politicians regularly exploit a damaging complacency that holds that everything will turn out okay, because, in Britain, it always does. In WHAT EVERYONE KNOWS ABOUT BRITAIN, Michael Peel digs into the national consciousness with the perspective of distance to pull apart the ways in which we British have become unmoored from crucial truths about ourselves. He shows us that from many perspectives we are no different from other countries whose own national delusions have seen them succumb to abuses of power, increased poverty and divisive conflict. The battle over Britain's narrative is the struggle for its future and its place in the world. So, how do we escape the trick mirror - and see ourselves as we really are?

A new collection of award-winning journalist and author Brian Jackman's nature and travel writings from the past 40 years. This is a nationwide celebration of Britain's unspoiled coast and countryside, concentrating in particular on Britain's wildlife and the wild places in which its most spectacular species are found, but also touching on fishing, sailing and the way Britain's history has shaped the landscape. 'Wild about Britain is not a guidebook' says Brian Jackman. 'It's an extended love letter to the British countryside; a personal view covering more than four decades of travels in the wilder parts of Britain.' Complementing Brian Jackman's writing are a small number of illustrations from Jonathan Truss, one of the UK's leading wildlife artists who has twice won the Frozen Planet category of the BBC Wildlife Artist of the Year competition. What makes the British countryside so special is its chameleon quality - the way its character changes with every few miles. Sometimes it can change dramatically; elsewhere the landscape undergoes more subtle shifts; but every region has its own distinctive qualities and is possessed of its own special magic. Brian Jackman writes eloquently and evocatively, conjuring up the sights and sounds of everything from barnacle geese on the salt marsh of an Islay loch to star gazing on Exmoor, of a seascape of headlands, cliffs and wave-smashed rocks at Lands End, of eagles on the Ardnamurchan peninsula and the autumn rut in the New Forest. Ancient oaks, red kites, huge mirror carp, the oldest path in Britain and Border reivers are all included. As a pioneer of eco-tourism, Brian Jackman has been writing on these subjects for 40 years, first as a travel writer for The Sunday Times and currently for The Daily Telegraph. Although more widely known for his knowledge of African wildlife and safaris - he is the author of The Marsh Lions and Savannah Diaries - it is his love of the British countryside that has brought him most of his awards. From Cornwall to Hermaness and from East Anglia to the Welsh Marches, Wild About Britain showcases Jackman's writing at its best.

Includes proceedings of the annual general meetings of the Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Society.