Ian Campbell Thomson relives his time as a young farmworker on a Stirlingshire farm after the Second World War. It is a touching coming-of-age tale as the author makes new friends and experiences romance while finding his own way in an ever-changing world with the passing of age-old country ways, as technology begins to replace traditional farming methods. The book is dedicated to Donald and Blossom, the magnificent pair of Clydesdale horses with which he ploughed, until the sad day when they were replaced by a smart Fordson tractor. Of those early times he writes: 'I often wondered how far I walked in a day behind the plough. My guess was somewhere between 12 and 15 miles ... the words "the ploughman homeward wends his weary way" just about sums up the end of the day trudge back to the farm, with darkness closing in and the stable work to be done.' Peopled with memorable characters including the hard-working 'boss', and the wise Aunt Kit, this is a unique tribute, full of humour and nostalgia, to a disappearing culture.
Ian Campbell Thomson relives his time as a young farmworker on a Stirlingshire farm after the Second World War. It is a touching coming-of-age tale as the author makes new friends and experiences romance while finding his own way in an ever-changing world with the passing of age-old country ways, as technology begins to replace traditional farming methods. The book is dedicated to Donald and Blossom, the magnificent pair of Clydesdale horses with which he ploughed, until the sad day when they were replaced by a smart Fordson tractor. Of those early times he writes: 'I often wondered how far I walked in a day behind the plough. My guess was somewhere between 12 and 15 miles ... the words "the ploughman homeward wends his weary way" just about sums up the end of the day trudge back to the farm, with darkness closing in and the stable work to be done.' Peopled with memorable characters including the hard-working 'boss', and the wise Aunt Kit, this is a unique tribute, full of humour and nostalgia, to a disappearing culture.
This handbook provides an indispensable reference guide to most aspects of the history of India’s railways. The secondary literature is surveyed, primary sources identified, statistical and cartographic data discussed, and a massive bibliography made available.
Not only academic educationalists interested in the history of the curriculum, but teachers - from primary schools to University, will find this book of compelling interest.
Today much of Africa is troubled. Perhaps in 1971 Zambia was less so, but it still had poverty, shanty towns, border closures and banditry. The ebb and flow of world copper prices was reflected in the prosperity or otherwise of the country and the wellbeing of its people. The sun is ever-present in Zambia, with sunsets that are breathtaking swathes of colour. Sometimes the throb of drums will carry on the night air, telling of some celebration deep in the bush. The drums seem to speak of an ancient culture unchanged by the passing years - but there is much going on beneath the surface; there is much to tell.
British Columbia has one of the richest assemblages of bird species in the world. The four volumes of The Birds of British Columbia provide unprecedented coverage of this region's birds, presenting a wealth of information on the ornithological history, habitat, breeding habits, migratory movements, seasonality, and distribution patterns of each of the 472 species of birds. This third volume, covering the first half of the passerines, builds on the authoritative format of the previous bestselling volumes. It contains 89 species, including common ones such as swallows, jays, crows, wrens, thrushes, and starlings. The text is supported by hundreds of full-colour pictures, including unique habitat photographs, detailed distribution maps, and beautiful illustrations of the birds, their nests, eggs, and young. The Birds of British Columbia is a complete reference work for bird-watchers, ornithologists, and naturalists who want in-depth information on the province's regularly occurring and rare birds.
This much-awaited final volume of The Birds of British Columbia completes what some have called one of the most important regional ornithological works in North America. It is the culmination of more than 25 years of effort by the authors who, with the assistance of thousands of dedicated volunteers throughout the province, have created the basic reference work on the avifauna of British Columbia.
Coffin roads' along which bodies were carried for burial are a marked feature of the landscape of the Scottish Highlands and islands – many are now popular walking and cycling routes. This book journeys along eight coffin roads to discover and explore the distinctive traditions, beliefs and practices around dying, death and mourning in the communities which created and used them. The result is a fascinating snapshot into place and culture. After more than a century when death was very much a taboo subject, this book argues that aspects of the distinctive West Highland and Hebridean way of death and approach to dying and mourning may have something helpful and important to offer to us today. Routes covered in this book are: The Kilmartin Valley – the archetypal coffin road in this ritual landscape of the dead. The Street of the Dead on Iona – perhaps the best known coffin road in Scotland. Kilearnadil Graveyard, Jura – a perfect example of a Hebridean graveyard. The coffin road through Morvern to Keil Church, Lochaline - among the best defined and most evocative coffin roads today. The Green Isle, Loch Shiel, Ardnamurchan - the oldest continuously used burial place anywhere in Europe. The coffin road on Eigg – with its distinctive 'piper's cairn' where the coffin of Donald MacQuarrie, the 'Great Piper of Eigg', was rested. The coffin road from Traigh Losgaintir to Loch Stocinis on Harris - popular with walkers and taken as the title for a best-selling thriller by Peter May. The coffin road on Barra – A detailed study of burial practices on Barra in the early 1950s provides a fascinating record of Hebridean attitudes to dying, death and mourning.
This first volume of a remarkable four-volume set on the birds of British Columbia covers eight-six species of nonpasserines, from loons through to waterfowl. Detailed species accounts provide unprecedented coverage of these birds, presenting a wealth of information on the ornithological history, habitat, breeding habits, migratory movements, seasonality, and distribution patterns. Introductory chapters look at the province’s ornithological history, its environment and the methodology used in the volumes.
Bill Struth is the most celebrated Manager in the history of Rangers Football Club. In his 34 year tenure, he led the club to 30 major trophies and nurtured many of the club's greatest players. To them, he was simply 'Mr. Struth' - a father figure who guided them with the principle that, '... to be a Ranger is to sense the sacred trust of upholding all that such a name means in this shrine of football.' If these words set the ideals for his players to attain, his own personal life was clouded by moments of indiscretion which were to influence the course of his life and career. Drawing on family accounts and Rangers archives, the book explores his early life in Edinburgh and Fife, as well as his celebrated years in Glasgow. It recounts his career in professional athletics and in football with Heart of Midlothian, Clyde and ultimately, Rangers. It reflects on the legacy of the Struth era and his influences that remain at Ibrox today.
The bestselling guide to markets in all areas of the media, completely revised and updated, and this year in its 101st edition, with a foreword by Alexander McCall-Smith. New articles in this edition include: 1. Notes from a successful historical biographer - Claire Tomalin 2. Notes from a successful literary editor - Claire Armistead 3. Notes from a successful romantic novelist - Jane Green 4. Audio publishing - Emma Higgs 5. The writer's blogger - Isabella Pereira 6. The role of the literary scout - Suzy Lucas Contains information on a huge range of topics including copyright, finance, submitting a manuscript, e-publishing, prizes and awards.
This is the story of a farm and the people whose lives it touches... The 'hired lad' has been precipitated into farm management in the London stockbroker belt. The owner is 'big business', a city man, shunning country dress and pursuits but passionate about his land and his animals. The young manager had to adjust to handling diverse staff (including Land Girls), relate to wealthy neighboring landowners and effect changes to the farming system. Two carefree friends enliven his social life, and romance is just around the corner.
Rob Donn, an 18th-century oral Gaelic poet, practised his art in Strathnaver. In the first edition of this book, the late Dr Ian Grimble used Donn's life and work to demonstrate the vitality of the Gaelic way of life and literature before the Highland Clearances. For this updated and expanded edition, all of Donn's poems are presented in the original Gaelic together with rigorously revised English translations which reflect current standard orthography.
Winner of the Outdoor Writers Guild Award for Excellence In this new book on pre-mountaineering ascents and near ascents in the Highlands, we have at last a work which does justice to those who lived and worked, travelled and fought in the Highlands before Walter Scott. PROF. BRUCE LENMAN Marvelous account of mountaineering's prehistory... as colourful as it is thought provoking - THE SCOTSMAN This work tells the story of explorations and ascents in the Scottish Highlands in the days before mountaineering became a popular sport - when Jacobites, bandits, poachers and illicit distillers traditionally used the mountains as sanctuary.
In this, the first full-scale biography of Adam Smith for a hundred years, Ian Simpson Ross brings his subject into historical light as a thinker and author by examining his family circumstance, education, career, and social and intellectual circle, including David Hume and Francois Quesnay. Smith's life is revealed through his correspondence, archival documents, the reports of contemporaries, and the record of his publications. This is the life of a Scottish moral philosopher whose legacy of thought concerns and affects us all. Its lively and informed account will appeal to those interested in the social and intellectual milieu of the eighteenth century, and in Scottish history. Economists and philosophers will find much to read about the history of their disciplines, supported by full documentation.
This book offers easy access to the everyday ethics problems that occur in the medical care of children. It contains practical guidance on how physicians and other healthcare practitioners may manage both straightforward and complex ethics problems. The book provides a readable and comprehensive introduction to ethics issues for beginners and is also extremely valuable to experienced practitioners.This work covers important "classical" ethical issues such as privacy, confidentiality, truth telling, and discusses the elements of the relationships that might exist between parents and healthcare providers. However, the book also provides a resource for new and emerging areas of bioethics. These include issues arising in the new population of children who are beginning to survive the neonatal and infant periods with a multitude of problems – “children with medical complexity". Finally, it also includes a section on the advantages and pitfalls of social media use.
65,000 years ago, modern humans arrived in Australia, having navigated more than 100 km of sea crossing from southeast Asia. Since then, the large continental islands of Australia and New Guinea, together with smaller islands in between, have been connected by land bridges and severed again as sea levels fell and rose. Along with these fluctuations came changes in the terrestrial and marine environments of both land masses. The Oxford Handbook of the Archaeology of Indigenous Australia and New Guinea reviews and assembles the latest findings and ideas on the archaeology of the Australia-New Guinea region, the world's largest island-continent. In 42 new chapters written by 77 contributors, it presents and explores the archaeological evidence to weave stories of colonisation; megafaunal extinctions; Indigenous architecture; long-distance interactions, sometimes across the seas; eel-based aquaculture and the development of techniques for the mass-trapping of fish; occupation of the High Country, deserts, tropical swamplands and other, diverse land and waterscapes; and rock art and symbolic behaviour. Together with established researchers, a new generation of archaeologists present in this Handbook one, authoritative text where Australia-New Guinea archaeology now lies and where it is heading, promising to shape future directions for years to come.
In the summer of 1411, the ageing Donald of Isla, Lord of the Isles, invaded mainland Scotland with a huge, battle-hardened army, only to be fought to a bloody standstill on the plateau of Harlaw, fifteen miles from Aberdeen, a town he had threatened to sack. One of the greatest battles in Scottish history, described by hardened mediaeval chroniclers as 'atrocious', 'Reid Harlaw' left some 3,000 dead and wounded. Dismissed by Scott as a 'Celt v. Saxon' power struggle, it has faded from historical memory, other than in the north-east of Scotland. Written records in Latin, Scots, Gaelic and English are presented in their original form, and with transcriptions and translations. Two major ballads are analysed, one contemporary, and one fabricated over 350 years later - which is still sung. Lowland views dominate, because of the loss and destruction of Highland records, notably those of the Lords of the Isles themselves. The histories themselves fall into two groups - those written at or around the time, and those composed some 300 years later.These later accounts form the basis of most modern descriptions of the battle, but they tend to be romantic and highly imaginative, creating noble order where chaos once existed.
“A worthy tribute to the John Brown company and to British shipbuilding . . . a joy to enthusiasts of the great ships of the past.”—Australian Naval Institute The Clydebank shipyard built some of the most famous vessels in maritime history—great transatlantic liners like Lusitania, Queen Mary and QE2, and iconic warships like the battlecruiser Hood, and Britain’s last battleship, HMS Vanguard. Starting life as J & G Thomson in 1847, the business acquired its more famous persona when taken over in 1899 by the Sheffield-based steelmaker John Brown & Co, which enhanced the yard’s existing reputation for turning out first-class products, both naval and mercantile. This book charts the fortunes of the company in terms of its business development, its management and personnel, as well as the great variety of ships it built during the century and a quarter of its existence. It also tells a wider story of the rise to world domination of the British shipbuilding industry and its eventual decline and collapse in the post-war decades, as reflected in the experience of John Brown. Written by an acknowledged authority on Clydeside shipbuilding, the book was originally published in a limited edition in 2000, but this reprint is entirely new and revised, although it retains all the original photographs from the yard’s own unrivaled collection. “Essential to anyone’s maritime collection.”—Sea Breezes “The profusely illustrated, beautifully produced and very detailed story of John Brown & Company.”—Army Rumour Service
The most violent thunderstorm in living memory occurs above a sleepy village on the West Coast of Scotland. A young couple take shelter in the woods, never to be seen again... _______________________ DCI Jack Russell is brought in to investigate. Nearing retirement, he agrees to undertake one last case, which he believes can be solved as a matter of routine. But what Jack discovers in the forest leads him to the conclusion that he is following in the footsteps of a psychopath who is just getting started. Jack is flung headlong into a race against time to prevent the evolution of a serial killer...
A guide devoted to its subject, the book draws on recent breakthroughs in research on Hogg to illuminate the urgent debates and fruitful contexts that helped to shape his writings. Essays written by an international team of scholars provide an indispensab
Macphail's writing - characterized by clarity of expression and support for unpopular positions - allowed him to develop and document many of the important political, social, and intellectual themes of his time. He argued for the reorganization of the British Empire to reflect the growing importance of Canada and against such modern trends and movements as utilitarian education, feminism, industrialization, and urbanization. A strong advocate for the rejuvenation of rural life, he carried out agricultural experiments on his native Prince Edward Island. When it became apparent that it was impossible to return to rural ideals, Macphail celebrated the world of his rural past in his most memorable work - the posthumously published The Master's Wife.
Newspaper journalism is a romantic profession. The men and women who wrote for newspapers in the twentieth century started work in a 'Hold the front page!' atmosphere: hot metal, clicking typewriters and inky fingers. In this fascinating collection, the latest in the Scottish Working People's History Trust series, Ian MacDougall has captured the memories of 22 veteran journalists from a wide range of newspapers all over Scotland, some local, some national. The earliest entrant started work in 1929, just before the Great Depression, the latest in the mid 1950s. Their accounts, like so much of oral history, describe a physical world we have almost lost sight of since the computer revolution. But it was a different social world too: it would be unusual for school leavers today to start work as 'copy-boys' running out for cigarettes or filling gluepots for their scary older colleagues. Journalists had to turn their hands to anything from flower shows to air raids, from Hess's landing near Eaglesham to royal visits; and women often had to fight their corner to get started as young reporters. As journalist Neal Ascherson says in his foreword, the book contains 'a swathe of Scottish social history': virtually all these journalists made their way from humble backgrounds, drawn by the desire for an exciting rather than a safe job - and above all one full of human interest.
Archaelogists and anthropologists (especially ethnologists) have for many years realised that man's ingestion of alcoholic beverages may well have played a significant part in his transition from hunter-gatherer to agriculturalist. This unique book provides a scientific text on the subject of 'ethanol' that also aims to include material designed to show 'non-scientists' what fermentation is all about. Conversely, scientists may well be surprised to find the extent to which ethanol has played a part in evolution and civilisation of our species.
Rebel Youth draws important connections between the stories of young workers and the youth movement in Canada, claiming a central place for labour and class in the legacy of the 1960s.
In Frontiers for Peace in the Medieval North. The Norwegian-Scottish Frontier c. 1260-1470, Ian Peter Grohse examines social and political interactions in Orkney, a Norwegian-held province with long and intimate ties to the Scottish mainland. Commonly portrayed as the epicentre of political tension between Norwegian and Scottish fronts, Orkney appears here as a medium for diplomacy between monarchies and as an avenue for interface and cooperation between neighbouring communities. Removed from the national heartlands of Scandinavia and Britain, Orcadians fostered a distinctly local identity that, although rooted in Norwegian law and civic organization, featured a unique cultural accent engendered through Scottish immigration. This study of Orcadian experiences encourages greater appreciation of the peaceful dimensions of pre-modern European frontiers.
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