In February 1944, a rag-tag collection of clerks, drivers, doctors, muleteers, and other base troops, stiffened by a few dogged Yorkshiremen managed to hold out against some of the finest infantry in the Japanese Army, and then defeat them. It became know as The Defence of the Admin Box. This book deals with this battle.

____________________THE Sunday Times BESTSELLERA New York Times Summer readWashington Post Top Twenty books to read this summerA Sunday Times summer read'An angry and important work of historical detection, calling time on the misogyny that has fed the Ripper myth.

*THE SUNDAY TIMES TOP TEN BESTSELLER*As seen on Apple TV - 1971: The Year That Music Changed EverythingThe Sixties ended a year late - on New Year's Eve 1970, when Paul McCartney initiated proceedings to wind up The Beatles.

The author describes himself as a reluctant traveller, but even when he stays safely at home he can't contain his curiosity about the world around him. This title is about his quest to understand everything that has happened from the Big Bang to the rise of civilization - how we got from there, being nothing at all, to here, being us.

A celebration of the English countryside that focuses on the rolling green landscapes and magnificent monuments that set England apart from the rest of the world. It also presents an eclectic variety of personal icons, from pub signs to seaside piers, from cattle grids to canal boats, and from village cricket to nimbies.