Böcker av Stephen Butt

At the beginning of the 1950s, Leicester was an industrial city picking itself up from the debris of the Second World War. Compared with nearby Coventry, Leicester has been a relatively safe place, but the effects of the Blitz were still very evident in New Walk and in the residential areas of Highfields and Stoneygate. After years of operating on a wartime economy, Leicester's major industries - textiles, hosiery and machine tools - faced the challenge of returning to domestic production, and in assimilating a large male workforce returning from the battlefields of Europe and beyond to civilian life. In Leicester in the 1950s, Stephen Butt traces the vibrant lives of those recovering from the destruction of the Second World War.

Explores the lives of the people who changed the way we shop and helped develop Britain's high streets.

Loughborough is more than a market town, although the market is still held, twice-weekly, in the heart of the town, and is over seven hundred years old. The town's university is a world leader in sport with many of the most celebrated names in sport having studied here, including Sebastian Coe, Paula Radcliffe and Steve Backley. Loughborough was the destination of the world's first railway excursion, organised by Thomas Cook, and steam trains still bring tourists here on the Great Central Railway. Many locomotives from steam to Eurostar power cars have been built in the town, but its greatest export is undoubtedly bells. John Taylor's bell foundry is the largest in the world and is where Great Paul in St Paul's Cathedral, the bells in York Minster, and even the bell heard on the Australian rock band AC/DC's song, 'Hells Bells', were cast. This unique selection of old and new images and informative captions is a must read for anyone who knows and loves this town.

The famous seaside resort of Weston-Super-Mare has long been a popular destination for holidaying families. Ever since Isambard Kingdom Brunel's railway was opened in 1841, visitors have flocked to the town from Bristol, the Midlands and further afield, while mining families from South Wales crossed the Bristol Channel by paddle steamer to enjoy the resort's numerous attractions. Through the reproduction of many old photographs, readers are invited to share in those memories, from the architectural splendour of Birnbeck Pier to the elegant Victorian villas on the southern slopes of Worlebury Hill, as well as the fine buildings designed by notable architect, Hans Price. Discover Weston-Super-Mare's history in this wonderfully revised edition illustrated book compiled by well-known historian, Stephen Butt.

Tourism was born in Market Harborough in 1841 when Thomas Cook, a local cabinetmaker, set off towards Leicester and had his dream of worldwide working-class travel. The town was born to serve travellers. Centuries before, the town had been built to provide a market place for trades-people near to the 'new' highway connecting Northampton and Leicester. Eight hundred years later, the market is still busy, though now indoors, and the original Square is still bustling with shoppers. As a boy on the playing fields of the local school, former England team captain Martin Johnson discovered his finesse in Rugby. In the nineteenth century, William Symington and his family put Market Harborough on the manufacturing map by creating pea flour and a range of tempting sauces. In the last century the town could claim to be a 'crisp capital' of England, being the home of Golden Wonder crisps.

There is a history of Leicester that is hidden from view, or simply not recognised today because it is so familiar. There are Norman and medieval arches below landmark buildings, mosaics beneath the Central Ring Road and the remains of the town's first railway station just minutes away from a major hotel. 'Secret Leicester' goes behind the facades of the familiar to discover the lesser-known artefacts of Leicester's fascinating past, brought to life through revealing images of the past and the present.