And I’ve been at it in the car world for some 40 years, writing profiles, interviews and even obituaries on a vast array of people whose lives have been on four wheels. One of the first was an assignment from my first editor to interview a man for our magazine who’d lost his fortune trying to make an affordable sports car in 1950s Britain. No-one had bothered to talk to him about what had happened until I rang out of the blue, and he and his by-then elderly wife welcomed me to their modest home to relay the untold story. They were so generous, and their plight so touching, that, of course, it made a great tale on the page.

It set me off on a working lifetime of tape-recording interviewees to try and get at what really made them tick. Meanwhile, I became heavily involved in writing in-depth historical pieces about enigmatic characters in and around the motor industry, both from the UK and further afield. In a few cases I believe I’ve pieced together definitive accounts that no-one else had attempted; very deep rabbit-holes, for sure, yet also very satisfying.
And then one day, after years and years of all this, I realised I had so much material that a compendium of the best of it could be, once again, something that hadn’t been tried before. Hence this new book, Three Million Miles In A Volvo And Other Curious Car Stories.

The title is a little bit crazy but it’s the only way I could corral my 50 subjects into something cohesive. The theme, really, is that there isn’t one. These are simply the best car-life stories I’ve written on all manner of well- and lesser-known people. I have for you designers and engineers, racing and rally drivers, entrepreneurs and super-salesmen, stunt drivers and oil barons, artists and movie stars. And they’re all pictured along with some of their most interesting achievements. This way, for example, you can read about the never-ending road-trip of the world’s most travelled driver, and see the Volvo he did it in.

It’s a very different book to any other I’ve attempted. All I hope is that readers find these random yet remarkable petrolheads as fascinating to discover as they have been to research and write about.

The post Three Million Miles in a Volvo appeared first on The History Press.

Charades remained popular right into the 1960s when they suddenly disappeared from the family Christmas entertainment, possibly because of the lack of numbers present. They are simply three-act plays, each one describing a syllable of a word.

The game was played one of two ways. First, it could be a relaxed parlour game, whereby everyone could stay seated. Each player in turn would recite their conundrum, and the rest had to guess at the word. Alternatively, the party would divide into two or more groups, and having decided on their word, they would create short one-minute acts to describe the syllables, the last describing the whole word. The word had to be said in the act. An example of these charade plays appears later in this book. Here is the short discourse about the Austen charades from the book.

It is not as a celebrated writer that she appears in these pages, but as one of a family group gathered round the fireside at Steventon Rectory, Chawton Manor House, or Godmersham Park, to enliven the long evenings of a hundred years ago by merry verse and happy, careless inventions of the moment, such as flowed without difficulty from the lively minds and ready pens of those among whom she lived.

Three of these charades are by Jane herself, and even if her name did not appear beneath them, their authorship might possibly have been apparent to those already acquainted with the playful exaggerations and sparkling nonsense in which she sometimes loved to indulge when writing with perfect unrestraint to her sister and other relations. In all works intended for the public eye these had to be kept within due bounds; we find nothing but the soberest decorum in the charade laid long ago upon the table at Hartfield, and transcribed by Emma into that thin quarto of hot pressed paper which Harriet was making, ‘her only mental provision for the evening of life’.

The habit of writing charades seems to have been general in the Austen family. Only one by her father survives, and to that the answer is unknown; but there are several by her mother, Cassandra Leigh by birth, who was well gifted with – to use a term of her own – ‘sprack wit’. Cassandra’s brother James Leigh, who inherited the estate of North Leigh in Oxfordshire from the Perrots, and added their name to his own, was noted in the family as a good writer of charades, and four of his lead the way in this little collection. They may have been composed by him in his young days in Bath, in which gay and fashionable resort he and his wife were often to be found, or at his country home, Scarlets, in Berkshire, where as an older man he passed most of his time.

All the other charades come from the pens of three generations of Austens, and are inserted according to the ages of the writers … from her parents to a nephew, who being nearly 19 at the time of her death in 1817, and well able to use his pen by that time, can claim a place among the Steventon writers.

Here are the three charades by Jane herself:

No. XVIII: When my first is a task to a young girl of spirit, And my second confines her to finish the piece, How hard is her fate! But how great is her merit, If by taking my all she effects her release!

No. XIX: Divided, I’m a gentleman In public deeds and powers; United I’m a monster, who That gentleman devours.

No. XX: You may lie on my first by the side of a stream, And my second compose to the nymph you adore, But if, when you’ve none of my whole, her esteem And affection diminish – think of her no more!

Extracted from Jane Austen’s Christmas

The post Charades for Christmas appeared first on The History Press.

The Throne by Ian Lloyd

‘An entertaining jog through 38 coronations.’

Daily Telegraph

Get the best seat in the abbey. From the crowning of Charles III, thirty-nine coronations have been held in Westminster Abbey since the Norman Conquest. Only two monarchs – Edward V and Edward VIII – were uncrowned, and a further twenty or so Scottish monarchs were crowned elsewhere, usually at either Scone Abbey or Holyrood Abbey.

In The Throne, Ian Lloyd turns his inimitable, quick-witted style to these key events in British royal history, providing fascinating anecdotes and interesting facts: William the Conqueror’s Christmas Day crowning, during which jubilant shouts were mistaken by his guards as an assassination attempt; the dual coronation of William and Mary in 1689; the pared-back ‘Half Crown-ation’ of William IV; and the televised spectacle of Elizabeth II’s 1953 ceremony.

Detailing everything from the famous Coronation Chair made for Edward I and the Crown Jewels to the infamously uncomfortable Gold State Coach – this is a truly spectacular celebration of British culture and the ultimate pomp of royalty.

A right royal read. At the time of Elizabeth II’s accession, Winston Churchill was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Harry S. Truman was President of the United States and Joseph Stalin still governed the Soviet Union. It has often been said that she never put a foot wrong during her seven decades as monarch, and even those ideologically opposed to Britain and its governments have lauded her. Remarkably, she retained her relevance as sovereign well into her nineties, remaining a reassuring constant in an ever-changing world.

The Queen by Ian Lloyd

In The Queen, Royal biographer Ian Lloyd reveals the woman behind the legend over seventy themed chapters. Drawing on interviews with relatives, friends and courtiers, he explores her relationship with seven generations of the royal family, from the children of Queen Victoria to Elizabeth’s own great-grandchildren. He also sheds light on some lesser-known aspects of her character, such as her frugality and her gift for mimicry. In addition, we see her encounters with A-listers, from Marilyn Monroe to Madonna, and her adept handling of several of the twentieth century’s most difficult leaders.

Above all, Lloyd examines how the Queen stayed true to the promise she made to the nation at the age of 21:

‘that my whole life, whether it be long or short, shall be devoted to your service’.

The Duke by Ian Lloyd

‘Witty and well-researched’

Daily Express

‘A fascinating profile’

Daily Telegraph

For seven decades the Duke of Edinburgh was the Queen’s ‘strength and stay’, far surpassing the predictions of courtiers who had feared ‘a foreign interloper out for the goodies’. Journalists continually portrayed him as bluff and gaffe-prone – yet the letters he wrote in private show he had a kind and sensitive side. Drawing on extensive interviews with those who knew him best, The Duke reveals the man in all his endlessly fascinating contradictions. While tracing his characteristic self-reliance back to a difficult childhood and six years’ war service, Ian Lloyd highlights some rare aspects of the royal consort’s personality – from his fondness for Duke Ellington to his fascination with UFOs. The result is a portrait like no other, and a rich tribute to Prince Philip’s extraordinary life and legacy.

Thorns in the Crown by Barry Turner

‘A lively book that captures the essence of a modern monarchy and a new Elizabethan era’

Lyndsy Spence, The Lady

‘Down-to-earth and insightful’

Daily Mail

It is 1952 and Britain is changing. The Second World War is over, but the country is still scarred, recovering from six years of horror and still in the grip of food rationing. The British Empire is crumbling as countries fight for their independence both literally and physically. And George VI, the king who had refused to abandon London, is dead.

Thorns in the Crown is the story of a country on the precipice, divided between those who held firm to old values and traditions and those who were fighting for modernity and progression. Featuring memories and reflections of those who were part of the coronation, Barry Turner presents a unique look at Britain as it came to terms with the second Elizabethan age.

Tea with Hitler by Dean Palmer

After the Second World War, war crimes prosecutors charged two of King George VI’s closest German relatives with ‘crimes against humanity’. American soldiers discovered top-secret documents at Marburg Castle that exposed treacherous family double-dealing inside the Royal Family. Two of the King’s brothers had flirted dangerously with the Nazi regime in duplicitous games of secret diplomacy.
To avert a potential public relations catastrophe, George VI hid incriminating papers and, with Winston Churchill and President Roosevelt’s help, whitewashed history to protect his family. Three of Philip Mountbatten’s sisters were banned from Westminster Abbey and the wedding of their brother to Princess Elizabeth because their husbands were senior Nazi officers.

This dilemma was Queen Victoria’s fatal legacy: she had hoped to secure peace in Europe through a network of royal marriages, but her plan backfired with two world wars. Tea With Hitler is a family saga of duty, courage, wilful blindness and criminality, revealing the tragic fate of a Saxe-Coburg princess murdered as part of the Nazi euthanasia programme and the story of Queen Victoria’s Jewish great-grand-daughter, rescued by her British relatives.

Princess Mary by Elisabeth Basford

‘…The definitive read for this refreshingly forward-looking, eternally good-willed and relatively little-known Princess’

Tatler

Princess Diana is seen as the first member of the British royal family to tear up the rulebook, and the Duchess of Cambridge is modernising the monarchy in strides. But before them was another who paved the way.

Princess Mary was born in 1897. Despite her Victorian beginnings, she strove to make a princess’s life meaningful, using her position to help those less fortunate and defying gender conventions in the process. As the only daughter of King George V and Queen Mary, she would live to see not only two of her brothers ascend the throne but also her niece Queen Elizabeth II.

She was one of the hardest-working members of the royal family, known for her no-nonsense approach and her determination in the face of adversity. During the First World War she came into her own, launching an appeal to furnish every British troop and sailor with a Christmas gift, and training as a nurse at Great Ormond Street Hospital. From her dedication to the war effort, to her role as the family peacemaker during the Abdication Crisis, Mary was the princess who redefined the title for the modern age. In Princess Mary, the first biography in decades, Elisabeth Basford offers a fresh appraisal of Mary’s full and fascinating life.

Britain’s Royal Heritage by Marc Alexander

This book is more than a biography of kings and queens; it is an encyclopaedic work on every aspect of monarchy in Britain from semi-legendary times to the present day. Arranged in an A-Z format, it includes mini biographies on each of the forty-two kings and queens who have ruled since the Norman Conquest, details of the royal lines in Scotland before the Act of Union, the background to the royal houses of Britain and the consorts – largely foreign – who have married into the monarchy.

Royal scandals, wars, ceremonies, households, tombs and insignia make fascinating reading, and Britain’s Royal Heritage is the ideal reference work for all those who want to know more about individual monarchs and the impressive legacy of myths, traditions, beliefs and practices that have grown up around the institution of the monarchy.

Sandringham Days by John Matson

This is a fascinating portrait of royal life at Sandringham, from the early life of Albert Edward to the modern day. Drawing on letters, diaries and contemporary reports, it is a rich exploration of the private lives of Britain’s royal family. From family life at the estate to the first visit of Queen Victoria, the glittering parties of the early twentieth century and all the way up to the death of King George V, the reigns of his sons and the Sandringham of today, Sandringham Days will delight anyone with an interest in the lives of the British royal family.

Royal Bargemasters by Robert Crouch and Beryl Pendley

Pomp and Paperbacks. Royal Bargemasters have been serving their monarchs for over 800 years, yet their story has never been told. Always working in close proximity to their sovereigns, they have witnessed and played their part in many of the important events in our country’s history. They have been close witnesses to rebellions and coronations, to initial courting and grand royal weddings, and added their colourful presence to the splendour of celebrations and pageants.

Painstakingly researched by ex-Royal Bargemaster Robert Crouch and professional researcher Beryl Pendley, Royal Bargemasters is a beautifully illustrated book offering a colourful insight into the role of the Bargemasters over the centuries, revealing the part they have played in both the day-to-day lives of the Royal Family and their contribution to great ceremonial occasions from the Plantagenets to our present Queen.

Informally Royal by Rodney Laredo

A chance meeting in 1936 gave Lisa and Jimmy Sheridan the opportunity of a lifetime. Keen amateur photographers, their company Studio Lisa was engaged by the then Duke and Duchess of York to take casual photographs of their family, including the Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret, at their homes, Royal Lodge and at 145 Piccadilly, London.

At a time of tradition and formality, when it was unheard of for mere unknowns to be given such an opportunity, the hiring of Studio Lisa proved to be a revolutionary and popular move on the part of the royals as it humanised them in the eyes of their subjects. They soon struck up an unlikely friendship with Lisa and Jimmy – one that would span over more than thirty years and yield thirteen separate photographic sessions, the last of which included Queen Elizabeth’s young children.

Informally Royal charts the story of Studio Lisa, from its humble beginnings right through to the granting of two Royal Warrants.

For the first time Studio Lisa’s cache of remarkable royal photographs is brought together, producing a marvellous collector’s item and a treasure thankfully preserved for posterity.

The post A royal flush: Coronation gift guide appeared first on The History Press.

Unless stated, all images © prettycityparis

The post prettycityparis: Discovering Paris’s beautiful places – in pictures appeared first on The History Press.

Chrissy, Editorial Manager

Lionsheart Bookshop in Woking @lionsheartbookshop.

Mark, Commissioning Editor

One Tree Books, Petersfield @_onetreebooks

Established by Tim O’Kelly in 1994.

Nicola, Commissioning Editor

St Ives Booksellers’, Cornwall @stivesbooks

Small but full of interesting and tempting books, it’s the perfect place to potter and pick up some holiday reading.

Robyn, Assistant Accountant

Stroud Bookshop, Stroud @stroudbookshop and also Rossiter Books, the new independent in Cheltenham – @RossiterBooks.

Jemma, Designer

Richard Booth’s Bookshop, Hay-on-Wye @boothsbookshop.

A renowned 3-floor emporium for new and used books, in a striking tiled building with a cafe and cinema.

Gareth Swain, Managing Director

Children’s Bookshop in London @childrensbkshop

Rossiter Books, Cheltenham @RossiterBooks

Booka in Shropshire @BookaBookshop

Jess, Sales Office Administrator

Stroud Bookshop, Stroud @stroudbookshop. 

Stroud Bookshop has long been a place to browse, meet up and hang about for a chat; a festival-like vibe that we love.

Lauren, Marketing Executive

Octavia’s Bookshop, Cirencester @octaviabookshop.

A magical bookshop, more than half are children’s books, in the heart of Cirencester.

Laura, Marketing Executive

Topping’s Edinburgh @ToppingsEdin

Worth going for the dreamy Beauty and the Beast style ladders alone.

Shakespeare and Company, Paris @Shakespeare_Co

Also Mr B’s Emporium, Bath @mrbsemporium – for their booksellers brilliant recommendations.

Alex, Project Editor

Rossiter Books, Cheltenham @RossiterBooks. 

Jezz, Project Editor

Alison’s, Tewkesbury

Opened in 1999 in the pretty and historic market town of Tewkesbury.

Also The Old Electric Shop, Hay on Wye.

Ele, Project Editor

Kim’s Bookshop, Arundel @KimsBookshop. 

Established more than 40 years ago in West Sussex, they carry over 50,000 new, second-hand and antiquarian books.

Verity, Digital Marketing Manager

Daunt Books, Marylebone @Dauntbooks.

An original Edwardian bookshop with long oak galleries and graceful skylights.

Lilly, Editorial Intern

Queer Lit, Manchester @QueerLitUK

Cynthia, PR and Marketing Manager

Primrose Hill Books, London @PHBookshop 

Belgravia Books, London @BelgraviaB

Persephone Books, Bath @PersephoneBooks. 

Persephone Books reprint neglected fiction and non-fiction, mostly by female writers and mostly mid-twentieth century.

The post THP’s bookshop recommendations appeared first on The History Press.

While some choose a ready-made van, for others the joy is in converting a vehicle themselves and making it personal and unique. With imaginative storage options, eco-friendly power sources, inventive layouts, and some very well-travelled pets, the options for these portable homes are limitless. Here we reveal just a small selection of some of the beautiful and innovative converted vehicles and the creative van-dwellers and vanlife converts featured in VanLifers, to inspire and delight!

“In a world where people are so protective of their territory, I love to roam.”

Sophie Cook, owner of Betty Blue

“We’ve been on a permanent adventure. We’ve met some of the most incredible people, stayed at the most beautiful locations and created the best memories.”

@TheRoadisOurHome

“It’s just a wonderful way to live. Knowing I built everything myself, using my own hands to create what I describe as a dream house on wheels, makes it even more meaningful.”

@RanVanga

“One thing which made our vanlife adventure even better was the people we met on the way, from forest workers in Poland who welcomed us into their house for pizza and wine, to other vanlifers doing their thing.”

@thehendersonsshop

“While travelling, we can take joy in a beautiful sunset in the countryside, or a charming medieval village found on a drive. We’re happy with the richness of nature and the outdoor life, and the benefits this brings to our life.”

@FlorrytheLorry

“Since converting our bus, we’ve been blessed with so many amazing opportunities, but the best one has been the ability to connect with people from all over the world who we’ve inspired with our story and travels.”

@Going_Boundless

“I feel it is time alternative lifestyles were encouraged, to both relieve the housing shortage and let people live the life they desire.”

@VeeVanVoom

If you have ever thought about turning your life into one long road trip, VanLifers could be the inspiration you need to make it happen. Whether you are converting your own vehicle, thinking about doing so in the future or just enjoy imagining a life on the road, these tales are sure to inspire you!

The post VanLifers: Beautiful conversions for life on the road appeared first on The History Press.

I became obsessed with these handheld masterpieces of modelling as a six-year old kid in the 1970s. There wasn’t much television in those days and being a boy with glasses I was none-too-keen on football; I was a bit young for pop music fandom, and seemed to have copious opportunities already to make, paint and draw things at school. But I loved cars, and so my hobby was collecting them, in miniature, constantly begging my parents for new additions to my fleet, which were helpfully supplied, via the local toyshop and newsagent, by those kindly yet unseen gods at Matchbox, Corgi and Dinky.

At the start of every year, these toymakers would issue their catalogues for the 12 months ahead, and I would plan what to aim for next. The checklists they provided on the back pages merely stoked it all. To tick off everything they had to offer seemed absolutely impossible to the young complete-ist in me.

Not, in a way, that I really wanted them all. These ranges were tremendously broad, mainly of the latest cars, trucks and buses but also including machines that held less appeal to me, such as motorbikes, aircraft, bulldozers, tanks, steamrollers, boats, cranes, hovercraft, you name it; if it moved, carried people or cargo, and made a noise in real life then they covered it at a handheld scale.

What I could never have known, as simply the fixated consumer at the far end of the retail chain, was that behind the scenes these three magical names were not only fighting each other but also fighting for survival. Dinky Toys had been around since the 1930s, and almost singlehandedly created the diecast toy car industry, making millions of pounds of profit in the process for their manufacturer Meccano.

Then, in the 1950s, Lesney Products introduced its tiny Matchbox series, with true pocket-money prices that democratised toy vehicles away from the privileged and into the hands of working class children. Just a couple of years after that Corgi appeared as an ambitious upstart from the Mettoy company. In a market that was now getting crowded with choice, Corgi took an aggressive route, quickening the pace of innovation so that the millions of young customers could revel in interesting features – from opening doors and bonnets to realistic steering and even, in one car, an illuminated TV screen in the back to entertain VIP passengers as the car travelled through your imaginary roadscape.

The battle for supremacy was all consuming for the three companies, but in the 1950s and ‘60s all three boomed in a way the toy industry hadn’t seen since Victorian times. Their export revenues were epic, and Lesney and Mettoy joined the stock market in share offers that were wildly over-subscribed…

But back to the junior me, and the early 1970s. I was perhaps at the tail end of the generation who just enjoyed toy cars for their simple charms. Electronic toys, Star Wars, teen magazines, Action Man (Britain’s version of GI Joe) music cassettes and recording – all offered irresistible distractions from old-fashioned toys, hugely shortening the appeal of toy vehicles. And that was before the 1980s dawned with MTV, branded sportswear, video games and an explosion of TV tie-in merchandise. It wasn’t long before Dinky, Corgi and Matchbox had all swerved off the highway of childhood, crashing into a ravine of indifference as their makers went bust.

And it was at about this time that collecting these simple playthings, rather bizarrely, became an all-consuming adult passion rather than a childish fad. With many toy cars practically destroyed in enthusiastic play, grown-ups started to hunt for pristine survivors, and pay the accordingly spiralling prices to own them all over again. The arcana extended to seeking out the original packaging and accessories, and to a crowded annual calendar of specific collectors’ fairs, called swapmeets, catering to this growing army of hunters.

When I was in my early 20s, I realised my extensive collection gathered through various means over the last 15 years, held quite some value. This was fed by visits, in my lunch hour away from work, to an antiques emporium just off London’s Oxford Street, called Grays In The Mews, where I was transfixed by the brilliantly lit glass cases groaning with Corgi and Dinky models the like of which I had never been able to acquire – pristine pre-1960 examples complete with their original cardboard boxes, and price tags to make you weep. One of the specialist dealers was Colin Baddiel, father of comedian David Baddiel. He was friendly and knowledgeable, and liked to chat, but was paying the high rent for his stand there because, no doubt, there were plenty of monied collectors around the West End keen to sneak in and indulge themselves on rare gems that started as mere toys.

So I took a deep breath and sold my collection, making the proceeds the bedrock of my deposit for a flat a few years later. But if you’ve once been enchanted by and compelled to collect things like this, it’s hard to ever stop. If I’m at a flea market, a car boot sale, auction sale, or in a charity shop, and there are Matchbox or Dinky cars at a reasonable price and in good nick, temptation will get the better of me. Corners of bookshelves and other nooks and crannies of my office have started getting congested with shiny metal traffic all over again. It’s just the odd few quid here and there, nothing too fanatical, yet for a grown man, I know, it’s hard to believe.

I’ve written over 50 titles on cars and car culture, so the fact I’ve written a book around all of this as well may not surprise you. But there are already numerous books that cover, in fastidious detail, the blow-by-blow output of the three brands. I didn’t just want to produce another ‘guide’. What I’ve been keen to get at in this undertaking are the stories and the intriguing characters behind Dinky, Corgi and Matchbox, and what drove them to produce the galaxy of diecast metal models that filled not just my childhood but that of millions of other boys (mostly, I’d say) down through the decades.

There is just so much history to unpack. I’ve done my level best to take readers right behind the scenes of enterprises that were as proud of their modelling skills as they were of the ability to organise huge labour forces to manufacture and assemble the vast quantities of tiny cars, trucks, tractors and buses they turned out. The products have been pored over by experts and investors for years, of course, but the processes and people are hardly known at all. Only the children of the ladies who made the factories in Hackney, Liverpool and Swansea hum with activity, for example, would have realised every British toy car a kid ever held in his sweaty palm was hand built by someone else’s mum, sister, aunt or even granny.

Dinky Toys were originally little more than decorative objects for model railway layouts, before taking on a life of their own. The impetus for Matchbox came from three demobbed chancers, a derelict pub, and some decidedly unscientific market research in the school gates. Corgi, meanwhile, arrived as the classic ‘disruptor’ of a growing market, and cannily exploited the power of the big and small screen to elbow its rivals aside with design boldness. And who would have thought that the glamour and horsepower of California’s hot-rod scene in the late 1960s could have turned the British toy car business upside down at the peak of its founders’ powers?

It is, as I discovered, one heck of a saga. I’ve been fortunate to track down several of the people who were in the thick of it all, most of whom had never been interviewed before about their roles, and to access information and documents that add background context – the real-world finance and business organisation that never troubled those with their noses pressed up against the toyshop window – to mix in with many memories of the classic models themselves. And, of course, the sad and complicated demise of all three as the 1980s arrived is also unravelled, tinged with sadness as it undoubtedly is.

All I can hope is that if you loved these fantastic little objects as much as I did, simple toys that often sparked a major enthusiasm for a love of cars in later life, then you’ll enjoy a deep dive into the tangled tales behind them.

The post The story behind Giles Chapman’s Britain’s Toy Car Wars appeared first on The History Press.

With Cars We Loved In The 1990s I’ve finished recording half a century’s worth of the most fondly remembered cars this country has ever known. Exactly 250 of them covered in detail, along with masses of extra contemporary context, in more than 150,000 words.

This odyssey began with the largely forgotten 1946 Riley RM and ended with the 1998 Rover 75, which is also now vanishing from our streets and collective memories.

I’ve run out of ‘do-able’ decades. Having hung on until 2020 to revisit the motoring scene of the 1990s I’ve covered the final decade that could be considered ripe for nostalgia, and the 1930s is, well, simply so long ago that almost everybody who was behind the wheel during those ten years isn’t around to enjoy reminiscing.

Mind you, it felt very odd viewing the 1990s with a rose tint. It was as vivid to me as yesterday. These were my salad days working in the car media, editing and writing for car magazines, churning out endless features for newspapers, and getting through cars – my own and those loaned out for road test – like it was going out of fashion.

It was the pinnacle of printed paper in that pre-internet era, and as a freelance car writer the opportunities were endless. Manufacturers threw multi-million-pound extravaganzas to launch their new models; one day I’d be whisked off to Italy to sample the Fiat Bravo and Brava, the next down to sunny Spain to drive the Mercedes-Benz SLK. And even going to Hull to play around in the latest Lada Niva was fun!

I was in the enviable position of being able to afford my first (and so far last) brand new car, and rather then get something sensible I plumped for a Fiat Barchetta roadster in 1997. With no London Congestion Charge, and speed cameras still thin on the ground, I had a ball.

Now, for this new book, I’d be treating all this as ancient history.

The original idea behind this series came to me initially as simply a title. For the first one in 2013, covering the 1970s, they all had to be cars everyone loved, which meant many of the best sellers leavened with a few that had a desirable reputation, even if you didn’t find them on every suburban drive. But for my final, 50-car-strong content list, they had to be real-world models – cars that most of us had driven or ridden in, and restricting the supercars of the period to a short section commensurate with their lack of relevance to everyday car life. In a way, it was surprising someone hadn’t done this before, as there was simply no existing book like it.

I decided to cover some ‘topics’, too, such as life on the road, and ‘70s car culture. Covering things like garages, the streetscape, accessories, speed limits and all manner of other things that would have touched the driving life of , Austin Allegro, Ford Cortina and Vauxhall Chevette owners was fascinating.

I had no idea if my slice of decade-focused motoring nostalgia would appeal, but fortunately the 1970s edition seemed to go down very well, especially as the compact size, attractive design and good-value price made it a great present solution for that difficult-to-buy-for man (or woman, of course).

A year later and I reversed in time to the 1960s and sprinted forward to the 1980s to complete similar volumes, and these too went down well with readers. In 2015, I wrote the 1950s edition, which also took in the austere late-1940s period when the British motor industry had to rebuild itself after the shock of the Second World War. This one has sold even better than the other three, perhaps because the nature of all the wonderful archive photos I squeezed into it really brings out the style and vibrancy of the period.

Cars We Loved In the 1990s rounds out the quintet. From the Audi A3 and Vauxhall Corsa to the Ford Mondeo and Renault Clio, it’s choc-full of excellent cars that epitomised the times, punctuated by such forgotten relics (yes, they really are…) as the Daewoo Nexia, Rover Metro and Citroen ZX. Recalling the sports cars and dream cars of those days adds a splash of elan, and the opening of the Channel Tunnel and Dartford Crossing remind us just how recently – or long ago – these aids to motoring freedom arrived…

The post Cars We Loved… with Giles Chapman appeared first on The History Press.

You describe yourself as a xenosociolinguist, could you tell us what that means?

Well, it’s a made up academic-sounding discipline for the study of how languages from outer space are used on Earth. In my case, my interest for fictive alien languages in literature, movies and TV-shows. I am not really that interested in the languages themselves, but the stories behind them and how many of them are now languages that are, to the highest degree, living on Earth thanks to their enthusiastic fans. So, I am more into the ‘socio’ part, the speakers and the background, than the grammar, ‘linguistics’. And ‘xeno’ in the xenosociolinguist means that it is ‘alien’. In Star Trek every spaceship has a xenolinguist in the crew to communicate with aliens.

When and how did your fascination with constructed languages begin?

I remember being interested in different languages I found in comic books as a kid, the Smurf languages and the languages of Tarzan and the great apes. Then Tolkien’s different languages and the languages, or rather sound effects, in Star Wars, but when I became more aware of constructed languages was when I realized that Klingon in Star Trek was created to be a fully functional language. Since then I have been fascinated by the stories behind the creation, and use of, made-up languages in movies, TV-shows and novels, and how much effort authors and producers put into creating real languages as movie props.

What do you think makes a good, authentic constructed language?

Good conlangs are carefully developed to reveal aspects of the beings that speak them; they allow us to tune into an author’s mindset as well as into a strange alien culture, giving us a deeper insight into the literary work they are a part of. In science fiction movies, conlangs are necessary as a verbal movie prop as it’s kind of ridiculous if the protagonist lands on an extraterrestrial planet and its inhabitants start speaking English.

Are there any languages in the book you particularly enjoyed researching and writing about?

I would like to say: all of them! All languages in the book have fascinating stories behind them, but that’s a boring answer. I could take Kryptonian from Superman as an example. I did not include the language in the first edition because I thought it was not a ‘real’ conlang and that there was not much to say about it. Then my editor convinced me to have a look at it, and I was wrong—it had a great story and two developed ‘dialects’. I also have a special relationship with Klingon which is fascinating in the way it has transformed from a movie prop to a living language to pop-culture public property over almost 40 years. No other conlangs have come that far.

What do you think are the benefits of learning, or even creating, a constructed language?

One reason why people study artificial languages is simply because it provides a deeper insight into the literary or cinematic works that birthed them. If you are a Tolkien nerd you need to know everything about his world and his works. Then we have the conlangers who create languages as a hobby. They build languages for their own sake, with no intention of their personal language projects becoming new world languages or having any other practical benefit. It’s a form of art, not that different from writing poetry or composing music as a hobby.

To learn an artificial language is not so different from learning a real language and the benefits are similar, though it’s probably easier to find someone to speak Spanish to than Mandalorian! Foreign languages – dead, alive or constructed – open a window to something new, and that is also my purpose with this book.

The post Ask the author: Yens Wahlgren on constructed languages appeared first on The History Press.

Which figure from history would you invite over for Christmas dinner and why?

‘It would have to be Quentin Crisp who would be so interesting to chat with.’

– Stephen Bourne, author of Playing Gay in the Golden Age of British TV

‘I’d love to join Lady Gertrude Denman, the director of the Women’s Land Army and Women’s Timber Corps, for Christmas dinner at Balcombe Place in Sussex. The Christmas decorations, home grown festive produce and visionary conversation about feminism and the importance of the environment would make it a wonderful Christmas.’

– Joanna Foat, author of Lumberjills: Britain’s Forgotten Army

‘I would love to invite the renowned and celebrated author, Jane Austen. I believe she would be a lovely guest, but also would have fascinating conversation and observations, as well as being witty and amusing.’

– Melanie Backe-Hansen, author of House Histories: The Secrets Behind Your Front Door

‘Karl Marx, to ask him what he thought of the regimes constructed in the name of his ideas.’

– James Parris, author of The Man in the Brown Suit: MI5, Edward VIII and an Irish Assassin

‘It may be cheesy to choose someone for my book, but honestly I would say Eleanor Cobham, Duchess of Gloucester (c1400-1452). She is such an enigma, I would love to find out if she really was awful like later accounts say, or if – as I suspect – she was a charming and interesting woman! I would love to ask her about her life, and find out whether the witchcraft accusations against her had any basis at all.’

– Gemma Hollman, author of Royal Witches: From Joan of Navarre to Elizabeth Woodville

‘Maria Callas – I am fascinated by her dual nature, her philosophy of life, her talent and, to be frank, her fabulous hair! I am writing a book about her, so it would be interesting to chat about the opera, her travels, the myths surrounding her legacy, and, of course, Onassis!’

– Lyndsy Spence, author of The Grit in the Pearl: The Scandalous Life of Margaret, Duchess of Argyll

‘‘Dutchman’ Baldwin Brekemaker’s wife. He made the bricks for Ralph, Lord Cromwell’s Tattershall Castle in the 15th century, and she took over producing the bricks when he died. What an opportunity to find out what being a woman in that environment was like then.’

– Carolyne Haynes, author of Brick: A Social History

If you could go back in time and experience Christmas in any historical period, which would you choose and why?

‘I would like to visit the 1960s because everyone had such fun then and television at Christmas was brilliant!’

– Stephen Bourne

‘I’d love to visit Christmas in WW2 where I’d work alongside a merry gang of Lumberjills in the New Forest chopping Norway Spruce for Christmas markets, singing Christmas carols and telling funny stories around the campfire.’

– Joanna Foat

‘Of course, it would have to be the late Victorian period, by which time many of the familiar Christmas traditions had been established. From Christmas lunch with party games to Christmas trees, crackers and Christmas carols.’

– Melanie Backe-Hansen

‘The Christmas truce on the Western Front in 1914 to see how extensive it was, what the soldiers on both sides thought they were doing, and whether it would have been possible for them to end the war before it developed into four years of pointless slaughter.’

– James Parris

‘It would have to be the Tudor period. I would love to be at court with the huge feasts where you could have thousands of people. There was music, endless food, and the noise and hullabaloo must have been quite special! Also we always dream of white Christmases and this would be the perfect time for that, when the Thames used to freeze over and people would go ice skating and have markets and stalls on the ice.’

– Gemma Hollman

‘Revolutionary Cuba, where Christmas was banned! Or, if I must partake in the festivities, I’d go back to the Edwardian era and spend Christmas day with Jean Viscountess Massereene at Antrim Castle. As with her garden parties, she would be dressed in an elaborate costume and would tell everyone’s fortunes, and summon Christmas ghosts. The ruins of the castle captured my imagination as a child, so it would be thrilling to see it in its heyday.’

– Lyndsy Spence

‘I’d like to spend Christmas in the late 17th century and be able to chat with people like Roger North – the excitement of the new ideas coming into the country with the renaissance. I’d rather not be in the servant class though…’

– Carolyne Haynes

The post Ask the authors: Historians on Christmas (and people) past appeared first on The History Press.