Kirjahaku

The beguiling story of one boy’s dream to play in goal, that most British of positions, culminating in the moment when he faces the mighty Zico … If the French are the flair in midfield, the Germans the attack from the inside channels, the Italians the cry-foul defence, then Britain is the goalkeeper: stand alone, the bastion of last resort, more solid than spectacular, part of the team – and yet not. And Britain’s place in the world is epitomised by its goalkeepers: post war austerity is embodied in Bert Williams (Walsall and England) , a wartime PT boy whose athleticism scarcely concealed a masochistic edge: he ended his training routine with a full-length dive on to concrete; the end of Empire abroad came as the army and politicians were being humiliated in Suez and the football team, despite the best efforts of Gill Merrick (Birmingham and England), were being humbled by the Hungarians at home; the thawing of the cold war is begun not over Cuban missiles but over Lev Yashin, the superb and widely admired Russian whose arrival for the world cup in 1966 changes the attitudes of a nation – the Reds cannot be all bad if they have such an exemplary keeper. And for Peter Chapman (Orient Schoolboys and one appearance in the World Eleven to face Brasil), like his father before him (Armed Forces), it is always the goalkeeper who is the indicator of national well-being. A genuine, touching story of a nation’s affection for football’s perennial underdog, of a childhood obsession and of a glorious footballing tradition from Kelsey to Jennings, Swift to Trautmann, Bonetti to Shilton that culminates – perhaps ends even – in the last truly British goalkeeper: David Seaman.

Spanning 150 years of South Shields’ changing fortunes, A Tyneside Heritage is a pioneering work of interwoven local and family history. After the nineteenth-century boom years of coal exporting and shipbuilding for global markets came the First World War, then the mass unemployment and political turbulence of the 1930s. Luftwaffe bombing in the Second World War was followed by the peacetime challenge of attracting new industrial development. Against this background, four generations of the Chapman family played a leading role in the town and in County Durham as businessmen, soldiers, borough councillors, sportsmen, philanthropists and representatives of royalty.

In 1844 Henry Lehman arrived in the United States from Germany and, with his brother Emanuel, established a modest cotton brokering firm that would come to be called Lehman Brothers. In 2008 Dick Fuld, the last CEO of Lehman Brothers, filed for corporate bankruptcy amid one of the worst financial crises in American history. After 164 years one of the largest and most respected investment banks in the world was gone, leaving everyone wondering, 'How could this have happened?' Peter Chapman answers this question by examining the history of Lehman from its humble beginnings to its dramatic exit. He offers a sweeping narrative as well as a clear perspective on exactly what caused Lehman to fail. He also paints an intimate portrait of the people who ran it, including Bobbie Lehman, who in the 1920s led the company into the world of radio, motion pictures, and air travel. Chapman shows that, despite its inglorious end, Lehman not only helped shape the face of American finance, but also American life.

Experienced travelers pushing the envelope in a foreign country can find themselves in trouble in this world. This is a story of adventure and endurance.

Peter Chapman's account of Grimsby's remarkable recent history looks at the rise and demise of this Lincolnshire town and the people who made it great and who have now departed the scene. This is a fascinating read that will interest any local residents and tourists alike. GRIMSBY was a Victorian phenomenon. In the space of 100 years, from 1800 to 1900, its population soared from 1,000 to 63,000 and went on rising. The town was created by the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway Company from nothing and it rose to become the premier fishing port in the world. But, for reasons beyond its control, its importance has dramatically diminished over the last 50 years. During its heyday, Grimsby was a prosperous and thriving community. Its population was composed of fortune-seekers from all over Britain and the world. The town was self-made in the great tradition of Victorian England and it was proud of itself and quite unashamed of its origins. The fish that landed here fed the nation, and ancillary industries that sprang up in the town resulted in "Made in Grimsby" being a byword for quality.But times have changed, and the townspeople have had to make difficult adjustments as the local economy has declined.

In this compelling history, Peter Chapman shows how the United Fruit Company took bananas from the jungles of Costa Rica to the halls of power in Washington, D.C., with not just clever marketing, but covert CIA operations, bloody coups and brutalised workforces. And how along the way they turned the banana into a blueprint for a new model of unfettered global capitalism: one that serves corporate power at any cost.