Murder has transfixed the popular press for centuries. But it was only in the second half of the twentieth century that murder began saturating front pages and making these monsters what we today recognise as modern celebrities. It was three serial killers, caught and executed in the few years after the end of the Second World War, who precipitated a level of public furore never seen before. Neville Heath, a 'charming' sadist who killed two women; John George Haigh, the Acid Bath Killer who killed between six and nine men and women; and John Christie, the ineffectual necrophile, who killed between six and eight women. The modern news coverage finds its roots with these three men whom the crime historian Donald Thomas called the 'Postwar Psychopaths'. Their crimes were the first to generate a tabloid frenzy the like of which we see all around us today. It was not only the murderers who captured the public's imagination. It was the detectives who hunted them down, the judiciary who tried them, and the man who executed them, the legendary hangman Albert Pierrepoint.This book tells the stories of these three infamous serial killers against the backdrop of the tabloid frenzy that surrounded them.
They were an elite group of renegade Fleet Street crime reporters covering the most notorious British crime between the mid-1930s and the mid-1960s. It was an era in which murder dominated the front and inside pages of the newspapers – the ‘golden age’ of tabloid crime. Members of the Murder Gang knew one another well. They drank together in the same Fleet Street pubs, but they were also ruthlessly competitive in pursuit of the latest scoop. It was said that when the Daily Express covered a big murder story they would send four cars: one containing their reporters, the other three to block the road at crime scenes to stop other rivals getting through. As a matter of course, Murder Gang members listened in to police radios, held clandestine meetings with killers on the run, made huge payments to murderers and their families – and jammed potatoes into their rivals’ exhaust pipes so their cars wouldn’t start. These were just the tools of the trade; it was a far cry from modern reporting. Here, Neil Root delves into their world, examining some of the biggest crime stories of the era and the men who wrote them. In turns fascinating, shocking and comical, this tale of true crime, media and social history will have you turning the pages as if they were those newspapers of old.
The Metropolitan Police of the mid-twentieth century, in particular The Flying Squad and Obscene Publications Squad, has been described as ‘the most routinely corrupt organisation in London’. Larger-than-life characters such as Ken Drury and Alfred ‘Wicked Bill’ Moody routinely fraternised with underworld figures, paid off witnesses and struck dodgy deals to get their man – regardless of whether he was innocent or guilty. And the problem went far beyond a couple of ‘bent’ coppers: in the end, fifty officers were prosecuted, while 478 took early retirement. Using Metropolitan Police files obtained under Freedom of Information, which have not been accessed since the 1970s, author Neil Root can finally tell the real story of how the Met became systemically corrupt, and how Sir Robert Mark, who became commissioner of the Metropolitan Police in 1972, finally cleaned it up.
‘A fascinating and meticulously researched look at the biggest gay scandal to hit the headlines until Oscar Wilde. Absolutely a must-read.’ – Paul Donnelley, author of 501 Most Notorious CrimesIt’s the summer of 1889, and the royal family is in crisis.It is well known in polite society that the Prince of Wales’s eldest son and his aristocratic acolytes are regulars at 19 Cleveland Street – a male brothel in London’s West End. Bad behaviour by the gentry is accepted, but it must stay behind closed doors; they can do what they wish, but the rule that rules all is silence. The Establishment has always closed ranks – a word here and there from powerful people will put rumours swiftly to bed.But not this time.Onto this stage walks Detective Inspector Frederick Abberline of Scotland Yard, fresh from leading the disastrous Jack the Ripper investigation the previous year. Now the reputations of men who rule half the world are under threat from a scandal that stretches all the way to the corridors of Buckingham Palace.
ENGLAND 1936: The Fleet Street journalist Harry Rose leaves his natural habitat of London and arrives at the Sunnyside asylum on the south coast in search of a missing girl, who has vanished without trace...Both professionally and personally, Rose feels compelled to find out what has happened to her.But he soon becomes enmeshed in the tentacles of manipulation and mystery within a dangerous world called Shadowside.Some stories need to be told...But will Rose find the girl and live to tell the story? 'Shadowside is a well-researched historical mystery with an interesting storyline.'Martin Edwards, Crime Novelist and Author of The Life of Crime
ENGLAND 1936: The Fleet Street journalist Harry Rose leaves his natural habitat of London and arrives at the Sunnyside asylum on the south coast in search of a missing girl, who has vanished without trace...Both professionally and personally, Rose feels compelled to find out what has happened to her.But he soon becomes enmeshed in the tentacles of manipulation and mystery within a dangerous world called Shadowside.Some stories need to be told...But will Rose find the girl and live to tell the story? 'Shadowside is a well-researched historical mystery with an interesting storyline.'Martin Edwards, Crime Novelist and Author of The Life of Crime
Peter Rachman dominated housing in post-war London - he owned vast swathes in the west of the city, accumulating huge wealth as his tenants lived in squalor and fear of his hard-nosed collectors and enforcers. He was also at the heart of the city's murky, post-war underworld. In Slumlord, Neil Root pulls back the curtain on this seedy world to paint a portrait of a fascinating man whose path intersected with figures as diverse as Christine Keeler, the glamorous society girl at the heart of the Profumo Scandal, and Michael X, the Black Power activist who later went on to be hanged for double murder. Ruthless in his ambition, Rachman was the archetype of the exploitative landlord, and a man who was willing to use the prejudices of his time in order to maximise profits. He is also a compelling leading man in a story of post-war London, a city where, among the grime and the rubble, fortunes could be made. You just had to hold your nose, abandon your morals and be willing to take from those less fortunate.
A deeply researched account of how battles over civil rights in the 1960s shaped today’s partisan culture wars. In the late twentieth century, gay rights, immigration, gun control, and abortion debates all burst onto the political scene, scrambling the parties and polarizing the electorate. Neil A. O’Brian traces the origins of today’s political divide on these issues to the 1960s when Democrats and Republicans split over civil rights. It was this partisan polarization over race, he argues, that subsequently shaped partisan fault lines on other culture war issues that persist to this day. Using public opinion data dating to the 1930s, O’Brian shows that attitudes about civil rights were already linked with a range of other culture war beliefs decades before the parties split on these issues—and much earlier than previous scholarship realized. Challenging a common understanding of partisan polarization as an elite-led phenomenon, The Roots of Polarization argues politicians and interest groups, jockeying for power in the changing party system, seized on these preexisting connections in the mass public to build the parties’ contemporary coalitions.
A deeply researched account of how battles over civil rights in the 1960s shaped today’s partisan culture wars. In the late twentieth century, gay rights, immigration, gun control, and abortion debates all burst onto the political scene, scrambling the parties and polarizing the electorate. Neil A. O’Brian traces the origins of today’s political divide on these issues to the 1960s when Democrats and Republicans split over civil rights. It was this partisan polarization over race, he argues, that subsequently shaped partisan fault lines on other culture war issues that persist to this day. Using public opinion data dating to the 1930s, O’Brian shows that attitudes about civil rights were already linked with a range of other culture war beliefs decades before the parties split on these issues—and much earlier than previous scholarship realized. Challenging a common understanding of partisan polarization as an elite-led phenomenon, The Roots of Polarization argues politicians and interest groups, jockeying for power in the changing party system, seized on these preexisting connections in the mass public to build the parties’ contemporary coalitions.
Like a Root Out of Dry Ground offers daily readings, prayers and meditations for Holy Week, with an additional resource section of poems, prayers and reflections. Contributors include Emma Major, Jimi and Julaine Calhoun, Martin Wroe, Kathy Galloway, Katharine M. Preston, Urzula Glienecke, Jan Sutch Pickard, Stef Benstead and Church Action on Poverty, Alex and Jo Clare-Young, Janet Killeen, Janet Lees, John McCall, Peter Millar, and other members, associates and friends of the Iona Community. Someone once said that what they appreciate about books like this is all the different voices. Reading collections like this, they said, helped them to feel part of ‘a little community of hope’. May this book accompany you on your journey through Holy Week and beyond. May it help you to feel part of a community of hope. ‘And now I would like to invite you to imagine hard ground – a pavement or concrete. Or dry desert floor, cracked and hard. Imagine it in as much detail as you can: how it looks, the colours, how it would feel beneath your feet or if you touched it with your palm. Maybe imagine how it would smell. Then imagine a plant breaking through the hard ground …’ (Urzula Glienecke)
Texas's 350-year wine story is still reaching its savory peak. Spanish colonists may have come to the state to spread Christianity, but under visionary Father Fray Garcia, they stayed and raised grapes. Later immigrants brought their own burgundy tastes of home, creating a unique wine country. When a North American pest threatened European vines, it was Texan scientist T.V. Munson who helped save the industry overseas. When Prohibition loomed stateside, Frank Qualia's Val Verde Winery in Del Rio survived by selling communion wine and is now the longest-operating bonded winery in the state. Today, tourists flock to Texas vineyards, and the state sells more wine every year. Join local experts Kathy and Neil Crain and sample the untold story of Texas's wine industry.
The first-ever book to cover the history of the renegade Outlaw country music movement from its beginnings in the 1970s to its resurgence today, "Outlaws Still At Large " draws from the author's interviews with current artists to reveal a rich, vibrant music scene beneath the mainstream Nashville gloss, while it shows the trials and adventures of life on the road. Hamilton traveled more than 20,000 miles with the Outlaws to get his story, and in the end, the music changed his life. One of the Outlaws, Shooter Jennings, who is the son of 1970s Outlaws Waylon Jennings and Jessi Colter, says about Hamilton and this book: "Besides his insanely neurotic attention to detail, or his relentless obsession with perfection, Neil is someone who cares very deeply for music and art. He cares so deeply that he's willing to spend as much time as he finds necessary to do this right, to do it true, and do justice to the thing he loves and protects with such grace and dignity. He is, like us, a warrior." Hamilton begins with a historical background to the rise of country music and the Outlaw movement, before offering five chapter profiles on prominent Outlaws from the 1970s: Waylon, Willie Nelson, Billy Joe Shaver, Johnny Paycheck, and David Allan Coe. He then shows how the 1970s Outlaw movement faded, how Nashville pop regained its crown, and how the current Outlaw movement has emerged. From there he presents chapter profiles on 15 current artists, including Shooter, Blackberry Smoke, Elizabeth Cook, Dallas Moore, Jackson Taylor, Jason Boland, Lydia Loveless, Whitey Morgan, Wayne Mills, Joey Allcorn, and Hellbound Glory. The book concludes with a look at the promoters behind the Outlaw scene and the emergence of Outlaw music on SiriusXM radio. Hamilton found that there's really no one Outlaw musical form. Some of the artists are most heavily influenced by Hank Williams, others by Elvis Presley, or by the 1970s Outlaws, or by Southern rock, or even punk rock. Yet, beneath this diversity and creativity, there remains a central attachment to country's roots and to the belief that music should be created primarily for the heart and not the wallet-even if it means many a hungry night in a low-pay honky tonk. If readers bathed in music history get a feeling that Hamilton formatted the book in word similar to the way that Willie Nelson formatted his path breaking album "Red Headed Stanger" in music, they will be right on the mark. That structure is meant to convey the continuing link between country roots past and present and the continuing belief that country music based on sincerity still has something to say in a society awash with shallow forms and fleeting moments.
Ready for the next romance and latest shenanigans in Tuckers Bluff? Love Aunt Eileen and the Ladies Afternoon Social Club? Can't get enough of the mysterious dogs? Then join the Farraday clan as the next bachelor falls head over boot heels in love.When small town nurse Nora Brown is stood up by an online date, Neil Farraday steps in to save the day. Now that the whole town thinks they're dating, they must keep up pretenses-at least for a little while. But between filming his family reality television show, a possible serial predator on the loose, and uncovering long-lost secrets of a forgotten old house, can they really separate reality from make believe.More Books in the Farraday Country Series: Adam - Book 1Brooks - Book 2Connor - Book 3Declan - Book 4Ethan - Book 5Finn - Book 6 Grace - Book 7Hannah - Book 8Ian - Book 9Jamison - Book 10Keeping Eileen - Book 11Loving Chloe -Book 12Morgan - Book 13Neil - Book 14
Captain of Celtic and midfield enforcer for Northern Ireland, Neil Lennon is one of the most controversial figures in British football. His story, fully updated for the Celtic 2006/7 season in this paperback edition, is an extraordinary tale of religious bigotry, life-threatening career injury and tumultuous football success at club level. The first Northern Irish Roman Catholic to play for Celtic and to be chosen to captain his country, Lennon was sensationally forced to quit the captaincy even before he took the field following death threats by Loyalist paramilitaries. In Northern Ireland, the words ‘Neil Lennon RIP’ were painted on a wall near his family home, while in Scotland, he has been the target of vicious verbal and physical assault by fans of Old Firm rivals Rangers – including being mugged on the street and hung in effigy. Now he will give his side of these stories, revealing in full the terrible consequences of the religious hatred that has tainted his career. Lennon will write of his Leicester years under Martin O’Neill, and how the Midlands club defied bigger rivals by maintaining their Premiership League status and winning two League Cups. He will also tell the inside story of Celtic under O’Neill; how his £5 million transfer to Parkhead nearly didn’t happen; his wrongful arrest on a club night out; lifting the domestic treble in a glorious first season with Celtic, and the continued revival of the club to the point where they reached the UEFA Cup Final (narrowly losing out to a Jose Mourinho-inspired Porto); and his relationship with current boss Gordon Strachan. As he approaches the twilight of his playing career, Lennon has decided the time is right to reveal all about his life on the field – including his horrific spinal injury and his less than happy apprenticeships at Motherwell and Manchester City – as well as his hitherto closely guarded private life, including his battle with depression. It’s a book that will shock football to its core.
Unnatural Creatures is a collection of short stories about the fantastical things that exist only in our minds--collected and introduced by beloved New York Times bestselling author Neil Gaiman. The sixteen stories gathered by Gaiman, winner of the Hugo and Nebula Awards, range from the whimsical to the terrifying. Magical creatures from the werewolf, to the sunbird, to beings never before classified will thrill, delight, and quite possibly unnerve you in tales by E. Nesbit, Diana Wynne Jones, Gahan Wilson, and other literary luminaries. Sales of Unnatural Creatures benefit 826DC, a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting students in their creative and expository writing, and to helping teachers inspire their students to write.
Unnatural Creatures is a collection of short stories about the fantastical things that exist only in our minds--collected and introduced by beloved New York Times bestselling author Neil Gaiman. The sixteen stories gathered by Gaiman, winner of the Hugo and Nebula Awards, range from the whimsical to the terrifying. Magical creatures from the werewolf, to the sunbird, to beings never before classified will thrill, delight, and quite possibly unnerve you in tales by E. Nesbit, Diana Wynne Jones, Gahan Wilson, and other literary luminaries. Sales of Unnatural Creatures benefit 826DC, a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting students in their creative and expository writing, and to helping teachers inspire their students to write.
This box set contains the British paperback editions of three bestselling Neil Gaiman classics, all illustrated by acclaimed artist Chris Riddell, to complete your collection The editions of the Newbery Medal and Carnegie Medal winner The Graveyard Book; Coraline; and Fortunately, the Milk in this box set contain the illustrations from the British editions, which are both hilarious and moving. Chris Riddell has won the Kate Greenaway Medal twice, among other awards and honors.These paperbacks have never before been published in the United States and are available here only in this special box set.
Add your personal touch to original art inspired by Newbery Medal-winning and New York Times bestselling author Neil Gaiman's stories for children. Each page depicts stunning scenes, quotes, and beloved characters, illustrated by comic luminary Jill Thompson.Printed on sturdy paper, this 96-page coloring book for adults and sophisticated kids will be welcomed by Neil Gaiman fans and artists. Makes an excellent gift for the Gaiman addict in your life. Perfect for at-home creative time.As a 5-star review puts it: "If you are an adult or a child old enough to enjoy some of Gaiman's 'darker' but whimsical work you will love this coloring book." Scenes are inspired by the beloved books Coraline; The Graveyard Book; Fortunately, the Milk; Instructions; and Crazy Hair.With The Neil Gaiman Coloring Book, you too can "make good art."
