David Lloyd Owen

In mid 1941, David Lloyd Owen, aged 24, joined the Long Range Desert Group (LRDG) as a young patrol commander. He soon found his feet learning the arts of survival and navigation deep in the Libyan desert, and recounts in detail the characters in his Y Patrol, their operational methods, their team spirit and camaraderie. The LRDG was primarily concerned with reconnaissance and intelligence gathering, but was also allowed the occasional ‘beat-up’. With astonishing navigational skills based on their founder Bagnold’s invention of the sun-compass and unparalleled long-distance signal communications, the LRDG became masters of the deep desert – an area that was effectively a no-go zone for the Axis forces. Here, Lloyd Owen describes the origins of the LRDG and the formation and first operations of the SAS under David Stirling, and how the two units worked so closely and successfully together for the rest of the campaign in the desert and thereafter. ‘Popski’s Private Army’ also worked with the LRDG and the author recounts his contacts with them. For many months a significant part of the LRDG’s work involved keeping a watch on the main coast road, counting all enemy traffic and movement in both directions along it, and passing invaluable intelligence immediately back to HQ in Cairo. Other patrols not on the Road Watch were tasked with all kinds of jobs, and Y Patrol was involved in the 1942 raid on Tobruk, after which Lloyd Owen was badly wounded by a Heinkel cannon. He describes their tough military role fulfilled by hand-picked, highly trained and disciplined men, relieved by occasional raucous and happy breaks back in the flesh pots of wartime Cairo. The Desert My Dwelling Place covers Lloyd Owen’s own triumphs and frustrations, as well as those of the LRDG during the desert campaign, which ended with Rommel being finally driven out of North Africa after Montgomery’s victory at El Alamein.

Is safe and sustainable water and sanitation for all an unaffordable pipedream? This book surveys the worldwide development of water and sewage services and the challenges in meeting Sustainable Development Goal 6 (SDG6) along with climate change, population growth and urbanisation. It explores the reasons why current SDG6 progress is failing, including weak policy implementation, staff shortages and inadequate funding, as well as the limited impact of aid funding. The author contends that despite a series of innovations, debt finance remains too small to address needs of developing economies. Therefore, instead of advocating new funding, this book proposes addressing the funding gap through technological innovation and more efficient management and procurement through a series of examples that have challenged traditional assumptions. After four decades of good intentions, SDG6 is making a difference in monitoring shortfalls for the first time, allowing for more effective responses. This book outlines the role of innovation in hardware development, procurement and installation, and discusses how network management and operations can most effectively address funding gaps. The potential for savings is considerable, if effectively replicated. New approaches are driving forward affordable resilience, including nature-based solutions such as upstream habitat enhancement to retain water and improve downstream water quality; the circular economy, including water, nutrient, energy and heat recovery from wastewater; and demand management. This book will be of great value to scholars, policy makers and practitioners interested in the global finance of sustainable water and sanitation.

A Wilder Wales highlights the astonishing transformation of Wales from a poor rural backwater to the crucible of the industrial revolution and offers readers an insight into the ways in which outsiders viewed the land and its people. A fine gift book for discerning travellers and tourists wanting to take words from Wales home. “Even Hannibal himself wou’d have found it impossible to have march’d his army over Snowden” Daniel de Foe, A tour thro’ the whole island of Great Britain... 1724

Is safe and sustainable water and sanitation for all an unaffordable pipedream? This book surveys the worldwide development of water and sewage services and the challenges in meeting Sustainable Development Goal 6 (SDG6) along with climate change, population growth and urbanisation. It explores the reasons why current SDG6 progress is failing, including weak policy implementation, staff shortages and inadequate funding, as well as the limited impact of aid funding. The author contends that despite a series of innovations, debt finance remains too small to address needs of developing economies. Therefore, instead of advocating new funding, this book proposes addressing the funding gap through technological innovation and more efficient management and procurement through a series of examples that have challenged traditional assumptions. After four decades of good intentions, SDG6 is making a difference in monitoring shortfalls for the first time, allowing for more effective responses. This book outlines the role of innovation in hardware development, procurement and installation, and discusses how network management and operations can most effectively address funding gaps. The potential for savings is considerable, if effectively replicated. New approaches are driving forward affordable resilience, including nature-based solutions such as upstream habitat enhancement to retain water and improve downstream water quality; the circular economy, including water, nutrient, energy and heat recovery from wastewater; and demand management. This book will be of great value to scholars, policy makers and practitioners interested in the global finance of sustainable water and sanitation.

The Sound of Thirst explains the urgency of taking water and waste water seriously in an age where good management and political will are chronically scarce. This book presents a moral, economic and sustainable case for financing the many trillions of pounds of work needed worldwide in the coming decades to ensure safe water for all.

This splendid record takes the reader behind enemy lines not only in North Africa but in Italy, the Aegean and the Balkans.The Author, who commanded the LRDG, paints a vivid picture of the unit's colourful characters: for example, Ralph Bagnold who put to good use the knowledge he gained from his pre-war desert travels.The LRDG was truly international with New Zealanders and Rhodesians playing key roles.This classic book won acclaim from the critics on its first publication by virtue of the author's unique knowledge, experience and narrative skills.