David Long

Delve into London's architectural curiositites and discover the unexpected gems waiting around every corner.London is full of extraordinary, enigmatic and, above all, unexpected buildings: a pirate castle in Camden, an art gallery made of shipping containers, underground ghost stations, and much more. Here David Long reveals the very best of the capital’s extraordinary buildings, some of which are passed by every day, hidden in plain sight.

Did you know? In 1884 the Circle Line opened and was described in The Times as ‘a form of mild torture which no person would undergo if he could conveniently help it.’ According to one psychologist, Tube commuters can experience greater levels of stress than a police officer facing a rioting mob or even a fighter pilot going into a dogfight. Underground trains have only twice been used to transport deceased people in coffins: William Gladstone and Dr Barnardo. Some of the most bizarre items handed in to lost property include 250lb of sultanas, a 14ft canoe, a child’s garden slide, a harpoon gun, a pith helmet, an artificial leg, someone’s brother’s ashes and a sealed box containing three dead bats. With well over a billion passengers a year, more than 250 miles of track, literally hundreds of different stations and a history stretching back at least 160 years, the world’s oldest underground railway might seem familiar, but how well do you actually know it?This book offers a feast of Tube-based trivia for travellers and lovers of London alike.

From traders to raiders, embark on an incredible voyage through Viking life and history in the first in an exciting new series from bestselling non-fiction writer David Long. The Vikings were a terrifying force that changed history across the globe – from Canada all the way to Iraq. But they were merchants as well as marauders, explorers as well as adventurers. The greatest seafarers and shipbuilders of their age, they were also skilled metalworkers and artists, farmers and fishermen, healers and herders. They were even democrats who established the world’s oldest surviving parliament. Award-winning writer David Long’s concise but wide-ranging account brings their fascinating civilisation into focus, explaining what Viking life was actually like as well as considering their lingering influence throughout the world. Particularly suitable for readers aged 9+ with a reading age of 8.

The summer of 2022 saw the celebration of the seventieth anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation, the first time in British history that a monarch has reached this remarkable milestone.As the event was the first of its kind to be televised, images from the ceremony inside Westminster Abbey are instantly recognisable. Far less familiar are the scenes in the streets outside, where huge crowds assembled to see a procession of state coaches and historic regiments marching past public buildings festooned with patriotic banners and colourful grandstands erected outside many famous landmarks.Using a private collection of more than 200 rare images of London’s West End, Protect and Keep looks back to the day that the Queen pledged herself to her country. It provides a unique and precious record of an historic occasion: the day of the Coronation as it was seen by ordinary members of the public.

The Pee Dees were a tribe of roughly 500 Native Americans living around 1250 AD in Town Creek-what is now the Central Piedmont area of North Carolina. Sidanela (which translates as "family") chronicles a suspenseful season in the lives of the tribe as seventeen-year-old Red Willow, a feisty tomboy, navigates an agonizing choice. While following her fifteen-year-old brother, Running Wolf, into the woods to spy on his hunt, she witnesses him committing murder and must decide whether to turn him in at an annual confession event-where he'll be put to death by a relative of his victim-or live with a secret that violates the values her late father taught her. This harrowing story features spellbinding ceremonies, tender moments of love and loss, and prophetic dreams, set against a tribe's struggles to survive hostile neighbors, famine, and a sociopathic leader who will kill anyone to gain power. Throughout this thoroughly researched historical coming of age novel, the courageous spirits of Red Willow and Running Wolf lead the way out of crisis and towards a more hopeful future.

*The Little Book of London *is a funny, fast-paced, fact-packed compendium full of the sort of frivolous, fantastic or simply strange information which no-one will want to be without. London's looniest laws, its most eccentric inhabitants, the realities of being royal and literally hundreds of wacky facts about the world's greatest city combine to make it required reading for visitors and locals alike.

The bustling metropolis of London is home to scores of unusual and unique places and spaces. In this feast of peculiarities, author David Long guides you off the beaten path and allows you under the skin of the hidden city that is modern-day London, revealing a new side to the capital you thought you knew.

Millions live there, millions more visit each year – but how many really know London?Find out:How New York’s famous Central Park came to be modelled on a seventeenth-century London squareWhen Primrose Hill almost gained a pyramid even larger than the Great Pyramid of CheopsWhy about 640 people came to be drowned in the Thames in a single nightWhat the royal family might do to escape London if the balloon ever goes up

Join the treacherous mission to conquer Earth’s highest peak in David Long’s enthralling retelling of the first expeditions to climb Everest. Everest is the world’s highest mountain, towering like an icy giant over the Himalayas. For the millions of people living nearby, it has always been a magical place, known as “Goddess Mother of the World” or the “Peak of Heaven”. To explorers and adventurers, it represents a perilous but thrilling challenge to be conquered. In this exhilarating account by award-winning author David Long, he looks back at the first attempts by international mountaineers to reach the fabled summit, many of which ended in death and disaster. Particularly suitable for readers aged 9+ with a reading age of 8.

Featuring 19 different characters from Ancient Egyptian times, as well as an introduction to the Ancient Egyptian world, a key to decoding hieroglyphics and a timeline of key events, this book provides a new angle on a classic subject, bringing the ancient world to life.

A single spy can save thousands upon thousands of lives . . .From Harry Ree, teacher turned saboteur, to Margery Booth, the spy who sang for Hitler, to Scotch Lass, Britain's smallest ever agent, discover twenty-seven of the most courageous and daring spies . . .For as long as there have been secrets to keep, there have been spies, the world over, trying to uncover this classified information. Spying goes on all the time, and everywhere, but some of the most astonishing exploits occur during wartime.The stories in this beautiful collection unpick some of the most astonishing missions undertaken during World War Two - actions that helped to save many lives. Amazingly, many of these tales had to remain a deadly secret at the time and are little known even to this day.Discover twenty-seven of the most courageous and daring, including:Giliana Gerson, Britain's first female spy, Harry Ree, teacher turned saboteur, Margery Booth, the spy who sang for Hitler,Roald Dahl, the spy who became a bestselling author, Noor Inayat Khan, the first woman wireless operator,Scotch Lass, Britain's smallest ever agent,'Major Martin' the man who never wasand many more!

Featuring 19 different characters from Roman times, as well as an introduction to the Roman world, a map of the empire and a timeline of key events, this book provides a new angle on a classic subject, bringing the ancient world to life.

Beyond the Gatehouse is a lighthearted, witty but factual biographical account of the eccentric lifestyles of the builders and residents of some of England’s best-known country houses.Extraordinary buildings require extraordinary people, and over the centuries our historic houses have produced more than their fair share of oddballs. Insulated from the outside world by vast wealth, rolling acres and the social status that a title implies, aristocrats have always been able to amuse themselves – and now us – by pursuing their idiosyncratic interests and manias to the point of eccentricity. The 12th Duke of Bedford preferred parrots to people – forcing his children to steal the birds’ food to make up their own meagre rations – while the 5th Duke of Portland paid his staff a bonus on the understanding they would never speak to him. The Hon. Henry Cavendish inherited a million pounds in the 1780s, but never spent more than five shillings on dinner, while more recently the 2nd Lord Rothschild spent weeks training a team of zebra to pull his carriage up the Mall and into Buckingham Palace.David Long lifts the lid on all that’s bizarre, implausible, unthinkable and delightfully wacky about our glorious heritage homes and their unusual occupants.

On 4 November 1922, a young Egyptian boy working on Howard Carter's archaeological dig in the Valley of the Kings stumbled across a strange piece of rock. On closer inspection it turned out to be a stone step that would lead Carter to a long-lost tomb - and to treasures beyond his wildest dreams. The tomb belonged to boy pharaoh Tutankhamun and was packed full of priceless artefacts. It had been largely untouched for over 3,000 years and remains one of the most important archaeological discoveries of all time. But did the opening of the tomb trigger a deadly curse? David Long's fact-filled account shows how Carter's amazing discoveries told us so much about life in Ancient Egypt.

It takes all sorts to build a powerful kingdom: farmers, fishermen, slaves, sculptors . . . even pharaohs So, listen to our stories and we'll tell you what life was really like in Ancient Egypt. Step back in time and meet a cast of characters who will give you an inside look at their daily lives. Visit a boatman who carries cargo across the Nile, an embalmer who prepares the bodies of the dead for burial, and a papyrus maker who makes his own paper out of reeds. Featuring a map of Ancient Egypt, a timeline, a guide to writing hieroglyphics, and more, this engaging window into the world of Ancient Egypt breathes new life into ancient history. Contents: We are the Ancient Egyptians I am the Pharaoh I am a Queen I am a Naval Commander I am a Necropolis Builder I am an Embalmer I am a Priest I am a Merchant I am a Musician I am a Doctor I am a Sculptor I am a Slave I am a Tomb Robber I am a Papyrus Maker I am the Vizier of the South I am a Brewer I am a Farmer I am a Fisherman I am a Jewelry Maker I am a Boatman Would You Like to Be an Ancient Egyptian? Ancient Egypt Timeline Gods & Goddesses How to Build a Pyramid Hieroglyphics Make Your Own Papyrus Paper Egyptian Food Glossary Find Out More Index

Featuring 19 different characters from Ancient Egyptian times, as well as an introduction to the Ancient Egyptian world, a key to decoding hieroglyphics and a timeline of key events, this book provides a new angle on a classic subject, bringing the ancient world to life.

Growing up in a distressed community at a period of time comfortable with the vestiges of segregation, I was thrust into the role of a pioneer, trailblazer, and change agent without the benefit of formal training for these roles in my journey through life. "Some of David" is a true story, my true story, about one black boy who overcame disadvantageous circumstances and experienced a modicum of the American dream.

David Long traces the cause of the 1975 constitutional crisis to the influence of English legal positivism, a theory which isolates the meaning from the political scheme the text was framed to support. He shows the fundamental premise of a Constitution, framed in Convention, ratified by the people that cannot be altered without their consent, the consent of the governed. Legal positivism was adopted by the High Court in 1920 when it abolished the federal scheme and therewith the sovereign States. The responsible judge had opposed federalism at the 1897 Convention. Long examines two juristic opinions that excused the Governor-General’s 1975 unprecedented dismissal of a government with the confidence of the House of Representatives. He identifies their reliance on legal positivist constitutional interpretations that are expressly rejected by the Founders. Long provides a theoretical defense of the Founders original understanding as the object of constitutional construction.