Mackenzie Crook

Recounts the incredible stories of more than 50 archaeological treasures recently found by ordinary people, and which are reshaping our understanding of British history. Britain’s history runs deep – and much of its treasured past lies hidden underfoot. Every day, new discoveries are unearthed not by expert archaeologists but by amateur enthusiasts. Armed with spades and maps, these detectorists, mudlarks and fieldwalkers scour the earth’s surface. What they find is perhaps at first glance unremarkable: fragments of pottery, metal coins, jewellery. But from the pieces emerge stories of how our ancestors lived, traded, ate, played, fought – and died. Beneath Our Feet is a celebration of this growing public involvement in archaeology, and the groundbreaking work of the Portable Antiquities Scheme managed by the British Museum in England and Amgueddfa Cymru in Wales.

What if you had the chance to tell your hero just how much they meant to you?If Nick Drake came to my houseand knocked upon the doorI’m sure I’d be more happythan I’ve ever been before…In If Nick Drake Came to My House, Mackenzie Crook – the creator of Detectorists and Worzel Gummidge – explores the power of art to impact our lives, expressed through verse and image depicting an imaginary visit from the late, great singer-songwriter. A tender homage to a classic book by Joan Gale Thomas, Crook’s first book for adults is infused with his characteristic warm humour, both in the short yet powerful story and his own beautiful illustrations. It’s a book for anyone who has ever wished they had the chance to tell their hero how much they meant to them.

'My name is Benjamin Tooth. This is my journal. One day I will be remembered as the greatest scientist that the world has ever known and so it is my duty to mankind to record my thoughts that future generations are able to study the progress of a genius. I am eleven years old.' These are the recently discovered journals of Benjamin Tooth: alchemist, inventor and discoverer of the Windvale sprites. They chronicle his journey of scientific discovery from pompous boy to mad old man in his pursuit of the sprites on Windvale Moor. The sprites hold the key to eternal life, and Tooth is determined to capture it.

When a storm sweeps through the country, Asa wakes up the next day to find that his town is almost unrecognisable - trees have fallen down, roofs have collapsed and debris lies everywhere. But amongst the debris in his back garden Asa makes an astounding discovery - the body of a small winged creature. A creature that looks very like a fairy. Do fairies really exist? Asa embarks on a mission to find out. A mission that leads him to the lost journals of local eccentric Benjamin Tooth who, two hundred years earlier, claimed to have discovered the existence of fairies. What Asa reads in those journals takes him on a secret trip to Windvale Moor, where he discovers much more than he'd hoped to . . .