Adrian Tinniswood Livres

Striking aerial photographs combined with bird's-eye engravings from the 17th and 18th centuries give a unique insight into the history of English country houses and their pleasure grounds. The book details the struggles for power and prestige that inspired them, the daily life of the great families and their servants, and the dramatic changes wrought by fashion, fortune, time or progress. Thes stories behind each of the 40 houses are told with anecdotes and historical perspective. Research points out the connection between the lives of theowners and the alterations to house and garden as a result of the shifting sands of fortune.

From the bestselling author of The Long Weekend- a wild, sad and sometimes hilarious tour of the English country house after the Second World War, when Swinging London collided with aristocratic values. 'Preposterously entertaining' Observer 'Brilliant' Daily Telegraph 'Rollicking' Sunday Times As the sun set slowly on the British Empire in the years after the Second World War, the nation's stately homes were in crisis. Tottering under the weight of rising taxes and a growing sense that they had no place in twentieth-century Britain, hundreds of ancestral piles were dismantled and demolished. Yet - perhaps surprisingly - many of these great houses survived, as dukes and duchesses clung desperately to their ancestral seats and tenants' balls gave way to rock concerts, safari parks and day trippers. From the Rolling Stones rocking Longleat to Christine Keeler rocking Cliveden, Noble Ambitions takes us on a lively tour of these crumbling halls of power. * A Daily Telegraph Book of the Year * * Longlisted for the William MB Berger Prize for British Art History *

The Rainborowes bridges two generations and two worlds, weaving together the lives of the Rainborowe clan as they struggle to forge a better life for themselves and a better future for humankind in the New World.

Jack's brother Edmund married a girl who was rich, beautiful and deeply in love with him and within months of the marriage, she lost her mind.

Exploring the intricate dynamics of jealousy within the building and scientific communities of the Royal Society, this work highlights the significance of Christopher Wren as both a pivotal figure and a cultural icon. It reveals how his contributions shaped his environment while also reflecting the tensions of his time, making his legacy resonate with art historians and general readers alike.

Country house visiting is one of Britain's favorite leisure activities. For more than five centuries, historic buildings have opened their doors, inviting the tourist to step inside. Elizabethans strolled around palaces, royal and private, like Hampton Court and Hardwick Hall, while Georgians appreciated the classical refinement of properties like Kedleston Hall and Osterley Park, admiring the treasures brought back from the Grand Tour.With the help of sumptuous illustrations, Adrian Tinniswood takes the reader on a grand tour around the historic houses of England, and discovers how, throughout the centuries, the idea of national heritage has developed.

The English cottage is an icon for our times. Whether a harmonious blend of timber-frame and thatch or golden Cotswold stone, it symbolizes country life at its most seductive - a chance to return to the rural Eden that was lost to most of us with the Industrial Revolution.The picture of cottage life is an attractive and enduring one that has fascinated writers and artists for the last two hundred years. But this book shows that life in the English country cottage was far from being the idyll that many of us suppose. From the medieval village right through to the twentieth century, the author traces the history of the cottage, exploring how cottages came to be built, and how their appearance was affected by social forces and changing trends.But the focus is firmly on how cottage dwellers spent their time, how they were treated by their social superiors, what they ate and where they slept, and how they decorated and furnished their homes. Life in the English Country Cottage is a history of both the myth and the reality of life for the majority of the population over the last seven centuries.

Set against the backdrop of the tumultuous seventeenth century, this narrative unfolds the extraordinary experiences of an English family through their original letters and documents. The book offers a unique glimpse into their daily lives, struggles, and triumphs, highlighting the personal and historical events that shaped their existence during a time of significant upheaval.

There had, of course, been other fires, Four Hundred and fifty years before, the city had almost burned to the ground. In five days that small fire would devastate the third largest city in the Western world. It pieces together the untold human story of the Fire and its aftermath - the panic, the search for scapegoats, and the rebirth of a city.

The story of a British institution whose fellows, including Newton, Darwin and Hawking, have changed the way we look at the world.