A thought experiment in future-shock survivalism' Robert MacFarlane 'Gripping ... of all science fiction's apocalypses, this is one of the most haunting' Financial Times WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY ROBERT MACFARLANE A post-apocalyptic vision of the world pushed to the brink by famine, John Christopher's science fiction masterpiece The Death of Grass includes an introduction by Robert MacFarlane in Penguin Modern Classics. At first the virus wiping out grass and crops is of little concern to John Custance. It has decimated Asia, causing mass starvation and riots, but Europe is safe and a...

This is a concise account of one of the most famous steamships ever built. The great Victorian engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel embraced the latest innovations to create an ocean liner that was ahead of its time. Launched in 1843, the SS Great Britain is now the centrepiece of an ongoing restoration project.

LONDON needed rebuilding after the great fire of 1666. Eighty-eight churches had been destroyed and a grand plan to rebuild them was started by Sir Christopher Wren. In the end, he designed fifty-one new churches and the splendour that is St Paul's Cathedral. Of the fifty-one churches, many have been lost, either to a combination of Victorian indifference, fire, subsidence or German bombs. Twelve Wren City churches survive in their original form, while many of the remaining churches have been rebuilt or substantially altered. Wren left an amazing legacy and John Christopher takes us on a tour...

Bournemouth Through Time is a wonderful collection of old and new photographs of Bournemouth. The older images are printed alongside a contemporary full colour photograph, which illustrates the same scene. The contrasting illustrations show how the area has changed and developed during the last 100 years. The photographs illustrate shops, schools, garages, churches, houses and street scenes.As you browse through the photographs, you will notice the increase in the number of vehicles on the roads and the number of residents, how shops and other businesses have evolved and the changes and...

Intended for the British Army as a contract for a small, Jeep-like, air-portable vehicle, the Mini Moke was a failure at this role and found its success as a fun, sunshine toy, equally at home on the beach as in the mountains. Over 50,000 were made and many still survive. Its most famous role was in the cult TV series The Prisoner. The Moke was manufactured in Britain and later in Australia and Portugal. With Mini running gear, the Moke is a practical and fun vehicle for the summer and this explains why so many survive to the present day. John Christopher tells the story of the Moke and the...

Based on a confidential wartime British Government report, this in-depth dossier details the inner workings of Organisation Todt, which not only built the Reichsautobahns, but also Germany's Siegfried Line and the Atlantic Wall. Founded by the charismatic Fritz Todt, the OT was responsible for the construction of all of the major military works across Europe - from the Siegfried Line and Atlantic Wall, to the U-Boat pens and V1 and V2 weapon sites. When Fritz Todt died in a fl ying accident in 1942 he was succeeded by Hitler's chief architect, Albert Speer, who was also appointed as Reich...

Cornwall marks the extreme south-western extent of Brunel's kingdom and the county is surprisingly rich in his works. The Royal Albert Bridge, which crosses the River Tamar, connected the broad gauge network with the Cornwall and West Cornwall railways - both engineered by Brunel - to take the trains coming from Paddington all the way to Penzance via a series of over sixty spectacular timber viaducts. The original viaducts have gone now, either modified or replaced over the years, but in many cases the masonry piers remain like rows of monolithic sentinels. As a result there is much to reward...

Infinitely flexible, they have appeared in short, medium and long wheelbase variants, with a host of body styles and conversions for everything from sixwheeled fire engines to motor homes. It is more than sixty years since the prototype was built in 1948 and the Land Rover of today still resembles the original - although creature comforts may be more evident on the latest Defender models. Whatever form it takes, the Land Rover is one of the few vehicles that can be found on every continent of the world, and it is said that around 70 per cent of all Land Rovers ever made are still in daily...

Isambard Kingdom Brunel changed the world as we know it. He was responsible for building the Great Western Railway main line, introducing regular steamship travel across the Atlantic, building the first tunnel under a major river, and constructing docks, harbors, and bridges that enabled Britain to expand and grow as the powerhouse of the world. Without his foresight and imagination, it is possible that 19th-century Britain might have been very different. He truly helped to make Britain "Great." There have been many books written about the man himself, but this book concentrates upon the...