Bat, Bowl and Beyond Foreword by Dr Jane Powell, President of Yorkshire County Cricket Club Cricket can feel complex, traditional and full of unspoken rules, yet it remains one of the most rewarding games to play and watch. Bat, Bowl and Beyond is a clear and engaging guide for anyone who loves cricket, whether you are learning to play for the first time, returning to the game, already an experienced player or cheering from the boundary. Inside you will find simple explanations of the basics, from picking up a bat and choosing your stance to understanding bowling actions, fielding positions and how a match unfolds. The book also covers the full Laws of Cricket, rare modes of dismissal, scorecards, captaincy decisions, player roles and the small but important details that make cricket unique, including common superstitions, match routines and long-standing traditions. There is also a concise journey through the history of the sport, showing how cricket developed into the game we know today. Written with clarity and accuracy, this is the perfect guide for beginners, families, seasoned players, spectators and anyone who wants to deepen their understanding of the game. Cricket has a long story. This book helps you enjoy every part of it.

From Eggs to Easter: Why the Festival Endures Easter did not begin as a neat story with a single origin. It emerged gradually, shaped by season, belief, practice, and necessity. This book examines how a spring festival survived centuries of change, argument, and adaptation, and why it continues to be recognised even where religious observance has faded. Drawing on archaeology, early texts, theology, cultural history, and everyday custom, From Eggs to Easter traces the development of Easter from early spring observances through the formation of Christian ritual and into modern secular celebration. It looks closely at where evidence is solid, where it is uncertain, and where later interpretation has blurred the line between history and assumption. This is not a book of myths presented as fact. It questions popular claims about pagan origins, fertility symbols, and hidden continuity, explaining what can genuinely be supported and what cannot. Eggs, fasting, calendars, saints, councils, and communal marking of time are explored in their proper historical contexts, without romantic reconstruction. Written for general readers, this book assumes curiosity rather than belief. It explains how Easter functioned socially as well as religiously, how it adapted to different regions and climates, and how repetition turned practical responses to spring into enduring tradition. Whether Easter is observed in church, marked by food and family, or encountered only through public holidays and chocolate eggs, its persistence is not accidental. This book explains how that endurance was built. Ideal for readers interested in • Cultural and religious history • Seasonal festivals and ritual • Christianity in historical context • Evidence-based exploration of tradition • How customs survive beyond belief Clear, measured, and accessible, From Eggs to Easter: Why the Festival Endures offers a grounded account of a festival that continues to shape calendars, communities, and collective memory.

A vivid journey through a decade that changed modern Britain. The 1990s were not just about Britpop and Tony Blair. They were a decade of transformation, when Britain reshaped its identity at home and abroad. From the rise of the internet and mobile phones to the explosion of Cool Britannia, the Spice Girls, Oasis, and the birth of celebrity culture, life in the nineties was fast-paced, colourful, and unpredictable. This engaging social history explores the politics, culture, technology, and attitudes that defined a generation. It captures how New Labour promised a new dawn, how football became fashionable again, how reality television took hold, and how young people’s voices started to dominate everything from art to advertising. The analysis of Cool Britannia's culture, sharp as it is, is made even better with warmth and humour, which shows how Britain is still shaped by the optimism, creativity, and contradictions of the 1990s. Whether you remember the decade or are discovering it for the first time, this book offers an entertaining and insightful portrait of a nation in transition.

Remember when childhood meant actual freedom? No helicopter parents. No smartphones. No social media anxiety. Just you, your mates, and a street lamp that told you when to come home. Growing up in Britain during the 1970s, 80s and 90s, Generation X experienced something extraordinary – and we didn't even realise it at the time. We had the last truly unsupervised childhoods, the final years of affordable housing, and a world where you could actually disappear for hours without your parents panicking. This is the story of what we had – and what we've lost. From knocking on doors to see if your friends could play to recording the Top 40 off the radio, from corner shops that sold single cigarettes to schools that hadn't heard of risk assessments, this book captures the texture of a British childhood that simply doesn't exist anymore. Inside these pages, you'll discover: Why Gen X could buy houses on ordinary salaries whilst today's generation can't The radical freedom of being genuinely uncontactable What it meant to grow up before the internet changed everything The economic golden age we inherited (and accidentally squandered) This isn't just nostalgia – it's a reckoning with uncomfortable truths about inequality, opportunity and what we owe the generations coming after us. For Gen Xers: Finally, someone's written it all down. For everyone else: Discover why your parents and older colleagues bang on about 'the good old days' – and why they might actually have a point.

Your phone's at 47% and you've left the house without your charger. The café's run out of oat milk. Someone's sitting in YOUR spot on the sofa. Welcome to the hardest life has ever been. Let's be honest – we're living in the most comfortable era in human history, yet somehow we've never been more outraged. We've got central heating, next-day delivery, and streaming services, but we're genuinely distressed when the Wi-Fi drops for 30 seconds. The Little Book of First-World Problems is your definitive guide to the trivial catastrophes that ruin our otherwise cushy lives. Inside, you'll find: The genuine anguish of having too many streaming subscriptions to choose from The existential crisis of a slightly warm pillow The unbearable injustice of people walking slowly in front of you The devastating tragedy of a delivered parcel that requires scissors to open Why 'Can you just pop to the shops?' is a human rights violation This book is perfect for: Anyone who's ever been genuinely annoyed by something utterly ridiculous Gift-givers who know someone needs to laugh at themselves Coffee tables that need a conversation starter Bathroom reading that's actually funny Warning: Reading this book may cause you to realise you're insufferable. But at least you'll laugh about it. Because if we can't complain about having it too good, what even is modern life for?

First published in 1937, The Road to Wigan Pier is George Orwell's unflinching account of working-class life in the industrial North of England. Commissioned by the Left Book Club, the book is divided into two parts. In the first, Orwell travels through Lancashire and Yorkshire, recording the harsh realities of miners working underground, families crowded into damp and crumbling housing, the indignities of unemployment, and the grinding struggle of poverty. His prose is vivid, uncompromising, and humane, bringing middle-class readers face to face with a world they preferred not to see. In the second half, Orwell turns his attention to politics and class. With characteristic honesty, he confronts his own prejudices and the barriers between working-class and middle-class solidarity. He critiques contemporary socialism for its jargon and sectarianism, arguing instead for a plain, human-centred socialism that ordinary people could understand. These reflections, written against the backdrop of the 1930s depression and the rise of political extremes in Europe, remain strikingly relevant today. This KMCS Publishing edition presents Orwell's original text alongside new editorial material by S. A. Carmody, including: A fresh introduction comparing the 1930s Britain Orwell described with the United Kingdom of today, highlighting both continuities and contrasts. An editor's note and explanatory footnotes clarify historical references, outdated expressions, and cultural terms for the modern reader. Updated formatting and typesetting are designed to offer a clear, comfortable reading experience. The Road to Wigan Pier remains both a social document and a political challenge: an examination of poverty, dignity, and solidarity, and a reminder that debates about fairness, class, and opportunity continue to shape society. This new edition offers fidelity to Orwell's voice while providing valuable context for twenty-first-century readers.