Europe Audiobooks | Travel

Neither Nowt Nor Summat: In search of the meaning of Yorkshire

I'm going to define the essence of this sprawling place as best I can. I'm going to start here, in this village, and radiate out like a ripple in a pond. I don't want to go to the obvious places, either; I want to be like a bus driver on my first morning on the job, getting gloriously lost, turning up where I shouldn't. I'm going to confirm or deny the clichés, holding them up to see where the light gets in. Yorkshire people are tight. Yorkshire people are arrogant. Yorkshire people eat a Yorkshire pudding before every meal. Yorkshire people solder a t' before every word they use... If there were such a thing as a professional Yorkshireman, Ian McMillan would be it. He's regularly consulted as a home-grown expert, and southerners comment archly on his fruity Yorkshire brogue'. But he has been keeping a secret. His dad was from Lanarkshire, Scotland, making him, as he puts it, only half tyke'. So Ian is worried; is he Yorkshire enough? To try to understand what this means Ian embarks on a journey around the county, starting in the village has lived in his entire life. With contributions from the Cudworth Probus Club, a kazoo playing train guard, Mad Geoff the barber and four Saddleworth council workers looking for a mattress, Ian tries to discover what lies at the heart of Britain's most distinct county and its people, as well as finding out whether the Yorkshire Pudding is worthy of becoming a UNESCO Intangible Heritage Site, if Harrogate is really, really, in Yorkshire and, of course, who knocks up the knocker up?

Ian McMillan (Author), Ian McMillan (Narrator)

Audiobook

Never in Finer Company: The Men of the Great War's Lost Battalion

The most heroic and incredible story in American military history--World War I's "Lost Battalion" and the men who survived the ordeal, triumphed in battle, and fought the demons that lingered The most dramatic week in American military history took place just weeks before the First World War ended. In the first week of October, 1918, six hundred men charged into the forbidding Argonne Forest. Against all odds, they surged through enemy lines--alone. They were soon surrounded and besieged. As they ran out of ammunition, water, and food, the battalion withstood constant mortar attack and relentless enemy assaults. Seven days later, only 194 soldiers from the original unit walked out of the forest. The stand of the Army's "Lost Battalion" was--and remains--an unprecedented display of heroism under fire. The narrative of Never in Finer Company focuses on the stories of four men: the battalion's commander, Major Charles Whittlesey, a lawyer eager to prove his mettle; his New York stockbroker executive officer, Captain George McMurtry; Sergeant Alvin York, whose famous exploits help rescue the battalion; and Damon Runyon, the soon-to-be famous newspaper man who struggled to understand the events he witnessed. From the patriotic frenzy that sent young men "over there" to the hurried stateside training, shipping overseas, and encounters with life at the front, each man trod a unique path to the October days that engulfed them. And their stories did not end on the battlefield--each man was haunted by the experience as America tried to come to grips with the carnage of the war. Character-rich, abundantly textured, sometimes tragic, sometimes uplifting, but always compelling, Never in Finer Company is a deeply moving and dramatic story on an epic scale.

Edward G. Lengel (Author), James Lurie (Narrator)

Audiobook

Never Silent: ACT UP and My Life in Activism

In 1987, somebody shoved a flyer into the hand of Peter Staley: massive AIDS demonstration, it announced. After four years on Wall Street as a closeted gay man, Staley was familiar with the homophobia common on trading floors. He also knew that he was not beyond the reach of HIV, having recently been diagnosed with AIDS-Related Complex. A week after the protest, Staley found his way to a packed meeting of the AIDS Coalition To Unleash Power-ACT UP-in the West Village. It would prove to be the best decision he ever made. ACT UP would change the course of AIDS, pressuring the National Institutes of Health, the FDA, and three administrations to finally respond with research that ultimately saved millions of lives. Staley, a shrewd strategist with nerves of steel, organized some of the group's most spectacular actions, from shutting down trading on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange to putting a giant condom over the house of Senator Jesse Helms. Never Silent is the inside story of what brought Staley to ACT UP and the explosive and sometimes painful years to follow-years filled with triumph, humiliation, joy, loss, and persistence.

Peter Staley (Author), Peter Staley (Narrator)

Audiobook

Never Surrender: Winston Churchill and Britain's Decision to Fight Nazi Germany in the Fateful Summe

A remarkably vivid account of a key moment in Western history: The critical six months in 1940 when Winston Churchill debated whether the British would fight Hitler. London in April, 1940, was a place of great fear and conflict. Everyone was on edge; civilization itself seemed imperiled. The Germans are marching. They have taken Poland, France, Holland, Belgium, and Czechoslovakia. They now menace Britain. Should Britain negotiate with Germany? The members of the War Cabinet bicker, yell, lose their control, and are divided. Churchill, leading the faction to fight, and Lord Halifax, cautioning that prudence is the way to survive, attempt to usurp one another by any means possible. Their country is on the line. And, in Never Surrender, we feel we are alongside these complex and imperfect men, determining the fate of the British Empire. Drawing on the War Cabinet papers, other government documents, private diaries, newspaper accounts, and memoirs, historian John Kelly tells the story of the summer of 1940—the months of the “Supreme Question” of whether or not the British were to surrender. Impressive in scope and attentive to detail, Kelly takes listeners from the battlefield to Parliament, to the government ministries, to the British high command, to the desperate Anglo-French conference in Paris and London, to the American embassy in London, and to life with the ordinary Britons. He brings to life one of the most heroic moments of the twentieth century and intimately portrays some of its largest players—Churchill, Lord Halifax, FDR, Joe Kennedy, Hitler, Stalin, and others. Never Surrender is a fabulous, grand narrative of a crucial period in World War II history and the men and women who shaped it.

John Kelly (Author), Gordon Greenhill (Narrator)

Audiobook

Nine Irish Lives: The Thinkers, Fighters, and Artists Who Helped Build America

In the spirit of David McCullough's Brave Companions, this anthology of popular American history presents the stories of nine incredible Irish immigrants as written by nine contemporary Irish Americans. Rosie O'Donnell, for instance, the adoptive mother of five, tells the story of Margaret Haughery, known as "Mother of the Orphans"; filmmaker and activist Michael Moore writes about the original muckraking journalist, Samuel McClure; and celebrated actor Pierce Brosnan writes about silent film director Rex Ingram. Some of the figures profiled are well known, others have stories that are less often told; all are inspiring. Compelling history mixed with moving and personal reflection, this collection of portraits is at once uniquely intimate and surprisingly immediate. More than one in ten Americans claims Irish ancestry and, with its celebrity contributors, Nine Irish Lives will have strong appeal for those listeners. It is also, though, a timely portrait of shared humanity. These are stories about immigrants-and in the tales of revolutionaries and visionaries, caretakers and unsung heroes, Nine Irish Lives reminds us of the values and the people that have shaped America.

Mark Bailey (Author), Alan Smyth, Alana Kerr Collins (Narrator)

Audiobook

Nine Lives: The Compelling Memoir of a Cold War Harrier Pilot

Chris Burwell charts one man's career in aviation from joining the RAF in 1969 aged eighteen, to having responsibility for training pilots for the world's major airlines nearly fifty years later. After training at RAF Cranwell and RAF Valley and a tour as a flying instructor on Jet Provosts, he joined the Harrier Force, flying on front-line squadrons in the United Kingdom and Germany during the Cold War and as an instructor on the Harrier Conversion Unit. Detachments to Belize in 1977, the Falklands (twice), ejection from a Harrier GR3, introducing FLIR and NVG to the Harrier front line and operational missions in Northern Iraq are all covered in detail. After thirty years of service, he spent twelve years with Cobham, managing their Teesside base and flying the Falcon 20 on operational training for the military and the King Air 200 on international flight calibration tasks. Finally, he spent four years in Spain with Flight Training Europe (FTE) Jerez training a new generation of pilots. Through his experience as a pilot, leader, and manager gained over many years, his valuable insights into military and civilian flying operations are both engrossing and noteworthy.

Chris Burwell (Author), Peter Noble (Narrator)

Audiobook

No Free Parking: The Curious History of London's Monopoly Streets

From the medieval cobbles, through Dickensian iron and fog, to the neon lights and bustle of the twenty-first century, the ever-changing streets of London map out the vibrant stories, triumphs and struggles of everyone who ever called London home. From the Roman and Celts marching along the ancient Old Kent Road, to the rattling newspaper presses of Fleet Street, the game of Monopoly has painted London's story across cheerful coloured tiles. But those Monopoly streets live and breathe - they don't just illuminate our history. They open up whole new ways of thinking about it. The mobs have taken to our streets. The overlords have taken them back. Wars have spilled out into them. Lovers have snuck around them, and fires have raged through them. In a city of rags and riches, where folk hero Dick Whittington believed the streets were paved with gold, anything could happen - and everything has. You may think you know the history of London. You don't. Or at least, not entirely. This is the story of the capital as you've never, quite, heard it before.

Nicholas Boys Smith (Author), Unknown (Narrator)

Audiobook

No Greater Ally: The Untold Story of Poland's Forces in World War II

There is a chapter of World War 2 history that remains largely untold: the story of the fourth largest Allied military of the war, and the only nation to have fought in the battles of Leningrad, Arnhem, Tobruk, and Normandy. This is the story of the Polish forces during the Second World War, the story of millions of young men and women who gave everything for freedom and in the final victory lost all. In a cruel twist of history, the monumental struggles of an entire nation have been largely forgotten, and even intentionally obscured. No Greater Ally redresses the balance, giving a comprehensive overview of Poland's participation in World War 2. Following their valiant but doomed defense of Poland in 1939, members of the Polish armed forces fought with the Allies wherever and however they could. This title provides a detailed analysis of the devastation the war brought to Poland, and the final betrayal when, having fought for freedom for six long years, Poland was handed to the Soviet Union.

Kenneth K. Koskodan (Author), Roger Clark (Narrator)

Audiobook

No Simple Victory: World War II in Europe, 1939-1945

Norman Davies (Author), Simon Vance (Narrator)

Audiobook

Noble Ambitions: The Fall and Rise of the English Country House After World War II

A rollicking tour of the English country home after World War II, when swinging London collided with aristocratic values As the sun set slowly on the British Empire, its mansions fell and rose. Ancient families were reduced to demolishing the parts of their stately homes they could no longer afford, dukes and duchesses desperately clung to their ancestral seats, and a new class of homeowners bought their way into country life. A delicious romp, Noble Ambitions pulls us into these crumbling halls of power, leading us through the juiciest bits of postwar aristocratic history-from Mick Jagger dancing at deb balls to the scandals of Princess Margaret. Capturing the spirit of the age, historian Adrian Tinniswood proves that the country house is not only an iconic symbol, but a lens through which to understand the shifting fortunes of the British elite in an era of monumental social change.

Adrian Tinniswood (Author), Roger May (Narrator)

Audiobook

Noble Ambitions: The Fall and Rise of the Post-War Country House

Brought to you by Penguin. 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. Perhaps even more surprising was the fact that so 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, as a rakish, raffish, aristocratic Swinging London collided with traditional rural values. Capturing the spirit of the age, Adrian Tinniswood proves that the country house is not only an iconic symbol, but a lens through which to understand the shifting fortunes of Britain in an era of monumental social change. © Adrian Tinniswood 2021 (P) Penguin Audio 2021

Adrian Tinniswood (Author), Roger May (Narrator)

Audiobook

Nor Fish, Nor Fowl: From Deckhand to Flight Lieutenant: The Story of a Merchant Navy seaman in the R

In 1934, after five years travelling the world as a Merchant Seaman, my father, aged 21, enlisted in the British Royal Air Force to escape the Depression. Entering the Marine Branch, he swapped big ships for small fast boats - Seaplane Tenders, Armoured Target Boats and High Speed Launches. In 1940, when the Air Sea Rescue service was formed, he joined the crew of High Speed Launch 102 (now fully restored and based at Portsmouth) as a Coxswain, stationed at Blyth. Three busy years on the 'Spitfires of the Sea' followed, before his leg was 'smashed' in heavy seas. On recovery, he spent time in the Faroe Islands and in the English Channel, after 'D-Day', and before being commissioned. The war's end found him in West Africa. After VJ Day he was demobbed, then recalled and posted to Egypt. After a brief unhappy spell in 'Civvy Street', he re-enlisted in the RAF as an acting corporal. First on the scene when HSL 2555 blew up, he was commended and subsequently carried the RAF ensign at the 1950 Battle of Britain celebrations in Paris, France. On return to the UK he was once again commissioned. In Malta, during the Suez Crisis, he supervised a flying boat airlift of families and service personnel through Malta as the Canal Zone was evacuated. Later, serving in Cold War Germany, he skippered German boats with mixed German/British crews and was present when the Unit was handed back to the Germans. In 1961, aged just 48, injuries forced his retirement from the RAF. Now, fittingly narrated by my actor daughter, this book reveals a great deal of the little known story of the RAF Marine Branch, its boats and the life of a British serviceman's family in war and peace.

Colin Yorke (Author), Joanna Swan (Narrator)

Audiobook

Europe Audiobooks in Travel