Books published by Unicorn Publishing Group

An amusing but authoritative account of the establishment of a garden, nature reserve and environmental education centre on theSuffolk Essex border.

'Look Where We're Going' is written by someone who has been at the centre of British government and international affairs for half a century, it looks afresh at the ideas, hopes, lessons and largely unintended consequences of successive generations of political leaders; it shows us how to 'Look Where We're Going'. Based on deep personal experience, the author is one of the few left who served in Margaret Thatcher's first Cabinet of just over forty years ago. Howell gives us a new picture of the dramas deep inside government and how yesterday's clashes of ideology and personality have led to today's unanticipated turmoil. Old assumptions are torn apart and accepted versions of what occurred are unravelled. Howell shows how technology has made much of our conventional political vocabulary obsolete, how we now need quite different types of leadership serving new priorities and how, while we wrestle with the issues just before our eyes, much bigger forces are at work which are re-shaping our lives and our future.

In Sculpting the Land, award-winning landscape architect Diana Armstrong Bell explores her unique interpretation of the possibilities of landscape design. Influenced by the work of the Russian avant-garde artists Kazimir Malevich and El Lissitzky, Bell's distinctive approach to contemporary design is primarily informed by the abstract. Known for distinctive, innovative designs that are site-specific and sensitive to context, Bell has designed and built projects all over the world, and in Sculpting the Land she reveals the process and inspiration behind her work. Drawn to earthworks, lines, and patterns, Bell gathers clues about a landscape's past and lets them inform a new story in her work. Sculpting the Land explores many of Bell's large-scale public landscapes in the urban realm, which are sculptural in their conception and modern in style, including Parco Franco Verga in Milan, Proche du Lac de Carré Sénart in France, Rochester Riverside Park in Kent, and Electra Park in London. With more than 150 color illustrations--including landscape plans, schemes, and hand-drawn pencil, ink, collage, and watercolor pieces--the book showcases a remarkable collection of art which is used to convey Bell's design process and present her ideas.

London and its landmarks as you've never seen them before. Inspired by the author's father's experience of Parkinson's, exploring a different way of viewing the world, channelling the Surrealist art movement.

Based on the exhibition Red Image Tour held at the Pingyao International Photography Festival in September 2012.

Old Buildings and new ones tell their stories of colourful lives that have made up the character of a well-loved urban quarter.

Chelsea and Westminster Hospital and its charity CW+ have been pioneers in the Arts and Health field for over 25 years.

This is the story of an individual soldier's service in a Pals battalion based on his 1916 diary and researched and presented by his son.

A Passion for Fashion provides an amusinglook at some of the clothes, underclothes, shoes and accessories worn by manyof the more colourful characters in Blenheim Palace’s 300-year history, as wellas a cautionary look at the role that arsenic, lead, mercury and mousetrapsplayed in the fashions of the day.Adult and children’s fashions fromthe 18th and 19th centuries are examined, as well ascontemporary style from renowned designers including Christina Stambolian,Stephen Jones, Christian Louboutin and most recently of all, Dolce &Gabbana. Blenheim Palace’s on-goingrelationship with the House of Dior, is celebrated with a look at the earlycatwalk shows of the 1950s, and the launch of Dior’s Cruise collection, whichtook place at Blenheim in May 2016.The Palace is renowned for manythings, but one of its leading claims to fame is that it is the birth place ofa certain Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill – twice prime minister of GreatBritain and accomplished writer, artist, sometime bricklayer and arguably, infashion terms, the inventor of the ubiquitous and ever popular ‘Onesie’! A Passion for Fashion brings 300 years of Blenheimstyle to life.

This short book by historian and journalist Beckles Willson is in memory to the Canadians who fought during the Great War around Hooge, near Ypres at the Battle of Mont Sorrel in 1916. The Battle of Mount Sorrel lasted for almost two weeks and cost the Canadians over 8,000 casualties. Having lost the first two phases of the battle, the Canadians achieved victory in the final operation. Careful planning and concentrated artillery bombardments had begun to tip the balance on the First World War battlefields in favour of attackers over entrenched defenders.

Other Ranks is a First World War classic, first published in 1931 but quickly lost in the wave of war memoirs and novels. It is the fictionalised account of William Tilsley's war experiences through the eyes of ordinary soldier Dick Bradshaw in the 55th West Lancashire Division. This authentic memoir of life and death on the front line begins with Bradshaw's "C" Company leaving the depot at Etaples and heading for their first engagement at the front on the Somme in the Autumn of 1916. Over the next fourteen months it follows the chores behind the line and unwelcome stints on the front line through to his wounding during the Third battle of Ypres in 1917 and subsequent return to Blighty. As well as criticism of the conduct of the war, there is description of the desolation of the landscape and continual conditions of the trenches as experienced by the Poor Bloody Infantry (PBI); wet, cold, frost bite, trench foot, shelling and general life in trenches with continual risk of collapse. War is not a chivalrous experience and his narrative does not hold back in his thoughts and feelings concerning soldiers behind the lines out of the reach of the guns and those at the top. This new edition follows research by Gaye Magnall and is accompanied by introductions from relatives of the three main characters, O'Neill, Magnall and WVT's great nephew, David Tilsley.

An outstanding collection of historic photographs of the people of Monemvasia, illustrating the social bonds and institutions, which hold a society together within a unique physical and historic environment.

History has not been kind to Charles Richard John Spencer-Churchill, 9th Duke of Marlborough, or "Sunny," as he was known. This is because, as Michael Waterhouse and Karen Wiseman reveal, it was largely written by his first wife, the "dollar princess" Consuelo Vanderbilt. Not an easy man, their marriage was indeed an unhappy one. However, he was not entirely to blame for the unhappiness of his marriage to Consuelo; in fact, it would be fair to say that he was sinned against more than sinned. His second wife, Gladys Deacon, proved far too unstable to be the love and companion of his life. Though he needed love, he never found a woman who loved him enough. In The Churchill Who Saved Blenheim, Waterhouse and Wiseman give us the life of a man who lived through a time of great change and felt the responsibility of preserving his home, Blenheim Palace, and the way of life he knew. He was a quiet, well-educated, introverted man who took his role as head of a great estate most seriously. He cared for his tenants and his servants. To those he loved, he was loyal, generous, unfailingly helpful, and courteous, and when necessary, he was also that rare and valuable thing: a critical friend. He left Blenheim in a far better state than he found it. This was his greatest achievement. And this is his story.

The invasion of Normandy was the most significant victory of the Allies in the Second World War. By 1944, over 2 million troops from over 12 countries were in Britain in preparation for the invasion. These forces consisted primarily of American, British and Canadian troops but also included Australian, Belgian, Czech, Dutch, French, Greek, New Zealand, Norwegian, Rhodesian and Polish naval, air or ground support. The operation was codenamed "Overlord" which saw the largest invasion fleet ever assembled, before or since, landing 156,000 Allied troops on five beach-heads on D-Day 6 June 1944. These forces established a foothold on the shores of Northern France, and broke out into the French interior to begin a headlong advance. D-Day was originally set for June 5 but had to be postponed for 24 hours because of bad weather. The forecast was so bad that the German commander in Normandy, Erwin Rommel, went home to give his wife a pair of shoes on her birthday. He was in Germany when the news came.British factories increased production and in the first half of 1944 approximately 9 million tonnes of supplies and equipment crossed the Atlantic from North America to Britain. Bagpiper, Bill Millin struck up ‘Hieland Laddie’ as soon as he jumped into the shallows and then walked up and down the beach playing the pipes. German prisoners later admitted that they had not attempted to shoot him because they thought he had lost his mind.The British infantryman was paid £3 15s a month, the Americans got £12.A naval bombardment from seven battleships, 18 cruisers, and 43 destroyers began at 5am and went on until 6.25am.On the night of the invasion only around 15% of paratroopers landed in the right place.New gadgets designed for D-Day included a “swimming tank” and a flame throwing tank called “the crocodile”. There were even collapsible motorbikes. The morning after D-day the police raided a brothel, which French women had set up in a wrecked landing craft.1,900 Allied bombers attacked German lines before the invasion began. Seven million pounds of bombs were dropped that day. A total of 10,521 combat aircraft flew a total of 15,000 sorties on D-Day. All this and much more is uncovered in a range of informative and detailed events spanning this most significant event in military history; biographies, fun facts, myth busters and illustrated throughout with infographics and contemporary photographs.

Bryan Robertson (1925-2002) was the greatest director the Tate Gallery never had.

Soldier and Dramatist tells the story of LCpl Harold Chapin, a US born actor, author and playwright who volunteered for the British Army in 1914. Originally and posthumously published in 1917, A truly poignant and imaginative read, from letters written for his wife and child

As London evolves into a Babylonian-style city of lofty towers, the artist Anna Keen has been inspired to paint this London Metamorphosis. While each new edifice heads to the heavens, the exposed entrails of these vast construction sites strangely resemble ruins. Her large canvases are enriched with details stemming from patient observation and on-the-spot sketches, and from voyages around the city made by helicopter, boat, road and on foot. Like the eighteenth-century artist J.M Gandy, who simultaneously painted London in ruins and in construction, Anna Keen takes us just beneath the surface of the metropolis, to where the emotional landscape lurks and to where the soul of London is heading. London-based art historian Edward Lucie-Smith has followed Anna Keen's painting since 1995 in Rome.

In the spring of 2017, Carla van de Puttelaar developed a new and timely series devoted to prominent and promising women in the art world, 'Artfully Dressed: Women in the Art World'. While working on this ongoing project, Van de Puttelaar became even more impressed by the personalities and achievements of these women. United in their brilliance and strength, they represent a wide range of backgrounds, nationalities, careers, age and expertise. The women are dressed in amazing quality clothes by top designers, in period costumes or vintage clothes, or wrapped in stunning and luxurious fabrics. To date, over 250 women worldwide have participated in Van de Puttelaar's project, and the series continues to grow and has become an important document of the present time of women in the art world.

A keen-eyed master story teller meets famous artists and characters from the art world, and brings his extraordinary adventures and discoveries in Europe and the Middle East vividly to life.