Eleven Minutes Late

Eleven Minutes Late
Author: Matthew Engel
Publisher: Pan Macmillan
Total Pages: 356
Release: 2010-02-05
Genre: Travel
ISBN: 0230740413

Britain gave railways to the world, yet its own network is the dearest (definitely) and the worst (probably) in Western Europe. Trains are deeply embedded in the national psyche and folklore - yet it is considered uncool to care about them. For Matthew Engel the railway system is the ultimate expression of Britishness. It represents all the nation's ingenuity, incompetence, nostalgia, corruption, humour, capacity for suffering and even sexual repression. To uncover its mysteries, Engel has travelled the system from Penzance to Thurso, exploring its history and talking to people from politicians to platform staff. Along the way Engel ('half-John Betjeman, half-Victor Meldrew') finds the most charmingly bizarre train in Britain, the most beautiful branch line, the rudest railwayman, and - after a quest lasting decades - an Individual Pot of Strawberry Jam. Eleven Minutes Late is both a polemic and a paean, and it is also very funny.

Great Britain and the German Trade Rivalry

Great Britain and the German Trade Rivalry
Author: Ross J. S. Hoffman
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 300
Release: 2019-06-26
Genre: History
ISBN: 100000807X

Originally published in 1933, this volume covers 3 features of British history in the 40 years prior to the First World War: the inroad made by commercial and industrial Germany on the far-flung business empire of Great Britain; the British national reaction to this German rivalry and the influence of that rivalry upon the shaping of British policy toward Germany.

Britain and the Iranian Constitutional Revolution of 1906-1911

Britain and the Iranian Constitutional Revolution of 1906-1911
Author: Mansour Bonakdarian
Publisher: Syracuse University Press
Total Pages: 640
Release: 2006-06-30
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780815630425

In this thoroughly researched account, Mansour Bonakdarian provides an in-depth exploration of the substantial British support for the Iranian constitutional and national struggle of 1906-1911, illuminating the opposition in Britain to Anglo-Russian imperialist intervention in Iran. In painstaking and compelling detail Bonakdarian analyzes, in particular, the role of the Persia Committee, a lobbying group founded in 1908 for the sole purpose of changing Britain's policy toward Iran. This book's strength lies in its coverage of how Sir Edward Grey's policy toward Iran was shaped and the extent to which this policy was affected by sustained criticism from a number of disparate groups including dissenters, radicals, socialists, liberal imperialists, and conservatives. The volume and breadth of primary archival materials used is extensive. Not only have all the standard collections been examined, such as the Foreign Office files and the Cabinet and Grey papers, but also numerous private archives in international libraries have been consulted. Bonakdarian's deep understanding of the Iranian issues yields a rich and balanced approach to the literature in the field. With clear and systematic arguments, he offers an account of diplomatic history that is accessible and persuasive. His scholarship is certain to reinvigorate dialogue on the subject of Anglo-Iranian relations.