Character-19

  Original members of The Who (from left to right): Keith Moon, Pete Townshend, Roger Daltrey and John Entwistle. The group had attitude and ambition, which was fed by the creative forces of  Townshend. ––––––––––––––––––––––– Available now as an ebook! Adam Powley It’s been said of many bands that they spoke for a generation – and The Who merited that honor better than most. But there was more – much, much more – to these giants of British music than a fleeting success in capturing the spirit of a particular time and place. From young upstarts to stadium rock titans, The Who have shaped the course of music for nearly half a century.  Now you can relive the extraordinary career of the group with this superb book, from the power-packed vocals of Roger Daltrey, the eccentric windmill guitar playing (and guitar smashing) of Pete Townshend, the unmistakable bass lines from John Entwistle, to the unforgettable and mesmerizing drumming of the one and only Keith Moon. It tells ...

A staged shot of Spitfire pilots as they “scramble” to their aircraft, 1940. When the order was given, it was a question of getting airborne as quickly as possible to intercept the enemy. ––––––––––––––––––––––– Available now as an ebook! Les Perera This is the story of how R J Mitchell’s design for a single-engined fighter became the legend that is the Spitfire. Earning both admiration and gratitude  for its exploits in the Battle of Britain over the southern skies of England in the summer of 1940 against the overwhelming might of the German Luftwaffe, this amazing aeroplane went on to become a versatile and adaptable asset that earned it the accolade of being the best fighter aircraft of WWII.   Not just an air-defence fighter, this aesthetically pleasing plane has received plaudits for its capabilities as both a fighter-bomber and a fast, high-flying reconnaissance aircraft. The Spitfire is a lasting tribute to the memory of all those brave airmen who made the ultimate...

Resting his chin on the handle of his cane, Dali studied an exhibit of contemporary Greek art in New York, 1956. The  mustached  eccentric and surreal artist produced over 1,500 pieces of art before his death in 1989. ––––––––––––––––––––––– Available now as an ebook! Jessica Toyne Salvador Dali, the Spanish Surrealist painter, was a highly-skilled draughtsman, made famous by his striking and bizarre images. His most popular work, The Persistence of Memory (1931), led him to critical acclaim; however, he was also well known for his work in sculpture, photography, fashion, movies, and books. He was an eccentric artist whom was often as well known for his attention-seeking antics as he was for his work.  Besides The Persistence of Memory , Dali’s other most important and influential works include The Temptation of St. Anthony, Dream Caused by the Flight of a Bee around a Pomegranate a Second before Waking Up , and The Enigma of William Tell. The Persistence of Memory ...

Enzo Ferrari testing his eight-cylinder Alfa Romeo, 1924. Enzo had a passion for cars and racing them, but building them was an even greater ambition. Scuderia Ferrari was born in 1929 and the rest is history!  ––––––––––––––––––––––– Available now as an ebook! Jed Paine Ferraris are best known for their sleek, stunning, and curvaceous design, eye-watering price tag, and standard rosso corsa (race red) paintwork. From the very first Ferrari – the 1947 Tipo 125 S racing sports car – through to the more recent 2013 LaFerrari mild hybrid limited edition road car, Ferrari have continued to astound enthusiasts and critics alike with their evolutionary performance road vehicles and unrivalled Formula 1 racing pedigree. Yet, motoring history might have been so different – Enzo Ferrari was a reluctant manufacturer. He initially built and sold production vehicles purely to fund his Scuderia Ferrari racing team. For every success on the track, though, came a wave of innovation to be applied ...

A watercolor over graphite portraying the view of the cathedral of Christ Church and part of Corpus Christi College, Oxford, painted by Turner in 1803-04. He often painted Abbeys, historical buildings and crumbling castles. ––––––––––––––––––––––– Available now as an ebook! Brittany Rowen J. M. W. Turner is undoubtedly one of the greatest British artists of all time. The originality of his paintings – despite the fact he worked quickly – is brilliant and unrivaled. He became a successful artist at a young age and went on to become a prominent member of the Royal Academy. Brought up in London, very near the River Thames, he became fascinated with the river and its vessels early in life. Water and ships were to remain one of his biggest influences, and many of his 20,000 or so works are dedicated to seascapes. Turner was keen to experience as many influences as possible and he traveled extensively across the British Isles and Europe in search of inspiration. Turner made money fr...

Renoir working in his studio at Cagnes-sur-Mer, France, 1915. He had been  suffering from horrendously bad arthritis in his later years and was eventually forced to use a wheelchair to get around. ––––––––––––––––––––––– Available now as an ebook! Sabine Miller Renoir was renowned for his works with their vibrant light and color and the harmony of the lines he portrayed within his landscapes and figure paintings. At the beginning of his prolific career he employed the Impressionist techniques, where detail was denied and replaced with soft fusions between characters and their surroundings. While he moved away from this style in the middle of his career – known as his Ingres Period, where he concentrated on more definition like the conventional and traditional painters – he returned to the softness of his earlier style toward the end of his life. Renoir was greatly influenced by artists such as Rubens, Titian, Raphael, Eugène Delacroix, and his contemporary and friend...

The BSA Bantam was built from 1948 and was originally fitted with a 125cc engine. The bike was very fuel efficient, obtaining an impressive 100 mpg! ––––––––––––––––––––––– Available now as an ebook! Alex Sharkey Many of the bikes featured in this book are classics from the heyday of motorbike manufacturing. Sadly a number of these famous names – such as Ariel, BSA and Velocette – are consigned to the history books and the bikes themselves have become more and more of a collector’s item. Some credit the demise of the British motorbike industry to the invasion of the Japanese manufacturers (Kawasaki, Suzuki, Honda and Yamaha) in the 1970s. They changed the face of motorcycling in Britain as they established themselves as a global phenomenon. But brands such as Royal Enfield, Norton and Triumph have survived into the 21st Century and now proudly cruise the country’s roads alongside the likes of Harley-Davidson and BMW. Available for  purchase on the below links: