The French Foreign Legion is an extraordinary and unique army, specifically created for foreign nationals wishing to serve in the French Armed Forces, but commanded by French officers. For nearly two centuries adventure seekers or men on the run from all around the globe have found a home in the For[...]
After the guns fell silent in May 1945, the USSR resumed its clandestine warfare against the western democracies. Soviet dictator Josef Stalin installed secret police services in all the satellite countries of Central and Eastern Europe. Trained by his NKVD - a predecessor of the KGB - officers of t[...]
Eleanor of Aquitaine was the only person ever to sit on the thrones of both France and England. In this account of the turbulent adventures of the extraordinary mother of Richard the Lionheart and King John, author Douglas Boyd takes us into the heart and mind of the woman who changed the shape of E[...]
When people think of Richard the Lionheart they recall the scene at the end of every Robin Hood epic when he returns from the Crusades to punish his treacherous brother John and the wicked Sheriff of Nottingham. In reality Richard detested England and the English, was deeply troubled by his own sexu[...]
Winston Churchill called it 'the unknown war'. Unlike the long stalemate of the Western Front, the conflict 1914-18 between the Russian Empire and the Central Powers was a war of movement spanning a continent - from the Arctic to the Adriatic, Black and Caspian seas and from the Baltic in the west t[...]
Over the last two decades, much has changed in the world of oral history, as technology has opened up a wide range of possibilities for presentation and preservation of material. The doors of the archives have been blown from their hinges - and "access" has come to have a completely different meanin[...]