Roald Dahl was a spy, ace fighter pilot, chocolate historian and medical inventor. He was also the author of Matilda, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, The BFG and many more brilliant stories.

Roald Dahl

PublicationStatus

Brand

Format

AgeRange

Series

Imprint

CategoryLabel

Neil Bradford

‘A fool couldn’t ride the Vincent Black Shadow more than once, but a fool can ride a Ducati 900 many times, and it will always be a bloodcurdling kind of fun. That is the Curse of Speed which has plagued me all my life. I am a slave to it. On my tombstone they will carve, IT NEVER GOT FAST ENOUGH FOR ME.’ – Hunter S. Thompson 
 
Sons of Thunder, Neil Bradford’s exhilaratingly high-octane collection of motorcycle writing, makes a persuasive case for the unique excitement and emotional experience offered by one of mankind’s greatest inventions. 
 
Featuring full-throttle tales by T.E. Lawrence, Roald Dahl, Melissa Holbrook Pierson, Robert Hughes and many others, and ranging from Hunter S. Thompson’s rip-roaring prose to lyrical contributions from Ted Hughes, Thom Gunn and Robert Pirsig, the groundbreaking Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance author, Sons of Thunder is a thrilling tribute to the pleasures and perils of riding this awesome machine.

Sons of Thunder

Writing from the Fast Lane: A Motorcycling Anthology

E Nesbit

Rediscover the Puffin Classics collection and bring the best-loved classics to a new generation - including this charming new reillustrated edition of The Railway Children. 
 
When Father is taken away unexpectedly, Roberta, Peter, Phyllis and their mother have to leave their comfortable life in London to go and live in a small cottage in the country. The children seek solace in the nearby railway station, and make friends with Perks the Porter and the Station Master himself. Each day, Roberta, Peter and Phyllis run down the field to the railway track and wave at the passing London train, sending their love to Father. Little do they know that the kindly old gentleman passenger who waves back holds the key to their father's disappearance. 
 
One of the best-loved classics of all time, with a wonderful introduction by Jacqueline Wilson.

The Railway Children

Kate Moore

This funny and touching book is bursting with more of Felix's adorable escapades, from a run-in with a rosemary plant to a frustrating encounter with a pigeon, but her role at the station goes far beyond all that: when romance blossoms, danger strikes and tragedy befalls the station, she is always there to support her team through all the highs and lows. 
 
Felix's online fame is ever increasing and she has more visitors to greet every day, but there is only so much attention that one cat can handle and isn't long before Felix's colleagues recruit Bolt: a fluffy, springy kitten-apprentice to help shoulder the burden. 
 
But will the two of them get on? And will the diva of Huddersfield station make room for the new kid on the block?

Full Steam Ahead, Felix

Adventures of a famous station cat and her kitten apprentice

John George Freeman

Wryly humorous and quintessentially British, Three Men and a Bradshaw collects the previously unpublished holiday journals of John Freeman, who travelled Britain with his brothers during the 1870s. Each year the trio would settle upon a destination, buy their tickets and set off – armed, of course, with their trusty Bradshaw's Descriptive Railway Hand-book. 
 
John's delightful records of their trips contain much that will resonate with the modern traveller, from the eccentricities of fellow passengers and locals to the tender mercies of the British climate. At the same time they offer insights into the experiences particular to a Victorian tourist, and are full of valuable local history on everywhere from Devon and Jersey to Scotland and Wales. 
 
Beautifully illustrated throughout with John’s original drawings, this is a fascinating and uniquely personal historical artefact, as well as an enchanting and frequently hilarious evocation of a distant but still wholly recognisable Britain.

Three Men and a Bradshaw

Jeremy Clarkson

Welcome back to Clarkson’s Farm. 
The spring crop failed. Farming sheep, pigs and cows was hardly more lucrative (better off breeding ostriches…) 
 
But in the face of uncooperative weather, bureaucracy, and the world’s persistent refusal to recognise his genius, our hero’s not beaten yet. Not while the farm shop’s still doing a roaring trade in smelly candles, he isn’t. 
 
Misery loves company and in girlfriend Lisa, Farm Manager Kaleb, Cheerful Charlie and Gerald his Head of Security Jeremy’s got the best. And it’s hard to feel too gloomy with a JCB telehandler, a crop-spraying hovercraft and a digger in the barn.

Diddly Squat: Home to Roost

Get tucked in to a third bestselling helping of Clarkson's Farm from our favourite wellie-wearing wannabe farmer, Jeremy Clarkson 
 'Brilliant . . . laugh-out-loud' Daily Telegraph 
 
 'Outrageously funny . . . will have you in stitches' Time Out 
 --- After three years, Jeremy Clarkson has discovered the golden rule of farming: 
 
 whatever you hope will happen, won't. 
 
 Enthusiastic schemes to diversify face defeat at the hands of the Council Planning department, or derision from Kaleb. Jeremy's plans for a business empire founded on rewilding and nettle soup are doubted by Lisa. And the stifling thickets of red tape keep only one person smiling – Cheerful Charlie, who charges by the hour. 
 
 But the animals couldn’t be happier. A rented bull called Break-Heart Maestro is delighting the cows. The pigs are bringing home the bacon. And the goats are . . . most probably psychopaths. 
 
 Yet on the good days it hard not to be optimistic. 
 Where else do you get to harvest blackberries with a vacuum cleaner? 
 
 Maybe it’s not just Break-heart Maestro who gets a happy ending? 
 
---- 
 
Readers are loving Diddly Squat: Pigs Might Fly 
 
‘Another funny book from Jeremy. This one made me chuckle but, my only complaint it's too short. I wanted more. Hopefully Another book is being written as we speak’ ***** Reader Review 
 ‘I love the show and I love the books. Both make me chuckle but have also given me an insight into farming and how hard farming is’ **** Reader Review 
 ‘I’ve read the previous books and loved those as well. 
 Witty and funny with depth and a bit of seriousness’ **** Reader Review 
 ‘Loved it, quickest book I've ever read. Can't wait for the next Clarkson instalment’ **** Reader Review

Diddly Squat: Pigs Might Fly

When Felix arrived at Huddersfield Train Station as an eight-week-old kitten, no one knew just how important this little ball of fluff would become. Although she has a vital job to do as 'Senior Pest Controller', Felix is much more than just an employee. For her colleagues and the station's commuters, Felix has changed their lives in surprising ways. 
Felix seems to have a remarkable ability to save the day time and again: from bringing a boy with autism out of his shell to providing comfort to a runaway child shivering on the platform one night. When tragedy hits the team at Huddersfield, they all rely on Felix to pull them together again. But it's a chance friendship with a commuter that she waits for on the platform every morning that finally gives Felix the recognition she deserves, catapulting her to international stardom... 
Full of funny and heartwarming stories, Felix The Railway Cat is the remarkable tale of a close-knit community and its amazing bond with a very special cat.

Felix the Railway Cat

Clarkson’s farm is the gift that keeps on giving, and now our hero has decided to bring his misunderstood entrepreneurial flair to bear on a new venture: a pub. Let the doors open on The Farmer’s Dog. 
 
All British produce, Hawkstone beer on tap, a private bar for farmers and a vintage tractor hanging from the ceiling. The perfect country pub. But as the Cotwolds’ newest publican quickly discovers, there’s a lot more to landlording than pulling pints. 
 
Just as well, then, that he still has Lisa, Kaleb, Cheerful Charlie and Gerald to help him through...

Diddly Squat: The Farmer's Dog

Everyone knows that Jeremy Clarkson finds the world a perplexing place - after all, he wrote a bestselling book about it. Yet despite the appearance of The World According To Clarkson, things don't seem to have improved much. However, Jeremy is not someone to give up easily and he's decided to have another go. 
 
In And Another Thing, our exasperated hero discovers that: 
 
 He inadvertently dropped a bomb on North Carolina 
 
 We're all going to explode at the age of 62 
 
Russians look bad in Speedos. But not as bad as we do. 
 
 No one should have to worry about being Bill Oddie's long lost sister 
 
He should probably be nicer about David Beckham 
 
Thigh-slappingly funny and - as ever - in your face, Jeremy Clarkson bursts the pointless little bubbles of the idiots while celebrating the special, the unique and the sheer bloody brilliant ...

And Another Thing

The World According to Clarkson Volume 2

CLARKSON'S BACK - AND THIS TIME HE'S PUTTING HIS FOOT DOWN 
 
From his first job as a travelling sales rep selling Paddington Bears to his latest wheeze as a gentleman farmer, Jeremy Clarkson's love of cars has just about kept him out of trouble. 
 
But in a persistently infuriating world sometimes you have to race full-throttle at the speed-bumps. 
 
Because there's still plenty to get cross about, including: 
 
· Why nothing good ever came out of a meeting 
· Muesli's unmentionable side effects 
· Navigating London when every single road is being dug up at once 
· People who read online reviews of dishwashers 
· ****ing driverless cars 
 
Buckle up for a bumpy ride - you're holding the only book in history to require seatbelts . . .

Really?

Shane Spall

Shane and Tim Spall are on the second leg of a very big adventure, taking their Dutch barge The Princess Matilda around the coast of Britain. 
 
From Matilda’s winter berth in Cardiff, Shane and Tim follow the Welsh coast, before ambitiously deciding to visit the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland. Along the way they cross Cardigan Bay in the company of a pod of dolphins, meet the king and queen of Piel Island, get lost in shipping lanes near Liverpool, successfully cross the notorious Irish Sea (twice!), accidentally sail through an army firing range, and experience the matchless beauty of Scotland’s Caledonian canal. Emerging into the North Sea at Inverness, they set a course down the east coast for London, back where their journey began. 
 
Tim and Shane aren’t the amateur sailors they once were, but things still don’t always go to plan. It’s not easy navigating our dangerous coastal waters, and crashing waves and strong tides can be terrifying. But it’s exhilarating too, and the realisation of a dream they have had for a very long time. 
 
It’s a slow journey, but a satisfying one, visiting fishing villages and ports, and exploring Britain’s windswept coast. Along the way they meet brave lifeboat crews, lockkeepers, fishermen and a whole host of people who make their living or their leisure on the water. The Princess Matilda Comes Home is a funny and warm hearted story about sharing a great adventure with someone you love.

The Princess Matilda Comes Home

These days, you might know him better as a tractor-driving Gentleman Farmer, but Jeremy Clarkson wasn't always a horny-handed son of the soil. 
 
Not at all . . . 
 
Back in the day Jeremy was far more likely to be found gunning around the world in a haze of burnt rubber and petrol fumes. But life as a globe-trotting petrol-head also meant he was forced endure more than his fair share of foolishness, frustration and downright bafflement. And, while Jeremy may not a patient man, you have to ask why anyone should have to consider issues as diverse and perplexing as: 
 
- The downsides of relaxing in a bath of crude oil 
- Why fishing is for people who hate their kids 
- Whether there are noise-cancelling headphones with the power to silence James May 
- Why saving the planet means soggy paper straws and no more children 
- What to do about the rambler who stole his marrow 
 
But as puzzling and exasperating as life on the road often seemed to be, you could always count on Jeremy to set the world to rights with a rare wit and unique understanding. And at full throttle. Just don't expect it to all go smoothly . . .

Can You Make This Thing Go Faster?

Eric Hill

Join Spot on the farm with this tractor-shaped board book for babies and toddlers, featuring brightly-coloured pictures and moving wheels! 
 
Rumble rumble beep! 
 
Spot is having a great day out on the farm, riding in the tractor and helping out with lots of jobs. 
 
But when Spot comes across a lost lamb, will he be able to save the day and find its mother? 
 
This tractor-shaped board book with interactive wheels is the perfect way to entertain your little one! 
 
Look out for more fun-filled Spot books: 
Where's Spot? 
Spot's Tractor 
Spot's Fire Engine 
Spot's Magnet Fun 
Spot Goes to the Farm 
Spot Goes to the Park 
Spot Goes to School 
Spot Says Goodnight

Spot's Tractor

An interactive board book for babies and toddlers

THE NO. 1 SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER 
 
Head back down to Clarkson Farm with the bestseller from our favourite welly-wearing wannabe farmer, Jeremy Clarkson 
___________ 
 
Enthusiastic trainee farmer Jeremy Clarkson made just £144 in his first year at Diddly Squat Farm. This year he's determined to do better. Not because he now knows what he's doing. But because he's fed up of getting stick from Kaleb. 
 
Yet farming continues to be a challenge. 
 
For instance . . . 
· Loading a grain trailer was more demanding than flying an Apache gunship? 
· Cows were more dangerous than motor-racing? 
· It's easier to get planning permission to build a nuclear plant than to turn a barn into a restaurant? 
 
Jeremy's always got a plan. Loads of them. Often cunning. 
 
Not always greeted with wild enthusiasm by Kaleb and Cheerful Charlie, however . . . 
___________ 
 
PRAISE FOR DIDDLY SQUAT 
 
'Clarkson has done more for farmers in one series than Countryfile achieved in 30 years' James Rebanks, author of A Shepherd's Life 
 
'Clarkson has showcased the passion, humour and personalities of the people who work throughout the year to grow the nation's food . . . and brought an understanding of many of the issues faced by farmers to the British public' National Farmers Union 
 
'A deserving Farming Champion of the Year' Farmers Weekly 
 
'I don't know anything about farming. It's like David Attenborough doing jet-skiing, or Nicholas Witchell saying, "I'm going to be a cage fighter'" Jeremy Clarkson 
 
Number 1 Sunday Times bestseller, October 2022

Diddly Squat: ‘Til The Cows Come Home

Stephen Alford

Life in Europe was fundamentally changed in the 16th century by the astonishing discoveries of the New World and of direct sea routes to Asia. To start with England was hardly involved and London remained a gloomy, introverted medieval city. But as the century progressed something extraordinary happened. 
 
Stephen Alford's evocative, original and fascinating new book brings to life the network of merchants, visionaries, crooks and sailors who changed London forever. 
 
London's Triumph is above all about the people who made this possible - the families, the guild members, the money-men who were willing to risk huge sums and sometimes their own lives in pursuit of the rare, exotic and desirable. Their ambitions fuelled a new view of the world - initiating a long era of trade and empire, the consequences of which we still live with today.

London's Triumph

Merchant Adventurers and the Tudor City

Well, someone's got to do it: in a world which simply will not see reason, Jeremy sets off on another quest to beat a path of sense through all the silliness and idiocy. 
 
And there's no knowing what might catch Jeremy's eye along the way. It could be: 
-The merits of Stonehenge as a business model 
-Why all meetings are a waste of time 
-The theft of the Queen's cows 
-One Norwegian man's unique approach to showing his gratitude 
-Fitting a burglar alarm to a tortoise 
-Or how Lou Reed was completely wrong about what makes a perfect day 
 
Pithy and provocative, this is Clarkson at his best, taking issue with whatever nonsense gets in the way of his search for all that's worth celebrating. Why should we be forced to accept stuff that's a bit rubbish? Shouldn't things work? Why doesn't someone care? I mean, is it really too much to ask? 
 
It's a good thing we've still got Jeremy out there, still looking, without fear or favour, for the answers.

Is It Really Too Much To Ask?

The World According to Clarkson Volume 5

Fred Dibnah

David Hall

Britains favourite steeplejack and industrial enthusiastic, the late Fred Dibnah, takes us back to the 18th century when the invention of the steam engine gave an enormous impetus to the development of machinery of all types. He reveals how the steam engine provided the first practical means of generating power from heat to augment the old sources of power (from muscle, wind and water) and provided the main source of power for the Industrial Revolution.    In Fred Dibnahs Age of Steam Fred shares his passion for steam and meets some of the characters who devote their lives to finding, preserving and restoring steam locomotives, traction engines and stationary engines, mill workings and pumps. Combined with this will be the stories of central figures of the time, including James Watts -  inventor of the steam engine - and Richard Trevithick who played a key role in the expansion of industrial Britain in the 18th and 19th centuries.

Fred Dibnah's Age Of Steam

Volume 4 in the bestselling World According to Clarkson series 
 
Jeremy Clarkson had a dream. A world where the nonsensical made sense, the idiotic was abolished and the sheer bloody brilliant was embraced. In How Hard Can It Be? our hero embarks on a quest to set the world to rights. Again. 
 
En-route he discovers how rhubarb will become the new crack, that a comb over will end anyone's quest for global domination and what unites a Filipino chambermaid in Abergavenny with Prince Andrew. 
 
For anyone who's ever woken up and thought the time has come to stop the nonsense and celebrate the sensational, read on. Because seriously, how hard can it be? 
 
Jeremy Clarkson began his writing career on the Rotherham Advertiser. He now writes for the Sun and the Sunday Times and is the tallest person working in British television.

How Hard Can It Be?

The World According to Clarkson Volume 4

Emma Straub

EMBARK ON THE JOYOUS AND NOSTALGIC JOURNEY OF A LIFETIME IN THE LATEST NOVEL FROM THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF THIS TIME TOMORROW AND ALL ADULTS HERE 
 
'Pure joy' Ann Patchett 
'Fun, delicious, big-hearted' Taylor Jenkins Reid 
'Criminally readable' Maria Semple 
'I can't TELL you the enjoyment it gave me' Marian Keyes 
'I was completely swept away' Coco Mellors 
'You will feel so understood by this novel' Rainbow Rowell 
 
--- 
 
Annie is on a journey straight back to her past. 
 
When the American Fantasy cruise ship sets sail for a four-day themed voyage, aboard are all five members of a famous 1990s boyband, and three thousand women who have worshipped them since their youth. 
 
Newly divorced and with an empty nest, Annie is on board as a lark to appease her sister. Once a diehard fan of the band as a teen, she now feels out of place amid the sea of bedazzling t-shirts bearing the singers’ faces. Yet when the lights go down, the cocktails are poured and the band starts singing, Annie finally reconnects to a long-submerged part of herself. 
 
As she encounters Keith, the band’s slightly depressed, fifty-something lead singer – not just a celebrity but someone clearly in need of a friend – she feels like anything is possible. 
 
But is the connection between Annie and Keith just a fantasy? Or is this the beginning of a new chapter for them both? 
 
Full of laugh-out-loud reflections on fame, nostalgia, marriage and growing up, American Fantasy celebrates the magic of revisiting our youth, and the even greater magic of starting anew. 
 
--- 
 
PRAISE FOR EMMA STRAUB 
 
'Has all the pleasures of reading one of Anne Tyler's compelling family portraits' NEW YORK TIMES 
 
'Nostalgic, wise, funny, and filled with love' GABRIELLE ZEVIN on This Time Tomorrow 
 
'Smart, compelling, irresistible' LIANE MORIARTY on Modern Lovers 
 
'Her warmth and sense of humour electrify every page' NEW YORK MAGAZINE

American Fantasy

Paisley Hope

Edgy. Dangerous. Addictive. From the author of Holding the Reins comes a binge-worthy dark biker romance, perfect for fans of Rina Kent and Navessa Allen. 
 
Ride faster than your angel can fly. 
 
Gabriel Wolfe, fallen dark angel and president of the Hounds of Hell motorcycle club, has lived a life shrouded in darkness. Haunted by a traumatic past, chaos is the only way he makes sense of the world. 
 
He craves it to feel stable. Whole. 
 
But everything changes when he meets Brinley Rose Beaumont. With her raven hair and molten eyes, she ignites a fire within him that he never knew existed. Wolfe's meticulously controlled world soon begins to unravel, and he finds himself drawn to Brinley with an intensity that borders on obsession. 
 
Now, Brinley is all he sees. And Wolfe will stop at nothing to make her his. 
 
Tropes: 
- Motorcycle Romance 
- Forced Proximity 
- Touch her and die 
- Morally Grey MMC 
- Good girl x bad boy 
- NOT a slow burn

Wolf.e

Liz McIvor

Canals hold a unique place in British culture, with associations of lazy summer afternoons, journeying through lush green countryside. But as Liz McIvor explains in the book to accompany her BBC series, the story of our canals is also the story of how modern Britain was born. It was the canals that helped open up the trade of the Industrial Revolution, furthered the new science of geology, and even ushered in a new form of architecture. The legacy of our canals is all around us. 
 
In Canals: The Making of a Nation, McIvor takes us on a journey across the network of English canals to tell a deeper story of how our waterways changed our lives. It’s a very modern tale, full of high finance and greedy investors, cheap labour and the struggle for workers’ rights, and new frontiers in family and child welfare. It’s a unique and compelling exploration of Britain’s golden age.

Canals: The Making of a Nation

Robin Stevens

Shortlisted for the Edgar Award for juvenile fiction 2018! 
 
Daisy Wells and Hazel Wong are taking a holiday on the world-famous Orient Express - and it's clear that each of their fellow first-class passengers has something to hide. Even more intriguing: there is rumour of a spy in their midst. 
 
Then, during dinner, there is a scream from inside one of the cabins. When the door is broken down, a passenger is found murdered, her stunning ruby necklace gone. But the killer has vanished - as if into thin air. 
 
Daisy and Hazel are faced with their first ever locked-room mystery - and with competition from several other sleuths, who are just as determined to crack the case.

First Class Murder

Freddie Spencer

Feel is the story of how a small-time boy from humble beginnings in Louisiana rose to the pantheon of greats, to win the 500cc and 250cc GP Championship in the same year – an historic achievement over three decades ago which has never been repeated. 
 
Growing up at the time of the assassination of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Freddie judged by feel, not by colour. Blind to prejudice and discrimination, he formed dynamic connections with people and events, but only years later during his racing afterlife could Freddie come to understand the true power of the things he learned. 
 
Spencer is an articulate and compassionate guide as he describes the thrill and horror of racing in an era when death was a perennial threat. He recalls in pin-sharp detail the frenetic high-octane racing duels with the ‘King’ Kenny Roberts, but also describes a parallel internal journey as he struggled to make sense of it all. 
 
Driven by a search for the personal fulfilment that comes through finding your purpose, Freddie’s story is a universal one. In its message of hope, Feel transcends its genre to offer a story for everyone. Part thriller, part philosophical self-exploration, it is a remarkably insightful account of what it is like to have it all, but wonder why. 
 
“For the first time I will talk about the traumas of my childhood, the contrast between the leaf fire burns, the mistrust and discomfort and the peace and purpose I felt when riding my bike. I didn’t tell my parents about something that happened to me. Why? I felt ashamed, but when I rode I felt connected to everything and the pain in my hand and heart would go away. It gave me the feeling of hope”.

Feel

My Story

Jody Rosen

**SHORTLISTED FOR THE SUNDAY TIMES SPORTS BOOK AWARDS 2023** 
 
'Full of delightful anecdotes and interviews and fascinating historical tales' Mail on Sunday 
 
A panoramic portrait of the wonderous vehicle whose passenger is also its engine. 
 
A toy, a tool, a liberator, or complete nuisance: the bicycle has been many things to many people over the decades, yet it endures as the most popular form of transport in the world. How has such a simple machine achieved so much? 
 
Combining history, travelogue and memoir, Jody Rosen reshapes our understanding of this ubiquitous vehicle from its invention in 1817 to its present-day renaissance as a 'green machine'. Readers meet unforgettable characters: women's suffragists who steered bikes to the barricades in the 1890s, a Bhutanese king who races mountain bikes in the Himalayas, astronauts who ride a floating bicycle in zero gravity. 
 
By examining the bicycle's past and peering into its future, Two Wheels Good forms a joyful ode to an engineering marvel of global importance. 
 
'Funny, precise, surprising' Adam Gopnik 
 
'Love for two-wheeled transport runs through every sentence' Economist 
 
'Wry, rich, deeply researched' Patrick Radden Keefe

Two Wheels Good

The History and Mystery of the Bicycle (Shortlisted for the Sunday Times Sports Book Awards 2023)

What Could Possibly Go Wrong... is the eighth book in Jeremy Clarkson's bestselling Clarkson on Cars series. 
 
There's nothing quite like messing about on four wheels. In fact, there's no better way to contemplate the madness of the world than from the driver's seat of something which is zooming by very fast indeed. 
 
Or so Jeremy Clarkson believes. 
 
For he's been pondering some really rather important matters, such as why: 
 
- God has a streak of German perfectionism 
- Crab spread beats Heston Blumenthal's rhubarb mousse 
- Monaco's billionaires are ruining the Grand Prix 
- The back of a dog tastes nicer than marzipan 
 
Someone's got to. And while a full tank and the open road might not quite reveal the meaning of life, there's certainly some fun to be had along the way . . . 
 
'Brilliant . . . laugh-out-loud' Daily Telegraph 
 
'Very funny . . . I cracked up laughing on the tube' Evening Standard 
 
'Outrageously funny . . . will have you in stitches' Time Out

What Could Possibly Go Wrong. . .

Mark Ovenden

London Underground By Design is the beautifully illustrated new book from Mark Ovenden, the acclaimed author of Great Railway Maps of the World, published to coincide with the 150th anniversary of the Tube in 2013. 
 
Since its establishment 150 years ago as the world's first urban subway, the London Underground has continuously set a benchmark for design that has influenced transit systems from New York to Tokyo, Moscow to Paris and beyond. London Underground by Design is the first meticulous study of every aspect of that feat, a comprehensive history of one of the world's most celebrated design achievements, and of the visionaries who brought it to life. 
 
Beginning in the pioneering Victorian age, Mark Ovenden charts the evolution of architecture, branding, typeface, map design, interior and textile styles, posters, signage and graphic design and how these came together to shape not just the Underground's identity, but the character of London itself. This is the story of celebrated designers - from Frank Pick, the guru who conceptualised the modern Tube's look under the 'design fit for purpose' mantra, to Harry Beck, Tube diagram creator, and from Marion Dorn, one of the twentieth century's leading textile designers, to Edward Johnston, creator of the distinctive font that bears his name, as well as Leslie Green, designer of central London's distinctive ruby-red tiled stations, and the Design Research Unit's head, Misha Black, who in the 1960s rebranded British Railways and created the Victoria line's distinctive style, and Sir Norman Foster, architect of Canary Wharf station. 
 
'Fascinating ... authoritative ... bristles with photographs I've never seen before ... the book does ample justice to a network that - overcrowded and overpriced - is a glorious palimpsest of design' Andrew Martin, Observer 
 
'I wouldn't ordinarily enthuse about one book at such length, but this is an important work...not because it's an entertaining read (it is), but because it identifies the birth of a brand...and records the birth of a new idea - the transport interchange' Kevin McCloud, Grand Designs Magazine 
 
'Mark Ovenden has devotedly documented the designs associated with [the Underground] ... "addictive" for anyone interested in the look of everyday life' Telegraph 
 
'This beautifully illustrated history is a worth tribute [to 150 years of design]' Shortlist 
 
'A wonderful, handsome book ... it makes me want to nerd out, get a travel card and whiz out to the strange ends of Metroland or the UFO shape of Southgate station' Robert Bownes/Andrew Tuck, Monocle Weekly (Radio programme) 
 
Mark Ovenden is a British writer and broadcaster. His previous books are Metro Maps of the World, Paris Metro Style and Great Railway Maps of the World. He is a Fellow of the Royal Geographic Society and lives in London.

London Underground By Design

Michael Williams

Michael Williams has spent the past year travelling along the fascinating rail byways of Britain for this new collection of journeys. Here is the 'train to the end of the world' running for more than four splendid hours through lake, loch and moorland from Inverness to Wick, the most northerly town in Britain. He discovers a perfect country branch line in London's commuterland, and travels on one of the slowest services in the land along the shores of the lovely Dovey estuary to the far west of Wales. He takes the stopping train across the Pennines on a line with so few services that its glorious scenery is a secret known only to the regulars. Here, too, is the Bittern Line in Norfolk and the Tarka Line in North Devon as well as the little branch line to the fishing port of Looe in Cornwall, rescued from closure in the 1960s and now celebrating its 150th anniversary taking families on holiday to the seaside. From the most luxurious and historic - aboard the Orient Express - to the most futuristic - on the driverless trains of London's Docklands Light Railway - here is a unique travel companion celebrating the treasures of our railway heritage from one of Britain's most knowledgeable railway writers.

On the Slow Train Again

William Queen

When veteran law-enforcement officer and lifelong motorcycle lover William Queen penetrated the San Fernando chapter of the notorious Mongols, he was at the mercy of psychopaths who sought to have him prove his fealty by any means necessary, from selling and doing drugs to arms trafficking, driving getaway cars and, in one shocking instance, stitching up the face of a Mongol 'ol' lady' after a brutal beating at the hands of her boyfriend. 
 
Yet despite the constant criminality of the gang, Queen came to see the genuine camaraderie they shared. When his lengthy undercover work totally isolated Queen from his relatives and friends, the Mongols felt like the only family he had left. Under and Alone is a breathless, adrenalin-charged read that puts you on the street with some of the most dangerous men in America.

Under and Alone

Infiltrating the World's Most Violent Motorcycle Gang

Crikey, the world according to Clarkson's been a funny old place of late . . . 
 
For a while, Jeremy could be found in his normal position as the tallest man on British television but, more recently, he appears to have been usurped by a pretend elephant. 
 
But on paper the real Jeremy remains at the helm. That's as it should be. For nearly thirty years he has been fearlessly leading the charge as one the best comic writers in the country. And in 2015, he shows no sign of slowing down. 
 
So, whether it's pondering 
 
 If Jesus might have been better off being born in New Zealand 
 Why reflexive pronoun abuse is the worst thing in the world 
 How Pam Ayres's head trumps Gordon Gecko's underpants 
 Or what a television presenter with time on his hands gets up to 
 
Jeremy is still trying to make sense of all the big stuff. 
 
Circumstances change. Nothing's forever. But As I Was Saying provides glorious proof that Jeremy remains as funny, puzzled, excitable, outspoken, insightful and thought-provoking as ever. As if you ever doubted it . . .

As I Was Saying . . .

The World According to Clarkson Volume 6

The Roald Dahl Series

Penguin Readers Roald Dahl

The Roald Dahl Classic Collection

Roald Dahl’s Words for…

biblio.categories.code

biblio.publicationStatus

biblio.brand

biblio.workEditions.format

biblio.ageRange

biblio.series.seriesName

biblio.imprint.description

biblio.type

About us

About Us (Header 4)

Best-Jane-Austen-quotes_Online-Desktop_Penguin

James-Baldwin

Marian-Keyes

haruki-murakami-320×320-1

Richard-Osman

Malorie Blackman

Lisa-Jewell

Charlie-Mackesy

Authors (Header 3)

Children&#039;s

Company

Discover

Fiction

Non-fiction

Penguin Classics

Penguin Shop (Header 5)

Useful links

Work with us

Search Results

Frankenstein

Wings

Flesh

Puffin Announces The Roald Dahl Classic Collection to keep author’s classic texts in print

acts you didn’t know about James and the Giant Peach

Features

7 juicy facts you didn’t know about James and the Giant Peach

An illustration by Quentin Blake of Matilda standing on top of a pile of books

Extracts

Matilda by Roald Dahl

A photo of the book The BFG by Roald Dahl on a light blue background

The BFG by Roald Dahl

The Kumback II by Roald Dahl

Children's reading lists

Where to start with Roald Dahl’s books

Children's quizzes

Which Roald Dahl hero are you?

A photo of a young girl laying on the floor with a pair of headphones on, looking at her phone whilst she plays an audiobook

10 audiobooks for a listen-aloud adventure

How to be a great storyteller | The Roald Dahl Museum

How to be a great storyteller

Christmas gifts for 2025: Books for 6 to 9-year-olds

6 of the most gloriumptious Roald Dahl heroes

Are you Roald Dahl's biggest fan?

Ten hopscotchy moments in Roald Dahl books

10 hopscotchy moments in Roald Dahl books

A picture of a few sheets from the Roald Dahl activity pack on a light purple background

Crafts &amp; activities

Download the Roald Dahl Story Day 2021 activity pack

11 inspirational quotes that celebrate books and the joy of reading

A photo of a young boy holding a copy of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and a 'golden ticket' from the book. He is standing against a bright purple background

Make your own Charlie and the Chocolate Factory costumes

Things you didn't know classic Puffin children's books

4 things you didn’t know about these classic Puffin children’s books

How to write a laugh-out-loud story by Steven Butler

How to write a laugh-out-loud funny story

An illustration by Quentin Blake of The BFG holding Sophie in his hand

13 inspiring Roald Dahl quotes

A photo of the DIY Enormous Crocodile word game. You can see a child's hands holding the cardboard crocodile and in the background is the book Roald Dahl: Words

Make an Enormous Crocodile word game

An image of three classic children's books on a light blue background with a shape that has a star pattern

Showing results for: ‘roald dahl’

Filters

Category

Publication Date

Format

Series

Imprint

Follow penguin

Follow ladybird

Follow puffin

Sign up to the Penguin newsletter