Bloody British History

The East End of London has one of the bloodiest histories in Britain. From the beginning, the East End was known as 'outcast London' – it was a space beyond the city wall, where London's unwanted or undesirables lived. East-Enders were blamed for the Great Plague of London; Jack the Ripper prowled here, as did the Ratcliffe Highway murderer and the gunmen of the famous Sidney Street siege (attended by a top-hatted Winston Churchill). Communists, Fascists, strikers, Suffragettes and Skeleton Armies have all fought running battles through its streets. Then the East End weathered the worst that the Nazi bombers could throw at it during the dark days of the Blitz. Historically viewed as a 'den of iniquity', and once teaming with opium dens, prostitutes (known locally as 'tigresses') and paupers, all living amidst the horrendous poverty depicted by Henry Mayhew and Charles Booth, this is a story of dreadful odds and of determination, filled with horror, grim British humour and hundreds of incredible years of history.

Britain has an incredible history, steeped in all manner of blood, death, disease and horror. From cannibals to concentration camps, Geoff Holder covers events both great and gory from Britain's terrible past, with kings, queens and pretenders to the throne; sea battles, massacres and attacks from the air. This collection explores it all, with hundreds of amazing true stories, including seven ill-judged attempts to assassinate Queen Victoria and the Gestapo's secret plans to bring a conquered Britain to its knees. There will be blood ...

Saxons of Old Sarum buried alive! The plague pits of Salisbury! Cathedral organist intent on murder! The book bound in human skin! Locked in a cage with criminal lunatics! A monocled killer! Salisbury has one of the most gruesome histories on record. Human remains filled its barrows, its nobles were tortured, its witches hanged and a deadly disease once lurked in its murky waters. There was no safety in its inns either, for one was plagued with suicides and another hid a severed hand. Even the introduction of the railways led to death and destruction. With more than sixty illustrations, hundreds of years of terrible true history are waiting for you inside this book!

Black death at Bletchley! Pustules and pest houses. Burnt at the stake! Lollards tortured and hanged. French kings and guillotines! Exiled King Louis XVIII at Hartwell House. Farmhouse of thieves! The amazing true story of the Great Train Robbery. Buckinghamshire has one of the darkest histories on record. Its residents included the Dinton Hermit – better known as Charles I's executioner – and Sir Everard Digby, the Gayhurst nobleman who tried to blow up James I, as well as a truly apocalyptic priest at Water Stratford. With Romans running amok in the Chilterns and the Anglo-Saxons terrorising Aylesbury, this chilling catalogue of battles, deaths, diseases and disasters will make you see the county in a whole new light.

Danish death! Vikings sack and burn the city. Medieval murder mysteries! The dead body of a young boy was one third of Norwich's residents caught the Black Death! Victorian horrors! In 1851, body parts began to appear across the city – but who had left them, and why? This book contains the amazing and dramatic history of Norwich. Beginning with the all-out Viking assault on the city and roaring through to the falling bombs of the Blitz, hundreds of years of incredible history are crammed into this volume. You'll never look at the city in the same way again!

The people of Southampton have had a lot to put up with over the centuries. If the Danes of French weren't attacking it, pirates from further along were. Treasonous plots were hatched behind its ancient walls and mutiny hit its shipping. This book looks at such bloody events as the Black Death in the city, what happens when you cross a king, the ill-fated Titanic and the Blitz. Yes, the best bits of Southampton's history are surely the bloodiest!

Burned in a barrel of tar! Brighton's Historical Horrors Revealed! Brighton scandals including rioting rockers, military misdemeanours and three terrible trunk murders! Strike! Barbarity at the Battle of Lewes Road. Baptised then beheaded: Stories of Saxon savagery! Strafed by Nazi machine-gunners: The terrible true tale of the Brighton blitz! Containing more than 60 illustrations and 2,000 years of history, here is the dark and dreadful saga of Brighton. With bombs and battles, riots and rebellions, tidal waves, terrors, and some terrible true crimes, it is no wonder that the city was once dubbed 'The Queen of Slaughtering Places'!

Corpses in the street! The Black Death decimates Bristol. A stomach full of arsenic! Poisoned puddings and merry murderers. 'Take that you brute!' Suffragettes attack Winston Churchill. Bombs drop on Bristol! Blackouts and the Blitz. Bristol has one of the bloodiest histories on record. One of Britain's key ports, it suffered devastating attacks from every possible invader, from Saxon fleets all the way through to the Nazi bombers of the Second World War. Meanwhile, adventurers, smugglers and pirates sailed from its docks, and more than half a million souls sailed in chains, victims of Bristol's vile slave trade ended only by the Herculean efforts of the abolitionists – Bristol folk amongst them. Containing hundreds of years of history and amazing true stories of eccentric residents such as con-woman 'Princess Caraboo', who ended her days as a Bristol leech-seller, no Bristol bookshelf is complete without this book.

Castle of the Conqueror! 1,000 years of horrible events at Warwick Castle.King Charles ripped my flesh! The two-week siege that almost brought the town to its knees! Warwick is burning! Fires, disasters and riots galore! Hundreds of dark and scandalous events have happened in Warwick over the centuries, from the murder of Piers Gaveston, the king's lover, who was stabbed and then beheaded on Blacklow Hill, to the incredible histories of the Earls of Warwick. The Gunpowder Plot was formed here, and the castle's horses were stolen afterwards when the plotters made a desperate attempt to escape the King's wrath. Containing martyrs, murderers and corrupt officials, crimes, ghosts, prize-fighters and eccentrics, you'll never see the town in the same way again!

The queen who walked on fire! Weird legends of St Swithin explored! The Vikings are coming! Death and destruction in ancient Winchester! 'Sufferings she could not describe': the amazing life and dolorous death of Miss Jane Austen! Fed to the dogs! Winchester's most gruesome executions! The secret histories of Winchester's most famous buildings revealed! Winchester has one of the darkest and most fascinating histories on record – more than 2,000 years of death, disease and destruction. With Georgian terrorists and legendary kings, trials, plagues and chilling true stories including the tale of William Walker, the diver who spent five years in pitch-black water under the cathedral, you'll never see the city in the same way again

Black Death! The horrors of the plague in Camden! My wife is under the floor! The true story of Camden murderer Doctor Crippen! The elephant stampede! Weird accidents and strange events galore! Camden has a dark side to rival that of any London borough. The haunt of highwaymen, its fields also witnessed numerous duels. Crime, poverty and depravity were rife in parts of Holborn until the late nineteenth century. The first murderer to be caught using the transatlantic cable lived in Camden, and the last woman to be hanged shot her lover outside a Hampstead pub. With grave-robbers and grisly graveyard exhumations, eccentric residents and rioting peasants, and featuring tons of weird true events, you'll never see the borough in the same way again!

Death to students: The weird origin of the University! A plague on both your parishes: Black Death in Cambridge's streets! Off with his head: The bizarre true story of Oliver Cromwell's travelling skull! Gas! Gas! The secret research team behind WWI's deadliest weapon! The fifth man: The truth about the Cambridge Five, the Soviet spies who studied! Cambridge has some of the most violent history ever recorded. From invading hordes of Vikings, Saxons and Normans to the secret Allied plans of the Second World War, it will thrill, disgust and delight in equal measure.

From its earliest beginnings through to the last days of the Second World War, Staffordshire's county town has seen more than its fair share of gore. Its history is filled with blood, disease, pestilence, poison, dismemberment, decapitation, suicides and hauntings. Featuring life—and death—at Stafford Gaol, the sanguineous siege of the castle and many other tragic true tales from history, you'll never see it in the same way again!