The achievements of the RNLI, often romanticised, depend on ordinary people doing extraordinary things. This book tells the story of the last 50 years of the lifeboat service through the words and actions of the people involved. In the period since the Second World War, particularly from the mid-1960s, the RNLI has experienced the most rapid changes in its long history. The transition from conventional to fast lifeboats, the introduction of inshore boats and the expansion into beach rescue and sea safety have all dramatically changed the lifeboat service. Ray and Susannah's narrative draws on their personal and extensive inside knowledge plus first hand accounts of the rescues and the decisions that shaped the changing lifeboat service.

This book takes a fresh look at the creation of the Institution, and its early founders and examines how it has responded over 200 years.

Look Back on England follows England's progress through the centuries while considering how specific regions have made their contribution. Soil, climate, rocks, buildings, industry, while varying from area to area, form links ... the processes continue, providing fuel for speculation on the shape of things to come.

So much has been written about the great land campaigns of the Second World War that it is easy to forget, if indeed many people today are even aware of the fact, that the nearest Great Britain came to defeat had nothing whatsoever to do with either the British Army or the Royal Air Force. The country was simply on the verge of running out of supplies. The task of seeing that the merchant ships which carried the vital supplies reached their destinations fell largely on the shoulders of the Convoy Commanders, who were mostly senior but retired Naval officers who had volunteered to return to duty and it is their story which Alan Burn, who sailed on many such convoys, tells in this book.