Our Hearts Are in England offers an impassioned salute to our most cherished destinations.

This book is at once the history of a remarkable and fascinating phenomenon--a British-style public school rooted in Egyptian soil boasting such alumni as King Hussein of Jordan, Omar Sharif, and Edward Said--and a reflection of the spirit of Alexandria during the first half of the twentieth century. Its publication in October 2002 is timed to coincide with the school's centenary. Victoria College, Alexandria, founded in October 1902, was named after the British queen Victoria, who had died the year before. It was the brainchild of a group of British businessmen who formed the nucleus of Alexandria's small British community. Deliberately fashioned as an independent, secular school, open to anyone who could afford its fees, it attracted the children both of the elite--royalty, diplomats, magnates, politicians, landowners--and of very ordinary people. Its pupils came not only from all over Egypt, but from the entire Middle East and beyond. This immensely readable history is, in the first place, a book about and for the Old Victorians. In a series of colorful sketches, backed by plentiful quotation from documents in the school archives, a series of engaging and distinguished characters come to life, not least Victoria's first two headmasters, C.R. Lias and his successor R.W.G. Reed--the two men whose enlightened vision and skillful leadership made the school what it was. Yet at the same time, this is a book whose appeal extends far beyond its immediate subject matter. In the process of putting together the story of a school, the authors have uncovered a wealth of material that will interest Middle East and postcolonial scholars as well as educationists, social historians, and students of human nature.

Taking a close look at Subic Bay--former U.S. military base, now a Freeport Zone-- Victoria Reyes argues that its defining feature is its ability to elicit multiple meanings: for some, it is a symbol of imperialism and inequality, while for others, it projects utopian visions of wealth and status.

By turns thrilling, dramatic, and touching, this is the story of Queen Victoria's childhood as you've never heard it before. Miss V. Conroy is good at keeping secrets. She likes to sit as quiet as a mouse, neat and discreet. But when her father sends her to Kensington Palace to become the companion to Princess Victoria, Miss V soon finds that she can no longer remain in the shadows. Her father is Sir John Conroy, confidant and financial advisor to Victoria’s mother, and he has devised a strict set of rules for the young princess that he calls the Kensington System. It governs Princess Victoria's behavior and keeps her locked away from the world. Sir John says it's for the princess's safety, but Victoria herself is convinced that it's to keep her lonely and unhappy. Torn between loyalty to her father and her growing friendship with the willful and passionate princess, Miss V has a decision to make: continue in silence or speak out. In an engaging, immersive tale, Lucy Worsley spins one of England’s best-known periods into a fresh and surprising story that will delight both young readers of historical fiction and fans of the television show featuring Victoria.

Part One: The history of amateur theatre in Victoria, commencing in 1788 in New South Wales, from Melbourne in 1842 and working through decades to modern day, based on an award-winning PhD thesis. Live cultural performances presented by First Nations People for over sixty years are respectfully acknowledged.Part Two: The Culture and Voices of Victorian musical and non-musical amateur theatre are represented by individual stories from 129 currently operating theatre companies in urban and regional Victoria. Known past theatre companies are listed to honour their existence and some research data collated from interviews with representatives from 70 theatre companies gives insight into the transformative benefits of amateur theatre, and perceived strengths, threats and weaknesses of companies.

The story of the queen who defied convention and defined an era A passionate princess, an astute and clever queen, and a cunning widow, Victoria played many roles throughout her life. In Queen Victoria: Twenty-Four Days That Changed Her Life, Lucy Worsley introduces her as a woman leading a truly extraordinary life in a unique time period. Queen Victoria simultaneously managed to define a socially conservative vision of Victorian womanhood, while also defying its conventions. Beneath her exterior image of traditional daughter, wife, and widow, she was a strong-willed and masterful politician. Drawing from the vast collection of Victoria’s correspondence and the rich documentation of her life, Worsley recreates twenty-four of the most important days in Victoria's life. Each day gives a glimpse into the identity of this powerful, difficult queen and the contradictions that defined her. Queen Victoria is an intimate introduction to one of Britain’s most iconic rulers as a wife and widow, mother and matriarch, and above all, a woman of her time.