Books & Music

Westminster Abbey Choir, Onyx Brass and organist Daniel Cook raise the Abbey roof with this exhilarating new recording of music by Sir Charles Hubert Hastings Parry. Opening with the famous coronation anthem I was Glad, heard here in a brand new...

Westminster Abbey contains the only surviving medieval Cosmatesque mosaics outside Italy. They comprise: the ‘Great Pavement’ in the sanctuary; the pavement around the shrine of Edward the Confessor; the saint’s tomb and shrine; Henry III’s tomb; the...

George Mikes's perceptive best-seller provides a complete guide to the British Way of Life. Having been born in Hungary, he eventually spent more than forty years in the field, and the fruits of his labour include insights on important topics including...

The Westminster Abbey Choir continues their exploration of the rich repertoire of the liturgy in its historical context in the Abbey with music for the Feast of St Michael and All Angels, 29 September. The texts for Michaelmas are uniquely dramatic and...

Ground-breaking new studies of Henry V's chapel, tomb and funeral service have new revelations and insights into the time.Before Henry V set out in 1415 on the campaign which culminated in victory at Agincourt, he made a will laying down precise...

LONDON: a settlement founded by the Romans, occupied by the Saxons, conquered by the Danes and ruled by the Normans. This changeful place became a medieval maze of alleys and courtyards, later to be chequered with grand estates of Georgian splendour. It...

Most of us think that theology is what you do if you haven't got a life. At best, we think it needs to be practical to be of any use. But theology is in fact all about life and how we live it as God's people. No matter how theology-phobic you feel, David...

Young children just love things that go, and here is a board book they will spend hours pushing along the floor as well as reading! Follow the red bus around the streets of London visiting the sights, with an extra detail to spot on every page. Then...

Young readers can discover all the foul facts about Cruel Kings and Mean Queens, including which king died after falling off the toilet, why people thought King John was a werewolf and why Queen Anne's feet were covered in garlic. With a bold look, this...

Fanfares and anthems commissioned by previous monarchs, together with classic hymn settings and marches, all combine to recall the Queen's Coronation service of 1953. The musical forces deployed on that occasion included a choir of over 400 and a large...

Adam and Eve and the forbidden fruit, Jacob and the stairway to heaven, Joseph and his brothers, Moses and the Exodus, Samson and Delilah, David and Goliath, Jonah and the whale, the life and teachings of Jesus, the birth of Christianity. . . the Bible...

The Power of Civil Servants provides rich and informative observations about the nature of the Civil Service, its values and effectiveness, what threatens it and how it should continue to adapt to a changing world. David Normington and Peter Hennessy...