Showing results by narrator "Matthew Spencer" in All Categories

The Moonstone, a priceless yellow diamond, is looted from an Indian temple and maliciously bequeathed to Rachel Verinder. On her 18th birthday, her friend and suitor Franklin Blake brings the gift to her. That very night, it is stolen again. No one is above suspicion, as the idiosyncratic Sergeant Cuff and the Franklin piece together a puzzling series of events as mystifying as an opium dream and as deceptive as the nearby Shivering Sand.

Every one of our thoughts, actions, moods and decisions is shaped by a whole array of factors, most of which we don't pay any attention to. From culture, time and language to genetics, technology and the microorganisms living inside us—even our own unconscious routines and habits—it's clear that we aren't always in the driving seat. The good news is that by better understanding the external and internal forces at work, we can minimise their impact on our lives.

In the first months of 2020 there was a spate of murders of Black sex workers in northern cities. One of them was Ella Bailey, last seen talking to a punter in an alley in Sheffield city centre, and although no trace of her was ever found, the punter, Michael Godley, soon confessed to all three murders. Five years later, as another sex worker is murdered in the same district, the bag Ella had been carrying with her reappears, hanging on the door handles of a café, and a local vagrant claims to have seen Ella sitting on a bench in a churchyard near the site of the murder.

As one of the world's most popular sports, and with races in far corners of the globe, F1 is big business. With unparalleled insight and decades of reporting, they describe the pivotal moments which have driven the sport to new heights - the influx of tobacco advertising, the Concorde agreement, television deals, the reign of Bernie Ecclestone, and the huge popularity of Drive to Survive.

Will Greenwood is best-known for being an integral part of the 2003 Rugby World Cup-winning team. Ben Fennell has spent over 16 years helping the world's biggest businesses and brands grow. Together, they have established that world-class performance - in both business and sport - requires a fresh approach, and a new set of behaviours. Having spoken to inspirational leaders across all areas of business and sport, the authors have identified the key characteristics of world-class performance.

The 'duty of care' which the state owes to its citizens is a phrase much used, but what has it actually meant in Britain historically? And what should it mean in the future, once the immediate COVID crisis has passed? In A Duty of Care, Peter Hennessy divides post-war British history into BC (before corona) and AC (after corona). He looks back to beginnings when, during wartime, Sir William Beveridge identified the 'five giants' on the road to recovery: want, disease, ignorance, squalor and idleness and laid the foundations for the modern welfare state.

In The Diet Whisperer, Dr Paul Barrington Chell and Dr Monique Hope-Ross explain in simple terms why we are now struggling with our weight. And the answers are very surprising. They tell us why calorie counting is flawed and why exercise is not the answer. They dispel many long-held myths about weight loss and dieting, backing up their methods with up-to-date evidence-based medicine. In this remarkable book on wellness, the two doctors tell us exactly how to lose weight, lose it quickly and lose it forever.

The Imperial War Museum open its world-famous archives to celebrate the letters, diaries and spoken words of those who witnessed the key events of the Second World War. During the Second World War, across the frontline as well as on the Home Front, millions of people recorded their thoughts of...

An exploration of wild food and its habitats for aspiring foragers and nature lovers - from the expert who taught Mary Berry how to forage. Nestled by the roadside, peeking through the hedgerows, hidden in the woods and even in city streets and parks, wild food is all around us - if you know...

Joe Jackson is an adventurous twelve-year-old boy from the boring English town of Highcross. His exploration of the site of an unexploded World War II bomb will see the beginning of the most amazing experience of his life where he will meet up with Max, an extra-terrestrial from the planet Proxima Centauri b. Joe, Max and their friends, Mo and the Robinson family will embark on an adventure through time and space where they will encounter dinosaurs, Roman legionaries and medieval knights as they try to stop the evil and ambitious Dardan from taking over Planet Earth.

Samson Kolechko has been assigned a most perplexing case - though it is mostly perplexing because it's hard to understand why selling the meat of one's own pig constitutes a crime. But apparently it does, and at the insistence of the Chekist secret police officer assigned to "reinforce" the...

July 2015, Sevenoaks. 12-year-old schoolgirl Alice Johnson went missing while doing her paper round, her bag found discarded on the pavement. At 08.00, she was spotted standing in heavy rain at the side of the busy by-pass. At 11.00, she was seen talking to the driver of a black car in Tonbridge. After that, nothing. Alice was never found. Nine years later the body of another schoolgirl, Joleen Price, is pulled from a nearby lake and a local man named Vince Burns detained. Convinced that Burns is guilty in both cases, SIO Dave Armstrong calls in the Finder.

Bournemouth 2008, the height of the financial crash. Don Bayliss, a timid and well-mannered accountant, vanishes after leaving his office before a scheduled meeting. His wife is both perplexed and distraught. His clothes are found discarded at the mouth of Poole Harbour. The Finder begins with the last sightings of Don on the day he went missing, hearing how he seemed in a hurry, somewhat distracted? He unearths a string of overlooked clues that lead him to face the unlikely friendships that Don had made and more.