A guided tour of this historic town, showing how the areas you know and love have transformed over the centuries.

This brilliantly written memoir takes the reader on a journey into the past, to a rural England long gone, when horses worked the fields and small boys spent most of their time outdoors. Ken Sears was born in 1934 to a poor farming family in Hertfordshire - the fifth child of what would be eleven. He learns how to fend for himself at an early age. His boyhood life coincides with wartime, evacuees and American GIs arriving in his home town of Hemel Hempstead (the 'Treacle Bumpstead' of the title). At the age of nine he is caught stealing eggs and accused of killing a chicken (which he denies to this day) and is sent to reform school for five years. So begins a punishing existence, but it breeds a tough teenager, and after learning the trade of bricklaying he is called up to do his National Service in 1952. So begins his adventures in the Army, in Europe and Korea, where the ever-plucky Ken - who has an eye for the ladies and is always landing himself in trouble - finds not-always legal ways to make life that bit easier. After the Army he comes back to England and sets up a building business. From there he sees his home town change out of all recognition. The story is a characterful testament to the resourceful generation of the men who did National Service, fought wars, built towns and stood up to everything in their way. Ken's story reads like 'Commando Comics meets Fred Dibnah'.

A history of a firm of paper makers.

The thrilling biography of the brilliant British inventor and daredevil war hero whose efforts saved countless lives during WWI. Though he only lived to be 33, Wing Commander Frank Brock had accomplished much in his short life. The scion of the world-famous Brock Fireworks company, he is best known as the inventor of the Brock Bullet—the explosive bullet used to destroy German Zeppelins. He also invented the Dover Flares which lit up the sea at night and forced U-boats into deep mine fields. But his exploits went far beyond the engineering lab. As a secret agent Brock dashed to France on his wedding day, snuck into Switzerland, rowed across Lake Constance into enemy territory, and orchestrated the world’s first strategic bombing raid at the zeppelin factory in Friedrichshafen, Germany. On the day of his untimely death, he led the charge in a surprise naval attack on Zeebrugge, Belgium, only made possible by the smoke screen he invented to mask their approach. Co-authored by his grandson, Gunpowder and Glory tells more than Brock’s amazing life of invention and heroism. Woven into the narrative is the dazzling history of C.T. Brock & Company Fireworks, the world-famous firm started by Frank’s five-times great-grandfather.