For over 150 years, crackers have been a traditional part of Christmas festivities in the UK, but who was the creator of this wonderful innovation? Little is known about Tom Smith, confectioner and cracker creator, but Peter Kimpton draws on a wealth of archive material to relate the story of Tom Smith and the Christmas Cracker. From humble beginnings as a confectioner, Tom Smith created a highly successful company through the manufacture of crackers. The history of the company is richly illustrated by contemporary trade catalogs and company artwork. Today, the Tom Smith Group is proud to be the official supplier of Christmas crackers to the Royal Household, a tradition long held since the beginning of the 20th century.

A History Book Club Alternate Selection. "A controversial and provocative study of the fundamental differences that shaped the South ... fun to read", -- History Book Club Review

From the memories of a childhood marked by extreme poverty, mental illness, and restrictive fundamentalist Christian rules, Janisse Ray crafted a “heartfelt and refreshing” (New York Times) memoir that has inspired thousands to embrace their beginnings, no matter how humble, and to fight for the places they love. This new edition updates and contextualizes the story for a new generation and a wider audience desperately searching for stories of empowerment and hope. Ray grew up in a junkyard along U.S. Highway 1, hidden from Florida-bound travelers by hulks of old cars. In language at once colloquial, elegiac, and informative, Ray redeems her home and her people, while also cataloging the source of her childhood hope: the Edenic longleaf pine forests, where orchids grow amid wiregrass at the feet of widely spaced, lofty trees. Today, the forests exist in fragments, cherished and threatened, and the South of her youth is gradually being overtaken by golf courses and suburban development. A contemporary classic, Ecology of a Cracker Childhood is a clarion call to protect the cultures and ecologies of every childhood.

An indispensible guide to southernness from revered humorist and unapologetic curmudgeon Roy Blount Jr. When a simple-talking, peanut-warehousing, grit-eating Southern Baptist Cracker got himself nominated for president of the United States in 1976, it set Roy Blount Jr. to thinking—about the South, about southerners, and about southernness. The result is a collection of savagely funny and insightful takes on redneck heaven, whiskey, blood, possums, and a great number of other things. Blount turns his gimlet eye on his Dixie home, and in the process, he clears up long-held misconceptions (and creates new ones) about the people who reside below the Mason-Dixon line. Crackers delivers classic Blount, whether you are a proud southerner or a clueless Yankee.

It's Christmas time, and Macca has a long list of presents that he would love to buy his friends. But when he checks his piggy bank, he realises that he's spent all of his savings. Oh no! This heartfelt celebration of friendship and kindness is the perfect Christmas story.

A WONDERFUL STORY with a great BIG HEART. The Sunday Times bestseller returns with a Christmas story that goes with a bang!A warm-hearted and comforting read. Trisha at her best' Carole Matthews

One of the most popular features in The Irish Times is the series of nostalgic photographs that are carried on the inside back cover of the Saturday magazine under the title 'The Times We Lived In'. This book collects more than 100 of these images.

PRAISE FOR Wanda Duncan: "In Cracker Gothic, Wanda Duncan writes about the intersections between family and place with precision, wit, and loving detail. Capturing moments that are at times humorous and at other times heartbreaking, Duncan makes spending time in the Florida swamp an unexpected, lyrical pleasure." - Aimee Mepham, author of "Raving Ones"

Half-title Page -- Title Page -- Copyright -- Contents -- Introduction