"Trojan's mission was to bring Jamaican music to the world. Over the past half century it has done just that, releasing many of the defining albums of ska, rock steady, dub and reggae, from artists including The Upsetters, Jimmy Cliff, Desmond Dekker, The Maytals, Dennis Brown, John Holt, Lee 'Scratch' Perry, and Bob Marley & The Wailers, as well as the hughly popular Tighten Up compilations. This book includes interviews with many of the artists, as well as those behind the scenes, and features a wealth of rare and long-unseen images and memorabilia."--Back cover

When it was formed, Trojan Records epitomised the punk DIY ethic over a decade before 1976. With a blizzard of individual labels and a marketing strategy that involved selling product out of the backs of vans, the company spearheaded the injection of reggae and ska into the vein of British youth consciousness. In its first brief six-year incarnation, Trojan produced nearly 30 hit singles, created the legendary compilation series Tighten Up and launched new acts like Jimmy Cliff, Desmond Dekker, Ken Boothe, The Pioneers, Bob And Marcia, Greyhound and Dave And Ansell Collins, all against a background of cut-throat politics, cultural division and prejudice. Featuring a comprehensive discography, Young, Gifted And Black is the official story of Trojan Records, lifting the lid on the scheming, backbiting and sheer seat-of-the-pants inspiration that made the label such a powerful force for black UK music.

Based on the latest archeological research and written by a leading expert on ancient military history, the true story of the most famous battle in history is every bit as compelling as Homer's epic account, and confirms many of its details.

Using a combination of archaeological data, textual analysis, and ancient documents, this Very Short Introduction to the Trojan War investigates whether or not the war actually took place, whether archaeologists have correctly identified and been excavating the ancient site of Troy, and what has been found there.

Removes the story of Troy from the realm of myth and places it firmly into the historical arena.

For 3,000 years, tales of Troy and its heroes - Achilles and Hector, Paris and the legendary beauty Helen - have fired the human imagination. With In Search of the Trojan War, Michael Wood brings vividly to life the legend and lore of the Heroic Age in an archaeological adventure that sifts through the myths and speculation to provide a privileged view of the riches and the reality of ancient Troy. This edition includes a new preface, a new final chapter, and an addendum to the bibliography that take account of dramatic new developments in the search for Troy with the rediscovery, in Moscow, of the so-called Jewels of Helen and the re-excavation of the site of Troy which began in 1988 and is yielding new evidence about the historical city.

Before Bob Marley brought reggae to the world, before Jimmy Cliff and Peter Tosh, before thousands of musicians played a Jamaican rhythm, there were the men and women who created ska music, a blend of jazz, American rhythm and blues, and the indigenous music of the Caribbean. This book tells the story of ska music and its development from Jamaica to England, where the music took on a distinctively different tone, and finally to the rest of the world. Through the words of legendary artists, gleaned from more than a decade of interviews, the story of ska music is finally told by those who were there.

The memoir of Boris Johnson's most classic spad: The 'Rona Years, Vol. 1 'A pitch-perfect send-up' Evening Standard Unless you're a woman on Tinder between the ages of 19 and 30 in the Clapham area, or a high-end cocaine dealer operating in South West London, you probably won't have heard of Rafe Hubris, BA (Oxon). Despite that, he's a crucial figure in the life of our nation. As Boris Johnson's most classic special adviser (spad) at Number 10, he helped the UK government skilfully and efficiently control the Covid crisis, containing it for good by the end of 2020. In the first of what will doubtless be many memoirs as Rafe travels his own inevitable journey to the premiership, this fly-on-the-wall account documents his Year of 'Rona in its entirety (and iniquity). Even non-Oxbridge readers (for whom the author has taken care to keep his language as accessible as possible) will come away from this volume struck by how lucky we are to have him. Floreat Etona!* *Note for non-Oxbridge readers: this means 'May Eton flourish' in Latin.** **Latin is the language of Ancient Rome and its empire.

Innovator, genius, forward thinker and trendsetter: there are few individuals who have stamped quite as unique a footprint onto the musical landscape as Lee 'Scratch' Perry. Instantly recognisable both for his appearance and his musical approach, he has become a legend in his own lifetime in the worlds of reggae and dub. Kiss Me Neck is an extensive, detailed and heavily illustrated guide to the records produced by Perry and those that hailed from his legendary Black Ark Studio.