{"title":"Miles Macnair","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"lady-lucy-houston-dbe-book-miles-macnair-9781473879362","title":"Lady Lucy Houston DBE","description":"The life-story of Lady Lucy Houston DBE must surely be one of the most romantic and dramatic epics of the last one hundred and fifty years, yet nowadays she is a 'woman unknown'. She had a beautiful face, a graceful figure and a sharp intelligence, and over the years she would exploit her charismatic charm, first as a teenager to entice a wealthy lover, and subsequently to lead three husbands to the altar.  She was an ardent and productive campaigner for women's rights, conducting outstanding works of charity during the Great War, such as providing a convalescent home for nurses returning from the front line. In recognition of these endeavours, she was made a Dame of the British Empire in 1917. After the death of her third husband, a known misogynist, 'under mysterious circumstances', she was temporarily certified mad, but his Will was to make her the richest woman in England. During the rest of her eventful and eccentric lifetime, she spent her fortune on a vast number of charitable causes, whilst waging a feisty political campaign against weak British politicians of all parties.As a great admirer of how Mussolini had restored Italy's patriotic self-esteem, she championed men like Winston Churchill as the future saviour of her own beloved country. But her greatest legacy arose from her steadfast support for the Royal Air Force, whose finances were being crippled. She funded the 1931 Schneider Trophy Race as well as the Houston Everest Expedition of 1933. This funding had a crucial bearing on the development of the Merlin engine and the Spitfire aircraft, essentially kick starting the chain of events that would ultimately end in allied victory during the Battle of Britain. She died before the cataclysmic war that she so accurately predicted however, her death being precipitated by an infatuation with Edward, Prince of Wales. In spite of her many eccentricities, the enchanting, infuriating, inspiring and endlessly controversial Lucy Houston deserves to be remembered as a very patriotic lady indeed.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49577356001553,"sku":"GOR009702153","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":49734356664593,"sku":"NGR9781473879362","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":53479630897425,"sku":"GOR009419023","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1473879361.jpg?v=1751437740"},{"product_id":"william-james-1771-1837-book-miles-macnair-9780901461544","title":"William James (1771-1837)","description":null,"brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49592261607697,"sku":"GOR012250845","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0901461547.jpg?v=1751234551"},{"product_id":"olive-princess-of-cumberland-1772-1834-a-royal-scandal-book-miles-macnair-9781858584812","title":"Olive: Princess of Cumberland (1772-1834) - A Royal Scandal","description":"This is the gripping story of a truly remarkable woman who claimed in her later life to be a legitimate niece of King George III, by his brother Henry Duke of Cumberland. It is a tale of seduction and corruption, of artists and courtiers, State secrets and court-cases, 'Special Agents' and inconvenient children who were never quite certain who their parents had been. Who was Olive Wilmot? The result of four years research and based largely on letters and documents never published before, this book unravels the mysteries of her scandalous life and, in the last chapter, offers some solutions to enigmas that have intrigued historians for nearly 200 years.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50942159782161,"sku":"GOR005641584","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1858584817.jpg?v=1751218189"},{"product_id":"indigo-opium-book-miles-macnair-9781858585178","title":"Indigo \u0026 Opium","description":"British India in the middle of the 19th century and two enterprising families from modest origins who made immense fortunes, one from growing and processing indigo and the other from trading opium into China. Their stories are punctuated by shipwrecks, heroic acts in battles (including three Victoria Crosses), romantic trysts and sudden death; a disputed Dukedom, unexpected inheritances and political conflicts; the Opium Wars, the founding of Hong Kong and a ruinous financial crash. The two families, Hills and Dent, never met during the period of their wealth and influence, but on a summer's day in 1918 a young officer in the Royal Navy married a 19 year old Edinburgh art-student. This forged the link that led to a return to China, accompanied by a car that was smuggled out in a submarine...","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ -","offer_id":51259206271249,"sku":"","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":51259206893841,"sku":"GOR011173740","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1858585171.jpg?v=1750834061"},{"product_id":"william-james-1771-1837-the-man-who-discovered-george-stephenson-book-miles-macnair-9780901461551","title":"William James (1771-1837) the Man Who Discovered George Stephenson","description":null,"brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ -","offer_id":51681060389137,"sku":"","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":51681060847889,"sku":"GOR007456934","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":53393249173777,"sku":"GOR014897933","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0901461555.jpg?v=1751446068"}],"url":"https:\/\/www.worldofbooks.com\/en-gb\/collections\/author-books-by-miles-macnair.oembed","provider":"World of Books ","version":"1.0","type":"link"}