Many people in England have little knowledge of genuine ` English` fairy tales. The stories that many of us grew up with are from overseas: for example Snow White is German, Cinderella is French & Aladdin is Arabian. But folk tales & legends are an intrinsic part of English national culture & the author has revived our best tales for a new generation of readers. This terrific collection of 12 classic tales is a great introduction to the different types of traditional story & their place in English oral & written heritage. They include tales of giants, dragons, fairies, beauty-&-the-beast, & Arthurian Romance. Each tale is linked with a specific place or county in England: ` The Dragon Castle` from Northumberl&, ` The Girl Snatched By Fairies` from County Durham, ` The Princess & the Fool` from Kent & ` The Dark Moon` from Lincolnshire. The book also

Includes:: notes on each story: the history & where it came from, its development & short summaries of many related or similar stories

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There are not many countries where the traditional dances, songs & music of the past have become so successfully integrated into modern everyday life as they have in Engl&. This book tells the uninitiated where they may see folk dancing in England & how they may join in if they wish. The history & evolution of the dances that have survived & their regional variations are described, & an attempt is made to explain the origins & meanings, for example the handkerchiefs & bells in the morris dance & the lock of swords in the sword dance, & what difference there may be between English & Scottish country dancing. The book also covers such well-known folk-dance celebrations as the Padstow & Minehead hobby horse dances & the Helston Furry Dance. ...

This collection is filled with songs that tell of the pleasures & pains of love, the patterns of the countryside & the lives of ordinary people. Here are unfaithful soldiers, ghostly lovers, whalers on stormy seas, cuckolds & tricksters. By turns funny, plain-speaking & melancholic, these songs evoke a lost world &, with their melodies provided, record a vital musical tradition. Generations of inhabitants have helped shape the English countryside
- but it has profoundly shaped us too. It has provoked a huge variety of responses from artists, writers, musicians & people who live & work on the land
- as well as those who are travelling through it. English Journeys celebrates this long tradition with a series of twenty books on all aspects of the countryside, from stargazey pie & country churches, to man's relationship with nature & songs celebrating the patterns of the countryside (as well as ghosts & love-struck soldiers).

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` My first English lesson was grammar with the terrifying Mrs Petrie. She spent the entire time marching up & down the classroom, thwacking various items of school furniture with a ruler while she banged on about the ING part of the verb. I sat there, vibrating with fear, desperately trying to figure out what on earth she could mean. Irregular Negative Gerund? Intransitive Nominative Genitive? It was only years later, when I was teaching English to foreign students, that I realised that English grammar wasn`t obscure & wilfully difficult but a fascinating subject which I was already brilliant at
- & this book will prove that you are too.` Forget the little you think you know about English grammar & start afresh with this highly entertaining & accessible guide. English for the Natives outlines the rules & structures of our language as they are taught to foreign students
- & have never before been explained to us. Harry Ritchie also examines the grammar of dialects as well as standard English & shows how non-standard forms are just as valid. With examples from a wide variety of sources, from Ali G to John Betjeman, Margaret Thatcher to Match of the Day, this essential book reveals some surprising truths about our language & teaches you all the things you didn`t know you knew about grammar.

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Meant for young English & EFL learners, this activity book contains puzzles & games, cutting, & sticking to practice essential first words & phrases saying hello, counting, family members, eating & drinking, shopping & expressing likes & dislikes. It

Includes:: colorful press-out characters with clothes to dress them.

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English Heritage champions our historic places
- from prehistoric sites to castles & country houses. This diary is illustrated
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Surrounded by the rolling Wiltshire countryside, the site of Stonehenge is truly a sight to behold. Whilst the meaning & purpose of this ancient monument remain a mystery, there is no doubting its impressive physical presence to this day. In this English Heritage calendar striking photographs demonstrate the power & permanence of these mighty stones through the seasons. ...

Surrounded by the rolling Wiltshire countryside, the site of Stonehenge is truly a sight to behold. Whilst the meaning & purpose of this ancient monument remain a mystery, there is no doubting its impressive physical presence to this day. In this English Heritage calendar striking photographs demonstrate the power & permanence of these mighty stones through the seasons. ...

England is a country rich in history & what better way to celebrate this than with an English Heritage calendar? This stunning ...

From prehistoric Engl&, Stonehenge & the Romans to modern times, discover the people, places & events that built a country. A concise but comprehensive guide to English history & how England has come to be what it is today. Key events, people & places include: * The Anglo-Saxons & Vikings* 1066, Battle of Hastings* Richard 1 & The Crusades* Henry VIII, Thomas More, The Spanish Armada, Gunpowder Plot* Cromwell* World Wars 1 & 2* The NHS* The 1953 Coronation* World Cup win* The Beatles* Margaret Thatcher* Princess Diana* Brexit Beautifully produced, Collins Little Book of English History is a treasure in itself & makes a perfect gift for any visitor to England or enthusiast about its history. ...