Janie Hampton

A completely original history of one of the most extraordinary movements in the world - the Girl Guides - and how they helped win the war.

How the Girl Guides Won the War

Joyce Grenfell

This collection of poems range through many different moods—lyrical, wistful, funny, and sad—but all are full of wit and observation. The text is also accompanied by the poet's own sketches and Christmas cards that aim to conjure up a lost England.

Poems and Drawings

Hats Off

Joyce Grenfell (1910-1979) was a British institution and one of the country's best-loved entertainers, immortalized in roles such as the gym mistress, Miss Gossage (Call me Sausage), in The Happiest Days of Your Life, and Ruby Gates in the St Trinian's films. She achieved success as a writer and performer of songs and monologues on stage and radio at a time when it was unusual for a woman of her background to work at all.

Virginia Graham

A collection of letters spanning 50 years. Joyce Grenfell and Virginia Graham were best friends from the age of 7 until Joyce's death. When they were apart they wrote daily letters to each other. The letters date from 1929-1979, and mention such events as the Abdication and the atomic bomb.

The Letters of Joyce Grenfell and Virginia Graham

Joyce and Ginnie

The fourth Olympic Games of the modern era, in 1908, were set to be held in Rome, but when Mount Vesuvius erupted in 1906, Italy needed all her resources to rebuild Naples. London stepped up to the plate and with only two years to prepare the British Olympic organisers pulled off a successful Olympic Games. Miraculously, they managed to do so while shunning all municipal and government assistance and using only private enterprise for the arrangements. In under a year, the White City stadium was built on the site of the forthcoming Franco-British exhibition, with a running track, cycling track, football field, swimming pool and platform for gymnastics and wrestling. Events at the 1908 Olympic Games included real tennis, tug-of-war, motor-boat racing, archery, rackets, and rugby; Olympic lacrosse also made its last appearance at these games. In 1948 the Olympics came to Britain again, and to a country still recovering from the Second World War. During this Austerity Era, food, clothing and gasoline were heavily rationed, and the Olympic organizers had to make do with what little they had at their disposal. The indomitable spirit of Londoners cheerfully overcame every obstacle, including shortages of equipment and appalling weather. British women athletes sewed their own uniforms; American competitors shared their beef steaks with the British; and the French brought a goods train full of wine and steak. Czechoslovakian Emil Zátopek, Fanny Blankers-Koen from The Netherlands and British Boy Scouts traveled together on the London Underground. Medals were awarded for art and poetry. The entire budget for the 1948 Games was £760,000, and they turned a profit of £29,000. The first two London Olympics offer food for thought in the run-up to London 2012, with its multi-billion pound budget during a global economic recession, new sporting arenas, Olympic villages, and high-speed rail links. This history of London Olympics, which concludes with a look ahead to 2012, is a timely and fascinating chronicle of the Olympic Games of another age.

1908 and 1948

London Olympics

Janie Hampton's acclaimed The Austerity Olympics vividly depicts the last time the Games came to London, and was shortlisted for the prestigious William Hill Sports Book of the Year Award. Her tales of teams ferried to events on double-decker buses, billeted in army camps or sewing their own kit are a world away from the lavish 2012 arenas such as Zaha Hadid's swimming pool, and the massive regeneration of Stratford and surrounding areas. The cost of the 1948 Olympics was less than a hundredth of a percent of 2012's massive budget. Back then, just after the war, London showed how to run a fantastic Games on just GBP 760,000. The main stadium may have hastily been cleared of greyhound racing to allow the athletics to take place, but great runners like Emil Zatopek and Fanny Blankers-Koen thrilled the crowd, and the indomitable spirit of Londoners cheerfully overcame every obstacle, from equipment shortages to terrible weather.

When the Games Came to London in 1948

The Austerity Olympics

The number of internally displaced people far outnumbers estimated refugees who have fled their countries. The majority of displaced populations survive with very little security or legal protection. Responding to the needs of internally displaced people is one of the greatest humanitarian challenges of our time.;Revised and updated from the first edition, this volume includes information on internal displacement in 47 different countries across the globe - that is to say all countries experiencing conflict-induced displacement at the time of publication. There is discussion of the causes of displacement, patterns of flight, protection concerns and international response.

A Global Survey

Internally Displaced People

Joyce Grenfell: My Kind of Magic is a charming collection of her favourite articles, poetry, drawings and writings of every kind, from treasured recipes to the places she was happiest in. The best things in her view are often unexpected - blackbirds in January, the musty smell of old books or dusk in an East Anglian cornfield. For Joyce Grenfell these small flashes of joy and inspiration were scattered amongst the everyday. Her idea of comfort was no draughts, no overhead lighting, hot water all the year round and no noises about it being 'the summer' . During her lifetime she amassed an eclectic collection that she planned one day to put together into a scrapbook; but she was so busy she never got around to doing it. Now, finally, these pieces have been set down for the enjoyment of all. Her biographer, Janie Hampton, has woven together the little bits of magic from Joyce's life into a beautiful and endearing memento.

Janie Hampton

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