Ships and Sealing Wax and Many Things

Roger Paine, retired Navy commander and former secretary to the trustees of the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, has authored a collection of true stories about fascinating people and places. If you have an interest in the sea, you can learn about how the cells in one of Scotland's biggest prisons were emptied to provide crews for merchant ships in World War II, or how the father of a young musician playing in the palm court of the Titanic was sent a bill for 75p for new buttons on his uniform jacket two weeks after he drowned.

In his landlubberly tales, Paine gives a guided tour around more than twenty ancient village churches in southern England. Wonder at how a gruesome collection of human skulls provides an attraction to visitors in a parish church, and discover how a young girl waited in vain for her lover from the vicarage next door and eventually died of a broken heart. Spend springtime with Robert Browning, summer with William Morris, autumn with John Keats, and Christmas with Kenneth Grahame-and find out what inspired these poets to write as memorably as they did.

This delightful treasure trove of stories will keep you amused, astounded, and warmed in equal measure.