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&rsquo,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&mdash,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. ,_,