First published in 1889 and never out of print, Jerome K Jerome's classic of humorous literature continues to delight new generations of readers. The book follows three friends, Harris, George and Jerome himself, accompanied by the ever-mischievous (and actually fictitious) dog Montmorency, as they skull up the Thames from Kingston in Surrey as far as Oxford. However, the book is far more than a travelogue. It uses incidents from the journey as jumping off points for some virtuosic set pieces, as hilarious and relevant today as they were in the late Victorian period when boating was becoming the "next big thing". Stephen Lambe dissects Jerome's masterpiece, placing it in context as a brilliantly sustained piece of observational comedy. But he also examines the River itself, and by using both modern and period photographs presented in full colour, examines how the Thames has developed over the last 120 years. The result will be indispensible to fans of the book who want to know a little more about the context in which it was written, and also to all those that have an interest in the development of England's most important and famous waterway.

The Three Men in a Boat Companion: The Thames of Jerome K. Jerome

Literature & Fiction

Lambe, Stephen

Literary

Amberley Publishing

Created in the late 1960s, fashionable in the early 1970s and hated in the 1980s, Progressive Rock has a colourful and eventful story. Many of the genre's main protagonists, including Genesis, Yes, King Crimson and Emerson, Lake &amp; Palmer, remain as popular as ever, while lesser-known names like Camel, Caravan, Renaissance, Van der Graaf Generator and Gentle Giant retain cult status. In this completely revised and updated edition, Stephen Lambe guides the reader through the early years as the music developed out of the British Progressive Music boom of the late 1960s into its own genre, and reached full maturity in the early 1970s. He also discusses how the music was received and developed outside the UK, particularly in the USA and Europe. Received wisdom has it that punk swept Progressive Rock away in the late 1970s, yet the genre never died. An early 1980s revival, spearheaded by major label signings Marillion, IQ and Pallas, burned brightly but fell away sharply later in the decade. However, in the early 1990s, the movement began to re-establish itself, largely below the radar, led by Swedish band The Flower Kings and American group Spock's Beard. The rise of the internet and the decline of the worldwide pop industry allowed niche music - as Progressive Rock had now become - to flourish once again in the new millennium. Stephen Lambe has been co-promoter of the Summer's End Progressive Rock festival since 2006. He helps promote Welsh band Magenta, and is Secretary of the Classic Rock Society, whose patrons include Steve Hackett and Roger Hodgson. He writes regularly for the magazine Rock Society.

Citizens of Hope and Glory: The Story of Progressive Rock

Arts & Photography

Music

Gloucestershire is a remarkably varied county. Cut in two by the River Severn, the western part of the county comprises the ancient Forest of Dean, reserved for royal hunting in Saxon times and latterly associated with coal mining. In the north lie Gloucestershire's two biggest settlements, the cathedral city of Gloucester and Georgian Cheltenham with its elegant architecture. In the far north of the county can be found the half-timbered buildings of Tewkesbury. To the east lie the Cotswolds, stretching from Chipping Campden in the north down to the mill town of Stroud and the old Roman city Cirencester, both mid-county. Further south still lie the ancient settlements of Berkeley, Thornbury and Chipping Sodbury. This evocative journey through this gloriously rural county also features the canals that became the spine of the region, as well as the bridges than span its most important waterway, the Severn.

Gloucestershire Through Time

Photography & Video

Yes, whose celebrated 50 years as a band in 2018, are the archetypal 1970s progressive rock group. Playing powerful and adventurous music when it was briefly part of the mainstream, the band thrilled millions with their iconic albums and epic live shows. Records like Fragile and Close to the Edge helped define an era and although the band dissolved at the end of the decade, Yes emerged once again with 90125, a streamlined, modern sound in the 1980s and a US number one hit single in 'Owner of a Lonely Heart'. The band continue to release albums and play live into the new millennium.

Yes: Every album, every song (On Track)

Sonicbond Publishing

Carry On…: Every Movie, every star (On Screen)

Humor & Entertainment

Movies

When the final episode of Seinfeld aired on 14 May 1998, an amazing 76.3 million Americans tuned in, making it the most popular situation comedy is US television history. Co-created by Larry David, this 'comedy about nothing' made celebrities of its four stars: stand-up comedian Jerry Seinfeld; comedian and actor Michael Richards who played eccentric neighbor Kramer; Julia Louis-Dreyfus who played Jerry's former girlfriend Elaine and Jason Alexander as his volatile, insecure best friend George. Completely unique in its outlook and execution, the success of the series lay in its early years, able to develop its own style below the radar as a minor network hit, before reaching a mass public with its fourth season in 1992. Classic episodes discussed here include: 'The Junior Mint', 'The Chinese Restaurant', 'The Puffy Shirt' and the ground-breaking 'The Contest'. Much analyzed during its time on screen, the show has not been re-evaluated for many years. Now, over twenty years since the series finished, Stephen Lambe's timely and superbly-crafted new book examines Seinfeld's first five seasons episode by episode, tracing the development of every character, catchphrase and quirk, from the series' embryonic pilot episode in 1989, to its status as an Emmy award-winning show by the time that season five wrapped in 1994. While the series was a huge success in the USA, it was also a cult hit across the globe and its legacy continues into the new millennium.

Seinfeld - Seasons 1 to 5: An Episode Guide (On Screen)

Television

For a few short years in the 1970s, the unique music of Focus entertained the world. Build around the prodigious instrumental talents of Dutch masters Jan Akkerman (guitar) and Thijs Van Leer (keyboards and flute), the band produced three classic hit albums in quick succession, and scored two worldwide hits with 'Sylvia' and 'Hocus Pocus'. The latter piece is as ubiquitous as tunes from the 70s get, distinctive for Akkerman's famous riff and Van Leer's once-heard-never forgotten yodeling. Musical and personal tensions between the two lead to a split in 1976, the band limping on until 1978. However, the 1970s also saw seven solo albums each from these two hugely talented musicians, with Akkerman moving into jazzier territory while Van Leer had huge success with his Introspection series of light, classical flute-based albums. Stephen Lambe's enlightening book guides the reader through the band's early history year by year, dealing with all eight Focus albums song by song, while also giving the same treatment to Akkerman and Van Leer's lesser know solo work between 1970 and 1979. It makes for both an important potted history of the band and an insight into the tensions which lead to such a creative - if short lived - peak, but also acts as an essential guide to the astonishing music the two men made while at the apex of their powers.

Focus in the 1970s: The Music of Jan Akkerman and Thijs Van Leer (Decades in Music)

When Yes ran into problems recording their tenth album in Paris at the end of 1979, it was almost the end. Yet in the 80s the band rallied, firstly as part of an unlikely collaboration with a new wave duo, then with 90125, the most successful album of their career, which spawned a number one hit in the USA with ‘Owner Of A Lonely Heart’. The band failed to capitalise on this success, however, lingering too long over its successor Big Generator and by the end of the decade, Yes had effectively split into two versions of the same band. With most authors concentrating on the group’s 1970s career, Yes in the 1980s looks in forensic detail at this relatively underexamined era of the band’s history, featuring rarely-seen photos researched by author David Watkinson. The book follows the careers of all nine significant members of the group during a turbulent decade which saw huge highs but also many lows. Not only does it consider the three albums the band itself made across the decade, but also the solo careers and other groups – including Asia, XYZ, The Buggles, Jon and Vangelis and GTR - formed by those musicians as the decade wound towards a reunion of sorts in the early 1990s.

Yes In The 1980s: Decades

Yes are the archetypal 1970s progressive rock group. Playing powerful and adventurous music when it was briefly part of the mainstream, the band thrilled millions with their iconic albums and epic live shows. Records like Fragile and Close to the Edge helped define an era and although the band dissolved at the end of the decade, Yes emerged once again with 90125, a streamlined, modern sound in the 1980s and a US number one hit single in 'Owner of a Lonely Heart'. Now in their sixth decade, the band continues to release albums and play live into the new millennium. This book examines each one of the band's studio albums, highlighting the many high points, and the rarer missteps, as well as focussing on the changes in band dynamics which led to some varied - but always interesting - music. This new, expanded edition celebrates a flurry of recent Yes activity, including new albums The Quest and Mirror To The Sky as well as a detailed examination of the band's live recordings, making this the most up-to-date and comprehensive guide to the band's music yet written, which will be essential reading for Yes' legions of fans worldwide.

Yes on track: every album, every song

Yes - 90125: Rock Classics

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Books by Lambe, Stephen