Category Archives: livesinprint

Tales of a Leicestershire Detective
Simon Shuttleworth was a police officer in Leicestershire for thirty years. He investigated some of the most appalling crimes ever seen in the East Midlands. These included the grooming, rape and murder of fifteen-year-old Kayleigh Haywood, the horrific firebombing of an innocent family and the despicable fatal attack on a beloved Turkish family man in his flat in Leicester.
But even detectives engaged in the most serious cases need downtime and relaxation. In Simon’s case, this meant organising the annual police golf trip. That would be all very well for a good golfer but Simon, by his own admission, was no Nick Faldo.
Golf can be relaxing, frustrating, annoying and fun all at the same time but on those trips, playing golf was only half the story.

Published:	July 2021
Paperback:	205 pages
Price:	£8.99
ISBN:	9-781914-424120

£8.99 (+ £3 P&P UK only)
Number of copies:

Available from Amazon

Prince Charles, Leeds United, naked dancing, rancid chickens, broken windows, sleepwalking room-mates, a golf-course bugler, unrequited love, toilet-roll fires and Roy Chubby Brown don’t cover half the near-the-knuckle adventures of those cops on tour.
But the golf was just an escape from what really mattered: murder investigation.
Bringing to justice people prepared to commit the most heinous crime of all, people who thought they could, literally, get away with murder - that was something worth fighting for.

Reviews...

18.07.2021 - ★★★★★ A well written book with just the right blend of humour and sensitivity.
Amazon Verified Reader
Simon expertly conveys how murder detectives deal with horrific cases and then find distraction in that noble leisure pursuit that can be found on a golf course - plus the consumption of quantities of alcohol and plenty of funny antics along the way. He gives insight to some key investigations and the many people affected by a murder - and also introduces us to some of the varied 'characters' who are murder detectives. A well written book with just the right blend of humour and sensitivity.

24.07.2021 - ★★★★★ A varied read- funny and interesting.
Sophie Ferguson
A great book to read from many varied angles-interesting and funny. Some parts are thought provoking when you read about the impact of crime on not only the victim and their families but also in the families of police officers! There are also plenty of light hearted sections and insight into the actual world behind the public view of policing.

livesinprint

Rescue Tugs at War – Dangerous missions in the 1940s
Stanley Charles Butler RNVR

November 24, 2020 Sarah

RESCUE TUGS AT WAR

A Personal Account Of Life In
The Royal Navy Rescue Tug Service

Edited by Peter P Butler

In 1940 Stanley Butler answered the call for merchant navy personnel to join the Royal Navy rescue tug service. For two years he served on HMRT Restive as second engineer, escorting convoys across the North Atlantic. The atrocious weather conditions and attacks by U-boats left many ships in distress. Restive also aided convoys from Iceland to Murmansk in northern Russia. Stanley Butler was usually part of the boarding party sent to assist these stricken ships and the casualty would be towed to either Iceland or the UK. In 1943 he was promoted to chief engineer and was transferred to HMRT Prudent, which was based in Durban South Africa until the end of the war.

Published:	Nov 2020
Paperback:	149 pages
Price:	£7.99
ISBN:	9-781913-425500

Available from Amazon

This very personal account gives a snapshot of his life in the 1940’s. Stanley recalls many humorous misadventures during shore leave, and gives some very detailed accounts of rescues he was involved with. There are wonderful descriptions of family life, and the difficulties of travelling by rail in the UK during the war. Stanley survived the war despite the many dangerous situations he was in. In an ironic twist of fate, his wife and child were killed in one of the few air raids on rural Cornwall.

Stanley Butler grew up on a farm near Colchester with a passion for steam traction engines. In 1936 he joined the merchant navy as an engineer and spent the next four years in the Far East. Based in Japan for a year, Stanley made many journeys inland by train. During WW2 he served in the Royal Navy. After de-mob he worked in Caltex Oil Company in Dublin for 12 years. His next job was with British Coal. For this he moved with his wife and 3 children to Sheffield, close to the beautiful Peak District. Most week-ends he would bring his children and grand-children out on walks or visits to places of interest. It was a shock to everyone when he died suddenly at the age of 66.

Reader Reviews...

Dean Longley
Insightful personal account of life of a Navy Engineer during WW2, during the often treacherous sea condition combined with constant attacks to vessels. The personal feelings, thoughts and actions are well presented and the book is a joy to read. Recommended for all those interested in individual accounts and tales of WW2.

Kindle Customer
An excellent read, detail and story. Would make a great present for anyone interested in Rescue Tugs during WW2. Really an impressive read.

James, Sheffield
I like Stanley's way of writing and the little stories he included about the ships and places he visited as well as the technical details of some of the encounters with stuck ships. The way you finished his story of the U-boat was well evidenced. I would recommend it

livesinprint

A Formidable Lady – A biography of Diana Gray
Kryss Forsyth

November 13, 2020 Sarah

A Formidable Lady
Kryss Forsyth

I would like to share with you, the reader, a portrayal of Diana Gray (1913 - 2009), a ‘formidable lady’ who I admired and respected for her capability, and strength of character.

I was pushing Diana in her wheelchair along the promenade, enjoying the late afternoon warmth from the sun, when suddenly she said, “I was abused, you know, when I was fourteen years old.
I am ninety now, and I’ve never told anyone.”

There had been no mention of this before, in all the years I had known her. I was shocked, surprised and sad, but also felt honoured she could tell me. I listened, and all that I knew about Diana suddenly began to fall into place, like a jigsaw puzzle.

Published:	Nov 2020
Paperback:	84 pages
Price:	£6.99
ISBN:	9-781913-425494

£6.99 (+ £2.50 postage)
Number of copies:

Kryss Forsyth born in Minehead in 1954, lived in Porlock until 1983, then moved to back to Minehead with her family, where she has enjoyed working as an artist and social worker for many years.
She lives with her partner David and, since retiring, they have been renovating their house on North Hill.
Kryss has two sons, and three beautiful grandaughters, who she loves spending time with.
She has also been a foster parent for several young people.
Family and friends are an important part of Kryss’s life.
She also likes a challenge, and writing a book was on her list.

livesinprint

An English Doctor in Japan
Gabriel Symonds

November 12, 2020 Sarah

An English Doctor in Japan

This entertaining memoir takes the reader at pace through Dr Gabriel Symonds’s unusual career as an English doctor in Japan, but there is much to his story before he got there: hitch-hiking to India on leaving school, disturbing incidents in the dissecting room at medical school, the antics of an eccentric bisexual fellow student, trials of life as a junior hospital doctor, attack by a drunken Irish colleague, and work in ‘heartsink’ general practices in deprived areas of London.

Life in Japan is equally eventful, and includes encounters with incompetent physicians and a Japanese surgeon known as ‘the butcher’.

This is contrasted with the ‘ideal’ practice he eventually set up, the Tokyo British Clinic, where we meet a host of colourful characters: minor royalty, a clutch of ambassadors, visiting pop singers, and a famous pianist—as well as many ordinary patients with extraordinary stories.

Published:	October 2020
Paperback:	268 pages
Price:	£12.00
ISBN:	9-781913-425432

£12.00 (+ £2.50 postage)
Number of copies:

Available on Amazon

Of particular interest are Dr Symonds’s perhaps outspoken views on general check-ups, statins, animal experiments, psychiatry, and smoking.

Although it may raise a few hackles, he does not shy away from discussing controversial issues such as circumcision, female genital mutilation, and his critical observations on terminal care in Japanese hospitals.

Reviews...

5 out of 5 stars What is your doctor really thinking?
Reviewed in Japan on December 14, 2020
Verified Purchase
I've always wondered what goes on inside the head of a physician. Obviously professional ethics prevents them from discussing patients and their problems by name. But Dr. Gabriel Symonds has found a way to tell his story while maintaining confidentiality, and it's quite a story. Only a small number of foreign physicians have practiced medicine in Japan during the post-WW2 period, and even fewer (if any) have spun together such an informative package. Symonds, a London native, has strong feelings about various aspects of diagnosis and treatment, and doesn't pull any punches when it comes to discussing shortcomings of the Japanese health care system. The result is a book that is inspiring, entertaining and enlightening. What's more, An English Doctor in Japan turned out to be a great read while stuck at home during the pandemic!

livesinprint

A Soldier’s Memoir Vol 1: The Phoney War and the Horror of Dunkirk
George West

September 13, 2020 Sarah

By Patience and Perseverance and
a Bottle of Sweet Oil
Grandpa’s War, Volume 1
Edited by Effie Cadwallader

By Patience and Perseverance and a Bottle of Sweet Oil is the first volume of an account of an ordinary soldier`s experiences during World War 2, one man`s course through seven years of activity not of his own choosing, recounting episodes, individuals and activities in extraordinary detail.
We follow George West from the shock of being transformed from a teenage accounts clerk into a soldier before war broke out in 1939, through the confusion of the Phoney War to the horror of Dunkirk and its aftermath.
George`s story isn`t really about fighting or regimental business; it is a chronological account of the incidents and elements of his daily life, described in interesting detail, with a few adventures and some odd characters thrown in.

Published:	Sept 2020
Paperback:	206 pages
Price:	£8.99
ISBN:	9-781913-425364

£8.99 (+ £2.50 postage)
Number of copies:

Available from Amazon

There are simmering feuds, romantic dalliances, humanitarian rescues and comic moments, as well as the inevitable fear and danger.
George matures from an innocent nineteen-year-old driver into a highly competent, resourceful and inventive Sergeant Mechanic, Royal Engineers. Volume 2, “The Snail, at Length, Reached Jerusalem” covers the second part of George`s war, from North Africa, through Sicily, D Day, “A Bridge Too Far” and Belsen, to demob in 1946. George West was brought up in South Shields. His mother died in childbirth and his father disappeared to Australia, so he was adopted by his mother`s elder sister and her husband who were late middle-aged when they took the baby. His upbringing was strictly Methodist and difficult, but he spent a great deal of his childhood with his close friend Bill Sharp whose family was open, loving and lively. After the war George married Bill`s younger sister, Kathleen.

George qualified as a primary school teacher soon after demob and had a successful career back in South Shields, specialising in teaching literacy and numeracy and, of course, drawing and painting, before retiring to live with Kathleen in Shropshire.

Reader Reviews...

livesinprint

A Soldier’s Memoir Vol 2: Sicily, D Day, Belsen to demob in 1946
George West

September 11, 2020 Sarah

The Snail, at Length, Reached Jerusalem
Grandpa's War - Volume 2
Edited by Effie Cadwallader

The Snail, At Length, Reached Jerusalem
is the second volume of the memoir of an ordinary soldier`s experiences during World War 2, one man`s course through seven years of activity not of his own choosing, describing episodes, individuals and activities in extraordinary detail.
George`s story isn`t really about fighting or regimental business; it’s more an account of the incidents and elements of his daily life, described in interesting detail, with quite a few adventures thrown in. There are simmering feuds, romantic dalliances, humanitarian rescues and comic moments, as well as the inevitable fear and danger. In this volume, George has matured from an innocent nineteen-year-old driver into a highly competent, resourceful and inventive sergeant mechanic, Royal Engineers.

Published:	Oct 2020
Paperback:	284 pages
Price:	£10.99
ISBN:	9-781913-425371

£10.99 (+ £3.50 postage)
Number of copies:

Available from Amazon

There are simmering feuds, romantic dalliances, humanitarian rescues and comic moments, as well as the inevitable fear and danger.
George matures from an innocent nineteen-year-old driver into a highly competent, resourceful and inventive Sergeant Mechanic, Royal Engineers.

George West was brought up in South Shields. His mother died in childbirth and his father disappeared to Australia, so he was adopted by his mother`s elder sister and her husband who were late middle-aged when they took the baby. His upbringing was strictly Methodist and difficult, but he spent a great deal of his childhood with his close friend Bill Sharp whose family was open, loving and lively. After the war George married Bill`s younger sister, Kathleen.
George qualified as a primary school teacher soon after demob and had a successful career back in South Shields, specialising in teaching literacy and numeracy and, of course, drawing and painting, before retiring to live with Kathleen in Shropshire.

Reader Reviews...

livesinprint

Shifting Classes in Twentieth Century Britain
Martin Minogue

September 1, 2020 Sarah

Shifting Classes in Twentieth Century Britain
From Village Street to Downing Street
Martin Minogue

An unconventional family story, told with warmth and humour, this account details the mixed fortunes of a rural labouring family, a neglected group in British working-class history.

The author’s progress from farmworker’s tied cottage to Cambridge University then to a Foreign Office flat in Downing Street is remarkable, as is the heroism of the working-class parents who made that transition possible.

The description of shifts in social relations produced by such sharp movements between different classes illuminates current debates about the persistence of centuries-long inequalities.

Published:	March 2021
Paperback:	274 pages
Price:	£12.00
ISBN:	9-781913-425630

£12.00 (+ £3.00 postage)
Number of copies:

Available on Amazon

Martin Minogue was educated at King James Grammar School, Knaresborough then at Cambridge University, graduating in History. In 1962 he entered the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in Whitehall where he held posts as a Resident Clerk, and as Private Secretary to successive Secretaries of State (Duncan Sandys and Arthur Bottomley). He subsequently pursued an academic career in politics and government at the Universities of Kent, then Manchester, where he became Director of University’s International Development Centre. He held consultancies for the World Bank, the United Nations Development Programme, the UK Department for International Development and the British Council. Now retired, he lives in Wales.

Reviews...

Professor Quentin Skinner, School of History, Queen Mary University of London
A memoir of general and even exemplary significance, Shifting Classes begins in a Yorkshire village and ends amid the mandarins and politicians of Westminster and Whitehall. While both settings give rise to some marvellous comic set-pieces, the North-country background also provides a shocking account of deprivations endured and opportunities denied. There have been few accounts of rural working-class life and conditions in twentieth century Britain, and nothing that matches Shifting Classes for its vividness of detail and its power to reveal the injustices that kept the class-system in place.

Fred Inglis, Emeritus Professor of Cultural Studies, University of Sheffield
This is a rare, truthful and utterly appealing memoir, a ‘condition of England’ book that is at the same time a happy book, entirely without rancour.'

Front Page, livesinprint

Charles Waterton – Creator of the First Nature Reserve
Barbara Phipps

March 4, 2020 Sarah

Born in 1782, Charles Waterton was the eldest child of Thomas and Anne Waterton, of Walton Hall in the West Riding of Yorkshire. Based on extensive research, Barbara Phipps's fascinating, fictionalised biography show us an intelligent, and fearless man, one gifted with humour and strongly held opinions. His early love of nature, especially of birds, meant he was often in trouble as a tree-climbing, bird-nesting boy. He travelled extensively, seeking to show others all he had observed by publishing his notes and preserving specimens. His method of taxidermy has never been bettered. He survived yellow fever and malaria, earthquakes and shipwreck, and many accidents both at home and abroad.

By building a wall around his parkland, and banning the gun, he created a sanctuary for all creatures with the exception of the fox and the rat, having a particular dislike of the latter. His book, ‘Wanderings in South America, the North-West of the United States and the Antilles,’ has never been out of print.

Published:	June 2019
Paperback:	412 pages
Price:	£15.00
ISBN:	9-781912-419678

£15.00 (+ £3 postage)
Number of copies:

Available from Amazon

Waterton can justifiably be given credit for creating the first nature reserve.
It is a concept that has spread, not just around Britain, but also right across the world.
Bill Oddie

Reviews...

28.6.2019 - Amazon, five star: Great Story Telling
Took me back to my own childhood, a lovely read. Anyone with a love of nature will identify with Charles Waterton.

15.4.2020 - Amazon, five star: Easy Read
An interesting book about a fascinating if accident prone man. The author writes through Waterton’s eyes bringing alive his adventures in an easy to read manner.

YouCaxton Publications

Category Archives: livesinprint

Tales of a Leicestershire Detective – Murder and the Golf Course
Simon Shuttleworth

Rescue Tugs at War – Dangerous missions in the 1940s
Stanley Charles Butler RNVR

A Formidable Lady – A biography of Diana Gray
Kryss Forsyth

An English Doctor in Japan
Gabriel Symonds

A Soldier’s Memoir Vol 1: The Phoney War and the Horror of Dunkirk
George West

A Soldier’s Memoir Vol 2: Sicily, D Day, Belsen to demob in 1946
George West

Shifting Classes in Twentieth Century Britain
Martin Minogue

Charles Waterton – Creator of the First Nature Reserve
Barbara Phipps

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