Robert Smith Literary agency » The History Press

Before Marilyn: The Blue Book Modelling Years

Robert Smith — Mon, 20 Apr 2015 12:11:03 +0000

Before Marilyn tells the story of Marilyn Monroe’s modelling career, during which time she was signed to the famous Blue Book Agency in Hollywood. The head of the agency, Miss Emmeline Snively, saw potential in the young woman and kept detailed records and correspondence throughout their professional relationship and beyond. On the day of Monroe’s funeral, Snively gave an interview from her office, talking about the girl she had discovered, before announcing, rather dramatically, that she was closing the lid on her Marilyn Monroe archive that day – to ‘lock it away forever’. This archive was purchased by Astrid Franse, and together with bestselling Marilyn Monroe biographer Michelle Morgan they draw on this collection of never-before-seen documents, letters and much, much more. Before Marilyn explores an aspect of Monroe’s life that has never been fully revealed – by charting every modelling job she did, and illustrating the text with rare and unpublished photographs of the young model and her mentor.

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The Freshwater Five: A Fishing Crew’s Fight For Justice After Being Jailed For 104 Years. Jamie Green’s Story as told to Mike Dunn and Nicky Green.

Robert Smith — Fri, 23 Apr 2021 14:02:39 +0000

It was the biggest haul of cocaine ever discovered in the UK – £53m worth stashed inside eleven rucksacks that had snarled underneath fishing nets on the Isle of Wight. Within three hours, the police pounced, and in June 2011 five fishermen were found guilty of conspiracy to import Class A drugs. A jury believed they’d taken their boat into the Channel, then waited for someone to throw the bags into the ocean from a passing cargo ship. The men were handed prison sentences that totalled 104 years. However, when reexamined, the evidence (some of it new) proves they didn’t do it. Their boat was struggling to survive a Force Eight storm; crucial facts known only to the police were withheld; surveillance reports mysteriously disappeared; key intelligence was inexplicably spoilt; radio communications conveniently broke down; and expert radar analysis, which effectively sealed the men’s fate, was incorrect. Still imprisoned, the five men and their families continue to battle for their release. 104 Years is their story as told by the skipper of the crew on the night they found themselves in the wrong place at the wrong time.

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Hitler’s Valkyrie: The Uncensored Biography of Unity Mitford

admin — Sat, 23 Mar 2013 20:25:29 +0000

The first biography of Unity Valkyrie Mitford to show the real nature of her extraordinarily close relationship with Adolf Hitler conducted mostly in his beloved Munich throughout the 1930s. As with Hitler’s other women, Unity was expected to end her own life, and, like Wagner’s Valkyrie, wait for him in the afterlife of Valhalla, which she duly tried to do with a bullet in Munich upon Britain’s declaration of war. The intertwining lives of Hitler and this clever, attractive and promiscuous young woman, supported by the frequent visits to Germany of her sister, Diana, whose marriage to Oswald Mosley in Berlin was attended by Hitler, and the Nazi sympathies of other members of her family, make for spellbinding reading.

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Down But Not Out: The moving true story of a WW2 airman

admin — Sat, 06 Apr 2013 23:55:04 +0000

A tremendous memoir by a 92-year-old World War II veteran airman, Maurice Mayne. His life in action as a torpedo gunner came to a dramatic end, when his Beaufort was shot down into the sea off the Norwegian coast in 1942. Badly wounded, he miraculously managed to evacuate the plane, survive near drowning, but was picked up by a German boat and taken to a POW camp, Stalag VII B. From there he made a daring escape across Germany to the North Sea. Reunited with his sweetheart, Sylvia, they married at the end of the War, and still are, 68 years later.

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Murder by Numbers: Fascinating Figures behind the World’s Worst Crimes

Robert Smith — Mon, 21 Aug 2017 16:28:42 +0000

What is the connection between the number 13 and Jack the Ripper? Why was the number 18 crucial in catching Acid Bath murderer John George Haigh? And what is so puzzling about the number 340 in the chilling case of the Zodiac killer? The answers to all these questions and many more are revealed in a unique, number-crunching history of the ultimate crime. James Moore’s Murder by Numbers tells the story of murder through the centuries in an entirely new way … through the key digits involved. Each entry starts with a number and leads into a different aspect of murder, be it a fascinating angle to a case or revealing insights into murder methods, punishments and, of course, the chilling figures behind the most notorious killers from our past. From the grizzly death toll of the world’s worst serial killer to your own odds of being murdered, this guide will appeal to the connoisseur of true crime and the casual reader alike.

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Murder at the Inn: A criminal history of Britain’s pubs and hotels

Robert Smith — Wed, 21 Jan 2015 13:45:21 +0000

In which pub did the Krays murder George Cornell and so achieve notoriety as Britain’s most feared gangsters? Where is the hostelry in which Jack the Ripper’s victims drank? How did Burke and Hare befriend their victims in a Scottish watering hole before luring them to their deaths? What is the name of the pub where the Lord Lucan mystery first came to light? And how did a pub become the scene of the murder that led to Ruth Ellis going to the gallows? For centuries, the history of beer and pubs has gone hand in hand with some of the nation’s most despicable and fascinating crimes. Packed with grizzly murders – including fascinating little-known cases – as well as sinister stories of smuggling, robbery and sexual intrigue, Murder at the Inn is a treasure trove of dark tales linked to the best drinking haunts and historic hotels across the land.

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History’s Narrowest Escapes

admin — Sat, 23 Mar 2013 20:25:47 +0000

James Moore and Paul Nero reveal the dramatic attempts to kill Winston Churchill as well as 49 other narrow escapes in history covering everything from wars that were averted to invasions, revolutions and apocalyptic scenarios, that we escaped by the skin of our teeth. Included are the stories of how Prince Albert from his deathbed stopped war between Britain and the US in the 1860s; how Nelson’s heroics at the Battle of Trafalgar might never have happened, if it hadn’t been for the quick thinking of his son-in-law eight years before; and how the actions of a single Soviet Army colonel avoided World War Three in 1983. History’s Narrowest Escapes reveals how our history could have been very different…and possibly much worse!

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Ye Olde Good Inn Guide: A Tudor Traveller’s Guide to the Nation’s Finest Taverns

admin — Sat, 23 Mar 2013 20:26:03 +0000

Packed with the finest hostelries to grace the 16th century and written with all the flavour of the language of the day, this witty and meticulously researched tome covers every county in the land and directs you to all its celebrated and charming pubs, many of which still exist today. Ye Olde Good Inn Guide is an essential aid to both the pub historian and the drinker, who yearns for the lost age of the trusty tavern.

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Pigeon-Guided Missiles: and 49 other ideas that never took off

admin — Mon, 25 Mar 2013 01:01:58 +0000

Discover British Rail’s plan for a spaceship, the scheme to cover Manhattan in a glass dome, and why the Victorian Channel Tunnel hit a dead end. From nuclear-powered cars to Thomas Edison’s concrete furniture, this book explores fifty exciting ideas that either became victims of the eccentric figures behind them, succumbed to financial and political misfortune, or were simply just too far ahead of their time.

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Carole Lombard: Twentieth-Century Star

Robert Smith — Wed, 15 Jun 2016 15:20:00 +0000

Carole Lombard was the very opposite of the typical 1930s starlet. A no-nonsense woman, she worked hard, took no prisoners and had a great passion for life. As a result, she became Hollywood’s highest-paid star.

From the outside, Carole’s life was one of great glamour and fun, yet privately she endured much heartache. As a child, her mother moved Carole and her brothers across the country away from their beloved father. Carole then began a film career, only to have it cut short after a devastating car accident. Picking herself back up, she was rocked by the accidental shooting of her lover; a failed marriage to actor William Powell; and the sorrow of infertility during her marriage to Hollywood’s King, Clark Gable.

Lombard marched forward, promising to be positive. Sadly her life was cut short in a plane crash so catastrophic that pieces of the aircraft are still buried in the mountain today. In Carole Lombard, bestselling author Michelle Morgan accesses previously unseen documents to tell the story of a woman whose remarkable life and controversial death continues to enthrall.

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