Shadowlands: A Journey Through Lost Britain

Product Information

Mark Wahlberg's daughter Grace, 13, wants to be an Olympian and he insists she's 'MORE disciplined' than him Doctor Who 60th Anniversary: Fans 'obsessed' by show's 'glorious' new opening titles as sci-fi series makes it's epic return: 'The budget is insane!' Kanye West 'broke down' after North cried to mom Kim Kardashian about wanting a simpler life with him - as he ditches Bianca Censori

IF the purpose of structure is “to provide a sense of permanence in a natural world that never stands still”, as Matthew Green posits in Shadowlands: a Journey through Lost Britain, then the purpose of ruins might be to remind us of the essential futility of that ambition. Ruins, writes Green in this gripping travelogue cum history of Britain’s disappeared places, “are at once of their time, yet derailments of it, too, bringing the singularity – and fragility – of the present into stark focus”. Rita Ora flaunts her jaw-dropping figure in a revealing silver sequin co-ord as she performs at Hits Radio Live in ManchesterThe style was my main gripe. It’s over-wordy, repetitive and hyperbolic; purple prose abounds. Editors, please do better. Dunwich - much lost to the sea from gradual coastal erosion after two “calamitous” sea storms in 1288 and 1328, including numerous ecclesiastical buildings and churches. Green references visits by Henry James (English Hours) and W G Sebald (The Rings of Saturn), as well as historical researches by Elizabethan writer Stow, who was commissioned by Day, whose early life was spent in Dunwich. Paris Hilton's special meaning behindnewborn daughter's name London after surprising fans with baby arrival announcement

Capel Celyn - a Welsh village drowned to provide a further source of water for the English city of Liverpool in the 1950’s.Aaron Hall comes under scrutiny for lyrics in his song Don't Be Afraid after he and Diddy were sued for rape A haunting, lyrical tour around the lost places of Britain.’ Charlotte Higgins , author of Under Another Sky

This sort of thing could sound morose. But I’d argue that Green is highlighting something very important, namely a recognition of our own mortality. Another gravestone, the last one surviving in the final few feet of ground once occupied by a Dunwich church, is that of a man who died in 1796, aged 38. Noting that this is his own age now, Green writes: ‘Soon he too will fall to the sea.’ Napoleon was six years younger than Josephine - so why are they played by Joaquin Phoenix, 49, and Vanessa Kirby, 35? Dan Walker reveals horror cancer scare that saw him rushed to hospital after his head doubled in sizeHistorian Matthew Green travels across Britain to tell the forgotten history of our lost cities, ghost towns and vanished villages. Revealing the extraordinary stories of how these places met their fate - and exploring how they have left their mark on our landscape and our imagination - Shadowlands is a deeply evocative and dazzlingly original account of Britain's past.