THE dioceses of Manchester and Norwich are mentioned in a section about volunteers in the Churches chapter of James Stourton’s Heritage: A history of how we conserve our past (Apollo £40 (£36); 9781838-933166). Another section is entitled “The 1970s, ‘Change and Decay’ and SAVE” and refers to All Souls’, Haley Hill, Halifax, said to be George Gilbert Scott’s personal favourite.
In At the Gates of Rome: The fall of the Eternal City, AD 410 (Osprey Publishing, £20 (£18); 978-1-4728-4998-4), Don Hollway tells the tale of the Roman general Stilicho and Alaric, King of the Goths in the final years of the Western Roman Empire.
THE Revd David Johnson, who once called George Carey “a man of scheming ambition concealed behind imperfect dentistry”, Sister Wendy Beckett, and Canon John Andrew, a former chaplain to the Archbishop of Canterbury, and Rector of St Thomas’s, Fifth Avenue, New York, are among the subjects in Eccentric Lives: The Daily Telegraph book of 21st century obituaries, edited by Andrew M. Brown (Unicorn, £25, (£22.50); 978-1-914414-87-9). Also included are Anne Naysmith, a former concert pianist who worked with Sir Adrian Boult and ended her life living rough in London, Viscount Mountgarret, a landowner with a passion for cricket and shooting who “took ill-advised pot shots at a hot-air balloon”; and Gavin Stamp, a historian and conservationist who campaigned against architectural vandalism.
Those still enjoying this journey of life and on trains are offered Train Teasers: A quiz book for the cultured trainspotter by Andrew Martin (Profile Books, £14.99 (£13.49); 9-781788-163941). Trunk murderers, haters of railways, railway writers, Ministers for Transport, railway cats, dogs, and a penguin will all be found throughout the 28 sections, the last of which is entitled Colour. Photo and multiple-choice questions are included.