The Trophy At The End Of The World

For two thousand years ambitious people have ravaged Cumbria seeking trophies. The result has been invasion, massacre, famine, colonisation, environmental damage, even the world’s first nuclear disaster. In nineteen riveting narratives, Paul Eastham tells how Cumbria’s history was written by people seeking revenge, status, fame and power.

• Premier Harold Macmillan caused the world’s first nuclear disaster at Windscale then handed the blame to enraged workers.
• Manchester cotton millionaires made Thirlmere an ugly reservoir and started a century of environmental protests.
• Roman Emperor Septimius Severus launched a genocidal invasion of Scotland from Carlisle to distract his feuding sons – but one still assassinated the other.
• Robert the Bruce ravaged Cumbria for eleven years in fury at being denied the status of a king, driving love-besotted Edward II to abdication and death.
• Selfish genius Percy Kelly thought hoarding his art would bring posthumous fame but he died abandoned by two poverty-stricken wives.

These are just a few of the stories in The Trophy At The End Of The World.