NATHANIEL'S NUTMEG

BIG CHIEF ELIZABETH

In 1586 Elizabeth I was named Weroanoza, Big Chief, by a tribe of North American Indians. This delighted Walter Raleigh, who established a colony in the New World, thus creating a riddle that took many years to solve.

THE RIDDLE AND THE KNIGHT

In 1322 Sir John Mandeville left England for a pilgrimage lasting 34 years. On his return he claimed he had circumnavigated the world. In the 19th century sceptics questioned his voyage. Here the author considers the riddles of Sir John's journey.

RUSSIAN ROULETTE

In 1917, post-Russian Revolution, an unlikely and eccentric band of British spies are smuggled into newly Soviet Russia to thwart Lenin's plan to destroy British rule in India, as a precursor to toppling the democracies of the West. The spies, under Mansfield Cumming, were the unsung founders of the present-day MI6.

SAMURAI WILLIAM

In 1611 an English Mariner wrote a letter to London's merchants revealing his life in Japan for over a decade. Although James I dismissed this as a lie, seven men were sent to find William Adams. When they arrived they were amazed by his life and influence in Japanese society.

WHITE GOLD

In 1716 a Cornish cabin boy is captured by Barbary corsairs, and taken in chains to the slave markets of Algiers. This book looks at Thomas Pellow's life and at the lives of thousands of Europeans captured and sold by fanatical Islamic slave traders.