On Wednesday 5th October at 11am Professor David Canter will talk about his book ‘Forensic Psychology’

Lie detection, offender profiling, jury selection, insanity in the law, predicting the risk of re-offending , the minds of serial killers and many other topics that fill news and fiction are all aspects of the rapidly developing area of scientific psychology broadly known as Forensic Psychology. ‘Forensic Psychology: A Very Short Introduction’ discusses all the aspects of psychology that are relevant to the legal and criminal process as a whole. It includes explanations of criminal behaviour and criminality, including the role of mental disorder in crime, and discusses how forensic psychology contributes to helping investigate the crime and catching the perpetrators. It also explains how psychologists provide guidance to all those involved in civil and criminal court proceedings, including both the police and the accused, and what expert testimony can be provided by a psychologist about the offender at the trial. Finally, David Canter examines how forensic psychology is used, particularly in prisons, to help in the management, treatment and rehabilitation of offenders, once they have been convicted.

Professor David Canter, the internationally renowned applied social researcher and world-leading crime psychologist, is perhaps most widely known as one of the pioneers of “Offender Profiling” being the first to introduce its use to the UK. Professor Canterâ’s conviction that any contributions made by psychologists and other social scientists to the police investigation or the legal process must have an empirical, scientific basis has led him to create the discipline of Investigative Psychology.

Over the last 20 years Professor Canter has been prolific in mapping out Investigative Psychology (selected works), opening up thinking on the psychology of criminal actions and the ways in which this can inform police investigations and the courts.

Professor Canter is frequently asked to contribute to strategic policing issues at national and international levels. He has provided expert evidence in diverse legal cases of international significance. (Applications of IP; Expert Evidence to the Courts)

David’s award winning (US Anthony Award; Crime Writer’s Association Golden Dagger Award) account of the development of the science behind “offender profiling” and key cases using “geographical offender profiling” can be found in his popular books Criminal Shadows as well as Mapping Murder.

David Canter’s commitment to the systematic, scientific analysis of human behaviour (which recently earned him one of only 26 prestigious BPS Honorary Fellowships ever awarded from across the discipline) emerged out of his work on how people act in disasters and emergency situations from the Kings Cross fire to the Bradford City football ground disaster to the evacuation of the World Trade Centre on 9/11.

Tickets will be available from Warwick Books, Kenilworth Books and Warwick Words Box Office. This talk is arranged by Warwick Books for Warwick Words Xtra. We are delighted that David’s publisher OUP have supported us in putting on this event.

On Sunday 9th October  7.30pm at The Bridge House Theatre, Stuart Maconie will talk about his new book  ‘Hope and Glory: In Search of the Days That Made Modern Britain’

‘These were the days that made us, and these are the day trips to find them. Should we do a flask? And are you sure you’ll be warm enough in that coat?’ In “Hope and Glory” Stuart Maconie goes in search of the places, people and events that have shaped modern Britain. Starting with the death of Queen Victoria, to the Battle of the Somme and the General Strike, and on to the docking of the Empire Windrush and Bobby Moore raising the Jules Rimet trophy, he chooses a defining moment in our nation’s story from each decade of the last century and explores its legacy today.

Some were glorious days, some were tragic, or even shameful, but each has played its part in making us who we are as a nation. From pop stars to politicians, Suffragettes to punks, this is a journey around Britain in search of who we are.

Stuart Maconie is a TV and radio presenter, journalist, columnist and author. He is one of the UK’s best-selling travel writers. His book ‘Adventures on the High Teas’ was the top selling travel book of 2009 and ‘Pies and Prejudice’ was one of 2008’s top selling paperbacks. His work has been compared with Bill Bryson, Alan Bennett and John Peel and described by The Times as a ‘National Treasure’. He co-hosts the Radcliffe and Maconie Show on BBC Radio 2 (soon to move to 6Music), as well as The Freak Zone and The Freakier Zone on 6Music, and has written and presents dozens of other shows on BBC Radio. His TV work includes presenting the BBC’s On Trial shows, Pop on Trial and Style on Trial, as well as Stuart Maconie’s TV Towns, a popular gazeteer of major British cities and their roles in modern cultural life for ITV 4 and The Cinema Show/The DVD Collection on BBC 4. His other books include Adventures on the High Teas and the acclaimed official biographies of both Blur and James. He can name GQ Man of the Year and Sony Awards Radio Broadcaster of the Year amongst his accolades. He lives in Birmingham and is happiest when fell-walking with his dog, Muffin.”

Tickets will be available from Warwick Books, Kenilworth Books and The Bridge House Theatre (01926 776438). This talk is arranged by Warwick Books for Warwick Words Xtra. We are delighted that Stuart’s publisher Ebury have supported us in putting on this event.

On Wednesday 5th October 2pm Elizabeth Darcy Jones will recite poems from ‘Distinguished Leaves : Poems for Tea Lovers’ to the accompaniment of a selection of teas provided by Warwick’s ‘Golden Monkey Tea Company’.

Two of the recession’s success stories have been loose leaf tea and poetry – put the two together and you have ‘poetea’. Here professional writer, portrait miniature painter and Tea Poet, Elizabeth Darcy Jones, serves up a fragrant brew in this charming volume, celebrating different teas and ‘tea people’. Alongside descriptions of different tea types and hints about using loose leaf tea – 37 different teas are described as characters, revealing their unique personalities in an accessible and entertaining way.

Who wouldn’t be tempted to discover her ‘Mr Darcy of a tea?’.

‘The Golden Monkey Tea Company’ is an independent tea merchant that carries over 50 different types of fine fresh tea and countless lovely tea accessories.

Tickets will be available from Warwick Books, Kenilworth Books and TheGolden Monkey Tea Company. This talk is arranged by Warwick Books for Warwick Words Xtra. We are delighted that Elizabeth’s publisher Quiller have supported us in putting on this event.

On Tuesday 4th October 8pm at The Bridge House Theatre Melvyn Bragg will be speaking about his book ‘The Book of Books : The Radical Impact of the King James Bible 1611-2011′

 The King James Bible has often been called the Book of Books both in itself and in what it stands for. Since its publication in 1611 it has been the best selling book in the world, and many believe, had the greatest impact.

The King James Bible has spread the Protestant faith. It has also been the greatest influence on the enrichment of the English language and its literature. It has been the Bible of wars from the British Civil War in the seventeenth century to the American Civil War two centuries later and it has been carried into battle in innumerable conflicts since then. Its influence on social movements – particularly involving women in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries – and politics was profound. It was crucial to the growth of democracy. It was integral to the abolition of slavery and it defined attitudes to modern science, education and sex. 

 ’The Book of Books’ reveals the extraordinary and still-felt impact of a work created 400 years ago.

‘Bragg’s strengths as a novelist yield an account that is personal and imaginative, full of excitement and energy…I have never read an account of the Bible quite so compelling’. (David Crystal, The New Statesman )

‘What gives this book its particular power, beyond Bragg’s own reputation as a broadcaster, novelist and one of our foremost public intellectuals, is that he separates the importance of the King James Bible from the role of Christianity itself. Bragg tells the history of the King James with the vigour and pace of a storyteller rather than the dry precision of an academic.’ (Independent )

‘I am inclined to accept his final word: that the KJB’s impact “has been immeasurable and it is not over yet”.’ (John Cornwell, Financial Times )

‘Bragg takes a well known tale and tells it with easy eloquence’. (Scotland on Sunday )

‘Vivid and accessible’. (Scotsman )

‘As popular history, this is great stuff’. (Scotsman )

Tickets will be available from Warwick Books, Kenilworth Books and The Bridge House Theatre (01926 776438). This talk is arranged by Warwick Books for Warwick Words Xtra. We are delighted that Melvyn’s publisher Hodder have supported us in putting on this event.

On Monday 3rd October 7.30pm at The Lord Leycester’s Hospital Allan Mallinson will be talking about his book ‘The Making of The British Army’

How did Marlborough’s momentous victory at Blenheim

 inspire Wellington’s at Waterloo?

Did the desperate fight at Rorke’s Drift in 1879 underpin the heroism of the

 airborne forces in Arnhem in 1944?

Why does Montgomery’s momentous victory at El Alamein still matter over

fifty years after the Second World War?

Former-serving cavalry officer Allan Mallinson shows us the people and events that have shaped the army we know today. From the English Civil War to today’s War on Terror, this sweeping account of nearly 400 years of military history looks at how the Army’s dramatic past has made it one of the most effective fighting forces in the world today. Avidly researched and beautifully compiled, The Making of the British Army reveals the relevance of historic wars and battlefields in the planning and execution of modern conflicts.

 Edgehill, 1642: on a Warwickshire hillside, four thousand men lie dead and wounded. Oliver Cromwell, commanding a troop of cavalry, rides onto the field in the aftermath of the first battle of the English Civil War. Surveying the disastrous scene, he realizes that war can no longer be made in the old, feudal way: there has to be system and discipline, and therefore – eventually – a standing professional army. 

 This is the story of hard-won military experience: of campaigns with lines of communication that snaked through Europe, Africa, Asia; and of pitched battles in alien lands in which the odds were overwhelming, and where victory was snatched often by the narrowest of margins.

 From the Army’s birth at the battle of Edgehill in 1642 to our current conflict in Afghanistan, this is history at its most relevant – and most dramatic

  Allan Mallinson is the author of Light Dragoons, a history of four regiments of British Cavalry, one of which he commanded, a defence commentator for the Daily Telegraph and a regular reviewer for The Times and the Spectator. He is the author of the Sunday Times bestselling series of Matthew Hervey novels, the latest of which is On Her Majesty’s Service.

Tickets will be available from Warwick Books, Kenilworth Books and The Bridge House Theatre (01926 776438). This talk is arranged by Warwick Books for Warwick Words Xtra. We are delighted that Allan’s publisher Transworld have supported us in putting on this event.