Britannia in Brief - The Scoop on All Things British

A ramble might be a wandering narrative, but it can also be a leisurely excursion, taking in the pleasures of the land and the peoples of the region and enjoying every minute of it (well, almost).

In this trek through London, Cardiff, York, and Thirsk, you’ll encounter — along with the author and his brother, Bill — historical tourist sites, the London Underground, and public houses. Nods are given to The Beatles, Monty Python, James Herriot, and also to an impatient train car attendant, short-legged field trippers, Americans attempting to find some real food in London, as well as many other lively characters and situations.

Whether you’ve been considering a trip to Britain, you’ve already visited Britain, you live in Britain, or you are content to relax in an armchair reading about Britain, Todd Wisti provides a healthy dosage of wry humor and sometimes misshapen adventures in Full English Breakfast.

The Old Tolbooth Jail - Edinburgh's Bastille - was for five centuries the capital's heart of darkness. The tall, turreted building blocked the High Street like a stone sentinel at the gates of Hell. In its early days, it played host to the Scottish Parliament and the Court of Session, but eventually it became the main jail of the Old Town. And it was a hellhole, the very epitome of what Scots Law called squalor carceris, a foul, dingy, plague-infested purgatory that was, nevertheless, an integral part of the history of the Old Town and the nation. Not for nothing did Sir Walter Scott dub it the Heart of Midlothian.

It was home to rich and poor, noble and ignoble, master and servant. Thieves, debtors, murderers and rebels all rotted in its filthy cells - many spending their final hours there before surrendering to the tender mercies of an executioner to be hanged, beheaded or burned.

Now, for the first time, the complete story of the Old Tolbooth is told, from its proud beginnings to its final downfall at the hands of municipal vandals. Featuring tales of some of the jail's unwilling residents, including the noblemen who had their heads spiked on its tower, the black magician who threatened a monarch and one who scandalised the town with tales of sexual depravity, Dark Heart is the definitive account of one of the most interesting buildings in Edinburgh's history.