The Duke Of Wellington Kidnapped

In 1961, a thief broke into the National Gallery in London and committed the most sensational art heist in British history. He stole the museum's much prized painting, The Duke of Wellington by Francisco Goya. Despite unprecedented international attention and an unflagging investigation, the case was not solved for four years, and even then, only because the culprit came forward voluntarily. Kempton Bunton, an elderly gentleman, claimed he executed the theft armed with only a toy gun, a disguise purchased for five shillings, and a getaway car inadvertently provided by a drunkard. Shortly after turning himself in, Bunton also invoked language in an obscure law to maintain his innocence, despite the confession. He did not allege that the confession was false, but rather that stealing the painting did not constitute a crime because he intended to return it. On account of this improbable defense strategy, the story took another twist, resulting in a bizarre courtroom drama and extraordinary verdict. Over fifty years later, Alan Hirsch decided to explore the facts behind this historic case and uncovered shocking new evidence that both solved the crime and deepened the mystery.

In 1961, a thief broke into the National Gallery in London and committed the most sensational art heist in British history. He stole the museum's much prized painting, The Duke of Wellington by Francisco Goya. Despite unprecedented international attention and an unflagging investigation, the case was not solved for four years, and even then, only because the culprit came forward voluntarily. Kempton Bunton, an elderly gentleman, claimed he executed the theft armed with only a toy gun, a disguise purchased for five shillings, and a getaway car inadvertently provided by a drunkard. Shortly after turning himself in, Bunton also invoked language in an obscure law to maintain his innocence, despite the confession. He did not allege that the confession was false, but rather that stealing the painting did not constitute a crime because he intended to return it. On account of this improbable defense strategy, the story took another twist, resulting in a bizarre courtroom drama and extraordinary verdict. Over fifty years later, Alan Hirsch decided to explore the facts behind this historic case and uncovered shocking new evidence that both solved the crime and deepened the mystery.

A “witty thriller” (The New York Times) for middle-grade readers about how the Mona Lisa was stolen from the Louvre, how the robbery made the portrait the most famous artwork in the world—and how the painting by Leonardo da Vinci should never have existed at all. SIBERT MEDAL WINNER • NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY Publishers Weekly • School Library Journal • Booklist • Kirkus Reviews • NPR • The New York Public Library • The Chicago Public Library • The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books On a hot August day in Paris, just over a century ago, a desperate guard burst into the office of the director of the Louvre and shouted, La Joconde, c’est partie! The Mona Lisa, she’s gone! No one knew who was behind the heist. Was it an international gang of thieves? Was it an art-hungry American millionaire? Was it the young Spanish painter Pablo Picasso, who was about to remake the very art of painting? Travel back to an extraordinary period of revolutionary change: turn-of-the-century Paris. Walk its backstreets. Meet the infamous thieves—and detectives—of the era. And then slip back further in time and follow Leonardo da Vinci, painter of the Mona Lisa, through his dazzling, wondrously weird life. Discover the secret at the heart of the Mona Lisa—the most famous painting in the world should never have existed at all. Here is a middle-grade nonfiction, with black-and-white illustrations by Brett Helquist throughout, written at the pace of a thriller, shot through with stories of crime and celebrity, genius and beauty.

Train at the world's first crime academy! Laugh-out-loud stories from the bestselling author of HORRIBLE HISTORIES. 2 books in 1! Want to rob the rich and give to the poor? Worried about getting caught? Then why not train at the world's first crime academy! Book 1: Classes in Kidnapping Book 2: Safecracking for Students

In an important addition to the series, this book tells the story of 20 leading revenue law cases. It goes well beyond technical analysis to explore questions of philosophical depth, historical context and constitutional significance. The editors have assembled a stellar team of tax scholars, including historians as well as lawyers, practitioners as well as academics, to provide a wide range of fresh perspectives on familiar and unfamiliar decisions. The whole collection is prefaced by the editors' extended introduction on the peculiar significance of case-law in revenue matters. This publication is a thought provoking and engaging showcase of tax writing that is accessible equally to specialists and non-specialists.

Napoleon Bonaparte has the perfect plan to conquer all of Europe. The battle will take place on a Tuesday at a little place called Waterloo. The Duke of Wellington aka the only man who can stop Napoleon has been kidnapped (Spoiler alert, not really, but kinda, but really not at all, he gets kidnapped in the first chapter). Who is the man who kidnapped the Duke? What is his plan? And how will the Duke of Wellington be un-kidnapped? These are all the things that Agent Beau has to figure out asap-a-reno. He will search to the top of the Eiffel Tower, search out the depths of the Louvre, post up at the Arc de Triomphe, but he will never ever eat a croissant. Join in on the third installment of the Beauchamp Series as the devilishly handsome Agent Beau seeks to save the kidnapped Duck... I mean Duke of Wellington in time for the Duke of Wellington to stop Napoleon and save all of Europe from an unsightly demise. This is the third book in the Beauchamp Series with more to come. Thank you, James S. Diaz

Originally written as a boys' adventure novel, Robert Louis Stevenson's Kidnapped has received praise from a range of writers, including Henry James and Jorge Luis Borges. Set around events in eighteenth century Scotland, such as the "Appin Murder" that happened in the wake of the Jacobite Rising, it skillfully and sympathetically portrays the political situation of the time. A sequel, titled Catriona, was published in 1893.

Explores the relationship between the French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte and the Duke of Wellington prior to and in the aftermath of the Battle of Waterloo, the most decisive battle of the nineteenth century.