For Immediate Release:
September 28, 2010

The Ram Inn — the most haunted building in Britain. Photo credit: Randall Montgomery

Award-Winning Actress/Playwright Diz White
Tells Chilling Tales of Ghosts, Ghouls & Apparitions
From England’s Most Scenic Region
Haunted Cotswolds
US Book Release Halloween (October) 2010 by The History Press
Author Book Signing at Samuel French in Studio City on Thursday, October 21, 2010

LOS ANGELES, CA – Award-winning actress and playwright Diz White is set to release her spine-tingling collection of true stories, Haunted Cotswolds, through The History Press this Halloween season. Set in what many consider the most beautiful part of England, White, a Los Angeles-based British expat, recounts the numerous paranormal events that have occurred in the region while simultaneously documenting the Cotswolds’ eerie architecture and fascinating history. Pieced together from both historic and present-day sources, the 96-page paperback book is filled with tales of ghosts, ghouls and the undead from every corner of the Cotswolds, the second most popular tourist destination in the UK. Included are stories of tortured headless kings, stark-raving mad butchering inn keepers, buried alive country squires, burned at the stake nuns, and other undead who walk among us. The author will discuss and sign copies of the book at a Samuel French reception in Studio City on Thursday, October 21, 2010 at 7:00 p.m. (11963 Ventura Blvd., Studio City, CA 91604; 818-762-0535; www.samuelfrench.com). The book was initially released in the UK in June 2010 where the first print run sold out in six weeks.  The US release is set for October 2010 by The History Press (ISBN 978-0-7524-54269, www.thehistorypress.co.uk/products/Haunted-Cotswolds.aspx).

Ghost of Warwick Castle. Photo credit: Randall Montgomery

Long renowned for its breathtaking beauty, the Cotswolds region in England is well-known and loved for its rolling hills, picturesque villages, and beautiful vistas.  But all is not as it seems. Beneath the quaint surface lies years of brutal history filled with murder, mayhem, bloodshed, and treachery. This sinister past has encouraged the paranormal set — ghosts, ghouls, and other supernatural entities — to take up residence in the region’s underground chambers, spooky inns, and imposing manor houses. The creepy stories of these mischievous spirits, illustrated in the book with more than sixty photographs, feature colorful historic characters and popular Cotswold landmarks: King Charles I’s headless haunting of Chavenage House; the ghost of Warwick Castle as he emerges from his portrait; the ghouls of the Ram Inn, the most haunted building in Britain; the banshee of Banbury Cross; and a ghostly Guy Fawkes and his conspirators who still plot to blow up Parliament.

“I started out a skeptic,” says White about the ghost stories she investigated for the book, “But was quickly reduced to ‘a believer’ whose sleep was disturbed by terrifying dreams after I visited the creepy locations in the book.”

Haunted Cotswolds is part of the ‘Haunted’ series that The History Press publishes by various authors. These are fast becoming collector’s items in the UK. Other books in the series include Haunted Cheltenham (also by White), as well as Haunted London, Haunted Oxford, Haunted Birmingham, and Haunted Nottingham by other authors. Full details on books in the series can be found at www.thehistorypress.co.uk.  White’s Haunted Cotswolds was first published by The History Press in Great Britain in June 2010. It sold out its first print run of 3000 books in six weeks and is now well into its second run. Other books in this same series have taken two years or more to sell out the same number of copies.

The Cotswolds

The Cotswolds –
The book does double duty as a guide to the area with descriptions of Cotswold architecture and history woven into thrilling stories of supernatural happenings. The Cotswolds, which has been designated ‘An Area of Outstanding Beauty’ by the British government, extend through six counties: Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire, Warwickshire, Somerset, Worcestershire, and Wilshire. This region lies directly east of Wales and includes Stratford-upon-Avon to the north and Swindon to the south. Over six million US tourists visit Great Britain every year and many of those have the Cotswolds on their itinerary — the region is the number one tourist spot in England outside of London.

Why Is The Area Called The Cotswolds?
The rolling hills and thin soil of the Cotswolds area was not suitable for arable farming but ideal for raising sheep.  As such, the Cotswolds acquired its name from the sheep’s enclosures, or ‘cots,’ combined with the description of the hills which, during those times, were known as ‘wolds’.

Diz White. Photo courtesy of the author.

Diz White –
English-born Diz White divides her time between Los Angeles, where she has a career as a writer and actress, and her cottage in her beloved Cotswolds, where she writes books and articles about the area.  She founded and ran her successful comedy group for over fifteen years and three of her group’s plays are in current publication with Samuel French Play Scripts. They are El Grande de Coca-Cola, for which White won the New York Critics Drama Desk Award, Bullshot Crummond, for which she was nominated for an Ace Cable Award, and Footlight Frenzy, which won a Backstage award for Best Ensemble Comedy.  All the group’s shows were televised as specials by Showtime, HBO and ABC, and one of them, Bullshot, was produced as a major motion picture by the late ex-Beatle George Harrison’s HandMade Films.

White studied history of art and architecture, in addition to her specialty graphic design and illustration, at Central/St. Martins where she was awarded a National Diploma in Design. She also trained at City Lit Drama Institute in London. Her comedy group’s success launched White’s solo acting, producing, writing and voice career. She has guest starred in Star Trek Next Generation, starred in the Low Moan Comedy Special for ABC, and the feature Too Much Oregano, which won a Cannes Film Festival award.

Her vocal work can be heard in Titanic, Shrek, Gladiator, Austin Powers, Bruce Almighty, Friends, Garfield, Boston Legal, Frost/Nixon and How to Train Your Dragon among many other television shows and feature films. She is also the voice of Jackie Kennedy in the PBS Documentary Jackie Behind the Myth.  White has written for Paramount, Disney, CBS, ABC and for Los Angeles Magazine and has also taught her own comedy class in Los Angeles and at Yale University.

White’s books include The Comedy Group Book (Smith and Kraus), and Haunted Cotswolds and Haunted Cheltenham (The History Press), which were published in the UK this year.  She is currently writing another book for The History Press that explores the historical events of the year 1910, a pivotal year in English history, which centers around the entries from a recently unearthed Edwardian girl’s diary.

She is also putting the finishing touches on her recently completed comedic memoir entitled A Love Note to the Cotswolds before submitting it to potential publishers. This Under the Tuscan Sun-style book extols the delights of the English countryside as it describes the author’s hilarious roller coaster romp during her search to buy an English country cottage. Together with her husband Randall Montgomery, White is also producing a home entertainment DVD of Haunted Cotswolds, which shows narrated scenic footage of ghost locations from the book.  The DVD will be released in Spring 2011. She can be reached at www.dizwhite.com.

The History Press –
The History Press is the UK’s largest local and specialist history publisher. The company publishes over 500 books a year on a wide range of subjects including Ancient, Medieval and Modern History, Transport, Biography, Popular Archaeology, Sport, Military History, Heritage, Leisure, and Walking.

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For more information, a copy of the book, photos, or to arrange an interview, please contact Green Galactic’s Lynn Tejada (née Hasty) at 213-840-1201 and lynn@greengalactic.com.

Just the Facts:

Title: Haunted Cotswolds
Author: Diz White Photographs by: Randall Montgomery and Others
Published by: The History Press
Distributed by: Trafalgar Square Publishing
US Publication: October 2010
Type: Trade Paper
ISBN: 978-0-7524-54269
Pages: 96
Retail Price: $17.95

Table of Contents:
1. Manor House Manifestations
2. Oxfordshire Entities
3. Creepy Cotswold Castles
4. Eerie Inns
5. Cadaverous Cotswold Kings and Queens
6. Gloucestershire  Ghosts
7. Chilling Chippy

The History Press:
www.thehistorypress.co.uk/products/Haunted-Cotswolds.aspx

Amazon:
www.amazon.com/Haunted-Cotswolds-Diz-White/dp/0752454269

Available at bookstores everywhere and through Trafalgar Square Publishing from Independent Publishers
Group, 814 N. Franklin St., Chicago, IL 60610. Toll-free number for orders: 1-800-888-4741.

Gargoyle from St. Mary’s Church, Adderbury.  Photo credit: Randall Montgomery

Haunted Cotswolds Book Signing & Reception

Thursday, October 21, 2010
7:00 – 9:00pm

Award-winning actress/playwright Diz White signs copies of her new book
Haunted Cotswolds at an intimate reception with books & treats (& tricks)

Samuel French
11963 Ventura Blvd.
Studio City, CA 91604-2607
818.762.0535
www.samuelfrench.com

promo video – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-6TZFtutycE