Antiquities & Oddities

//Antiquities & Oddities
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  • Kenneth Williams, star of stage, radio, screen and Carry On put together a collection  of witty, wicked put-downs, retorts, comebacks - and all those great responses we never think of at the time! These have been collected from far and wide across the world of film, literature, politics and celebrity. From Dorothy Parker, observing a notorious society flirt: That woman can speak eighteen languages and can;t say 'No' in any of them. Or Groucho Marx, to a delighted author: From the moment I picked up your book until I put it down, I was convulsed with laughter...some day I intend to read it... After W.C. Fields made his feelings about children widely known, he was asked how he really liked children:  His response?  "Boiled or fried..." Illustrated by ffolkes.
  • History as you've never learnt it before - from the invasion of Briton to Alfred the Cake, from Anne (A Dead Queen) to The Merrie Monarch and WilliamandMary who were a pair of Oranges.  A lot of it reads like a Blackadder script with typical English humour. With comic illustrations by John Reynolds.
  • A very educational annual circa 1940s with chapters on Heroes of the Bible; Heroes of Legend; Heroes of History; Heroes of the Arts; Heroes of Leadership and Service; Heroes of the Second World War.  With beautiful colour plates, monochrome and black and white illustrations.
  • An annual by the Australian Broadcasting Commission, full of stories, plays, poems. information about other lands and people, puxxles to do and general information on everything from car racing, radio station  operation and the wombat to 'farthing bundles', the world's smallest railway and the ancient art of spying. With contributions from Ruth Park. Muriel Holland, 'Melody Man' and contributions from the children of the Argonaut Club. With colour and black and white photos and sketches.
  • The hilarious story of how Graham 'Screw' Turner established a bus touring company using old converted double-decker buses. From humble beginnings in London 1973, Screw, together with a crew of colonial larrikins, builds up a fleet of 100 deckers. Screw, Spy, Bill Speaking, Wombat. Filthy, Grilly, Budgie, the mysterious Graham James Lloyd and other incorrigible crew members lead their unsuspecting punters on riotous escapades to the far flung, exotic corners of the world. Today, Graham 'Screw' Turner is one of Australia's wealthiest men and is the CEO of Flight Centre, which he began in the 1980s.  With caricatures by Bill Leak and cartoons by Warren Brown. Illustrated with black and white photographs and newspaper clippings.
  • Here we go again!  This book is dedicated to all those who thought  rugby league was just an excuse for grown men to earn big money for having a good time. Only the names have been changed to protect the guilty..and oh, what tales they tell of murder, mayhem and mystery on the Rugby League Express. Just who was the player found smuggling a suitcase full of baked beans into his motel room? And why did Phil Blake refuse to have a shower at Brookvale Oval? And yes, the one questio  all true-blue rugby league fans want answered - Who booby-trapped Terry Hill's undies? It's all here - and more - as we tell the tale of Fweddie's Fearsome Firecwacker, give the inside info on what happened to Sterlo's mouthguard before the Wigan Test in 1986 and report the first known case of elastic acid build-up. With cartoons by 'Boo' Bailey.
  • How did Max Krilich get to meet the Killer Rabbit? Why was Andy Gregory glad to get the hell out of Australia? Who was the Man in the Bowler Hat? How did Ronny Gibbs get on Sale of the Century? What was Johnny Raper doing in ladies underwear...and what was the miracle at Lang Park? How did Fatty Vautin save Steve Mortimer's life? What did Freddie Jones say that shocked the PM? And what was Allan Langer doing in the USA with all those big oily men??? The answers to these and many more questions are all here in the most hilarious collection of sporting stories ever assembled in Australia. Cartoons by Scott Rigney.
  • So you thought rugby league was a serious game played by hulking blokes in short pants.  Think again. It might be tough out there on the field, but rugby league players love a laugh as much as the restof us. That's right - Blocker Roach and Mark Sargent are a frightening sight in full flight, but sit them down, put a cold beer in their hand and they'll spin a yarn with the best of them. And 20 more of footie's finest, ex-players and commentators do just that. Wally Lewis, Andrew Ettingshausen, Peter Sterling and more recall their hilarious moments in the game and give the inside guff of some of league's greatest mysteries and tall tales. You've heard of the 'eye of the tiger' - now read all about Tommy Raudonikus and the heart of the bull. There's the time Dallas Donnelly ate out the kitchen in Singapore and Mark Geyer stopped traffic in Paris - and just who was the Mysterious Underpants Phantom of Redfern Oval? Cartoons by 'Boo' Bailey.
  • Nearing the planet Eminiar VII, the crew of the Enterprise picks up a message coded 710, clearly warning them that under no circumstances should they continue their approach.  But an overzealous Federation ambassador orders Kirk to disregard the message and beam down to the planet surface - where Kirk and his landing party are taken captive, unwilling participants in an intergalactic war that the Eminiarians have been fighting for almost 500 years. A war unlike any other..A war with battles, but no blood; A war with death, but no killings...Where not a single shot is fired, yet casualties number in the millions...A war without destruction, yet thousands are destroyed. It all seems to be an incredible game until the Starship itself becomes a target, caught between two belligerent enbemies - and Kirk's only chance to save his crew gives him much more than A Taste of Armageddon...With 300 full colour action scenes.
  • And  woe - there was famine upon the land. No matter where you looked, it was fmine. If you lifted up a chair, there it was. If you looked under a bed, there it was... Let's face it, by the time Spike Milligan got through with anything it's never going to be the same! One more sample, then: The Lord quieted Moses with a thunder bolt and said: 'Ye shall take a wife in her virginity.' Moses said, 'That'll take a lot of finding...'
  • Stories that are bizarre, unusual, odd, astonishing and often incredible together with all manner of things paranormal, and futurist. There's the woman who channeled Franz Liszt's symphonies from beyond the grave, the man who sold the Brooklyn Bridge, the infamous Spring-Heeled Jack, the Chinese Chess-Playing Automaton Hoax, the day the English Channel caught fire and hundreds more bite-size pieces of the weird and wonderful. Illustrated with colour and black and white photographs and illustrations.
  • Or Why I Don't Steal Towels from Great Hotels Anymore. This is not a travel book, exactly, and it's not a book about hotels. It's a book about obsessions and the need to let our obsessions guide us to discoveries...Travel can be the supreme pleasure in life but only if we undertake an interior journey along with our exterior voyage.Among other topics, Dale covers: Why men want to read maps and women want to ask the way; how to stop a taxi driver from talking to you; where to find the guidebook that suits your personality; the how, what and why of souveniring from Great Hotels; whether you should be in love with your travelling companion; where to go star-spotting for dead celebrities; how to enjoy fake travel and pseudo nostalgia; the best and worst waiters, streets, train dining cars, restaurants and small museums in the world; and why shopping is a waste of good siesta time. With amusing sketches by Matthew Martin.

  • De Vaca was one of hundreds of men who left Spain in 1527 on an expedition headed by Panfilo de Narvaez. The mission was to explore Florida.  This is the eyewitness account of how an expedition of over 600 men and five ships was reduced to a band of four half-mad survivors who staggered into Mexico City, having unintentionally become the first Europeans to cross the American Southwest via Texas, Ne Mexico and Arizona.  It is the quintessential travel horror story.
  • Yambo, a sixtyish rare-book dealer who lives in Milan, has suffered a loss of memory - he can remember the plot of every book he has ever read, every line of poetry, but he no longer knows his own name, doesn't recognize his wife or his daughters, and remembers nothing about his parents or his childhood. In an effort to retrieve his past, he withdraws to the family home somewhere in the hills between Milan and Turin. There, in the sprawling attic, he searches through boxes of old newspapers, comics, records, photo albums, and adolescent diaries. And so Yambo relives the story of his generation: Mussolini, Catholic education and guilt, Josephine Baker, Flash Gordon, Fred Astaire. His memories run wild, and the life racing before his eyes takes the form of a graphic novel. Yambo struggles through the frames to capture one simple, innocent image: that of his first love. Illustrated.
  • Trying to be remarkable is painful whereas trying to be remembered is simply humiliating. The Sandman believes that in this, his second book, he has captured his fourth most humiliating experience to date. The Sandman (real name Steve Abbott), a noted radio host and comedian on Triple J Radio, is a master of ironic - often dubious - social adaptations. His methods for fitting in can be plausible and ridiculous at the same time and as a misfit with an overwhelming desire to please, can capture the essence of Australian beach culture.  
  • Welcome to the world of Art Handel, a world where the unexpected and expected often collide with the absolutely and totally unexpected and with little regard for each other. While it's sometimes nice to see how the other half live, this book gives you an insight into how the other half of that other half live. Described as 'dark and enlightening, horrific and hilarious...funny stuff emerges from the damndest places...like a clown with a razor blade...startling...original and darkly gleeful...think Stephen King on laughing gas...'
  • An omnibus edition of thirteen Conan tales adapted by Roy Thomas and presented as graphic novels. This volume includes: Cimmeria; The Jewels Of Gwahlur; Beyond The Black River; The Children Of Jebbhel Sag; The Blood Of The Gods; Child Of Sorcery; The Scarlet Citadel; The Flame Knife; The Ghouls Of Yanaidar; The Curse Of The Monolith; The Lair Of The Ice Worm; Black Tears; Hawks Over Shem; The Hyborean Age. Artists: Barry Windsor-Smith; Dick Giordano; John  Buscema; Tony Dezuniga; Alfredo Alcala; Ernie Chan; Frank Brunner; Gene Colan; Pablo Marcos; Carmine Infantino and Tim Conrad. Adapted from the stories by Robert E. Howard, L. Sprague de Camp, Lin Carter and Christy Marx. Front cover art by Earl Norem. Back cover art by Keith Parkinson.
  • A treasure-trove of picture-stories and written stories, in colour and black and white. There's mysteries and secrets, heroic adventures and holidays, school stories and quizzes for pre- and early teen girls.
  • There's many favourites here: retellings of Mary Poppins, The Sword In The Stone, Alice in Wonderland Meets The White Rabbit, 101 Dalmations, Peter Pan, The Adventures of Robin Hood...and there's other lands to explore: Goliath II, Beside The Sea; An Island Apart; The Blue Men; The People Of The Reindeer; Scotland's Crown;The River Highway Of Central Europe; The People Of The Mountains; The Swiss Family Robinson; Bambi; Big Red and Zorro. With colour illustrations from Disney's classic animated films and colour stills from 'live' films and documentaries.
  • This special edition includes Film Festivals; When They Were Young; Scenes That Shook Us; New Faces in  Films; Stylists To The Stars... interviews, box office, spotlights, fashions and so much more. Illustrated with black and white photographs of the biggest stars of yesteryear.
  • A wealth of cinematic history that includes The Year In Cinema; Star Of The Year; Rising Stars And New Faces (including Jean Seberg, Anthony Perkins, Elvis Presley and Tony Randall); The Cartoon Film; Television Films; General Releases; Foreign Films and more.  Plenty of colour and black and white photographs.
  • All the stars of the screen are featured in this annual, together with the film releases of the year and all the glamour of the premières attended by Royalty. There's Doris Day, Tony Curtis, Jack Lemmon, Tina Louise, Bob Hope, Yul Brynner and many more. There's articles on horror films, interviews and candid pics of the famous and those who worked behind the scenes.  Cover shows Doris Day and Richard Widmark. Illustrated.
  • Short stories, tales, articles and features for teenage boys. Illustrated. In this volume: A Day In October, Edward Boyd; Gabriel's Horn, Paul Gardiner; Bunst's Good Turn, John Newtown Chance; The Ear Of Lieutenant Banzai, Hugh Paterson; Tarf The Terrible, David Stephen; The Black Horse, Jim Kjelgaard; The Rasp And The Rope, Jane Oliver; All For Madam Wonko, Captain Frank Knight; The Mystery Of The Devil's Hoofmarks, Trevor Holloway; Roly Dawson's Quiet Holiday; Have You A Puppy? David Stephen; Dave Garratt And The Space Pirates; Ship Parade; Let's Go Sailing, Thomas Muir.
  • A collection  of Abbott's essays on Australian life, originally published serially in The Bulletin and covering events, personalities and the things that don't get into the history books - but which probably should!
  • All the stars of the screen are featured in this annual, together with the film releases of the year and all the glamour of the premières attended by Royalty. There's Richard Burton, Fred Astaire, Leslie Caron, Anthony Quinn, Danny Kaye, John Wayne, Natalie Wood, Kim Novak and so many more. There's studio photographs, candid shots, stills and behind the scenes, between the takes and on location.  There's even retro photographs and tributes to the silent screen greats. Cover shows Yul Brynner and Deborah Kerr in The King And I.
  • A lively fantasy story set against the background o New Guinea in World War II. Private Dusty, cut off from his unit and lost in the jungle, is rescued and cared for by Squizzy. one of the Jambies - a race of little people no taller than 6 inches. On this journey Dusty will also meet the Jeannies, Hispians and Tamborans and he will learn a great deal about this fascinating, magical land - such as how the wings of butterflies are so beautifully painted by Smudge, the Jambie artist; he'll attend a concert and meet notable Jambies - and become involved in a feud between the Tamborans and Jambies.
  • A Gothic coming-of-age story that takes place in Sussex County and follows a young boy with an interest in mischief, exploration, and boxing. Rodney Stone and his best friend, Jim Harrison have always been drawn to dark and dangerous places. When they wander into Cliffe Royale, an old, deserted mansion that was the scene of a gruesome murder fifteen years earlier, they’re both frightened and strangely excited to cross paths with a ghostly figure. Before they can identify who the ghost is and what it wants, Rodney’s wealthy uncle, Sir Charles Tregellis, arrives in Brighton and takes Rodney away. Rodney soon learns that Tregellis, a typical dandy, is connected to just about everyone in London and has focused his attention on an upcoming boxing match to be witnessed by thirty thousand spectators. If Tregellis’s unnamed challenger wins the fight, it could mean grave trouble for Tregellis and everyone he’s associated with - including Rodney. Distracted by the upcoming fight, Rodney almost forgets about the chilling discovery he made at Cliffe Royale with Jim - until the past comes back to haunt them all. A story with twists, turns and the famous and infamous from history - an unforgettable portrait of what life was like for both the common man and the social elite in the early 19th Century.