Antiquities & Oddities

//Antiquities & Oddities
­
  • For years they thought it was just them - irritated and tormented by everything around them, from call centres to nose studs, from speed bumps to ringtones. Then along came  the television series Grumpy Old Men and they knew they were not alone. It turns out that 35-54 year old men are the grumpiest lot in history. Grumpier than their parents, who were just glad to have survived the war and lived long enough to collect their pensions. Grumpier than their children, who don't care about anything except iPods and  tattoos. This book extends the hand of friendship to the young, the old and the women who identified with Grumpy Old Men. It is now a modern movement and its members are proud of the title. Sir Bob Geldof: If you aren't grumpy, that means you're contented with the world. And who the **** could be that? Featuring Rick Stein, Jeremy Clarkson, Arfur Smith, Rick Wakeman and more.
  • A collection of some of H.V. Morton's columns for the Daily Express, which is still in print today almost 100 years later. Morton never did the tourist route; instead he went off the beaten track to look into what really made a city. What he found was London's wonderful diversity of people against intriguing backgrounds. Among other places, he visits the docks, the Caledonian Market, Petticoat Lane, the Free Cancer Hospital, observes the nannies and their charges in Kensington Gardens, tea-shops, St. Martin's-in-the-Fields, the Lost Property Office and many other places.
  • Erich von Daniken undertakes to prove that in prehistoric and early historic times the Earth was visited by unknown beings from the Cosmos; that these extra-terrestrials created human intelligence by a deliberate genetic mutation; that the extra-terrestrials ennobled hominids 'in their own image'; that these visitors to Earth were recorded and handed down in various religions, mythologies and popular legends; and that in some places, the extra-terrestrials left physical evidence of their presence on Earth.  He draws his evidence from all over the world: from the Turkish mountains where carved monoliths and giant stone heads mysteriously survive the centuries; to the secret caves of Ecuador, where treasured remnants of a bygone era remain hidden; to equatorial Africa, where the 'primitive' Dogon have been familiar for centuries with the complex movements of Sirius, a star only discovered by western astronomers since the invention of the radio telescope.  He searches the ancient documents of the Hindus, the Jews and the Christians;  examines religions, mythologies and legends and fins a recurring theme of 'human' gods, heavenly chariots, 'space suits', floods and disasters. The evidence is largely circumstantial - but he challenges all comers to produce an interpretation that better fits the facts. Illustrated with black and white photographs.
  • First published in 1879, a collection of over 1700  recipes from over 250 old and famous Virginia families was regareded as the essence and mysteries of Old Virginian 'housewifery' and was acclaimed by the President's wife, Mrs Rutherford B. Hayes. There are recipes for literally everything as well as chapters on remedies and behaviour in the 'Sick Room', housecleaning, restoring old clothes and miscellaneous recipes for cosmetics and cures.
  •  A fabulous collection of over two dozen of Joyce Grenfell's well-known sketches and song lyrics, including Stately As A Galleon, Shirley's Girlfriend, Thought For Today, At The Laundrette and I'm Going To See You Today.  Often cheeky, sometimes sly and satirical, often poking fun at the sacred cows of the English and all have a point to make.

  • A presentation of hundreds of entertaining caricatures of celebrities from popular American periodicals in the first half of the twentieth century. Employing a vivid new type of portraiture based on modern design and a preoccupation with personality- based fame, master caricaturists filled the pages of newspapers and magazines with renderings of Mae West, George Gershwin, the Marx Brothers, Babe Ruth, Mussolini, and other personalities and celebrities of the day.
  • TV Script writer Larry Baker is hired to pen a new horror series. On location at an old castle he crashes through walls with the ease of Superman - and somehow usually lands plunk in the middle of a lovely lady's bed. But Larry isn;t really a sex maniac. Not quite. Even though the black-haired babe calls him seducer and the gamin-type blonde screams bloody murder... When you're up against real live vampires, disappearing corpses, things that go bump in the night... plus a couple of gorgeously undressed gals guaranteed to drive you up the wall - something's got to give - and it does - with plenty of happy horrible hilarity...
  • A teaser of  the upcoming movie attractions of 1957, with interviews and photos of the great and sadly, some now forgotten as well as details of the films in production. There's on-set candid shots as well as glamour pics, with plenty for the vintage film enthusiast: Jack Lemmon, John Wayne; Jean Simmons, Marilyn Monroe, Joan Collins, Doris Day, a young Benny Hill and many more. Film previews include The Battle Of The River Plate, The Spirit Of St. Louis, Giant, Kismet and more. Illustrated with numerous colour and black and white photographs.
  • A series of hilariously-illustrated vignettes that follow the rise and fall of a number of stereotypes such as: the Athlete, the Girlfriend, the Soldier, the Poet, the Painter and so forth. Each page dominated by a lively, almost stylized drawing with only a few lines of text explaining a particular phase of the  stereotype's life: Emergence, Success, Triumph, Temptation and Downfall.With numerous recognisable caricatures of the famous and near famous.