Antiquities & Oddities

//Antiquities & Oddities
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  • Set in an orphanage founded by an archbishop, the story opens on the No 14 bus trundling through London.  The reader is given the background on most of the bus passengers -  shadowy figures that play but a brief role - save one. A young woman who leaves the bus and disappears into the fog to the orphanage where she leaves a warmly wrapped baby on the doorstep. She kisses the child and leaves and all that is left is this new born child with a label attached to the shawl saying "Sweetie". And so Sweetie's life in St Mark's Orphanage begins.  It is not a harsh, Dickensian place - the children are well cared for and it is run by Canon Mallow, sweet-natured, kind and slightly inept. He loves all the children but he is soon to retire and his place is taken by a new appointee, Dr Samuel Trump who is determined that St Mark's will be run efficiently - on proper lines - and he is appalled at the inefficiency and disorganisation he sees before him.  Sweetie and Ginger, a real holy terror, strike up a friendship. Ginger is always up to all sorts of mischief and tricks who even manages to climb over the wall at night and go 'up West' on forays into the big wide world.   He is the bane of Dr Trump's life as no amount of punishment or detentions seem to have any effect on him whatsoever and Sweetie, who has an adventurous streak in her as well, causes a lot of upset for the new Warden.  https://cosmiccauldronbooks.com.au/p/london-belongs-to-me-norman-collins-2/
  • This book contains the sort of things one might expect to come up on QI...Such as... the worst computer ever invented, the shortest-lived newspaper, the least successful round the world cyclist and the shortest period of marital bliss. Great fun to dip into at random.
  • The sequel to The Broad Highway. This is the story of the fiery Charmian's love for her husband and reckless son - and the passion her beauty arouses in two ruthless men. Charmian, now in her forties and a great deal more wary and wise, is still a great beauty and not afraid to gamble life and honor in a sinister and perilous game. While in Paris, young Richard Vibart, son of Sir Peter and Lady Charmian, receives a challenge from Henri Willoughby-Gafton, a famous duelist whom Richard has slapped for speaking lightly of Lady Charmian. When Sir Peter hears of it he hurries to Paris, while Charmian - with a plan of her own - follows secretly. But is  Henri Willoughby-Gafton the real villain? Mr. Bob Meadows, the valet from The Broad Highway also makes a reappearance. Set during the Regency.

  • This was originally written in 1928 as a play by the famous actress. It was considered so raunchy it was shut down by the censors before it appeared. The story is set backstage in vaudeville and dramatises the career of handsome headliner of Rodney Terrill, whose wild sex affairs with women lead to an unexpected - but probably well deserved - ending. A very 'ripping yarn' full of sauce with a very unexpected ending.

  • A tale set in the reign of Charles II - kings and princes, cavaliers and courtesans, flashing blades and raking shot from tall ships. There are plots and counter-plots simmering under the glittering mask of court life and all Englishmen see a deadly threat in the ambitions of Louis XIV pf France. First published as Whitehall in 1931.
  • A story of a German spy in the Great War.
  • Fields was the kind of an actor that only comes along once in several lifetimes - a comic genius and an original anti-hero, cantankerous, pompous and ribald.  Here he lays out his proposed presidential campaign with biting wit: his views on politics, big business, marriage, babies, physical fitness and alcohol. A classic Fields comment: when asked if he liked children he replied, "Yes - but only if they're properly cooked." This is vintage Fields and his only book.

  • Never again will you be short of a good tale at a dinner party. Amuse your friends, embarrass your maiden aunt and shock your stockbroker with stories of the inept, the improbable and the downright impossible. Read about the sanctuary for alcoholic donkeys; the would-be mugger who was rendered unconscious by an octogenarian armed with an onion (and who subsequently ate the evidence for lunch); the battle between a mother and son over the division of a lottery prize; the thief who stole skimpy ladies' clothing from washing lines in the belief he was protecting them from baring too much flesh -   and many other true and bizarre stories.