Autobiography/Bio/Non-Fiction

//Autobiography/Bio/Non-Fiction
­
  • Sorry, this product is unavailable.
  • In 1954 the empty spaces of Northern Australia represented a challenge. The  need to develop this region had been expressed but the possibilities  received new emphasis by the discovery of uranium and oil. In a world threatened by shortages of basic materials and food the potential production in mining, cattle agricultural crops and tropical fruits from Australia's North was a matter that demanded careful attention. This books presents an overall picture of the area at that time - its physical characteristics, the beef cattle industry, the mineral and agricultural opportunities and its transport needs while considering the political and administrative background and the social problems which inevitably arose from the occupation of vast territories by a small white population in tropical conditions and finally, the necessity of attracting men and money for developmental projects.  The papers printed in this volume were delivered by acknowledged experts to the 1954 Summer School of the Australian Institute of Political Science.
  • His voice sounds hauntingly like his father's and the physical resemblance is equally chilling. But Julian Lennon went on to forge his own independence. He was born just as the Beatles first No. 1 hit exploded onto the charts but it was not until his father's death in 1980 that Julian began to inherit the legacy of John  Lennon. Was he fated to be  - in all things - just like his Dad? He was excluded from his father's will, however there was a trust of £100,000 established to be shared between Julian and his half-brother Sean. But he had to fight even to get that, suing his father's estate successfully in 1996.  Dad could talk about peace and love out loud to the world but he could never show it to the people who supposedly meant the most to him: his wife and son. How can you talk about peace and love and have a family in bits and pieces - no communication, adultery, divorce? You can't do it, not if you're being true and honest with yourself. With black and white photographs.
  • Brimming Billabongs: Written as the collaborative life history of an actual Uwadja man, ‘Marmel’. In all fairness, it must be stated that Marmel was entirely a fictional construct, although it is possible he was based on a real person from Harney's time living with the indigenous people.  The Shady Tree: The tale of the final eighteen months of Harney's life, lovingly put together by Douglas Lockwood from his friend's last manuscripts. Both books reflect Bill Harney's affection and respect for the people of Australia.  
  • The first successful north-south automobile crossing of Australia took place in 1908 - a carefully organised and expensive venture. Over the next two decades there were not many other successful crossings. Such transcontinental crossings were made  by following the Overland Telegraph Line or the railways extending north from Port Augusta and south from Darwin. In 1929, after four years of severe drought, two cars left separately for Darwin via the bush track which was the 'main road' across the continent - a large Vauxhall 23/60 carrying a married couple in their early thirties and six weeks alter, an Austin Seven driven by a lone eighteen-year-old Englishman. The Vauxhall made Darwin safely; the Austin struggled on to Daly Waters and reached there, unable to continue, on the day the Vauxhall (on its return journey south) arrived.  The exhausted Penryn Goldman abandoned 'Baby' and travelled back with the Wrights in 'Vauxie'. Frank Wright kept a daily diary and both he and his wife were keen photographers. Penryn Goldman later published a book of his Australian adventures. Winty Calder, Frank and Win Wright's daughter has merged both of these accounts and many photographs to give graphic insights into the pre-World War II conditions of inland Australia to present a part of history when Australian tourism was in its infancy. With black and white photographs.
  • Take a trip back to the days of real music, live music, satin flares, platform boots and - Slade, the most successful  rock/glam band out of the U.K. . Noddy Holder, flamboyant lead singer - always recognisable in his cool hats - tells his fascinating story. Famous for rocking a generation with hits such as Mama Weer All Crazee Now, Cum On Feel The Noize, Far Far Away and of course Merry Christmas Everybody  Slade challenged  Gary Glitter, Elton John and The Sweet throughout the 1970s and into the 1980s for the biggest hits and the most glam outfits. Success in America in the 1980s brought them some of their biggest hits and touring with luminaries like Aerosmith, Santana and Sly and the Family Stone. Noddy eventually left Slade in 1990s to enter the world of TV and radio and in 1999, he was awarded an MBE in the Millennium Honours List. He tells it in a good-humoured, down-to-earth style. Features black and white photographs.
  • In this volume: How To Be An Alien: 'In  England, everything is the other way round. On a continental bus approaching a stop the conductor rings the bell if he wants the bus to go on without stopping; in England you ring the bell if you want the bus to stop.'  How To Be Inimitable: With chapters on how to be prosperous, how to be class conscious and offers advice on sopping and wine snobbery. How To Be Decadent: 'Having joked for decades about how the English worship the cat, like the ancient Egyptians only more so, I have fallen for the cat myself.' George Mikes (pronounced Mik-esh) studied the British for a long time; here in one volume are his major works, in which he unstintingly offers the fruits of forty years of field research to all aspirant Brits. Having himself been born abroad himself, Mr. Mikes was in the ideal position to counsel others in the same unhappy state - and even Brits born and bred may pick up a few tips from his blend of laconic humour and sharp observation. Illustrated by Nicolas Bentley.
  • Published in 1974, McNally intended his book to be a timely warning to the Government and the people of Australia about the unchanging and dangerous attitude of our nation toward the Australian indigenous people. He thoroughly researched the neglected status of Aboriginal  equality and the double standards and hypocrisy which he felt drew a parallel between Australia and Nazi Germany, the United States or Rhodesia and other nations whose racial persecution policies Australians professed to abhor. He also examines the case of an Aboriginal girl who was raped by a white man and who sought medical attention at a hospital, where the staff handed her over to the police. The girl was charged with crimes she never committed by a sadistic and omnipresent police force over which the Commissioner of Police claimed to have little control.  With black and white photographs.
  • A second volume of letters to that august, imposing publication, The Times from the early 1900s up until the 1980s - not only from the man in the street,  but from luminaries such as Evelyn Waugh (earning an honest dollar); Sir Thomas Beecham (on tempo, naturally);  Agatha Christie (on Shakespeare); Joyce Grenfell ('glamouramas') Robert Graves, author of I, CLaudius (on the bliss of being ignored) and so many more.  Other topics that have stirred a letter to The Times: trouser turn-ups; the origin of marmalade; the whereabouts of Ruritania; hygiene and the Communion cup; top hats; how to get a message to an express train (pre-mobile phone days...); Oliver Cromwell's head; the sinking of the Titanic and perfect manners.  Great for the social historian - or just for fun.
  • Fear lives among Everest's mighty ice-fluted faces and howls across its razor-sharp crags. Gnawing at reason and enslaving minds, it has killed many and defeated countless others. But in 1953, Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay stared into its dark eye and did not waver. On May 29, they pushed spent bodies and aching lungs past the achievable to pursue the impossible. At a terminal altitude of 29,028 feet, they stood triumphant atop the highest peak in the world. With nimble words and a straightforward style, New Zealand mountaineering legend Hillary recollects the bravery and frustration, the agony and glory that marked his Everest odyssey.