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Bare Nell: Leslie Thomas
$5.00Little Nell Luscombe padding naked and tanned in her native Devon streets was the delight of the local GIs. Growing up, she learnt that there was a good living to be made from her substantial charms. From servicing the Weymouth fishermen, she progressed to the peak of her profession, running a high class establishment - all tastes catered for - at Westminister. A modern Moll Flanders, a girl no better than she ought to be and doing very nicely, thank you! -
From the creator of Dangerous Davies. In the spring and early summer of 1944 a huge force - over a million and a half strong - spread across Southern England awaiting the greatest adventure in military history - the invasion of Occupied Europe. This army - mainly British, Americans and Canadians -- most of whom had no experience of battle, was to be transported across the English Channel. No-one knew how. This is the story of the the American 'occupation' of South Devon to permit realistic war games. with characters ranging from General Eisenhower to the village simpleton. A recreation of the astonishing operation which preceded the Allied landing in France. -
When it comes to the woman he loves, D.C. Dangerous Davies knows how to push the boat out: a walk through Kensal Green Cemetery, a meat pie in a greasy spoon and a weekend away complete with flannel pyjamas. Dangerous has two things on his mind: Jemma Duval, the beautiful, black, hymn-singing social worker and 'Lofty' Brock, the harmless old eccentric who drowned in the canal. To prove that Lofty's death was no accident, Dangerous sets out to do some undercover work on his own. He soon discovers something sinister is going on: something that requires intuition, dedication, brilliant deduction - and a timely blow with a blunt instrument.
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Poor old Dangerous is a bit of a joke around the station. As plain-clothes men go, he looks like a non-starter. The small fry of petty larceny and minor disturbances in the north-west London backwaters are his daily round. His perennially unemployed philosophising mate Mod, his over-sized dog Kitty and the quarrels with his landlady - none of these bode well for the efficient solving of crimes and outwitting of villainy. But this latest dead-end case leads him to something much bigger: the unsolved murder of 17 year-old Celia Norris in 1982. Dangerous gets his chance to prove his mettle by unorthodox methods. DVD: Series 3: Gentle detective 'Dangerous' Davies is a man out of his time, driven by an old fashioned sense of right and wrong. He solves all manner of crimes, despite his colleagues constant mocking of his investigative style - and of course, aided and abetted by his sidekick Mod. In this series: Once Upon A Time On The Westway; Dangerous Liaisons; A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To Willesden; The Man From Montevideo; Dead Peasants' Society. Based on the character created by Leslie Thomas. Region 4; 2 discs.
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From Barnardo boy to original virgin soldier; from apprentice journalist in London's Fleet Street to famous novelist...At times funny, at times sad, but always honest and utterly compulsive, Leslie Thomas's story is straight out of fiction. As an orphan, he picked his way through the rubble of post-war Britain and was sent on national service to the Far East. Later he became a Fleet Street reporter, with hilarious experiences to relate, and then became the bestselling author of The Virgin Soldiers - the novel that, although scandalous in its day, is now recognised as a classic of its kind. He is also the creator of Dangerous The Last Detective, which has been adapted into a popular television series. In 2005, Leslie Thomas was awarded an OBE for services to literature. -
In the spring and early summer of 1944 a huge force, a million and a half strong, spread across Southern England, awaiting the greatest adventure in military history. The invasion of Occupied Europe. This army, mainly Americans, British and Canadians, most of whom had no experience of battle, was to be transported across the English Channel. No one knew how. This is the story of the American "occupation" of a wide district of South Devon to permit realistic war games and encompasses all manner of characters, from Generals Eisenhower and Montgomery to the village simpleton. The Magic Army is regarded as an impressively moving, often very funny story, which recreates the astonishing operation which preceded the Allied landing in France. -
At the start of World War II James Bevan is a junior officer approaching middle age, attached to a small anti-aircraft unit on England's south coast. Abandoned by his wife, the soldiers under his command are his family: Bairnsfather, whose sexual encounters with girl friend Muriel take place in an air-raid shelter; Cartwright, trying to keep two women on a gunner's pay of one shilling a day; Higner, cosily educating himself in the orderly room. It's a rude shock when they are called upon for the real war!
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Summer 1940. The evacuation of Dunkirk proves that the British can rise to a challenge, even against seemingly insurmountable odds. But now the soldiers walk the streets of Dover, even wandering through Woolworths store, and take weary turns on the town's skating rink. Life, despite the threat of invasion and the reality of bombing, must go on and people must take comfort where they find it. Toby Hendry, a fighter pilot, is awaiting orders when he meets Giselle, a young Frenchwoman who took the chance to flee occupied France with the English troops. Their love affair feels like a summer idyll, but can it withstand the forces of war? Meanwhile, reserve naval commander Paul Instow has been called up to fight in a war for which he feels too old. Distracting him from his worries is Molly, a young Dover prostitute. Their relationship is tender and happy, but is this a love born from desperation or could it be something more permanent? And then there are Harold, Spots and Boot, three boys desperate to fight the German invaders, armed only with catapults and a stolen Bren gun... -
They came on a distant, secret night, armed and ready to kill. Their ghosts are still with us today...In June 1942 a party of German saboteurs landed by submarine in the United States of America. They were betrayed and executed within eight weeks of their landing. Their treacherous leader served a prison sentence and then disappeared. Orders for New York takes this historical fact as its starting point and tells the story of Michael Findlater, a British journalist who is in the USA researching for a book. Invited to meet his ex-wife Madelaine for the first time since their divorce and to see his twelve-year-old daughter, Findlater finds he is, in fact, being recruited for a well-paid secret mission. Madelaine's father-in-law, a wealthy and successful newspaper proprietor, wants him to take on the assignment of finding the vanished Nazi saboteur, Peter Karl Hine and write his story. Spurred on partly by the huge reward on offer and partly by curiosity, Findlater embarks on his quest and rapidly discovers that there are ruthless parties involved, who will stop at nothing to prevent him.
