I Do Not Want a Fish Finger Sandwich

Being shown the private convenience of the Queen of England in The House of Commons was not the career highlight that Viv had expected.  A dazzling profession as a Prima Ballerina had been her plan but having two legs of the same length and width would appear to be a pretty strong prerequisite for a successful livelihood in that arena, not to mention a couple of ballet lessons at least. 

What did happen along the way were a random selection of activities which were not anticipated either:

• Inter-store “It’s a Knockout” on Cable TV
• Jumping the queue at the Austria/Slovakian Border Control
• Attempted mugging in Bratislava
• A West Highland White disgrace on National TV
• Acquiring a temporary Iranian Bodyguard
• Drinking schnapps in an isolated house in Eskilstuna

LIFE IS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU ARE MAKING PLANS

If You Can't Take a Joke

The gates of RAF Swinderby were the entrance to an alien world in the eyes of a young man with no previous military experience, and arrival there came as a shock to the senses; a shock which the instructors did their level best to maximise, by giving every instruction and making every observation in an ear-splitting shriek that could melt earwax. From dawn until dusk there was no respite as a host of alien concepts were hammered into us from a variety of different sources, nor from dusk until midnight when we would be cleaning every nook and cranny of our barrack block until everything gleamed, although it never seemed to be shiny enough for the corporal or the sergeant.

Gradually though, the unfamiliar became familiar as those alien concepts sank in and stopped being alien, as we learned and toughened up, becoming the best we thought we could be, and then exceeded that and started to become as good as the instructors thought we could be; until we really learned how to take a joke.

Imperfect Recollections

Welcome to the fascinating world of general medical practice in Australia.

This book is a collection of stories from the author’s rich and varied career spanning over 40 years.

During that time, he has been a country GP, delivering babies and doing anaesthetics, a retrieval doctor with the Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia, worked in the emergency departments of various hospitals and followed his passion of motor sport medicine, especially internationally in the fields of Formula 1 and World Rallying.

The stories are both funny and poignantly sad. They are told in the style that invites the reader to sit down, share a glass of something with the author and tell a few tales, like old friends.

Many of us see ourselves or people we know in these pages… You may be right or you may be wrong, but then that would be telling!

Intrepid Souls

Intrepid Souls is the story of millions of minorities who live in India, struggle for equal rights, humane treatment, and survival. The hatred projected by the Hindu majority, especially towards Muslims, is immense, uncontrolled, and often supported by those in charge of maintaining law and order. This book provides an understanding of the inglorious and dangerous idealism of the Hindu nationalism which will eventually lead to instability and insecurity in the nation. A nation must support its minorities and in turn, the minorities must support the nation for its survival.

This is not the India where Farrukh Jamal grew up; nor where her ancestors lived. They loved this land and worked hard to make it a wonderful place as the Muslim minority of today is doing. However, the sense of belonging inherited by them via their ancestors is now being obliterated through violence and coercive efforts of the majority to remove Muslims from the fabric of Indian society.

She grew up not just facing discrimination but also fearful of unprovoked occurrences of riot and violence. Intermittent wars with Pakistan also jeopardized the lives of the Muslims in India because they were perceived as enemies. What protected her was the profound love of her parents, their emphasis on education, the kind and impartial treatment of the nuns in her English Catholic school and the support of friends regardless of religion.

Isabel Cowe: Shore Gull and Suffragist

Isabel Cowe was the owner of The St Abb’s Haven boarding house from 1914 to 1931. A native of St Abb’s and of fishing folk, she was a popular figure in the village. Throughout her life, Miss Cowe fought against the injustice of the Parish Council on a number of issues which she believed were detrimental to the community, earning herself the title ‘The Provost of St Abb’s’ from those who came to know her and respect her.

Isabel Cowe was no ordinary woman, devoting her life to serving others through charitable work for organisations such as the RNLI and the Children’s League of Pity. It was through her tireless devotion to the RNLI and the St Abb’s lifeboat crew that she earned one of her greatest accolades when awarded with the RNLI’s Golden Brooch.

As an influential female business owner, in a time before women were granted the vote, Miss Cowe gravitated towards the Suffrage Movement, becoming a member of the Women’s Freedom League.

In October 1912, she was to help organise and participate in the gruelling 400-mile Scottish Suffrage March from Edinburgh to London, which was a precursor for the Great Pilgrimage of 1913.

On her death a sundial was erected in her memory in the grounds of The Haven. The sundial, which still stands to this day, was funded by over 200 subscriptions from the length and breadth of the country by the many people who had come to know and respect this great woman and pioneer.

Let That Dark Horse Run

Have you ever wondered why someone snaps? Just lose it mentally? Forensic experts conduct investigations to answer these very questions. Sometimes there are glaring reasons and sometimes there are not. Most would never understand the depth of the mental suffering of the person in question. This of course doesn’t absolve the person from any dastardly deeds. The mind of the individual may reach a fork in the road. That mind could either take the right fork to commit suicide or take the left fork and kill those who have perpetrated the most grievous harm towards them. Or further still, they could just keep going straight and suffer horribly, dying a little every day. Did anyone know of their mental suffering? Did he or she try to obtain mental health care? But there was no one and no one cared or helped. I suppose you wonder why and how that I could possibly speculate? Please read on…

Living in Interesting Times: Curse or Chance?

These are the memoirs and reflections on the most acute issues of the contemporary world by a boy from the Estonian countryside who, through accident and pure ambition, ended up as a professor at Moscow University and adviser to President Gorbachev on matters of international law. After a stint as head of Estonian diplomacy at crucial moments in the restoration of its independence, he later became a centennial professor at the LSE and chair of international law at King’s College London. This is not a traditional autobiography. Besides reflecting on issues he dealt with while advising Soviet leaders, such as Yakovlev in his speech on the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact or the status of the Kuril Islands, and their repercussions in today’s world, the book analyses the roots of the crisis within liberal democracy, the upsurge of populism, the rise of China and the re-emergence of Russia as a great power. A Marco Polo fellow at Jiaotong University in China and recently awarded the highest Russian Order for foreigners – the Friendship Order by President Putin, Professor Müllerson, who lives in London, feels equally at home discussing the renewal of great-power competition, the problems of the European Union including Brexit, the conflict in Ukraine, as well as the negative impacts of political correctness both in the former USSR and today’s West. Having lived equal thirds of his life in three different worlds and worked in and visited many countries as a UN diplomat, he is a man who understands small country mentality, though being ‘spoilt’ by great-power mindset. 

Love and Music Volume One

This is a joint autobiography of two singers whose lives have run in parallel from 1961 until the present day. It is based on the couple's letters and diaries. They met at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in 1961 and married in 1963. Love and Music - Volume One illustrates the training, dedication and grit that preparing for a life in the musical theatre entails. It also shows the enjoyment that such a life brings not only to the audience but to the performers themselves. As they say: "It's a great life if you don't weaken, but if you can't stand the heat in the kitchen, get out!!!"

Love Beyond Love

This very personal and moving love story takes us from the anticipation of the very first date through to the moment of the very last breath. It encompasses sheer joy, romance, fortitude and sadness. But love and memories live on forever because this is a Love Beyond Love. – Jan Smith (a friend)

Missionaries, Mercenaries and Madmen

“We’ll have to leave. This country has had it.” My husband made the decision and I followed along feeling like my heart was being ripped from my chest. Robert Mugabe switched the trigger that changed our lives. He announced that University in Zimbabwe would be for black people only. We were white Africans and so needed to find a place where our children would have educational options. Australia was the obvious choice. This memoir takes the reader on a journey to places most Australians have no idea exists in their own country. The isolated, remote locations where Aboriginal people live, not as their ancestors had done but propped up by government welfare. Wild places where hunting and gathering had become recreational rather than a way of life and where western culture, knowledge and values were imposed on ancient knowledge and ways of being. The confused, bastardised culture emerging felt like stepping into hell. The dregs of white society had gravitated north; economic refugees, criminals, drunks and druggies and God botherers all trying to survive in a melee of heat, dust, flies, mosquitoes, and topical downpours. We were not welcomed. This is where my story began.

Teaching in Fuzhou, China

English is the world’s international language. Consequently, many speakers of other languages have taken great pains to make English their second language, mainly for practical reasons rather than for love of the language itself. Practical reasons include travel, business, academic intercourse and inter-governmental communication. China recognises this need and, in consequence, the author spent more than ten years in China, finding the experience interesting, enlightening and exciting, albeit at times frustrating. It was a wonderful time. In the author’s view, it is essential that the world comes to know and understand this huge empire. This book is full of observations from within the country, which should help in presenting China, its people, customs, educational systems and way of life, its contradictions and its attractions as well as its darker side. Most importantly, it gives some insight into how the people think – and this is important. Hopefully readers learn something while enjoying the experience.

The Expert Within

The human mind and how it works, what it thinks and perhaps more importantly, why it thinks what it thinks, is a subject that has fascinated humans from time immemorial. The first scholar to tackle this subject was Aristotle, but he was certainly not the first to wonder and ponder the mysteries of human perception, comprehension and interpretation. Since then psychologists, psychiatrists, philosophers and even novelists, poets and artists have tried in their own inimitable way to penetrate and reveal that most fascinating of all mysteries – the workings of the human mind.

This book is the story of a human mind ... not the human mind ... as all authentic stories of the ‘human mind’ must be. This book tells the story of the author’s mind; the only mind of which she can truthfully speak in spite of the fact that she has qualifications in Psychology, Philosophy (Theology) and Journalism. For all that, the qualification upon which she relies most is that of human experience – life and living. In adolescence her mind declined into insanity, lingered there for some years, then painfully and insightfully regained its place in the world of sanity ... only to go on and penetrate the world of formal, academic, or professional (whatever you wish to call it) education/understanding.

This book was not written for the edification of those called mental health professionals. It was written to share wisdom and understanding with the ordinary, everyday lay minds of those who care too much to embrace or be embraced by the word ‘professional’.