Past Sounds

This is a book about classical music – for people who say they love music “but don’t understand how it works”, as well as for performers and music students of all ages.
Proposing that deeper enjoyment begins with an understanding of music’s basic structures, the book describes how the simple template of earlier dance-songs was adapted by composers writing music for instruments. The instrumental sonata became one of the great formal frameworks of western music: in symphonies, concertos, chamber music and solo sonatas, it dominated concert music for some 250 years – yet it is little understood by many music lovers. To simplify this vast field, Past Sounds singles out for study “sonatas” for piano trio – piano, violin and ’cello. These instruments have well-contrasted and easily identifiable sounds, and as the story unfolds the reader is introduced to many rarely heard but beautiful works for piano trio.
This is a lively, clearly-written narrative as well as a handbook for subsequent listening. The book has two distinctive features. Firstly, technical terms are carefully explained, and for those not familiar with music notation, audio clips in an accompanying website reproduce the actual sound of the music described. Secondly, in a broad historical sweep from mid-18th to 20th centuries, the development of the sonata is followed in its context of contemporary arts and literature – demonstrating how the sonata idea of classical music well deserves to be understood and valued as a western cultural archetype alongside other great artistic and literary forms.

Peter Wyngarde: A Life Amongst Strangers

FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER, THE LIFE STORY OF ONE OF THE GREAT TELEVISION AND STYLE ICONS Peter Wyngarde: the name elicits memories of an actor with worldwide renown and instantly adhesive star quality, who was to hit his professional zenith via his starring roles in the smash hit TV series, Department S, and its equally successful spin-off, Jason King. However, when this imperial phase of his career took a downturn during the mid-1970s, he stoically dusted himself off and returned to the theatre--the scene of so many of his earliest triumphs. There he enjoyed continued success until a late-period revival came with the role of General Klytus in the 1980 blockbuster, Flash Gordon. Ordinarily, this book would end there. The fact that it doesn't reveals an unusual dichotomy: it splits Wyngarde's life into two, almost equal, parts. From the late 1980s, the author came into his orbit as the long yearned-for, missing piece of the puzzle: namely a strong, dependable sounding board and, increasingly, his soulmate. To those who have been content to view Wyngarde as a two-dimensional figure on a TV screen, or merely as the subject of media gossip, this book will come as a revelation--and no doubt a startling one, as it will shatter many long-held myths and preconceptions. And yet in spite of her closeness to the subject, the author has refused to place him on a pedestal: her exploration of his life and career is as honest as it is eye-opening. While she does not shy away from Wyngarde's more difficult characteristics and painful life experiences, the thread running through the book is a story of love and devotion that is deeply touching and ultimately heart-wrenching. "This is an intimate biography that is elegantly crafted, intensively researched, and presented with the utmost honour." Steven Berkoff

Political Thought

Resting on a set of Great Concepts that have emerged from the Great Conversation, the development of political thought has literally determined the course of history and affected every dimension of human existence. The limitations of our modern languages complicate any perception and understanding of these Great Concepts, which emerged in languages of other societies with values much different from our own. Many of the words of modern political discourse—rights, democracy, justice, law, freedom—did not exist in ancient cultures that had no conceptions of their meanings. Other words—government, rule, obligation, obedience, and others—carried meanings for the Great Thinkers that modern thinkers would not recognize. While this inconsistency permeates all historical thinking, it is particularly true of political thought. Nationality, citizenship, nationalism, and patriotism are new words devised by modern Great Thinkers to describe new notions. Nation, people, country, community are old words, whose meanings have become unstable and therefore explosive.

William H. Mott IV’s in-depth analysis in Political Thought spans hundreds of years of political philosophy and belies a deep interest and knowledge of politics.

Politics, Bullies and You

We are all born unique, our own energy making up a part of our shared universe; through education, society and the status quo, we soon become normal. We are all part of a system, one that, at times, does not work to our advantage. It’s time to open all our minds, go to sleep and listen to our dreams, learning through the night. Politics, bullies, wars, guns, famine and popups, the world needs none of that, but it does need you.

This is a story about my life, my eight-year journey through a broken system, a citizen to a government who ignored me. I stopped playing and started working, only to find myself abused by my superiors. I developed epilepsy, which led to either a mental breakdown or a spiritual awakening. Life’s like a movie, write your own ending, keep believing and keep pretending, that’s what I’ve always set out to do.

Pony Tales and Other Irish Stories

Read tales of an Irish rural childhood, travelling the world with horses and policing London on horseback.

Born into a loving family on an Irish farm. Started to ride aged six, got bucked off too often, gave up! Started again on a different pony; got the hang of it, leading to a lifetime love for and career with horses. Represented Ireland at Pony Club and intervarsity levels. Travelled as groom with an Irish international three-day-eventer. Rode racehorses in Chantilly and Brisbane. Stock ponies and barrel racers in the Outback. Police horses in London. And there’s still so much ahead.

Fortunate. That’s what I feel…

Poxy Chicken: Sweet and Sour Memories of Hong Kong's Last Colonial Years

This book tells the story of expatriate life in the final years of the UK's last Asian colony, and the meeting of cultures, West with East. For Frank Wingate, who was an expatriate in Hong Kong for more than twenty years, an adventure planned to last two years turned into a lengthy love affair. Both socially and professionally, Hong Kong proved a stimulating and rewarding experience. In this series of reflections, Frank looks back on the humour, frustrations and serious aspects of life in the territory. Nicknamed "Poxy Chicken" by his first class of Chinese students, making a pun of his name transliterated into Cantonese, he recounts some amusing stories, others less amusing, comments on food, language and sex, and on darker moments, such as the Tiananmen Square massacre.

Rebels 79: The Iconoclast, the Prophet, the Commando and the Bleeding Heart

Some people just own it. What is it? Transcendent charisma and the ability to articulate the unsung. In the 1970s, four musicians blurred the lines between the sacred and the profane. Come journey from Lagos and Kingston to New York City and London to live inside the raw imagination of that decade.

Reels and Deals - Angling for Business

John Sellens, electronics and mechanical engineer, international businessman, and avid fisherman!

John’s career at Thorn EMI Electronics started in design and trials with UK Military and Defence at home and to over 100 territories globally. He became Manager of International Sales & Marketing Asia and Pacific region, later managing Thorn EMI Electronics’ corporate activities in Riyadh, residing in Saudi Arabia for several years. After senior positions in the defence industry, John’s career moved into fire and security systems becoming managing director of UTC Fire Safety Middle East based in Dubai, responsible for group business in the Middle East, Central Europe, North Africa, Central Asia, Russia and the CIS. He led a successful and motivated international team – some dedicated fishermen amongst them.

Rhyme and Reason

Why was a baby in a treetop? Who was Georgie Porgie, the little boy blue, Mary Mary? Little Jack Horner’s family continued to enjoy the plum property he took from those intended for Henry VIII, until the 20th century.

The 20 rhymes in this book show how parliament and king battled over taxation, the authority of kings, religion. Humpty played a part in the English Civil War.

Gain an understanding of history from medieval times through to the 1700s through these rhymes and their stories.

Understand how a nursery rhyme we recite today started life as a political comment and was passed down through the years until now we have forgotten the politics.

Parents, grandparents, and teachers will find the origin of these rhymes fascinating.

Ripping the Veil

Anglers are not always perceived to be the most rational of people. For those who get involved in rod fishing, what might start as a curiosity, gradually becomes a passion that often develops into a full-blown, all-consuming addiction. Apparently, there is no cure. Repeated scenarios of utter failure, near-drowning, broken relationships and disarming exhaustion only whet the appetite for renewed effort. No wonder the non-angling majority considers the whole venture as incomprehensible and one of insanity.

However, the angling body is no small minority. It will happily embrace the label of ‘insane’ if that is what it takes to sustain what, for those who are smitten, is no less than a lifestyle. These are the people who are driven to explore what lies beneath the water’s surface. They thrive on the thrill of revealing the secrets of a hidden world. For them, ripping the veil between air and water is not a casual option but a glorious and compulsive expression of evolutionary history – a relic strategy of survival. At least, this is their excuse.

Robin Hood - The New Evidence

The story of Robin Hood is very well known. Writers and historians have been reading and rewriting it, analysing and altering it since Ritson published his version in 1795, more than 200 years ago. The story has been published in many forms, including books, films, TV and radio programs, articles held in the World Wide Web and probably many others. As far as can be ascertained, they all have two things in common: they all contain many errors and they all fail to explain a number of mysteries.

In his book, Geoff Wilson has corrected many of the errors and has explained many of the mysteries. This he has done by accessing many surprising sources of evidence, including, for example, the British Geological Survey, aerial photography and by following on foot several of Robin Hood’s journeys described in the ballads. Practical tests were also carried out. The author’s sons (both quite young at the time) were encouraged to shout at the top of their voices in one particular location to test if sounds do in fact echo in the valleys. They do.

Among the mysteries solved are the identities of Sir Richard at the Lee and the location of Verysdale and the Village of Lee. The ‘fayre castell’ described in the Gest is also identified, as is the chapel in Barnsdale dedicated to Mary Magdalene and described in stanza 440 of the Gest. One mystery which remains unresolved, however, is the identity of Robin himself. Perhaps he is, after all, just a yeoman named Robin Hood, although the claims of an alternative candidate are seriously considered.

Roger the Boxer

This book tells the story of the extraordinary life of a man from North London, from 1960 to 2020. He battles his way through life, mostly in a catastrophic manner. To the reader he openly admits his faults and mistakes, from violence, cocaine, sexual differences, prison, and to Northern Ireland and back to London.

Whilst reading this book you will feel joy, sorrow, then more joy. You will want to love him, hit him, then love him some more. It’s an enjoyable read for everyone to learn from his mistakes and understand how he turned his life around to success.