Where Have All the Bullets Gone?

Author: Spike Milligan
Publisher: Penguin UK
ISBN: 0241966191
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 288

Book Description
Spike Milligan's legendary war memoirs are a hilarious and subversive first-hand account of the Second World War, as well as a fascinating portrait of the formative years of this towering comic genius, most famous as writer and star of The Goon Show. They have sold over 4.5 million copies since they first appeared. 'The most irreverent, hilarious book about the war that I have ever read' Sunday Express 'Brilliant verbal pyrotechnics, throwaway lines and marvelous anecdotes' Daily Mail 'Desperately funny, vivid, vulgar' Sunday Times Back to those haunting days in Italy in 1944, at the foot of Mount Vesuvius, with lava running in great red rivulets down the slope towards us, and Jock taking a drag on his cigarette and saying, 'I think we've got grounds for a rent rebate.' The fifth volume of Spike Milligan's unsurpassed account of life as a Bombardier in World War Two sees our hero dispatched from the front line to psychiatric hospital and from there to a rehabilitation camp. Considered loony (and 'unfit to be killed in combat by either side'), he becomes embroiled in his own private battle with melancholy. But it is music, wit and a little help from his friends - including one Gunner Harry Secombe - that help carry him through to his first stage appearances ... 'That absolutely glorious way of looking at things differently. A great man' Stephen Fry 'Milligan is the Great God to all of us' John Cleese 'The Godfather of Alternative Comedy' Eddie Izzard 'Manifestly a genius, a comic surrealist genius and had no equal' Terry Wogan 'A totally original comedy writer' Michael Palin 'Close in stature to Lewis Carroll and Edward Lear in his command of the profound art of nonsense' Guardian Spike Milligan was one of the greatest and most influential comedians of the twentieth century. Born in India in 1918, he served in the Royal Artillery during WWII in North Africa and Italy. At the end of the war, he forged a career as a jazz musician, sketch-show writer and performer, before joining forces with Peter Sellers and Harry Secombe to form the legendary Goon Show. Until his death in 2002, he had success as on stage and screen and as the author of over eighty books of fiction, memoir, poetry, plays, cartoons and children's stories.

Where Have All the Flowers Gone

Author: John Guinane
Publisher: Dorrance Publishing
ISBN: 1434936902
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 290

Book Description
Where Have All the Flowers Gone tells the tale of war soldiering and coming home—the story of the Vietnam War as seen by one soldier. Being a soldier in Vietnam left an indelible impression on John Guinane. A Vietnam Vet, John visited a hospital on June 4, 2012, for a checkup. A male nurse was taking his blood. He was about forty years old, a college graduate who had majored in Journalism. He asked John what he was doing with his life. John told him he was writing a book about Vietnam and had just finished a chapter on the My Lai Massacre. The young man had never heard of the My Lai massacre. This was the only incentive John needed to finish the tale about his life. Where Have All the Flowers Gone is an unbiased and concise summary of the Vietnam conflict, written in the hopes that a young reader would gain some knowledge and a better understanding of this tragic period in American history. Why would anybody wish to write about Vietnam? “Because as Santayana has warned: “Those who do not learn from history are condemned to repeat it.” And this nation—great as it is—¬cannot afford another Vietnam.

Where Have All the Bullets Gone?

Author: Spike Milligan
Publisher: Penguin UK
ISBN: 024195813X
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 293

Book Description
Where Have All the Bullets Gone? is volume five of Spike Milligan's outrageous, hilarious, legendary War Memoirs. 'Back to those haunting days in Italy in 1944, at the foot of Mount Vesuvius, with lava running in great red rivulets down the slope towards us, and Jock taking a drag on his cigarette and saying, "I think we've got grounds for a rent rebate."' The fifth volume of Spike Milligan's unsurpassed account of life as a Bombardier in World War Two sees our hero dispatched from the front line to psychiatric hospital and from there to a rehabilitation camp. Considered loony (and 'unfit to be killed in combat by either side'), he becomes embroiled in his own private battle with melancholy. But it is music, wit and a little help from his friends - including one Gunner Harry Secombe - that help carry him through to his first stage appearances ... 'Desperately funny, vivid, vulgar' Sunday Times 'Milligan is the Great God to all of us' John Cleese 'The Godfather of Alternative Comedy' Eddie Izzard 'That absolutely glorious way of looking at things differently. A great man' Stephen Fry Spike Milligan was one of the greatest and most influential comedians of the twentieth century. Born in India in 1918, he served in the Royal Artillery during WWII in North Africa and Italy. At the end of the war, he forged a career as a jazz musician, sketch-show writer and performer, before joining forces with Peter Sellers and Harry Secombe to form the legendary Goon Show. Until his death in 2002, he had success as on stage and screen and as the author of over eighty books of fiction, memoir, poetry, plays, cartoons and children's stories.

Haunted Laughter

Author: Jonathan C. Friedman
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1793640165
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 241

Book Description
A 2023 Choice Reviews Outstanding Academic Title Haunted Laughter addresses whether it is appropriate to use comedy as a literary form to depict Adolf Hitler, The Third Reich, and the Holocaust. Guided by existing theories of comedy and memory and through a comprehensive examination of comedic film and television productions, from the United States, Israel, and Europe, Jonathan Friedman proposes a model and a set of criteria to evaluate the effectiveness of comedy as a means of representation. These criteria include depth of purpose, relevance to the times, and originality of form and content. Friedman concludes that comedies can be effective if they provide relevant information about life and death in the past, present, or future; break new ground; and serve a purpose or multiple purposes—capturing the dynamic of the Nazi system of oppression, empowering or healing victims, serving as a warning for the future, or keeping those who can never grasp the real horror of genocide from losing perspective.

Milligan's Meaning of Life

Author: Spike Milligan
Publisher: Penguin UK
ISBN: 0670920789
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 322

Where Have All the Bullets Gone?

Author: Spike Milligan
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

Book Description

Spitfire Girl

Author: Diana Mackintosh and Douglas Thompson
Publisher: Boldwood Books Ltd
ISBN: 1913721019
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 262

Book Description
An extraordinary life in the shadows of war and a Century in the making. Diana Mackintosh came of age to the drone of sirens alerting the people of Malta to the arrival of relentless flights of belligerent German and Italian menace – the bombers she first imagined as a swarm of black flies, pests that stung and cursed her Mediterranean homeland. The three-year onslaught never took a day off; it was endless, but supplies were not. The hope of a shipment of high protein became an ongoing dream. The only time Diana wasn’t hungry was when she slept. Her story of that time, and in 2020 she is one of the very few remaining who experienced it first-hand, makes it clear why Malta was collectively awarded the George Cross, the highest British civilian honour for heroism. Of course, as she argues, no one was trying to be heroic, but somehow they helped reverse the fortunes of the Second World War in the Mediterranean and North Africa. Now at the age of 101, Diana is also celebrated for her children’s achievements — she helped her eldest son, Sir Cameron Mackintosh, and worked as his unpaid secretary — and for a life in the wings of British cinema, Hollywood and theatreland. Spitfire Girl recounts Diana’s extraordinary life, more than a century in the making.

A War of Nerves

Author: Ben Shephard
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 9780674011199
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 524

Book Description
This is a history of military psychiatry in the twentieth century. Both absorbing historical narrative and intellectual detective story, it weaves literary, medical, and military lore to give us a fascinating history of war neuroses and their treatment, from the World Wars through Vietnam and up to the Gulf War.

People, Places and Passions

Author: Russell Davies
Publisher: University of Wales Press
ISBN: 1783162384
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 502

Book Description
It takes a different view of the history of Wales, examining a panorama of different emotions and experiences – laughter, happiness, fear, anger, adventure, lust, loneliness, anxiety – to give an entertaining and exciting new history to Wales. a wide range of sources are used to present the ambitions and anxieties which drove and destroyed Welsh people The book’s literary style and the fact that it follows earlier successful studies by the author should ensure an audience.

100 Must-read Books for Men

Author: Stephen E. Andrews
Publisher: A&C Black
ISBN: 140813604X
Category : Reference
Languages : en
Pages : 209

Book Description
What do men like to read? This latest title in the successful 100 Must-read series provides a rich crop of selected reads of eternal fascination to men everywhere. With 100 titles fully featured and over 500 recommended, there is something for everyone, from the macho to the sentimental, sex, drugs and rock and roll, old age, childhood, power, seduction, courage and adventure. Written by two experienced male booksellers and writers, the selection draws from a wide range of genres: crime, thrillers, cult classics, classics, biography and non-fiction. Deftly researched with the male audience in mind, this book is an enabling tool for extending your range of reading. A lengthy introduction examines mens attitudes to reading, the differences between male and female reading tastes, the varying ways in which the sexes use/respond to language and how this is reflected in their choices of reading matter. Books featured include: Crash by J. G. Ballard, Junkie by William S. Burroughs, American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis, Steppenwolf by Herman Hesse, Master and Commander by Patrick O'Brian, The Book of Dave by Will Self, Touching the Void by Joe Simpson and Bonfire of the Vanities by Tom Wolfe.