Sailing's Strangest Tales

Author: John Harding
Publisher: Portico
ISBN: 1911042653
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 270

Book Description
This fascinating collection of entertaining stories from the seven seas reveals unusual and bizarre sailing trips, vessels and characters, and recounts perilous journeys in freak weather and other legendary tales. Within these pages you’ll find stories of pirates holding ships to ransom and the gruesome fates of some of the shipmates who dared cross them. The sailors forever lost in the Bermuda triangle, the poor family who were encircled by a school of sharks to the spooky tales of the lighthouse haunted by drunkard lightship keeper John Herman. The tales within these pages are bizarre, fascinating, hilarious and, most importantly, true. Revised, redesigned and updated for 2016, this book is the perfect gift for both keen sailors to the armchair Captains. Word count: 45,000

Flying's Strangest Moments

Author: John Harding
Publisher: Robson
ISBN: 1910232440
Category : Transportation
Languages : en
Pages : 274

Book Description
The history of flying is packed with incredible feats of bravery and endurance, human ingenuity and recklesness, mystery, romance and tragedy. From the first hot air balloons of the 18th century to the supersonic jet flights of today, magnificent men (and women) have taken their incredible flying machines ever higher, further and faster. This collection of wonderfully engaging tales of madness, bravery, inventiveness, disaster and triumph will take every aviation enthusiast on a whirlwind ride.

Television's Strangest Moments

Author: Quentin Falk
Publisher: Portico
ISBN: 1849941831
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 395

Book Description
Ever since John Logie Baird first publicly demonstrated this now all-pervasive medium in his small Soho laboratory, the history of television has been littered with remarkable but true tales of the unexpected. Ranging from bizarre stories of actors’ shenanigans to strange but true executive and marketing decisions, and covering over one hundred shows, series and episodes from both behind and in front of the camera in British and American television studios, 'Television's Strangest Moments' is the ultimate tome of TV trivia. Why did the quintessential English sleuth The Saint drive a Swedish car? What happened when Michael Aspel met Nora Batty on the set of the 1960s drama-documentary 'The War Game'? Why is the Halloween chiller 'Ghostwatch' still unofficially banned by the BBC? From live TV suicide to Ricky Martin's disastrous candid camera-style episode involving a young female fan and several cans of dog food, 'Television's Strangest Moments' will keep you hooked when there's nothing worth watching on the box.

Gambling Strangest Moments

Author: Graham Sharpe
Publisher: Portico
ISBN: 1910232491
Category : Games & Activities
Languages : en
Pages : 339

Book Description
Whether it be one pound on the National Lottery or a million pounds on the turn of a card, the instinct to bet is the same. Over the centuries there have been many strange gamblers – and even more strange gambles – and in this unique collection of punts and punters, Graham Sharpe reveals fearless, flamboyant and fantastic flutters. Some of the most extraordinary bets include the male gambler who had a boob job to win a big bet; the gambler who set off to walk round the world wearing an iron mask to land a wager; the man who could genuinely dream winners. Sharpe is also haunted by a couple of ghostly gambles, and looks at the betting propensities of US Presidents – including one who gambled away the White House's finest china. Celebrities who indulge in strange betting practices are unmasked, too – the Marx Brothers, Ben Affleck, James Bond, Kerry Packer, Richard Burton, Oscar Wilde, Professor Stephen Hawking, to name a few. This painstakingly researched, original and unusual offering is an overdue addition to the ever-popular 'Strangest' series – and you can bet on that!

The Ashes' Strangest Moments

Author: Mark Baldwin
Publisher: Franz Steiner Verlag
ISBN: 9781861058638
Category : Humor
Languages : en
Pages : 214

Book Description
An entertaining collection of extraordinary but true tales from over a century of the Ashes, cricket's most famous international contest. The book contains episodes from all of the most famous series', including the controversial 1932-33 Bodyline series; England’s momentous victory in the coronation year of 1953; their dramatic last-minute win following a freak rainstorm that flooded the Oval in 1968; Beefy’s Ashes of 1981; and the plague of injuries that forced out all but four of England’s original sixteen-man squad in 1994. Great bowlers and batsmen alike are all featured, whether Aussie or Pom, from W.G. Grace to Shane Warne. This year's Ashes (2009) are to take place in England - the first test starts on July 8th in Cardiff (a new venue), while the second, third, fourth and fifth tests will be held at Lords, Edgbaston, Headingley and the Oval respectively. With the England team once again in good form, a solid captain in Andrew Strauss (which also leaves Kevin Pieterson to concentrate on his superb batting), and Australia not quite as strong since Glenn McGrath, Shane Warne and Justin Langer's retirement, it promises to be an exciting and closely-fought series. This summer the nation will once again take test cricket to its heart - all the more so since the collapse of Stanford's 20/20.

Rock'n'Roll's Strangest Moments

Author: Mike Evans
Publisher: Batsford
ISBN: 1849941815
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 270

Book Description
Rock music, since its pre-history in blues, country music and 40s and early 50s pop, through to the well-publicised excesses of touring bands of today, has left a legacy of thousands of weird and wonderful stories in its wake. We’ve all read about the Who’s Keith Moon driving a Rolls Royce into a hotel swimming pool, but far more bizarre tales of on-the-road mayhem have never been widely told. Likewise, Svengali-like managers have manipulated starstruck musicians since rock began, though hanging your well-known client from a third floor window was a less usual way of ensuring their loyalty. And just where was the stalled hotel lift in which all four Beatles, according to legend, were turned on to marijuana? There are the unsung heroes of rock – pioneering eccentrics who helped make the music what it is and ended up as mere footnotes in the history books. Men such as UK producer Joe Meek who created seminal classics from a bed-sit above a cleaners on the Holloway Road, and the New York DJ who originally coined the phrase ‘rock 'n’roll’ and died in alcoholic poverty. Not to mention the stories behind the stars: when Debbie Harry was a 'Playboy' Bunny, Paul Simon wrote ‘Homeward Bound’ on Widnes railway station in Lancashire, and the Gallagher brothers (so they claim) were petty thieves.

Dublin's Strangest Tales

Author: Michael Barry
Publisher: Portico
ISBN: 1909396443
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 162

Book Description
Welcome to the weird and wonderful world of Dublin. Though this isn’t the usual side of the city the tourists, travellers and residents see. This is the real Dublin, the strange and twisted nooks and crannies of the city’s bizarre history – past, present and future. Following on from the bestselling Portico Strangest titles now comes a book devoted to one of Ireland’s most beautiful, and popular, cities. Located on the beautiful eastern seaboard, Dublin is a city with more strangeness than you can shake a pint of Guinness at. Home to one million people, the name, strangely, comes from the Irish ‘Dubh Linn’, which means 'Black Pool', but that name was already taken. Dublin’s Strangest Tales is a treasure trove of the hilarious, the odd and the baffling – an alternative travel guide to some of the city’s best-kept secrets. Read on, if you dare! You have been warned.

Railways' Strangest Journeys

Author: Tom Quinn
Publisher: Batsford
ISBN: 1849941793
Category : Games & Activities
Languages : en
Pages : 229

Book Description
A fascinating collection of entertaining stories from as far afield as Europe, Indian and America revealing unusual railway journeys across the centuries, including ghost trains, vanishing passengers and trains fitted with homing pigeons instead of a communication cord! From eccentric lords, who transferred their carriages complete with horses and footmen onto the train, to drivers who stole garden fencing to keep up a good head of steam. 'Railways Strangest Journeys' takes you from the dawn of railway travel when speeds of 15 mph were considered blasphemous and damaging to one''s internal organs through the Victorian heyday of Royal Trains and seaside specials, right up to the present day.

London's Strangest: The Thames

Author: Iain Spragg
Publisher: Portico
ISBN: 1910232408
Category : Humor
Languages : en
Pages : 135

Book Description
The 19th-century MP John Burns described the Thames as 'liquid history' and ever since the Romans founded Londinium in 43 AD, the river has played a key cultural and economic, political and social role in the history of England. London's Strangest: The Thames reveals the bizarre, funny and surreal events and episodes that have occurred over the centuries on, beneath and along the banks of the famous waterway. From appearances of the world's first submarine to the raid on the Sex Pistols river concert, Lord Nelson's final journey to John Prescott's watery protest, and even the recent escapades during the floods, the River Thames really has witnessed it all.

London Underground's Strangest Tales

Author: Iain Spragg
Publisher: Portico
ISBN: 1909396168
Category : Humor
Languages : en
Pages : 176

Book Description
Welcome to the weird and wonderful world of London's Underground, or as it is affectionately referred to, the Tube. Though this isn’t the usual side of the Tube the tourists, travellers and residents see. (Though, of course, they do see a great deal of strangeness in their daily commutes!). This is the real Underground, the strange and twisted nooks and crannies of what happens hundreds of metres below millions of London legs – from its peculiar past through to its paranormal present and looking forward to its fascinating future. Following on from the bestselling Portico Strangest titles now comes a book devoted to London's globally envied, and much loved, public transport system. Located deep beneath the heart of Greater London, the Underground is awash with more strangeness than you can shake your pre-paid Oyster card at. In 2013 the whole city will be celebrating the Underground's 150th birthday – the oldest underground in the world. So, pack up your old kit bag and travel stop-by-stop with us on this strange and fantastic journey along the Northern, Picadilly, Metropolitan, Jubilee, Hammersmith and City and District Line ... and explore the Underground as you've never seen it before. London Underground's Strangest Tales is a treasure trove of the humorous, the odd and the baffling – an alternative travel guide to the Underground's best-kept secrets. Read on, if you dare! You have been warned. Word Count: 35,000