Venetian architect & historian Francesco da Mosto sets out from Venice to cross the Mediterranean
- following in the wake of his
...

Francesco's Venice is the extraordinary story of the life of an intriguing city, told by a descendant of an old & distinguished ...

Francis of Assisi (1182-1226) was the least dogmatic of saints, seeing himself as God's troubadour or fool. His life was rich in its succession of dramas. After his debauchery as a young playboy, merchant & soldier
- he fought at the Battle of Collestrada
- he stripped naked in court, abandoned everything he owned & devoted his life to the poorest & the sick. On his missions he walked over the Pyrenees barefoot, was shipwrecked, & crossed the lines during the Fifth Crusade to parley with the Sultan in Egypt. In 1224 marks similar to Christ's wounds appeared on his hands, feet & side, the first recorded case of Stigmata. Francis's feelings for creation, epitomised in his sermon to the birds, stimulated the realism of the Italian Renaissance artists; his vernacular poems inclined Dante to write The Divine Comedy in Italian not Latin. The first religious order he founded, for men, had a radical effect on social justice & the developing universities in Europe; his second order, the Poor Clares, for women, soon numbered hundreds, including royalty & half a dozen saints; his third, for laity sworn to peace, helped destroy the military power of feudalism. But above all it is through his universal love that he has influenced the world for nearly eight centuries, drawing more than three million people every year to his tomb in Assisi.

...

Love, life, families... Tahitian style!

Materena Mahi, champion professional cleaner & best listener in all of

...

Meet Professor Frank Mouse. He's very clever, very inventive & very.. . lonely. Though he loves collecting, making & mending all sorts of things, shy Frank would love to have a friend to help him, so one day he makes Teddy! But Frank doesn't realise that what he really needs is a true friend
- someone to teach him that real friendship is all about sharing, & Teddy might be just the fellow to do it...
...

Hailed as one of the greatest short-story writers of all time, Frank O' Connor was also a poet, lecturer linguist, playwright, broadcaster, critic & self-taught genius. His success is all the more remarkable given that he was born & brought up in the slums of Cork, his childhood characterised by poverty & sickness & his teenage years involved in the volunteer movement. After the war of Independence, he became Cork' first county librarian & it was then that his literary career truly began: as a librarian he was years ahead of his time, introducing poetry readings & musical gatherings. Eventually though he felt Cork could no longer satisfy his thirst for literature & so, in 1928 he went to Dublin. There he became great friends with WB Yeats, lady Gregory & the acclaimed George Russell among others. After the unprecedented success of his first book, GUESTS OF THE NATION, O' Connor was unstoppable as well as writing plays, short stories an poetry, he continued his library work & took on the role of managing director of the Abbey Theatre at the age of only thirty-three. ...

Frank Skinner is undoubtedly one of the funniest & most successful comedians appearing on British screens. Born Chris Collins in 1957 he grew up in the West Midlands where he inherited his father's passion for football, a West Bromich Albion supporter, along with a liking for alcohol. Expelled from school at 16 Frank held various jobs later going on to gain an MA in English Literature. Nurturing a serious drink problem from the age of fourteen, Frank eventually turned to Catholicism in 1987 & hasn't had a drink since. He performed his first stand up gig in December 1987. His first television appearance in 1988 met with fits of laughter from the audience & 131 complaints, including one from cabinet minister Edwina Currie. He met fellow comedian David Baddiel in 1990 & the two went on to share a flat throughout the early 90's & to create the hit TV series Fantasy Football League. Winner of the prestigious Perrier Award at the Edinburgh Festival, Skinner's is a unique mixture of laddish & philosophical humour which has won him the prime time ITV show
- The Frank Skinner Show. Here, for the first time, Frank candidly tells us of the highs & lows of his fascinating life & career.
...

Frank Skinner is undoubtedly one of the funniest & most successful comedians appearing on British screens. Born Chris Collins in 1957 he grew up in the West Midlands where he inherited his father's passion for football, a West Bromich Albion supporter, along with a liking for alcohol. Expelled from school at 16 Frank held various jobs later going on to gain an MA in English Literature. Nurturing a serious drink problem from the age of fourteen, Frank eventually turned to Catholicism in 1987 & hasn't had a drink since. He performed his first stand up gig in December 1987. His first television appearance in 1988 met with fits of laughter from the audience & 131 complaints, including one from cabinet minister Edwina Currie. He met fellow comedian David Baddiel in 1990 & the two went on to share a flat throughout the early 90's & to create the hit TV series Fantasy Football League. Winner of the prestigious Perrier Award at the Edinburgh Festival, Skinner's is a unique mixture of laddish & philosophical humour which has won him the prime time ITV show
- The Frank Skinner Show. Here, for the first time, Frank candidly tells us of the highs & lows of his fascinating life & career.
...

Frank Skinner is undoubtedly one of the funniest & most successful comedians appearing on British screens. Born Chris Collins in 1957 he grew up in the West Midlands where he inherited his father's passion for football, a West Bromich Albion supporter, along with a liking for alcohol. Expelled from school at 16 Frank held various jobs later going on to gain an MA in English Literature. Nurturing a serious drink problem from the age of fourteen, Frank eventually turned to Catholicism in 1987 & hasn't had a drink since. He performed his first stand up gig in December 1987. His first television appearance in 1988 met with fits of laughter from the audience & 131 complaints, including one from cabinet minister Edwina Currie. He met fellow comedian David Baddiel in 1990 & the two went on to share a flat throughout the early 90's & to create the hit TV series Fantasy Football League. Winner of the prestigious Perrier Award at the Edinburgh Festival, Skinner's is a unique mixture of laddish & philosophical humour which has won him the prime time ITV show
- The Frank Skinner Show. Here, for the first time, Frank candidly tells us of the highs & lows of his fascinating life & career.
...