How & why did our most acclaimed birdwatchers take up birding? What were their early experiences of nature? How have their professional birding careers developed? What motivates them & drives their passion for wildlife? How many birds have they seen? Mark Avery & Keith Betton passionate birdwatchers & conservationists interview members of the birdwatching community to answer these & many other questions about the lives of famous birdwatchers They take you behind the scenes & behind the binoculars of a diverse range of birding & wildlife personalities Behind the Binoculars

Includes:: interviews with Chris Packham Phil Hollom Stuart Winter Lee Evans Steve Gantlett Mark Cocker Ian Wallace Andy Clements Mike Clarke Debbie Pain Keith Betton Roger Riddington Ian Newton Steph Tyler Mark Avery Stephen Moss Alan Davies & Ruth Miller Rebecca Nason & Robert Gillmor Editorial reviews" The real common thread however is a love of birds & a determination to make a life devoted in some way to their enjoyment study or conservation All the interviewees have found the same early fascination but have then moulded it according to their talents circumstances & opportunities to make a genuine & lasting contribution Birds it would seem can take you anywhere" --Andy Stoddart Rare Bird Alert" The variety of personalities interviewed in this book demonstrates nicely that there are many different kinds of birdwatcher each engaging with our birds in a different way
- & so there s bound to be something that chimes with anyone reading it I was fascinated by what initially sparked each person s interest in birds & lit a fire that lasted a lifetime
- it seemed to me that in all cases they were young & like us all at that age had very dry tinder! --Debbie Todd BTO About Birds



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Please note this is a region B Blu-ray & will require a region B or region free Blu-ray player in order to play Before Elvis before Elton John Madonna & Lady Gaga there was LIBERACE
- infamous pianist outrageous entertainer & flamboyant star of stage & television A name synonymous with showmanship & extravagance he lit up every stage he performed on as bright as his candelabras & with a unique flair that gained him millions of devoted fans across the globe In the summer of 1977 handsome young stranger Scott Thorson walked into Liberace&s dressing room & despite their age difference & seemingly different worlds the two embarked on a secretive five-year love affair To the outside world Scott was an employee at most a friend but behind closed doors his life with Liberace was an intense rollercoaster of hedonistic fun flamboyance & excess Starring Michael Douglas as Liberace & Matt Damon as Scott Thorson BEHIND THE CANDELABRA tells the fascinating true story of their glamorous life together & their tempestuous relationship
- from the glitz & glamour of the early days in Las Vegas to their very bitter & public break-up Actors Michael Douglas Matt Damon Scott Bakula Rob Lowe Debbie Reynolds Dan Aykroyd Eric Zuckerman & Randy Lowell Director Steven Soderbergh Year 2013 Certificate 15 Screen 1781 Anamorphic Languages English

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Please note this is a region 2 DVD & will require a region 2 (Europe) or region Free DVD Player in order to play Before Elvis before Elton John Madonna & Lady Gaga there was LIBERACE
- infamous pianist outrageous entertainer & flamboyant star of stage & television A name synonymous with showmanship & extravagance he lit up every stage he performed on as bright as his candelabras & with a unique flair that gained him millions of devoted fans across the globe In the summer of 1977 handsome young stranger Scott Thorson walked into Liberace&s dressing room & despite their age difference & seemingly different worlds the two embarked on a secretive five-year love affair To the outside world Scott was an employee at most a friend but behind closed doors his life with Liberace was an intense rollercoaster of hedonistic fun flamboyance & excess Starring Michael Douglas as Liberace & Matt Damon as Scott Thorson BEHIND THE CANDELABRA tells the fascinating true story of their glamorous life together & their tempestuous relationship
- from the glitz & glamour of the early days in Las Vegas to their very bitter & public break-up Actors Michael Douglas Matt Damon Scott Bakula Rob Lowe Debbie Reynolds Dan Aykroyd Eric Zuckerman & Randy Lowell Director Steven Soderbergh Year 2013 Certificate 15 Screen 1781 Anamorphic Languages English

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From the war-ravaged streets of Sarajevo where turning up for training involved dodging snipers' bullets to the crumbling splendour of Budapest's Bozsik Stadium where the likes of Puskas & Kocsis masterminded the fall of England the landscape of Eastern Europe has changed immeasurably since the fall of communism Jonathan Wilson has travelled extensively behind the old Iron Curtain viewing life beyond the fall of the Berlin Wall through the lens of football Where once the state-controlled teams of the Eastern bloc passed their way with crisp efficiency
- a sort of communist version of total football
- to considerable success on the European & international stages today the beautiful game in the East has been opened up to the free market & throughout the region a sense of chaos pervades The threat of totalitarian interference no longer remains; but in its place mafia control is generally accompanied with a crippling lack of funds In BEHIND THE CURTAIN Jonathan Wilson goes in search of the spirit of Hungary's ' Golden Squad' of the early fifties charts the disintegration of the footballing superpower that was the former Yugoslavia follows a sorry tale of corruption mismanagement & Armenian cognac through the Caucasuses reopens the case of Russia's greatest footballer Eduard Streltsov & talks to Jan Tomaszewski about an autumn night at Wembley in 1973

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' It was useless to think I'd ever be able to throw open the door behind which I was yet again hiding Not now Not ever' School is a place of unspoken hierarchies & rivalries for a young teenage boy growing up in the provincial town of Ferrara But as the everyday classroom & playground dramas are played out they begin to reflect the disturbing undertones of 1930s Italy & the narrator realizes that being Jewish means he will always be excluded The fourth book in Bassani's Romanzo di Ferrara cycle Behind the Door is a luminous portrayal of childhood friendship & the loss of innocence A new translation by Jamie Mc Kendrick' Giorgio Bassani is one of the great witnesses of this century & one of its great artists' Guardian' Powerful new translations Bassani began as a poet & Mc Kendrick's redelivery of this taut uncompromising fiction reveals resonance & generosity' Ali Smith ...

For 125 years the British & Irish Lions have stood out as a unique emblem in world sport They represent the best of the best from the four Home Nations coming together every four years under a united badge to take on the rugby greats of the Southern Hemisphere Lions tours embody a revered legacy that is steeped in tradition yet maintains a vibrant standing in the modern era The Lions badge is a symbol of the ethics values & the romance at the heart of Test match rugby Every four years the rugby world's focus is drawn to a great red pilgrimage as the Lions embark on a brutal & exhilarating tour that challenges the very limits of their rugby ability & the strengths of their characters They travel to the far reaches of the earth to confront the great powers in the world game
- & the weight of history itself Behind the Lions sees four esteemed rugby writers from each of the Home Nations delve to the heart of what it means to be a Lion interviewing a vast array of former tourists to uncover the passion pride & exhilaration experienced when wearing the famous red jersey It is a tale of heart-break & ecstasy humour & poignancy that is at once inspirational moving & utterly compelling This is the story of the British & Irish Lions
- in their own words

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Please note this is a region 2 DVD & will require a region 2 (Europe) or region Free DVD Player in order to play In this 1950s hospital drama Vanessa Redgrave stars as the daughter of chief surgeon Sir Arthur Benson Gray (Michael Redgrave) who is at loggerheads with the authorities over how the hospital is being run ...

The Ballets Russes was perhaps the most iconic yet at the same time mysterious ballet company of the twentieth century Inspired by the unique vision of their founder Sergei Diaghilev the company gained a large international following In the mid-twentieth century
- during the tumultuous years of World War II & the Cold War
- the Ballets Russes companies kept the spirit & traditions of Russian ballet alive in the West touring extensively in America Europe & Australia This important new book uncovers previously-unseen interviews & provides insights into the lives of the great figures of the age
- from the dancers Anna Pavlova & Alicia Markova to the choreographers Leonide Massine George Balanchine & Anton Dolin The dancers' own words reveal what life was really like for the stars of the Ballets Russes & provide fascinating new insights into one of the most vibrant & creative groups of artists of the modern age


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Ruby Lennox was conceived grudgingly by Bunty & born while her father George was in the Dog & Hare in Doncaster telling a woman in an emerald dress & a D-cup that he wasn't married Bunty had never wanted to marry George but here she was stuck in a flat above the pet shop in an ancient street beneath York Minster with sensible & sardonic Patrica aged five greedy cross-patch Gillian who refused to be ignored & Ruby Ruby tells the story of The Family from the day at the end of the nineteenth century when a travelling French photographer catches frail beautiful Alice & her children like flowers in amber to the startling witty & memorable events of Ruby's own life ...

Arthur Bourne was at the centre of British motorcycling from 1923-1951 This is his fascinating story Back in the 1920s there were more motor cyclists than car drivers records were being broken every month at the Brooklands race track in Surrey roads were empty & motorbikes constantly broke down Arthur Bourne who used the pseudonym Torrens' for readers of the best-selling weekly The Motor Cycle was in the thick of the game He had the good luck to be Engineer to The Auto-Cycle Union & the-then not yet 26 editor of a famous motorcycling journal This is his story of what it was like to ride hundreds of miles round Britain on reliability trials
- essential for manufacturers to claim that their bikes were worth buying
- & how he provided weekly guidance for thousands of youngsters on two wheels He writes of Brooklands & of TT races on the lsle of Man; of his encouragement to young engineers like Edward Turner & Phil Vincent; & of how in the Second World War he enabled the airborne forces at Arnhem to be equipped with lightweight motorcycles that could be dropped by parachute or flown in by glider For anyone interested in motorbikes & the people who rode them when British manufacturing was at its apogee this is a unique testimony Motor cycles were fashionable The Duke of York later to be George V1 & his wife Elizabeth later known as Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother were among the enthusiasts lt was an exciting era recalled by Torrens' near the end of his life in a good journalist's prose Behind the Scenes in the Vintage Years is a unique & fascinating record of an unrepeatable era in British motorcycling & engineering history It contains many black & white pictures which bring this area of the past to life

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