Enid Blyton's timeless collection of Christmas stories
- an ideal gift for anyone who loved the stories during their own childhood
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Enid Blyton's timeless collection of Christmas stories
- an ideal gift for anyone who loved the stories during their own childhood
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Please note this is a region 2 DVD & will require a region 2 or region free DVD player in order to play The holidays have finally arrived & Julian Dick & Ann are looking forward to spending a long hot summer with their feisty tomboy cousin Georgina
- or George
- as she prefers to be known But picnics & bike rides are put on hold when George & her new pal Timmy the dog share the secret of a mysterious shipwreck with the others An exciting discovery is in store for the intrepid Five but they are not alone! Adapted from the first of Enid Blyton&s perennially popular Famous Five stories this ripping adventure tale in eight thrilling instalments is great fun for all the family Enid Blyton herself was on hand to cast the film which follows the Five as they investigate the secret of the wreck Chock-full of cliffhangers & mystery the popular Children&s Film Foundation serial remains close to the spirit of the book With enthusiastic performances from some well-cast young actors these are delightful films which every fan of the Famous Five will want to treasure

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Please note this is a region 2 DVD & will require a region 2 or region free DVD player in order to play Five have a Mystery to Solve (1964) The second of the BFIs releases of the long unseen Children&s Film Foundation&s Famous Five serial follows Julian Dick Anne George & Timmy the dog on an adventure to the shadowy Whispering Island With the help of ten year-old Wilfred
- whose strange gifts include an ability to commune with animals
- the gang discover the truth behind the mystery With enthusiastic & memorable performances from the well cast young actors this is a delightful series which no Famous Five fan should be without Actors Paula Boyd Mandy Harper & Darryl Read Certificate Universal Suitable for All Year 2010 Duration 2 hours & 7 minutes (approx)

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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 The film explores how the orderly reassuringly clear worlds Enid Blyton created within her stories contrasted with the complexity of her own personal life It sheds light on the ambitious & driven
- but as yet unpublished
- young woman from the development of her rich imagination against the adversity of an imperfect childhood two World Wars & a first marriage ending in divorce
- to household name One of the most recognised storytellers of all time Enid Blyton&s charming characters & classic tales have enchanted countless generations of children for almost 80 years Having sold over 500 million books in 40 countries this film follows the woman behind the enduring & compelling stories such as the beloved Famous Five Secret Seven Malory Towers & Noddy series Actors Helena Bonham Carter Matthew Macfadyen Denis Lawson & Claire Rushbrook Director James Hawes Certificate PGYear 2009 Screen Widescreen 169 Anamorphic Languages English
- Dolby Digital (20) Stereo Duration 1 hour & 23 minutes (approx)



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The complete story of how the German Enigma codes were broken Perfect for fans of THE IMITATION GAME the new film on Alan Turing's Enigma code starring Benedict Cumberbatch Breaking the German Enigma codes was not only about brilliant mathematicians & professors at Bletchley Park There is another aspect of the story which it is only now possible to tell It takes in the exploits of spies naval officers & ordinary British seamen who risked & in some cases lost their lives snatching the vital Enigma codebooks from under the noses of Nazi officials & from sinking German ships & submarines This book tells the whole Enigma story its original invention & use by German forces & how it was the Poles who first cracked
- & passed on to the British
- the key to the German airforce Enigma The more complicated German Navy Enigma appeared to them to be unbreakable

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David Balme will be forever known as the 20-year-old hero who on 9 May 1941 boarded a German U-boat in mid-Atlantic & captured one of the greatest secrets of the Second World War This capture
- or 'pinch' as it was known within secret inner circles
- changed the course of the Battle of the Atlantic & shortened the war itself Balme was part of a team comprising officers & men of the Third Escort Group ably led by Commander Joe Baker Cresswell also commander of HMS Bulldog who shared the danger with other unsung heroes such as Lieutenant Commander George Dodds Balme was tasked with taking the Bulldog's whaler & a small party to board the U-boat U-110 which had been disabled However he was alone when initially boarding entering & searching the U-boat This put him in a vulnerable position while descending into the vessel
- he risked being shot by any German submariner that may have remained or blown-up by a booby-trap device Furthermore he could have drowned when Bulldog disappeared into the mists of the Atlantic to hunt another U-boat as U-110 could have plummeted into the depths at any time However where others tried & failed or tragically lost their lives Balme & his boarding party succeeded magnificently in capturing an entire Enigma machine the essential rotors & months' worth of associated cipher material This was an absolute gift to the code breakers at Bletchley Park who were able to read all the secret German naval signal traffic for some months & it enabled them to read virtually the whole of the traffic for the rest of the war & with little delay The capture was kept so secret that few even on the British side knew about it
- not even the Americans were told what had been achieved after they entered the war Balme returned from the war & never spoke about the secret capture which he believed would be hidden forever The story of the capture & ransack of U-110 is told for the first time in the words & letters of David Balme his captain Joe Baker Cresswell George Dodds & others who took part in the most important submarine capture of the whole war Besides the capture of U-110 Balme enjoyed an astonishing variety of wartime experience including the Spanish Civil War the Palestine Patrol the sinking of HMS Courageous the Battle of Convoy KJF3 the fight with the heavy cruiser Hipper the Battle of Cape Spartivento the Battle of Convoy OB318 being sunk during Operation Harpoon the air war in the Western Desert the high level diplomacy of Prime Minister Winston Churchill & pioneering work as a Fighter Direction Officer in the war against Japan



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Bletchley Park the top-secret landmark of World War Two where a group of young people were fighting to defeat Hitler & win the war March 1943 the Second World War hangs in the balance & at Bletchley Park a brilliant young codebreaker is facing a double nightmare The Germans have unaccountably changed their U-boat Enigma code threatening a massive Allied defeat & as suspicion grows that there may be a spy inside Bletchley Jericho's girlfriend the beautiful & mysterious Claire Romilly suddenly disappears ...

Set in England during World War II Michael Apted's ENIGMA follows bookish code-breaker Tom Jericho (Dougray Scott) through a whirlwind love affair with Claire Romilly (Saffron Burrows) a seductive blonde clerk & his subsequent recovery from a mental breakdown caused by the relationship As Tom begins to pick up the pieces of his sanity he is reinstated by his former employers at Bletchley Park a secret agency that intercepts transmissions from German U-boats & decodes them for use in the Allied cause When a suave government agent (Jeremy Northam) investigates Bletchley in search of a suspected spy & the now-missing Claire Tom takes matters into his own hands & enlists the help of Claire's roommate the seemingly prim Hester Wallace (Kate Winslet) Together Tom & Hester begin to unravel a mystery that goes extends across continents & allegiances Apted's WWII thriller based on the novel by Robert Harris & screenplay by Tom Stoppard is a well-crafted period piece that successfully transports the audience to 1940s Britain Scott & Winslet are compelling in their roles as intellectuals forced into action & Northam exudes a rakish charm during his appearances The film's secret weapon however is the plot which gets more & more intriguing as the story progresses In the end even the most astute viewers will be surprised by ENIGMA's finale ...

In Enigma players are exploring an ancient temple solving different problems to make their way from room to room Problem solving is done simultaneously in four different categories — tangrams block-stacking canal-building & balance problems — & those who succeed expand the temple with the problem tile they solved thus adding a new chain of rooms inside the temple or extending an existing chain of rooms After placing a tile a player can occupy a room on that tile with one of his three archeologists as long as no other room of the same color is already occupied in that chain When the chain is closed — that is when the chain has no "loose ends" that can be expanded upon — any archeologists in that chain&s room return to their players & players score 1 point for each archeologist they receive The game ends when somebody reaches 15 points & the player who has the most points wins Players 2-4 Playing Time 45 Minutes Suggested Age 8 ...