The story of both a dramatic journey retracing the historic voyage of France`s greatest 19th-century explorer up the mysterious Mekong river, & a portrait of the river & its peoples today. Any notion of sailing up the Mekong in homage to Francis Garnier has been unthinkable until now. From its delta in Vietnam up through Cambodia, Laos, Thail&, Burma & on into China, the Mekong has been a no-go river, its turbulent waters fouled by ideological barriers as formidable as its natural obstacles. But recently the political obstacles have begun to be dismantled
- river traffic is reviving. John Keay describes the world of the Mekong as it is today, rehabilitating a traumatised geography while recreating the thrilling & historic voyage of Garnier in 1866. The French expedition was intended to investigate the `back door` into China by outflanking the British & American conduits of commerce at Hong Kong & Shanghai. Two naval gunboats headed upriver into the green unknown, bearing crack troops, naturalists, geologists & artists. The two-year expedition`s failures & successes, & the tragedy & acrimony that marked it, make riveting reading.
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Mad Dogs & Englishmen, An Expedition Round My Family follows Sir Ranulph Fiennes on his most personal voyage yet
- a journey into
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` England is a country which requires more than a second look, an amazingly diverse place, offering almost-unlimited landscapes, culture & history, & a diversity of opportunities which is unrivalled anywhere else in the world.` Tired of London, Tired of Life author Tom Jones, has come up with another gem. In Mad Dogs & Englishmen he presents us with a seasonal snapshot of things to do in England at any time of the year, come rain or come shine. Using a mixture of unique seasonal events & interesting places to visit (all presented in attractive bite-sized entries), Mad Dogs & Englishmen is a browsable gift book aimed at those who are interested in getting to know their home country better as well as tourists seeking to make the most of their stay in Engl&. In more than 220 pages Tom Jones demonstrates the diversity of England as a country; presenting interesting, unusual & thought-provoking things to do which also enlighten the reader, & convey the message that England is a great place to live & explore all year round. ...

Claude Monet`s water lily paintings are among the most iconic & beloved works of art of the past century. Yet these entrancing images were created at a time of terrible private turmoil & sadness for the artist. The dramatic history behind these paintings is little known; Ross King`s Mad Enchantment tells the full story for the first time &, in the process, presents a compelling & original portrait of one of our most popular & cherished artists. By the outbreak of war in 1914, Monet, then in his mid-seventies, was one of the world`s most famous & successful painters, with a large house in the country, a fleet of automobiles & a colossal reputation. However, he had virtually given up painting following the death of his wife Alice in 1911 & the onset of blindness a year later. Nonetheless, it was during this period of sorrow, ill health & creative uncertainty that
- as the guns roared on the Western Front
- he began the most demanding & innovative paintings he had ever attempted. Encouraged by close friends such as Georges Clemenceau, France`s dauntless prime minister, Monet would work on these magnificent paintings throughout the war years & then for the rest of his life. So obsessed with his monumental task that the village barber was summoned to clip his hair as he worked beside his pond, he covered hundreds of yards of canvas with shimmering layers of pigment. As his ambitions expanded with his paintings, he began planning what he intended to be his legacy to the world: the ` Musee Claude Monet` in the Orangerie in Paris. Drawing on letters & memoirs & focusing on this remarkable period in the artist`s life, Mad Enchantment gives an intimate portrayal of Claude Monet in all his tumultuous complexity, & firmly places his water lily paintings among the greatest achievements in the history of art.

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Claude Monet`s water lily paintings are among the most iconic & beloved works of art of the past century. Yet these entrancing images were created at a time of terrible private turmoil & sadness for the artist. The dramatic history behind these paintings is little known; Ross King`s Mad Enchantment tells the full story for the first time &, in the process, presents a compelling & original portrait of one of our most popular & cherished artists. By the outbreak of war in 1914, Monet, then in his mid-seventies, was one of the world`s most famous & successful painters, with a large house in the country, a fleet of automobiles & a colossal reputation. However, he had virtually given up painting following the death of his wife Alice in 1911 & the onset of blindness a year later. Nonetheless, it was during this period of sorrow, ill health & creative uncertainty that
- as the guns roared on the Western Front
- he began the most demanding & innovative paintings he had ever attempted. Encouraged by close friends such as Georges Clemenceau, France`s dauntless prime minister, Monet would work on these magnificent paintings throughout the war years & then for the rest of his life. So obsessed with his monumental task that the village barber was summoned to clip his hair as he worked beside his pond, he covered hundreds of yards of canvas with shimmering layers of pigment. As his ambitions expanded with his paintings, he began planning what he intended to be his legacy to the world: the ` Musee Claude Monet` in the Orangerie in Paris. Drawing on letters & memoirs & focusing on this remarkable period in the artist`s life, Mad Enchantment gives an intimate portrayal of Claude Monet in all his tumultuous complexity, & firmly places his water lily paintings among the greatest achievements in the history of art.

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The inspirational story of the man who rescued Brighton & Hove Albion FC from oblivion, a 15 year struggle that saw the homeless club battling for survival until the triumphant opening of their brand new Amex Stadium in August 2011. The inside story of a saga that captured the hearts & minds of football supporters up & down the country, Mad Man explains how advertising executive & lifelong Albion fan, Dick Knight, took over the club after its ground had been sold to property developers, rescued it from immediate extinction & then began the long & tortuous battle to find a new home. Galvanising the local community, Knight`s incredible triumph was to mobilise & maximise fan power & use it to defeat the greed & opportunism of a small number of businessmen, & then overcome the monumental hurdles of bureaucracy & planning that stood in the way of the new home that was essential to securing the future of the club. Told with immense humour & packed with hilarious anecdotes, Mad Manis a football feelgood story from the heart & soul of the game. ...

Sir Ranulph Fiennes is often described as the world’s greatest living explorer, & “ Mad, Bad & Dangerous to Know” shows that as his life story stands, this is no exaggeration. From his early military career & his time in the Special Forces to his many expeditions, his life of extraordinary achievement has been characterised by courage, determination against all odds & a streak for compulsive rebelliousness. He has travelled to the most dangerous & inaccessible places on earth, almost died many times, lost nearly half his fingers to frostbite, raised millions of pounds for charity & been awarded a polar medal & an OBE. He has been an elite soldier, an athlete, a mountaineer, an explorer, a best-selling author & nearly replaced Sean Connery as James Bond. Here he describes how he led expeditions all over the world & became the first person to travel to both poles on l&. He tells of how he discovered the lost city of Ubar in Oman & attempted to walk solo & unsupported to the North Pole
- the expedition that cost him several fingers & very nearly his life. Now out in paperback, this autobiography is an enthralling read; a candid look inside the mind & the achievements of a great British adventurer & hero. Sir Ranulph Twisleton-Fiennes OBE, 3rd Baronet, looks back on a life lived at the very limits of human endeavour.
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`A father...is a necessary evil.` Stephen Dedalus in Ulysses In Mad, Bad, Dangerous to Know Colm Toibin turns his incisive gaze to three of Ireland`s greatest writers, Oscar Wilde, W.B. Yeats & James Joyce, & their earliest influences: their fathers. From Wilde`s doctor father, a brilliant statistician & amateur archaeologist, who was taken to court by an obsessed lover in a strange premonition of what would happen to his son; to Yeats` father, an impoverished artist & brilliant letter-writer who could never finish apainting; to John Stanislus Joyce, a singer, drinker & story-teller, a man unwilling to provide for his large family, whom his son James memorialised in his work. Colm Toibin illuminates not only the complex relationships between three of the greatest writers in the English language & their fathers, but also illustrates the surprising ways they surface in their work. ...

Indexed road map, showing relief & annotated with geographical notes. Elevation colouring & spot heights show the general relief. Road detail

Includes:: some tracks, & locations with petrol supplies are marked. Railways, ports, sea ferries, airports & airfields are also shown. Wetland areas, reserves & national parks are indicated, & symbols depict various features e.g. historic sites, places of interest, antiquities, waterfalls, campsites, lodgings, beaches, hospitals & post offices. Latitude & longitude lines are drawn at 2

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Madagascar at 1:800, 000 is an indexed map with additional street plans & enlargements of popular regions on the reverse. The publisher has chosen to concentrate on creating a map which will primarily be of use for a tourist navigating between main points of interest as opposed to stressing more detailed cartography. Tarred & untarred national & main roads & minor roads are clearly marked, as are airports & ferry routes. Provincial boundaries are demarcated. In keeping with the publisher ...