For seventy years now " Desert Island Discs" has managed that rare feat
- to be both enduring & relevant. By casting away the biggest
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Flotsam & Jetsam" is the ultimate trivia book for fans of the popular BBC Radio 4 programme " Desert Island Discs" & a fascinating introduction for all those who have yet to discover its delights. Taking the reader through seven decades of wonderful entertainment here is an absorbing range of facts figures & miscellany
- including who chose what & why. It also reveals much about the castaways drives & motivations their influences & of course their lives. Spanning the early years with the original presenter Roy Plomley & the present day the " Desert Island Discs" programme has brought its own unique surprises to listeners some very personal some humorous such as Eric Morecambes choice of a deckchair as his luxury & Ernie Wises of a deckchair ticket machine. From Beethoven to the Beatles from chessboards & chocolate to Jane Austen & Zola " Flotsam & Jetsam" is the perfect companion guide to the national treasure that is " Desert Island Discs"."
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With the heart-stopping speed of a whirling dervish this thrilling critically acclaimed debut novel from new talent Howard Andrew Jones sweeps into the glittering tradition of sword-&-sorcery. In 8th century Baghdad the scholar Dabir realizes that a jewelled tablet may unlock secrets hidden within the lost city of Ubar a desert Atlantis. But when the tablet is stolen Dabir & Captain Asim go after it
- a life-or-death adventure of a lifetime...
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Set in the late 1950s this is the story of Evelyn Hall an English Professor who goes to Reno to obtain a divorce & put an end to her disastrous 16-year marriage. While staying at a boarding house to establish her six-week residency requirement she meets Ann Childs a casino worker & fifteen years her junior. Physically they are remarkably alike & eventually have an affair & begin the struggle to figure out just how a relationship between two women can last. Desert of the Heart examines the conflict between convention & freedom & the ways in which the characters try to resolve the conflict ...

Formed in September 1941 from the Western Desert Force British 8th Army (comprising British Commonwealth Free French & Polish troops) went on to wage a lengthy hard-fought campaign against Axis forces across the deserts of North Africa. The Desert War was unlike any other fought by the British Army involving highly mobile operations covering vast distances. The hot unforgiving climate in which the troops lived & fought was almost as troublesome as the enemy. During its two-year period of service in North Africa 8th Army underwent major changes in organization equipment & training to accustom it to desert warfare. ...

In Princess readers were shocked by Sultana's revelations about life in Saudi Arabia's royal family. Royal women live as virtual prisoners surrounded by unimaginable wealth & luxury privileged beyond belief & yet subject to every whim of their husbands fathers & even their sons. Daughters of Arabia featured Sultana's teenage daughters determined to rebel but in very different ways. & now in Desert Royal Sultana's fight for women's rights in a repressive fundamentalist Islamic society has an extra sense of urgency. The threat of world terrorism the gathering strength of religious leaders & the discontent of impoverished Saudis are threatening to topple the comfortable world Sultana has known. But an extended family 'camping' trip in the desert brings Sultana & her relatives face to face with their nomadic roots & nourishes her will to carry on the fight for women's rights in all Muslim countries. This updated edition contains an all-new chapter as well as a letter from Sultana herself encouraging all women to take up the struggle for freedom for their abused sisters throughout the world. ...

Continuing the impressive debut fantasy series from author Peter V. Brett The Desert Spear is book two of the Demon Cycle pulling the reader into a world of demons darkness & heroes. The Deliverer has returned but who is he? Arlen Bales formerly of the small hamlet of Tibbets Brook learnt harsh lessons about life as he grew up in a world where hungry demons stalk the night & humanity is trapped by its own fear. He chose a different path; chose to fight inherited apathy & the corelings & eventually he became the Painted Man a reluctant saviour. But the figure emerging from the desert calling himself the Deliverer is not Arlen. He is a friend & betrayer & though he carries the spear from the Deliverers tomb he also heads a vast army intent on a holy war against the demon plague...and anyone else who stands in his way. ...

Following Mussolini's declaration of war in June 1940 Italy faced only those British troops based in the Middle East but as the armed confrontation escalated other nations were drawn in. Jean Paul Pallud begins his account when the initial shots were fired at the 11th Hussars as they approached Italian outposts near Sidi Omar in Libya. ...

In 1940 Alan Moorehead was sent to cover the North Africa campaign by the Daily Express & he followed its dramatic course all the way to 1943. The three books he subsequently wrote about the Desert War
- later collected as his African Trilogy
- were swiftly acclaimed as a classic account of the tussle between Montgomerys Eighth Army & Rommels Afrika Corps amidst the endless harsh wastes of the Western Desert. Moorehead was responsible for the celebrated insight that tank battles in the desert are like battles at sea the lumbering tanks like ships lost in a vast ocean of s&. The New Statesman could not have put it better when it described his achievement with this riveting book: There is something of genius in the breadth & penetration of his vision which encompasses the whole panorama of war & then narrows it down to the particular: the soldier stubbing out his cigarette before going into action the expression on a tank commanders face as he is hit... The story of the African campaigns will go down in history as one of the great epics of mankind largely thanks to Mr Mooreheads account.

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Thousands of villages & smaller settlements were deserted in England & Wales mostly between 1340 & 1750. Why were they deserted? Why did some villages survive while others were abandoned? Who was responsible for their desertion? What can we learn about life in the countryside from a study of the deserted sites? These questions have preoccupied archaeologists geographers & historians since the sites were first recognised in the 1940s. Now ten leading experts in the subject have come together to revisit the deserted villages & reveal much new evidence & new thinking about these fascinating sites. ...