Whilst we might choose our words carefully we rarely think about the origins behind the many phrases place names & expressions we use every day. Yet behind these words lies a fascinating story steeped in the weird & wonderful history & traditions of every day life. From hundreds of commonplace & more quirky terms to names of streets & cities this fascinating & fun book anwers the questions youve always wondered about the wondeful language we all use yet seldom think about. So if it is all Greek to you & seems like hocus pocus for Petes sake dont be left on tenderhooks have a gander at this idiosyncratic tome. Make no bones about it
- its the bees knees!
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The incredible biography of the most famous steam locomotive in the world. Think of the Golden Age of Steam & one train leaps to mind above all others: the Flying Scotsman Nigel Gresleys elegant masterpiece of a locomotive. She broke the world speed record in 1934 & has enthralled millions with her beauty & power. Uniquely her post-war career has been even more varied & exciting than her early triumphs. Now Andrew Roden tells the Scotsmans remarkable story from her construction & the glory days between the wars through the decline of steam & her rollercoaster fortunes in the subsequent years: nearly abandoned on a tour of the United States after the money ran out crossing the Australian interior then put up for sale yet again when the company that owned her went bankrupt in 2003. A massive public campaign saved her for the nation & the Flying Scotsmans restoration began in 2005 at the National Railway Museum. With the aid of numerous interviews with those involved with the Scotsman over the years Roden brings her story memorably to life. Above all he asks: why do grown men risk their life savings to own her? Why do thousands of people still line the trackside when shes due to race past? & just what is the eternal appeal of the Flying Scotsman? ...

The Flying Scotsman is probably the most famous railway locomotive in the world. It first caused a sensation for its beauty & its speed in 1923 & it soon became a national icon. The fastest & most comfortable way of travelling between London & Scotland The Flying Scotsman only got faster & more luxurious as competition from other routes airlines & the motor car threatened. From 1928 it began running non-stop an achievement that earned it yet more attention. This superbly illustrated book celebrates the much-loved locomotive the train that shared its name the route it took & how it captured the imagination of the nation. ...

Deeply moving. His determination & single-mindedness was & still is a true inspiration to me". (Sir Chris Hoy). " This is a book that must have taken great courage to write is a harrowing reminder of how little the public know about sportsmen no matter how brightly the spotlight shines on them." (The Guardian Number 10 in Cycle Sports Best 50 Cycling Books of All Time). It

Includes:: a foreword by Sir Chris Hoy. Graeme Obrees story begins with a tough upbringing in the Ayrshire valleys where he found his escape by taking to the roads on his bike. He would emerge from total obscurity to smash Francesco Mosers World Hour Record controversy hard at his heels for his unique riding style & pioneering construction techniques
- famously using parts from a washing machine to build his bike Old Faithful. But amidst the record attempts media feeding frenzy & thrilling head-to-head duels with Chris Boardman Graeme was fighting another battle. With searing honesty he recounts his biggest battle against depression which drove him to attempt suicide."


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This is a funny super-girly story with a vampire bite to it. Sink your teeth into Olivia & Ivys eleventh fright-time adventure. Were still double trouble! The twins are apart but life is as batty as ever... Ivys settling in to Wallachia Academy but the schools strict rules are a real pain in the neck. Back in Franklin Grove Olivias begun dressing like Ivy
- to get in to a vampire rock concert! Its bound to cause a coffin-load of chaos.
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Inge Holbrook has lived the highlife ever since she left her sleepy Home Counties hometown of Edenford. Still fantastically fit at forty-plus she has gone from Olympic gold medallist to becoming one of the 'faces' of the BBC. Blonde (since '87) tanned (since Christmas in the Caribbean) long legs (since for ever) she has an aura of success that never fails to be attractive. Eve Marshall hasn't. Catching her reflection in a tinfoil turkey display at her local supermarket she sees someone old & fat someone who looks like somebody's mother. Unlike her school friend Inge Eve never left suburbia. Her contribution to the world wasn't to write or invent or win anything but her two children Tom & Shirley. Inge & Eve are part of the same generation grew up in the same town went to the same school together. But adult life has left them with nothing in common apart from their past
- until the summer when their lives become entwined again when one becomes a killer & the other approves.. .
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Until the launch of the Flying V & Explorer in 1958 electric guitars were supposed to look like guitars. Suddenly Gibson turned conventional design upside down almost literally by using straight lines & angular body shapes changing the way electrics could look & in the process creating a set of rare future collectables. Flying V Explorer Firebird" tells the story of those first peculiar instruments & goes on to describe Gibsons second attempt at non-standard designs with the Firebird of the early 60s. The book shows how most of these were a commercial failure at first & goes on to detail the influence of the designs on guitar-makers such as Hamer Jackson Dean Ibanez & BC Rich all of whom embraced Gibsons original weird-is-good design ethic. In parallel with the story of the makers is an absorbing account of the players who discovered these odd-shaped instruments including Zakk Wylde (Black Label Society) Edge (U2) & Rick Nielsen (Cheap Trick). Interviews with players & makers illuminate the story of this fascinating assortment of electric guitar innovations alongside specially commissioned images of every key model & brand & an enviable collection of guitar memorabilia plus a gallery of leading guitarists photographed in action with their instruments. If its weird & has strings its in " Flying V Explorer Firebird"." ...

Does the thought of flying fill you with dread?
- Do panic attacks leave you feeling scared & vulnerable? If so this book could
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They no longer hold themselves up with all their might but sink a little & at that moment appear totally human. Of the very first rank of prose stylists Robert Musil captures a scenes every telling detail & symbolic aspect with a precise & remarkable beauty. In these nine stories & essays he considers holidaymakers & stone monuments tales of war & blackbirds & the great pathos of a tiny death: a flys impossible fight against the grip of flypaper. This book

Includes:: Flypaper" " Monkey Island" " Fisherman on the Baltic" " Sheep" " As Seen in Another Light" " Sarcophagus Cover" " Monuments" " The Paint Spreader" " Its Lovely Here" & " The Blackbird"."

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Enter the world of Septimus Heap Wizard Apprentice. Magyk is his destiny. The evil necromancer Dom Daniel has been disposed of but something Darke is stirring. A Shadow pursues Extra Ordinary Wizard Marcia Overstrand around following her every move growing stronger every day. Septimus senses something sinister is afoot but before he can act Jenna is snatched
- taken by the most unlikely kidnapper. Septimus must rescue his sister but does not at first realise the power of the forces at work behind her disappearance.
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