After a family friend bought one of his drawings for 20p six-year-old Jack came up with the idea to draw anything" in return for donations to the hospital that treats his two-year-old brother. His parents set up a website & thought they might make GBP100. After two weeks Jack had over 500 picture requests & had raised over GBP22 000 for the Sick Kids Friends Foundation. Parents Ed & Rose with Jack Toby & Noah appeared on the Fern Britton Show & Jacks project was featured on Russell Howards Good News four times. Coverage by STV news BBC news & CBBC Newsround have all helped spread the word about this creative & generous little boy. Jack is slowly but steadily drawing the requested pictures which range from a "dinosaur diving into a pool of jelly" (1) to "my (extremely bald) friend Brian dancing like a crazy man" (80). He doesnt draw every day only when he wants to & his parents estimate that hell finish at the end of August. For the latest drawings or to make a donation yourself visit jackdrawsanything.com." ...

Actor Bill Tarmey first appeared as Jack Duckworth in Coronation Street in November 1979 when his formidable on-screen wife Vera dragged him to Brian & Gail Tilsleys wedding only to have him sneak off for a pint at the first opportunity. After playing what is arguably the nations best-loved soap character for 31 years Bill leaves the series in December 2010. To coincide with this momentous event in soap history Bill now tells the full story of what it has been like to play this loveable rogue for almost half his life. He reveals the hilarious on-set japes behind the scenes
- such as getting fits of the giggles with Curly Watts & Alec Gilroy what it was like playing the Romeo to Bet Lynch & Dulcie Froggat plus the more emotional times such as when Bernard Youens who played Stan Ogden died. There is also the fascinating story of Bills early years growing up in the streets of post-war Manchester with bombsites for playgrounds & an ex-Navy grandpa who taught him how to box. Destined to become a master asphalter like his Dad Bill never gave up his love of singing & by the late 1960s he had made a name for himself in the unforgiving environment of the Working Mens Club circuit. Taking work as a TV extra Bill soon found himself treading the famous cobbled streets & was a natural in his newly created role of Jack which has been uncanny in mirroring Bills own life for its lurches of fortune. Packed with anecdotes to delight both Corrie fans & lovers of British TV everywhere this warm-hearted & substantial autobiography is THE soap star memoir the country has been waiting for. They will not be disappointed.
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Jack Glass is the murderer. We know this from the start. Yet as this extraordinary novel tells the story of three murders committed by Glass the reader will be surprised to find out that it was Glass who was the killer & how he did it. & by the end of the book our sympathies for the killer are fully engaged. Riffing on the tropes of crime fiction (the country house murder the locked room mystery) & imbued with the feel of golden age SF JACK GLASS is another bravura performance from Roberts. Whatever games he plays with the genre whatever questions he asks of the reader Roberts never loses sight of the need to entertain. JACK GLASS has some wonderfully gruesome moments is built around three gripping How Dunnits & comes with liberal doses of sly humour. Roberts invites us to have fun & tricks us into thinking about both crime & SF via a beautifully structured novel set in a society whose depiction challanges notions of crime punishment power & freedom. It is an extraordinary novel. ...

WITCH HUNT BLEEDING HEARTS BLOOD HUNT: Three thrillers by mega-seller Ian Rankin writing as Jack Harvey ' Rankin's ability to create a credible character delivering convincing dialogue to complement sinister & hard-hitting plots against vividly detailed atmosphere is simply awesome' Time Out ' His fiction buzzes with energy.. . Essentially he is a romantic storyteller in the tradition of Robert Louis Stevenson.. . His prose is as vivid & terse as the next man's yet its flexibility & rhythm give it a potential for lyrical expression which is distinctively Rankin's own.. . Rankin controls the material with extraordinary authority & even delicacy.. . Rankin ranks alongside P.D. James & Michael Dibdin as Britain's finest detective novelist' Scotland on Sunday ' Rankin's prose is understated yet his canvas of Scotland's criminal underclass has a panoramic breadth. His ear for dialogue is as sharp as a switchblade. This is quite simply crime writing of the highest order' Daily Express ...

The astonishing feats of Sir Jack Hobbs continue to resonate more than a century after he first played Test cricket. During his long career that stretched from the age of W.G. Grace to the era of Don Bradman he scored more first-class runs & centuries than any player. Even today he remains Englands greatest run-maker in Ashes Tests. He changed the art of batting with his elegant style & transformed the status of professional cricketers through the strength of his quiet dignified personality. Despite his significance in the game there has never been a comprehensive biography of Hobbs. Now Leo Mc Kinstry the acclaimed author of a best-selling life of Geoff Boycott has remedied that. Based on a wealth of new material including interviews with the Hobbs family the book provides fresh insights into every aspect of his story from his poverty-stricken upbringing in Cambridge to his central role in some of Test crickets most explosive series. It is a tale full of controversy such as the previously unknown row over his actions in the First World War when he was accused of scandalous behaviour by the cricket establishment. Other dramatic episodes include a bitter dispute over the England captaincy in the 1920s as well as & two occasions when he came close to death. With its colourful detail historical context & readable style this ground-breaking book is an important addition to sports literature. ...

Many straight men & gay men are best friends but if the phenomenon is an urban commonplace it has never been treated before as the focus of a major novel. Jack Holmes is in love but the man he loves never shares his bed. The other men Jack sleeps with never last long & he dallies with several women. He sees a shrink & practices extreme discretion about his gay adventures since the book begins in the 1960s before gay liberation & ends after the advent of AIDS in the 1980s. Jacks friend Will Wright comes from old stock has aspirations to be a writer & like Jack works on the Northern Review a staid cultural quarterly. Will is shy & lonely-and Jack introduces him to the beautiful brittle young woman he will marry. Over the years Will discovers his sensuality & almost destroys his marriage in doing so. Towards the end of the 1970s Jacks & Wills lives merge as they both become accomplished libertines. Jack Holmes & his Friend deploys Edmund Whites wonderful perceptions of American society to dazzling effect as character after character is delicately & colourfully rendered & one social milieu after another glows in the readers mind. He is a connoisseur of the nuances of personality & mood & here unveils his very human cast in all their radical individuality. New York itself is a principle character with its old society & its bohemians rich & poor with its sleek European immigrants & its rough-&-tumble transplanted Midwesterners. With narrative daring & a gifted sense of the rueful submerged drama of life the novel is a beautifully sculpted exploration of sexuality & sensibility. ...

In the 1970s after his incredible run of comics for Marvel including Avengers" " Fantastic Four" "X-Men" " Thor" & others Jack Kirby returned to "DC Comics" to create such groundbreaking series as " Kamandi" " The New Gods" & more. During that period Kirby also created a number of projects that lasted only a few issues such as " The Sandman" starring a super hero who delves into the world of dreams as well as Atlas (from 1st Issue Special) " Kobra" & " Kung Fu Fighter". Now for the first time these titles are collected in a massive hardcover. This volume collects Kirbys 1980s work on the " Super Powers" series based on a very popular toy line. These issues represent Kirbys only work on the " Justice League of America" including " Batman" " Wonder Woman" " Green Lantern" & " The Flash"." ...

This fourth & final volume of Jack Kirbys Fourth World Omnibus" collects the remaining issues of the classic 1970s series " The New Gods" " The Forever People" & " Mister Miracle" in chronological order as they originally appeared! As our heroes fight Darkseids many minions while Darkseid himself continues his quest for the Anti-Life Equation the series come to their end with the wedding of Mister Miracle & Big Barda. Also included in this volume are Kirbys sequel to " The New Gods" & the graphic novel " The Hunger Dogs" along with rarely seen Kirby art from DCs " Whos Who" series all from the mid-1980s." ...

A comprehensive guide to all aspects of owning a Jack Russell Terrier this highly illustrated book is full of practical information & expert advice for pet owners & breeders. Jack Russell Terriers are very intelligent high-energy dogs whose compact size & friendly nature make them great pets. If you are considering getting a Jack Russell or are an existing owner who wants to learn more about the care of your dog then this book will be an invaluable resource. Contents include: * History of the breed * Acquiring a puppy * Behaviour & training * Showing a Jack Russell * Healthcare ...

Jack's family are Shian 'otherworld' creatures who have crept in & out of human affairs throughout history. & Jack's family are special: working for the Shian Congress they have been watching over the Stone of Destiny
- one of the great Shian treasures
- for seven hundred years. Its homecoming has energised the dormant Shian folk giving renewed strength to their ancient powers & gifts. However the prospect of the Stone's power causes different factions to quarrel as they did centuries ago & when Jack's parents disappear separately under mysterious circumstances the trouble is just beginning.

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