Книги, похожие на «Thomas Page McBee, Amateur»

The complete memoirs of a man of many talents and faces – the late, great Spike Milligan – affectionately recounted by his close friend and agent for 35 years, Norma Farnes.'What's he really like?' Wherever I went and was introduced as Spike Milligan's manager I waited for the inevitable question. In not far short of thirty-six years it never altered. It wasn't one that could be answered in a few words so I generally made do with 'Interesting' or 'don't ask'…After chancing on an advertisement for a secretarial position, Norma Farnes found herself initiated into the world of Number Nine Orme Court where Spike and some of post-war's other greatest comedy writers like Eric Sykes, Johnny Speight, Ray Galton and Alan Simpson had formed a writers' cooperative. Soon promoted to be his manager, Norma was working for a man with a reputation for being brilliant and difficult in equal measure.In this affectionate yet true account, Norma Farnes looks at the whole of Spike's life from his childhood and extraordinary family in India, his ongoing battle with his restless mind, his numerous affairs and his heartening struggles with many varied causes. She gives a mass of wonderful anecdotes and revealing insights into Spike and his circle, including, of course, his often fraught but deep friendship with Peter Sellers.In Spike, Norma Farnes has written a moving portrait of her greatest friend. Above all, Spike's fascinating, very human character is brought to life on every page.Note that it has not been possible to include the same picture content that appeared in the original print version.

Based on the first-hand experiences of a man who served on a submarine during the Cold War, Under Pressure is the shockingly candid, visceral, droll and incredibly entertaining account of what it’s like to live in one of the most extreme man-made environments in the world.Richard Humphreys did not grow up near the sea, but in the heart of Britain. Attempting to join the Foreign Legion at just 17 years old, leaving for Marseille little to his parents’ knowledge, it was an unexpected epiphany which told him that a career under the sea was for him. He ended up serving in the Royal Navy submarine service for over 5 years from 1985-1990, at the end of the Cold War when skirmishes with Russian subs were still frequent. Underwater, hidden away from the eyes of the world’s media, was where the Cold War was at its hottest.This thrilling book depicts the astounding circumstances of someone who finds themselves living in deep underwater. It is not written from a military point of view, although some of that will of course come into it, but it rather concentrates on how it feels to live in this extreme environment – a world without natural light, surrounded by 140 other men, eating the same food, breathing the same air, smelling the same putrid smells, surviving together in some of the most forbidding conditions imaginable. It is a book which takes its cues from the likes of Scott Kelly’s Endurance and Skyfaring by Mark Vanhoenacker, both New York Times bestsellers, which shine light on hitherto unexplored professions and allow readers glimpses into worlds they would otherwise never experience.Covering the disorientation of never knowing your exact location, the claustrophobia of bunking with 140 other men in a 430ft x 33ft steel tube for months at a time, and the effort needed to stay calm in an environment which offers no space or natural light, Under Pressure is an honest and gritty portrayal of one of the most unique ways of living known today.