Matthew Holmes – författare

Vikings is one of four new history songs in the cross-curricular songsheets series. Linked with the KS2 History Curriculum, this song is catchy, easy to learn and uncovers amazing facts about the vicious Viking invaders! This song is perfect for assemblies, concerts and enlivening topic work.Vikings is one of four new history songs in the A&C Black cross-curricular songsheets series. Linked with the KS2 History Curriculum, this song is catchy, easy to learn and uncovers amazing facts about the vicious Viking invaders! This song is perfect for assemblies, concerts and enlivening topic work.Each songsheet in this series contains a piano/vocal score, photocopiable lyrics, teaching/performance guidance and a CD containing backing tracks, teaching and performance tracks. FREE downloadable resources are available and include whiteboard lyrics, tuned and untuned percussion parts and teaching notes.

Evacuate, evacuate! is one of four new history songs in the cross-curricular Songsheets series. Linked with the KS2 History Curriculum, this song is catchy, easy to learn and takes performance and audience back in time to the second world war and its evacuees. This song is perfect for assemblies, concerts and enlivening topic work.Evacuate, evacuate! is one of four new history songs in the A&C Black cross-curricular Songsheets series. Linked with the KS2 History Curriculum, this song is catchy, easy to learn and takes performance and audience back in time to the second world war and its evacuees. This song is perfect for assemblies, concerts and enlivening topic work.Each songsheet in this series contains a piano/vocal score, photocopiable lyrics, teaching/performance guidance and a CD containing backing tracks, teaching and performance tracks. FREE downloadable resources are available and include whiteboard lyrics, tuned and untuned percussion parts and teaching notes.

The global triumph of Mendelian genetics in the twentieth century was not a foregone conclusion, thanks to the existence of graft hybrids. These chimeral plants and animals are created by grafting tissue from one organism to another with the goal of passing the newly hybridized genetic material on to their offspring. But prevailing genetic theory insisted that heredity was confined to the sex cells and there was no inheritance of characteristics acquired during an organism’s lifetime. Under sustained attacks from geneticists, scientific belief in the existence of graft hybrids slowly began to decline. Yet ordinary horticulturalists and breeders continued to believe in the power of grafting. Matthew Holmes tells the story of these organisms—which include multicolored chickens and black nightshades that grew tomatoes—and their enduring influence on twentieth-century biology. Their creators sought a goal as ambitious as the wildest dreams of genetic engineering today: to smash the barriers between species and freely exchange genes between plants and animals. The Graft Hybrid presents a greater understanding of the controversial history of graft hybrids, offering a crucial intervention in the history of genetics and the future of biological science.

Sir Terry Pratchett's ingeniously upended tale of the Pied Piper, has a roving band of highly intelligent rats as its heroic protagonists. Matthew Holmes' script and songs capture the plot in a captivating musical for children to perform and everyone to enjoy.Under the lazily, streetwise command of Maurice, a speaking cat, the rats prepare to pull their practiced scam on the town of Bad Blintz. But something's up and our heroes are scampering straight into someone else's scam – and it's not nice.Perfect for upper primary school performances, there are parts small and large for rats – heroic, villainous and oppressed – for humans on the good side and the bad, and of course for a cat named Maurice.The complete performance pack with its photocopiable script and piano vocal score includes everything you need for rehearsing and presenting the final show, plus there's full audio support on CD so you don't need to read a note of music.To present a public performance of this musical you will need a performance licence. Simply email education@harpercollins.co.uk or phone 01484 668 148 and request a Performance Licence Application Form.You can download audio from collins.co.uk/musicals.

Sir Terry Pratchett's enquiring adventure into time travel has its young teen hero, Johnny Maxwell, and his friends confronted with their own bomb-stricken street in WWII. Can they change history and avert the catastrophe? Matthew Holmes' script and song superbly support the plot in a musical for young people to perform and everyone to enjoy.Johnny and his friends travel back in time to their own street, site of a bombing raid intended for a nearby industrial complex. 'Collateral damage' is not the only disturbing issue: what happens to the present if you try to save lives in the past? Serious subjects, but with Terry Pratchett there's always the humour as well, and the musical includes a host of likeable characters. Matthew Holmes' script skilfully carries the plot along in Terry Pratchett style and his music swings to contemporary pop and the glorious sound of the forties Big Band.The complete performance pack with its photocopiable script and piano vocal score includes everything you need for rehearsing and presenting the final show, plus there's full audio support on CD so you don't need to read a note of music.To present a public performance of this musical you will need a performance licence. Simply email education@harpercollins.co.uk or phone 01484 668 148 and request a Performance Licence Application Form.