Tony Palmer – författare

Julian Bream is recognised as one of the world's leading guitarists, some would say the greatest. He was certainly for many years Britain's senior ambassador as a guitarist and lutenist, touring more widely and more frequently than almost any other artist in the international arena.Bream also did incomparable work in the recording studio to establish both the guitar and the lute as concert instruments. Not content with his unique status as a performer, however, Julian Bream has always been actively concerned with new music - commissioning works from a stream of leading contemporary composers.Surprisingly for a man of his international reputation, Julian Bream was his own secretary. He planned his own concerts, made his own travel arrangements, drove himself around, checked his own lighting and carried his own baggage. At the same time, he was an avid amateur cricketer and country gardener - growing his own fruit and vegetables all year round.In 1981 this intriguingly self-contained man agreed to share some of the load. Tony Palmer travelled with him in Europe and America over several months, drawing out from the essentially private Julian Bream his views on his art and on his position in the world of music. The result is Julian Bream: a Life on the Road, where the Maestro discusses the history of his beloved guitar and its role as a solo instrument, as well as his relationships with giants of contemporary music. With self-deprecating wit, he gives a unique insight into all that he then felt about his life on the road: where he was going, what good he believed he did, why he carried on, how he 'did it' - the guitar, the lute, touring, recording, commissioning, 'the old musicke racket', his home. Daniel Meadows accompanied them, and his beautiful photographs add to this unusual and exhilarating picture of a self-made man - who built, out of nothing, his own unrivalled status as a man of music.The re-publishing of Palmer's acclaimed book - for so long out-of-print and thus a much sought-after collector's item - will be welcomed by music lovers and guitar aficionados around the world.

Aviation law, with its associated flight rules and procedures, has always been a difficult subject for students and this well established text has provided an authoritative guide to the subject. Now, with the introduction of the Joint Airworthiness Requirements Flight Crew Licensing (JAR - FCL) examinations, it has been completely rewritten to cover the new syllabuses and to take account of the new FCL style of examinations.The opportunity has been taken to simplify presentation of information, with more checklists to aid revision work. Tests are included which are cross referenced to the pages containing the relevant text.

No one thought the Japanese army would come this way, but there they are, thousands of them. On the Kokoda track, in the damp, disease-filled jungles of Papua New Guinea, Murray Barrett and the rest of the 39th battalion are the only thing standing between Australia and a Japanese invasion. Everyone thinks they''ll be slaughtered, and Murray finds that he will have to fight along side his worst enemy . . . Does Murray have the courage to do what he has to do? And what is courage, after all? Break of Day is a powerful, insightful novel about love, war and duty, and a legendary piece of Australian history.

''I''m a daughter of my homeland.  We''re Irish. It''s all we need to know.''''This isn''t Ireland, Niamh.'' Kilkenny Pat cut through her words. ''It''s a new country. Even the English aren''t English here.'' It is 1854 and Ballarat is teeming with miners, dreamers and rebels. On the eve of the Eureka Stockade battle, Fintan Donovan is fighting private battles of his own. Torn between his Irish upbringing and his friendship with an English boy called Matthew Ward, Fintan must make a stand. Will he be dominated by the hatreds of the old world or will he find a new way to live in the new country? Vivid and powerful, The Valley of Blood and Gold evokes a moment in history that is entrenched in Australian national heritage.

Why Me? First, Account for Me, are the memoirs of famed film director Tony Palmer. His vast filmography of over one hundred films ranges from early works with The Beatles, Cream, Rory Gallagher, Jimi Hendrix and Frank Zappa, to the famous portraits with and about Walton, Britten, Stravinsky, Maria Callas, André Previn, John Osborne, Leonard Cohen, Margot Fonteyn, Renée Fleming and Menuhin. His 7 hour 45 minutes film on Wagner, starring Richard Burton, Laurence Olivier and Vanessa Redgrave, was described by the Los Angeles Times as “one of the most beautiful films ever made”.