Visar resultat för..."Chiselbury Publishing"

The pianoforte is the most important of all musical instruments: its invention was to music what the invention of printing was to poetry.George Bernard ShawIn vivid and lively style, Jeremy Nicholas, one of the UK’s most respected writers on the piano and pianists, presents a chronological survey of The Great Piano Makers from Cristofori to Fazioli. Since the end of the 18th century, piano music has been the most popular of all genres of musical composition, and the piano is still one of the most commonly-used instruments in public musical performance. There have been any number of books about the famous composers who wrote for the piano but few about the ingenious, courageous, shrewd and skilled entrepreneurs who built the instruments we listen to and play. Here are the stories behind more than 100 piano makers, from the giants of today with familiar names – Steinway, Bechstein, Yamaha – to once-famous brands like Chickering, Collard & Collard and Förster. There are sketches of many popular manufacturers who fell by the way such as Knight, Monington & Weston, Zender and Kemble; portraits of pioneers like Henri Pape, Sébastien Érard and John McTammany; and salutes to the long-forgotten Pantaléon Hebenstreit, G.A. Behrens-Senegaldens and Alois Hába.

Captain Ainsley Seaton, a retired professional soldier and amateur explorer, finds his well-buried past unexpectedly resurrected over dinner by a shadowy Church diplomat, who seems to know more about Seaton's history than he does.

'Hardy opens a revealing window into the ills of Empire and the savagery that mankind can so easily revert to and delivers a true punch to the gut, with fascinating echoes of his Writers Guild screenplay for TABOO, the sequel of which many of us are still eager to see, and the murky jungle epics of Joseph Conrad.' Maxim Jakubowski, Crimetime "A finely-paced and haunting story of a man - himself haunted and unsettled by the events of his past - coming to terms with the growing disorder of a world between the wars starting to fracture around him and already drawing towards its own unhappy conclusion. Part Joseph Conrad, part L.P.Hartley, Seaton's Orchid will appeal to fans of both." Robert Edric, prizewinning author SEATON'S ORCHID from Chips Hardy, co-creator with his son Tom Hardy of the acclaimed TV series "Taboo," is a powerful, provocative and emotionally raw character portrait of a man haunted by a crime against nature, denied redemption, confronted by polite society, and forced to reconcile memories of a self he can no longer recognise. Set between WW1 and WW2, it tells the story of the enigmatic Captain Ainsley Seaton - a retired, much decorated professional solider, amateur explorer and artist living a reclusive life in Highleigh, a charming English village in West Sussex. Seaton's quiet existence is shattered when his past is unexpectedly resurrected over dinner by a shadowy Church diplomat, who seems to know more about Seaton's history than he does. Forced to re-open chapters of his life that he has been at such pains to forget - from the phantasmal, savage events that unfolded in the deep jungle of the North-West Amazon to the horrors of the Western Front - Seaton withdraws into characteristic seclusion. But the diplomat refuses to let matters lie, and for his own secret purpose will stop at nothing to get to the truth; a truth which reverberates through the village itself, and beyond, with devastating results. Chips Hardy has written successfully for television, theatre, film and publication. SEATON'S ORCHID reflects upon many of the preoccupations he developed in the acclaimed TV series "TABOO," which he co-created, wrote and produced with his son, Tom Hardy, and which earned him the Writers Guild of Great Britain award for Best Long Form TV Drama. What the critics said about 'Taboo': Dark, brooding and consistently brilliant. The Observer Taboo is a work of Wicker Man genius. Taboo might be full of grime and torment but it's also dry-witted, shot through with sharp and knowing one-liners. The Guardian The best thing on television...Taboo has a strong plot at its dark heart. You want to know what will happen next, which is refreshing. The Sunday Times Dark, compelling and often haunting... one of the more unique and thoughtful offerings of the new year. Los Angeles Times

One man's survival in captivity in the Far East during WWII

Following the unexpected victory of Bonne Prince Charlie at the Battle of Culloden, the Highlands and Islands have split off the UK to form the Free Republic of the Gaels. Since then, it has maintained its culture and language, ploughing its own idiosyncratic furrow to the present day, a constant irritant to its larger and more powerful neighbour.

THEY DON'T MAKE THEM LIKE THAT ANY MORE introduces the earthy and likeable proprietor of Aristo Autos who deals in vintage cars - not forgetting Sara, supercharged with sexual promise, who whets his curiosity and rouses his interest. ln the process of becoming a reluctant hero, he spins across France, Spain and Switzerland, on the track of a rare Mercedes too badly wanted by too many dangerous men.

Following the exploits of King Henry II, Archbishop Thomas Becket, The Young King Henry, Richard the Lionheart, Eleanor of Aquitaine, King John and Sir William Marshal has never been so fun.But how much trouble can one dysfunctional family possibly cause?Quite a lot it turns out, especially when they are the resident Royal Family for all of England and half of France. It’s time for you to meet The Early Plantagenets.There’ll be some characters you’ve heard of before and some strangers that will no doubt become friends. Don’t fret though, we’ll introduce you to everyone slowly and keep it simple, we’re here to have fun after all. I am sorry to say though that before our tale is complete there will be a ton of squabbling, quite a bit of treachery and it might get a bit stab-y in the middle. At least one Archbishop will, unfortunately, be very much harmed during the reading of your new book.We’ll jet about too so I do hope you’re comfortable travelling. Whilst our story will begin in Northern France, we’ll ride back and forth across Europe and even sail to The Holy Land on Crusade - there’ll be a nice stay in Cyprus too for those sun worshippers.You'll enjoy the ride…

Passport to Oblivion is the first case book of Dr. Jason Love . . . country doctor turned secret agent.Multi-million selling, published in 19 languages around the world and filmed as Where the Spies Are starring David Niven.'As K pushed his way through the glass doors of the Park Hotel, he realized instinctively why the two stumpy men were waiting by the reception desk. They had come to kill him. ...' Who was K - and why should anyone kill him? Who was the bruised girl in Rome? Why did a refugee strangle his mistress in an hotel on the edge of the Arctic Circle? And why, in a small office above a wholesale fruiterers in Covent Garden, did a red-haired Scot sift through filing cabinets for the name of a man he knew in Burma twenty years ago? None of these questions might seem to concern Dr Jason Love, a country practitioner of Bishop's Combe, Somerset. But, in the end, they all do.Apart from his patients, Dr Love has apparently only two outside interests: his supercharged Cord roadster, and the occasional Judo lessons he gives to the local branch of the British Legion. But out of the past, to which all forgotten things should belong, a man comes to see him - and his simple, everyday country-life world is shattered like a mirror by a .38 bullet.

When Singapore fell to the Japanese on 15 February 1942, it was a devastating blow to the Allies, the British Empire and signalled a significant turning point in history. It was the greatest defeat for Britain since Cornwallis surrendered at Yorktown in the American War of Independence. Its impact was arguably even greater.James Leasor’s story begins as far back as the early nineteenth century, with imperialism and the settlement founded by Sir Stamford Raffles. He charts the years leading up to Singapore’s defeat and the realisation that the West was not invincible.  Written just over 20 years after the end of WW2, it includes direct, first hand input from many of the main players involved including that of Lt-Gen Percival, the British commander who signed the surrender document, shortly before he died.

This biography of Jack Maurice Nissenthall, written by his daughter, Linda Nissen Samuels, draws heavily on Jack’s own writings: The Wizard War, an unpublished autobiographical account of his part in the development of radar before and during WW2 and its impact on the eventual outcome, and original letters and photos. Through them, we hear this Unsung War Hero telling his own story in his own words.At the heart of Jack’s story is the written order that he accepted, as the anonymous “RDF (Range and Direction Finding, an early term for radar) expert” - that he was to be “adequately protected” by bodyguards from the South Saskatchewan Regiment because “under no circumstances” was he to be allowed to fall into enemy hands. Effectively, this meant that ten Canadian soldiers specifically tasked to assist him, were also, in Jack’s own words, “a sort of negative safeguard”, “my execution squad”. That he was not captured and did indeed survive was due partly to his physical fitness and the “cheerful and resourceful courage that shows in this book.” (From the Foreword to Jack’s own manuscript- written by Prof R. V. Jones, Britain’s Assistant Director of Air Intelligence in World War II.)This present book answers the question: what made him do it?It also recounts many episodes which demonstrate how Jack’s whole life exemplifies dictionary definitions of a hero – as a person of high moral integrity, resourceful, passionate and patient, energetic, courageous, confident and caring who willingly takes risks and makes sacrifices for others. But Jack is not a common-or-garden, rough, tough hero. You’ll be charmed to read how, as a love-struck twenty-something, he wears his heart on his sleeve, writing to his girlfriend Dally about their first kiss.Why is it then, that this exceptional person was undervalued and overlooked by the powers-that-be at the end of World War II? And why was he not decorated for bravery? Indeed, an article proposes that he is “The VC that never was.”This book gives an insight into why, nearly eighty years later, Jack Nissenthall’s extraordinary war service is still largely unknown and unsung (except in Canada), and why there are still so many unanswered questions about it.But in the end, readers will surely acknowledge this hero’s modest and cheerful embodiment of integrity - and want to sing his well-deserved praises.

In 1942 radar expert Jack Nissenthall volunteered for a suicidal mission to join a combat team who were making a surprise landing at Dieppe in occupied France. His assignment was to penetrate a German radar station on a cliff above "Green Beach". Because Nissenthall knew the secrets of British and US radar technology, he was awarded a personal bodyguard of sharpshooters. Their orders were to protect him, but in the event of possible capture to kill him. His choice was to succeed or die. The story of what happened to him and his bodyguards in nine hours under fire is one of World War II's most terrifying true stories of personal heroism.

It is a political thriller set with a background of the run-up to a UK General Election. It involves a web of scheming, treachery and death, with a hero who has to battle against dark forces to discover the truth.

'Spanish Practices' weaves together nearly half a century of observations by Rico, an Englishman married into an eccentric family in a left-behind corner of Spain. Among others, we meet Macu, the maiden aunt who runs the family wine business with an iron fist and controls the family purse-strings; mother-in-law Mami, whose sons can do no wrong, except when they do; brother-in-law Chus, who has a loose interpretation of the marriage vows and a dangerous weakness for the bottle; and younger brother-in-law Sancho, who becomes pivotal to the family's succession battles and their struggles with the local rival winery. Initially an outsider, Rico is drawn ever deeper into the family mire as well as facing, with his wife Marina, his own fraught relationships with neighbours, local planning laws and the busy body 'Authorities'. Through the interplay of rivalries, conflicts and vicissitudes 'Spanish Practices' illuminates the idiosyncrasies of Spanish ways and exemplifies the travails of a society in the throes of wholesale transformation.

Margaret Ford lived a long and inspirational life. From humble beginnings in a terraced house in Blackburn in the 1920s, she has witnessed nine decades of change and challenge in contemporary Britain.She has also travelled the world and been part of an era that is now gone: army life in Britain’s colonies, the end of a mighty empire, and the tensions of the Cold War.After a chance meeting in Blackburn, a whirlwind romance and an avalanche of impassioned letters, Margaret married Jim Ford in 1947.Jim was a British Army veteran of one of the Second World War’s most ferocious campaigns, against the Japanese in Burma, and fought at the legendary Battle of Imphal.For six decades, Margaret became an army wife in Africa, Asia, and Europe. But she also forged her own career in finance and voluntary service.Their marriage was full of fun and frolics but ended in sadness when Jim came back from service in Northern Ireland a broken man.

A political thriller set with a background of the run-up to a UK General Election. It involves a web of scheming, treachery and death, with a hero who has to battle against dark forces to discover the truth.

RATS is the story of a very special dog - a dog soldier - and those who lived and served with him in Northern Ireland. Wounded on a number of occasions, awarded two medals for gallantry, his fame spread and when he retired with a special army full-dress parade in his honour, Rats was a TV celebrity, receiving fan letters by the thousand.This is a warm-hearted account of the affection and regard that grew between young soldiers in a number of regiments, and the little stray dog that loyally served with them through stress and danger.

Dave Roberts started circuit racing at the age of 50, feeling like a bumbling overweight bee amid a swarm of angry hornets. Although he began to learn, haphazardly, how to become slightly more credible as a racer, even overtaking another car now and then, the pursuit of prizes was never at the top of the list of priorities. In fact, just arriving at the track with a working race car was often a cause for celebration.Dave is no Hamilton or Verstappen, a state of affairs for which he gives thanks. Some people believe winning is everything; some think of motorsport as being just some cars going round and round making a noise. In between we find this defiantly unprofessional memoir, which speaks most of all about the humour and fun of it all.

‘The Best Deal’ is a light-hearted three part account of adventures with Jack Russell Terriers in France and England. Spanning some fifteen years it chronicles the life and times of the author’s various terrier companions and reflect the family's changing attitudes to retirement. The first tale, France with Darcey is a lively and humorous daily diary describing their retirement plan to relocate to southern France and a sometimes less than well ordered, reconnaissance of likely destinations. Observing ‘Life’s little foibles and disasters with a more discerning eye’ he records their rather erratic house hunting efforts along the Mediterranean coast with the dog Darcey. Occasionally to be found reflecting on times past he narrowly manages to avoid falling foul of various military headquarters and several sections of the Official Secrets Act. After Darcey’s sad end the terriers Elle and Sam join the family and Rob’s second story No Criticisms describes their energetic ‘You can’t possibly do without us’ sycophancy. The dogs' arrival inevitably results in a change of retirement strategy and further fun-filled exploits with them at home and abroad. And lastly there is Patch, an elderly Parson Russell Terrier who having fallen on hard times, deserved a little TLC in the evening of his years. In a short introduction and progress report The Waif’s Tail, Rob tells of losing Sam and Elle and then adopting Patch. He describes the many problems caused by uncertainty, turmoil and confusion, all of which resulted in a sometimes badly behaved companion and how with time and effort they overcame them. Throughout you are invited to discover his France. Relish the food and drink - lots of drink! Chuckle at the confusion - lots of confusion! Enjoy some gently ironic memoirs, meet the dogs ...and of course, his long suffering wife. Containing a few sad moments as his dogs pass away and are replaced, but never forgotten, The Best Deal is a book to raise spirits and brighten any dog loving reader’s day.

Millions of people love Yellowstone, loved Lonesome Dove, and will love The Vindicated Man, by G.K. Beatty. The spirit of the American West is still alive and still captures the imaginations, and hearts, of those who travel there. Thru the theatre of the mind and dreams of a life lived long ago, The Vindicated Man will prove that it continues to be lived today.Barton Anderson was sitting on top of the world, he had a life most men could only dream of. Then, in just a matter of hours, it was all taken from him.  Life will never be the same. Barton Anderson will never be the same. Those who come in contact with him will never be the same.  When you have nothing to lose, and vengeance is all you want, the journey is very simple, but vindication may be impossible to find.

On 20th July 1995, Robin Bowes, one the last great twentieth century barnstormers, died at the controls of his replica ‘Red Baron’ Fokker DR1 triplane just as he was about to commence an aerial dogfight display at Stourhead Gardens, Wiltshire.

An intriguing story of how even for the smallest family the effects of war can cause lasting havoc.In the midst of gruelling circumstances, all that survivors can do is try to make their way in life as best they can. Persecution, forced migration and tragic end-time brought about by the holocaust has distorted the lives of the generation that followed. They and their children bear the scars of Antisemitism that still is, and always has been, an inescapable issue of world history.This personal story goes from the universality of the horror of war to the particular experience of a damaged couple struggling for survival in a free host country. It illustrates human capacity to survive and how the author overcame a dislocated past to reach out for a better future.

Drawing on previously undisclosed personal papers, this biography of Walter Bell by award-winning author Jimmy Burns gives a remarkable insight into the working of British Intelligence. He was at heart of the emerging intelligence special relationship between Britain and America before, during and immediately after WW2 - the very time that MI6 had been penetrated by Russian intelligence. He was acquainted with Philby, Burgess and Maclean.Moving to MI5 Bell had postings in Kenya, India, and the West Indies, playing a crucial role in the passing power of power to newly independent governments, and developing close ties with agents of influence at the highest levels in the former colonies, from journalists and judges to generals and independence heroes. Back home he was intimately involved in operations to limit the reputation damage provoked by the media outcry over the Cambridge Five affair and suspected KGB misinformation about further alleged Soviet agents at the highest level of the British state. He was rewarded for his service with a CMG and the US Medal of Freedom.

An intriguing story of how even for the smallest family the effects of war can cause lasting havoc.In the midst of gruelling circumstances, all that survivors can do is try to make their way in life as best they can. Persecution, forced migration and tragic end-time brought about by the holocaust has distorted the lives of the generation that followed. They and their children bear the scars of Antisemitism that still is, and always has been, an inescapable issue of world history.This personal story goes from the universality of the horror of war to the particular experience of a damaged couple struggling for survival in a free host country. It illustrates human capacity to survive and how the author overcame a dislocated past to reach out for a better future.

A science-based, practical and philosophical guide to improving communication and influence. The book has 2 unique points of difference.Firstly, the author uses a series of stories and cartoons to introduce Sam, his 10-year-old Staffordshire Bull Terrier, as his unlikely communications guru.Secondly, he explains how meditation, silence and forgetfulness can be used to create the state from which we can influence powerfully, whilst emphasising the importance of conversations in creating our professional and personal life experience.Throughout, the author provides numerous principles, processes, strategies, tactics and skills for improving our communication and so achieving our desired outcomes.

A science-based, practical and philosophical guide to improving communication and influence. The book has 2 unique points of difference.Firstly, the author uses a series of stories and cartoons to introduce Sam, his 10-year-old Staffordshire Bull Terrier, as his unlikely communications guru.Secondly, he explains how meditation, silence and forgetfulness can be used to create the state from which we can influence powerfully, whilst emphasising the importance of conversations in creating our professional and personal life experience.Throughout, the author provides numerous principles, processes, strategies, tactics and skills for improving our communication and so achieving our desired outcomes.

Filmed as The Sea Wolves, this is the story of the undercover exploit of a territorial unit. The Germans had a secret transmitter on one of their ships in the neutral harbour of Goa. Its purpose was to guide the U-boats against Allied shipping in the Indian Ocean. There seemed no way for the British to infringe Goa�s Portuguese neutrality by force. But the transmitter had to be silenced. SOE was tasked with dealing with the problem, but how? Then it was remembered that 1,400 miles away in Calcutta was a source of possible help. A group of civilian bankers, merchants and solicitors were the remains of an old territorial unit called The Calcutta Light Horse. With a foreword by Earl Mountbatten of Burma.

Early in its history, the Roman Catholic Church established a secret sect of elite spies and killers, tasked with protecting the Church’s treasures and secrets. This sect is called the Mystiko Kataskopos.Members of the MK are highly trained in mystical practices, spying and assassination. They do whatever the Church demands.One such operative, Raphael Ward, is charged with finding the ‘real’ version of the legendary Shroud of Turin, secretly stolen by the Nazis during World War 2. His search leads him into conflict with some of the world’s most powerful leaders; men willing to do anything to protect a secret that would change the world forever.As Raphael faces threats to his life – and threatens the lives of others – he begins to question the very faith that has sustained and driven him for so long. When he finally uncovers the shocking truth, he realises that nothing can ever be the same again.

Follow the Drum is a story of men and women caught in a cataclysm of mutiny, hatred, fear and passion. India, in the mid-nineteenth century, was virtually nun by a British commercial concern, the Honourable East India Trading Company, whose directors would pay tribute to one Indian ruler and the depose another in their efforts to maintain their balance sheet of power and profit. To back up their decisions they maintained an Indian native army with British officers helped, when needed, by British regular troops. But great changes were already casting dark shadows across the land. The electric telegraph, the steamship and the railway were shrinking distances, while missionaries were preaching new gospels. Indian soldiers feared that their ancient traditions were being eroded, and when a stupid order was given to use cartridges greased with cow fat and pig lard (one animal sacred to Hindus and the other abhorrent to Moslems) there was mutiny. Even then, the British senior officers, many of them drink-sodden and long past retiring age, did not realise the magnitude of the opposition to them. They responded by having sepoys fired from guns and disbanding whole regiments, which, instead of calming tempers, merely accelerated the eruption of the Indian Mutiny. In the terrible days of the burning summer of 1857, the British, outnumbered in some garrisons by ten to one, in others by a thousand to one, fought back for bare survival. Conventional leaders were thus frequently displaced by unconventional men, such as Hodson and Nicholson, who brought daring new conceptions and mobility to waging war. The lives of millions were changed for ever; among them the Indian ruler, Nana Sahib, who bore a grudge against the British; Arabella MacDonald, the courageous and hot-blooded daughter of an English regular officer; the old King of Delhi, toothless and enfeebled, a virtual prisoner of the people he tried to rule; Richard Lang, an idealistic nineteen-year-old who began that year as a boy and ended it as a man. Follow the Drum is a documentary novel of tremendous sweep of action and descriptive power, in which fact and fiction are blended into compelling narrative.

Drawing on previously undisclosed personal papers, this biography of Walter Bell by award-winning author Jimmy Burns gives a remarkable insight into the working of British Intelligence. He was at heart of the emerging intelligence special relationship between Britain and America before, during and immediately after WW2 - the very time that MI6 had been penetrated by Russian intelligence. He was acquainted with Philby, Burgess and Maclean.Moving to MI5 Bell had postings in Kenya, India, and the West Indies, playing a crucial role in the passing power of power to newly independent governments, and developing close ties with agents of influence at the highest levels in the former colonies, from journalists and judges to generals and independence heroes. Back home he was intimately involved in operations to limit the reputation damage provoked by the media outcry over the Cambridge Five affair and suspected KGB misinformation about further alleged Soviet agents at the highest level of the British state. He was rewarded for his service with a CMG and the US Medal of Freedom.