Search results for ""Author Mike Dixon""

This fascinating collection of over 200 photographs of Ilkley, covering more than a century of history, has been compiled by local author Mike Dixon. All aspects of life in the area are here, from natural disasters, such as the Ilkley flood of 1900, and wartime scenes, to the celebrations of the annual Ilkley carnival and the Black Hats versus White Hats cricket match. Local institutions including hospitals and Hydros, schools, churches and shops are also featured. At the heart of this collection however are the residents of Ilkley, young and old, who are pictured at work and play in the community. Ilkley Revisited will delight all who know the area.

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Mike Dixon has been involved in the British music industry for over 40 years and has been Musical Director for more than twenty West End productions including, We Will Rock You, The Bodyguard, Grease, Aspects of Love, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and Jesus Christ Superstar. His TV credits include six Royal Variety Performances, countless light entertainment series and Glastonbury with Shirley Bassey, as well as a huge number of high profile television and radio concerts. His career has taken him all over the world working with some of the most iconic artists of the 20th and 21st centuries, including Dame Shirley Bassey, Lord Lloyd-Webber, Leslie Bricusse, Sir Tim Rice, Don Black, Sir Elton John, Lionel Richie, Sir Tom Jones, Lady Gaga and Queen. The book follows his journey as his exciting and eclectic musical career develops. From his early musical experiences in Plymouth, studying at Trinity College of Music, to conducting in the Royal Albert Hall, with plenty of humour along the way, it is a little peek behind the scenes into the world of entertainment from a unique, hands-on perspective.

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Robin Hood, whether riding through the glen, robbing the rich to pay the poor or giving the Sheriff of Nottingham his come-uppance, is one of the most captivating and controversial legendary figures. Was there a historical figure behind the legends? Did Robin and his Merry Men rampage through Sherwood Forest? Or did he spend most of his time in Barnsdale Wood in Yorkshire? And is the story of the freedom-loving Saxons refusing to be put under the Norman yoke, as portrayed in the Errol Flynn films, true?

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One Man's Legacy chronicles the brief but brilliant life of Dr Tom Patey: bard, musician, and one of Scotland's foremost climbers and mountaineers. His story is one of pioneering ascents and boundless enthusiasm, and his spontaneity, carefree approach and ability to burn the candle at both ends remain legendary, several decades after his untimely death. Meticulously researched over several years, this definitive biography covers every aspect of Patey's life in rich detail. Youthful endeavours with the Scouts and early forays on the Aberdeen sea cliffs were the foundation for Patey's university years, where he established - often solo - many classic summer and winter lines in the Cairngorms, cementing his reputation as a tough, fearless mountaineer with exceptional endurance. A stalwart of 1950s bothy culture, his natural gifts as a musician and raconteur garnered him friends far and wide, and enabled him to transcend social and cultural boundaries with ease. Later, as a Royal Marine and then a highly respected GP, he maintained an insatiable appetite for exploring new terrain both in his native Scotland and further afield, in the Alps, Norway and the Karakoram. By drawing on Patey's essays and verses, published collectively in the celebrated One Man's Mountains, the narrative is imbued with dry wit and gentle satire, and brought to life by unseen images from renowned photographer John Cleare and the Patey family archive. Supported by a foreword from Mick Fowler and first-hand insights from some of the leading climbers of the last century, including Sir Chris Bonington, Joe Brown and Paul Nunn, One Man's Legacy celebrates a complex, larger-than-life character who rightly deserves his place in mountaineering history.

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When the Origins of Species was published on 24 November 1859, its author, Charles Darwin, was near the end of a nine-week stay in the remote Yorkshire village of Ilkley. He had come for the 'water cure'- a regime of cold baths and wet sheets - and for relaxation. But he used his time in Ilkley to shore up support, through extensive correspondence, for the extraordinary theory that the Origin would put before the world: evolution by natural selection. In Darwin in Ilkley, Mike Dixon and Gregory Radick bring to life Victorian Ilkley and the dramas of body and mind that marked Darwin's visit.

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Familiar poems and almost unknown poems. Love poems and war poems. Funny poems and heartbroken poems. Poems that re-create the world we know and poems written on the dark side of the moon. Poetry by Heart is an essential collection of over 200 poems, from Geoffrey Chaucer to Emily Dickinson, from Christina Rossetti to Benjamin Zephaniah, all carefully chosen for their suitability for learning and reciting. This is an anthology which celebrates the age-old pleasure of reciting poems - an anthology for all ages to treasure.

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