Search results for ""Loose Chippings Books""

Janet Baines witnessed momentous events at times of her life, particularly before and during the Second World War. At other times, her life could be regarded as unexceptional, were it not for the huge upheaval society experienced in the 20th century and through which she lived. With the intuitive editing of her daughter, Rachel-Claire, Janet covers both the exceptional and the more commonplace in a captivating way - from her period in Austria immediately before the Anschluss, through her time as a physiotherapist following the advancing armies of the Second World War, to her experiences bringing up a family in an era when entertainment moved from cinema to television, to DVD's and iPods, and we all became used to electricity, motor cars and computers. Janet remained as lively, vivacious, intelligent and formidable as ever until her death in 2014. She represented a generation which would never lie down.

Read more less

As a trained nurse, newly married to the son of the Governor of Rhodesia during the UDI years, Susan writes compellingly about bringing up a family on their farm in Matabeleland in the midst of the unfolding terror and growing number of atrocities. Above all it is a human story. Sometimes shocking and always moving, there is also warmth and humour as Susan creates a gripping picture of the conflict and tells of her family's survival when many of her friends and neighbouring farmers didn't. The book is a testament to the courage displayed by so many people who were tested day after day by almost unimaginable horrors. The Litany Bird is the popular name of the Nightjar, a largely nocturnal bird found throughout southern Africa. Its haunting call sounds like 'Good Lord, Deliver Us.'

Read more less

Born in November 1916 to the Marquess and Marchioness of Granby, Lady Ursula was a sprightly and charming lady whose memoirs of her uniquely glamorous life make riveting reading. Describing herself as having been an observant child, she records life at Belvoir Castle, Leicestershire, as maintained on a feudal scale until September 1939. Her vivid accounts include the numerous servants and their roles from liveried footmen to the pig man. She also describes her close relationship with her father who succeeded as 9th Duke of Rutland in 1925, and whom she helped as a girl in his sensitive restoration of another Manners family seat, the mediaeval Haddon Hall, Derbyshire. We hear of her coming-out Ball at Belvoir Castle in 1934 at the age of seventeen and her role in the Coronation of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth in 1937. Dressed by Norman Hartnell, she was one of the Six Maids of Honour who bore the Queen's train in Westminster Abbey. In 1938 she accompanied the new King and Queen on their triumphant first state visit to Paris and Versailles. By contrast, her war work was soon to include being in charge of hundreds of women at a munitions factory in Springfield, Grantham. Her activities here were described in letters which her celebrated aunt, Lady Diana Cooper, wife of Duff Cooper, 1st Viscount Norwich, sent to their son, John Julius, while a schoolboy. They are quoted here by his kind permission. Lady Ursula recalls her close friendships with men as varied as Rex Whistler, the Maharajah of Jaipur and Paul Getty. The story told is unforgettable, and though it has touches of Brideshead and Downton Abbey, it is utterly novel for, unlike them, it is actually real.

Read more less

Of all the books about cricket, Mike Harfield's "Not Dark Yet" brings a rare authenticity to the subject. This is a book by a genuine cricketer and a genuine cricket fan with a talent for capturing the spirit of this special game in his witty prose. David Lloyd, aka Bumble, laughed so much he agreed to write the Foreword. He even showed the book to Christopher Martin-Jenkins who found it 'very entertaining and enjoyable'. Reading the book raises the spirits with its cheerful jollity. The mixture of banter and eclectic cricketing information carries the reader along, making for both easy and captivating reading. Loosely based around Mike Harfield's captaincy of a cricket XI over 30 years, Not Dark Yet is both the humorous story of his team's efforts and his often irreverent take on first-class and international cricket. For 30 years the Mike Harfield XI has withstood atrocious umpiring, dreadful hangovers, bad haircuts and a woeful lack of talent, only to encounter an even greater adversity - middle age. Spiced with humour and plenty of banter about fellow team-mates and international players alike, their captain's tales convey an authentic picture of one team's endeavours, to which cricketers and non cricketers will easily relate.

Read more less