Search results for ""Author Mike O'Connor""

The ancient land of Cornwall is steeped in mysterious tradition, proud heritage and age-old folklore. Before books were widely available, wandering ‘droll tellers’ used to spread Cornish insight and humour to all parts of the Duchy – exchanging their tales for food and shelter. Anthony James was one such droll teller, and this collection follows him as he makes his way around Cornwall one glorious summer. Richly illustrated with hand-drawn images and woodcuts, Cornish Folk Tales will appeal to anyone captivated by this beautiful land and its resident kindly giants, mischievous piskeys, seductive mermaids, bold knights and barnacle-encrusted sea captains.

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Before schooling was widely available, for most people the classroom was at the fireside, the field and the country lane, where the bards told their tales.Many such folk tales exist to convey life-lessons in an entertaining way. These stories are not the pontifications of ancient philosophers: they are the gleanings of countless storytellers, everyday men and women with hard-won life experiences and pockets full of folklore. The tales reflect the times and places of their origin, but have been handed down from generation to generation, evolving to meet changing times. Some are amusing; some are thought-provoking; all have been polished and honed for so long that their message slips, almost imperceptibly, into the mind. Fools and Wise Men retells these stories for new generations – repaying our debts to the bards of old.

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Manfred von Richthofen became a fighter pilot on the Western Front in August 1916. By January 1917, Richthofen had shot down fifteen aircraft had been appointed commander of his own unit. He painted the fuselage of his Albatros D-III bright red and was nicknamed the Red Baron. This book is divided into three sectors of the WWI front line in which von Richthofen operated. Airfield sites, memorials and the graves of Manfred's famous victims are described with directions for the battlefield walker.

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Join Jamie, the son of a travelling droll teller, as he journeys across Cornwall, a land steeped in myth and legend. Along the way you will hear mysterious and exciting tales like what happened when Bodrugan took his soldiers to capture Richard Edgcumbe, why the ghost of Lady Emma was never seen again, what proper job King Arthur gave the Giant and how St Piran came to settle in Cornwall. These stories – specially chosen to be enjoyed by 7- to 11-year-old readers – sparkle with magic and explode with adventure. As old as the moors and as wild as the sea, they have been freshly re-told for today’s readers by storyteller Mike O’Connor.

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Scilly has been its own unique land for centuries, separate from England and cut off from Cornwall by twenty-five miles of rough sea – yet until now its folk tales have been poorly documented. Let Anthony the droll-teller and his companions guide you on this voyage around the wonderful Isles of Scilly: a place of smugglers and shipwrecks, pirates and privateers, legends and long lost tales.

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