Posted by Samantha on November 18, 2008 at 2:51 pm
Check out this fantastic review of The Sabre’s Edge audio book by Sue Arnold at the Guardian. She reiterates what we at between-the-lines have always known, that Allan Mallinson leads the charge when it comes to authentic military storytelling. His latest book Warrior is the tenth novel in the series and marks one million words written on Matthew Hervey.
“What do you do when you’ve finished the last of Bernard Cornwell’s 24 Richard Sharpe novels and the last of Patrick O’Brien’s 21 Jack Aubrey/Stephen Maturin naval stories? You start reading Allan Mallinson, that’s what.
His series of 10 novels about Captain Matthew Hervey’s career as a cavalry officer in the Light Dragoons begins more or less where Sharpe left off, under Wellington at Waterloo. Mallinson, a retired brigadier, took up writing when he left his own cavalry regiment, the Royal Hussars, to become British military attaché in Rome. As a romantic lead, Hervey isn’t a patch on Sharpe, with that scar that gives his outrageously handsome features a mocking smile, but he’s every bit as brave.
Ideally you should start at the beginning. I chose this, his fifth, for personal reasons. It’s set in 1823, when the British army was attacking Rangoon en route to Ava, the old royal capital. My Burmese great-grandmother was a lady-in-waiting to Queen Supayalat, consort to the last Burmese King. Outside Cinemascope, this is as near as you’ll get to the raw excitement of a fullscale cavalry charge:
“‘Left wheel into line,’ he called, checking the pace to a trot to allow them the manoeuvre time. Trumpeter Storrs blew the call perfectly, just the four notes and a simple fifth interval. Easy enough with a bugle even at a bounce. ‘Draw swords!’ Out rasped 200 blades … this was the best time, a troop in hand, every man intent on his next word of command … ‘CHA … A … RGE!’ Four hundred cavalry at the gallop. Lances couched but swords held high …” Wonderful stuff.” - Sue Arnold
Following on from the great coverage of The Peep Show party from fellow reporter Sam, I am pleased to present, for your entertainment, Peep Show in all it’s glory! Channel 4 have very kindly allowed us to post this clip which will definitely liven up your Friday afternoon! For more mirthful outings check out Peep Show The Scripts And More by Sam Bain and Jesse Armstrong out now.
Posted by Samantha on November 14, 2008 at 3:36 pm
The evening of the 4th November 2008 will forever be known as the day when history was made. No, not Barack Obama’s victory over McCain (though that was pretty cool), but the launch of the Peep Show: The Scripts and Morebook at funky Tiki bar Two Floors in Kingly Street.
Peep Show legends David Mitchell and Robert Webb were among the first guests to arrive, offering their congratulations to scriptwriters Jesse Armstrong and Sam Bain. Following a speech from editor Sarah Emsley, Jesse declared that the show had now achieved “cult status”, which of course makes the Peep Show book an essential bible for all fans.
Fans of the show will be pleased to know that the sixth series will be airing in Spring 2009. We also managed to pick up some exclusive and exciting gossip, learning that our favourite character Dobby will return in the new series!
Martin answered correctly that there were 14, yes 14 Girls Aloud track titles hidden artfully in our article on the 22nd October. For those of you watching closely they were…
Call the Shots
Sound of the Underground
Models
No Regrets
Wild Horses
Whole Lotta History
Something Kinda Oooh
It’s Magic
Close to Love
The Promise
Can’t Speak French
Jump
Some Kind of Miracle
Everything You Ever Wanted
Thank you to everyone who entered and congratulations again to Martin a signed copy is on it’s way to you now with our compliments.
Posted by Samantha on November 7, 2008 at 12:25 pm
Ronan O’Gara’s My Autobiography and Touching Greatness by Dermot Gilleece, both published by Transworld Ireland, have been long listed for this year’s William Hill Irish Sports Book of the Year Award. The list of 23 contenders was announced on November 4th, with the winner due to be announced in early December.
A huge variety of titles have been long listed, including books on athletics, horse-racing, Gaelic games, golf and football and Tony Kenny, PR Manager for William Hill in Ireland, believes the standard is extremely high this year. ‘We’re absolutely thrilled with the selection of books that have made the long list,’ he said. ’There are some very strong entries for this year’s award and it will be fascinating to see who our judging panel select as the overall winner.’
This is the third year of the William Hill Irish Sports Book of the Year Award. The inaugural award in 2006 was won by Paul McGrath for his autobiography Back from the Brink, published by Century.
This year, for the first time, the public will also get a chance to have their say in the award. So, whether you’re a fan of Ronan O’Gara’s exploits on and off the rugby pitch, or Dermot Gilleece’s tales of golfing legends and memorable moments on the fairway, you can vote for your favourite book on www.irishsportsbookoftheyear.com! The book that receives the highest number of public votes will be named the public choice and will be added to the votes of the eleven judges in determining the William Hill Irish Sports Book of the Year for 2008.
Posted by Samantha on November 6, 2008 at 12:29 pm
The government has hit on a novel way to save money this Christmas, by offering pensioners the opportunity to hibernate for the next three or four months
Significant savings are expected on pensions, flu jabs and winter fuel allowances if the pilot scheme is successful.
‘Winter is a very difficult time for old people,’ explained Junior Health Minister Karen Brady. ‘Many die of flu, some slip on ice and break a hip, others are expected to visit relatives for Christmas and are distressed to see their grandchildren playing Grand Theft Auto or enjoying the overt homosexual references on the Little Britain DVD. Now they have the chance to skip all that, going to sleep in December and waking up in time to enjoy the daffodils.’
The NHS hibernation scheme is being piloted in Worthing, Sussex, where if it is successful, around 90 per cent of all local residents will be going to sleep for the next three months. Participants are given a nourishing milky drink, which contains sleep-inducing drugs, and are then tucked up in bed with the Teasmade set for April. Health visitors will tiptoe in once a week to feed the goldfish and ensure that the electric blanket hasn’t been left on.
But civil liberties groups have criticized the scheme, saying that many old people are being given the drugs by their families without knowing that they will be missing months of their life. One anonymous family confessed they had forced the drink on their elderly relative: ‘This is great, we won’t have to visit her for months,’ said the victim’s son-in-law. ‘We’ve already got the kids’ cash for Christmas off her; now we can put her in a coma and we won’t have to listen to all that bloody moaning about “queers” getting married or “blacks” reading the news.’
The Health Minister said they were listening carefully to all the objections to the pilot hibernation scheme, and that all these issues would be discussed as a matter of urgency by a Parliamentary inquiry, which the government had entrusted to the House of Lords. However, work on the Lords’ investigation appears to have been postponed until mid-May.
As we all know, Kate Atkinson’s latest book, When Will There Be Good News? is completely unputdownable. Such is the author’s prowess that those who read the dramatic opening chapter are literally enthralled till the final page. Therefore we were in no way surprised when we spotted the below picture of bestselling horror writer Stephen King reading his copy in the middle of a Red Sox baseball game.
As his beloved team were losing at the time, the title of the Kate’s novel was particularly apt. Stephen King, author of countless blockbusters including The Shining and Carrie, has been a lifelong fan of Kate, branding her first foray into the thriller genre, Case Histories the “best mystery of the decade”.
To keep us busy till then we have teamed up with Poll the People to bring you a Newsbiscuit-inspired top ten poll on the best newspaper headlines of all time. Vote for your favourite below!
A pair of identical twins have had each other’s face successfully transplanted on to their own in the world’s first ever double face transplant
The identical twins, Don and Ron Withers from Brighton,Sussex, made medical history this week after enduring twenty-two hours of surgery under anaesthetic, but emerged looking fit and well with barely a mark to suggest the ground-breaking operation they had just been through. ‘It’s amazing,’ said their mother Jane Withers. ‘Now Don looks like Ron and Ron looks like Don. Hopefully now they can both start a completely new life with their entirely new look.’
For the past three years Mrs Withers has fought a lone battle against the National Health Service who consistently refused to carry out the radical and very expensive operation on her two identical sons. ‘The bureaucrats and accountants in the NHS just didn’t want to know,’ said Mrs Withers. ‘One doctor even said, “What’s the point?” Like there’s one rule for identical twins and another rule for everybody else!’
But luckily for the Withers family, a little-known Russian surgeon had read about her plight and offered to carry out the operation privately. ‘I couldn’t believe my luck when Mr Yarov said he would be prepared to do the transplant if I could raise the necessary cash. Some people might think that half a million pounds is a lot of money for a face swap, but my two boys are worth it.’ Ron and Don Withers were then taken to Mr Yarov’s impromptu operating theatre where they were given a general anaesthetic. Many hours later they awoke, wrapped in bandages, with their anxious mother sitting beside them awaiting the finished result. ‘I hadn’t been allowed to see the operating theatre, or meet any of the other medical staff involved because of health and safety regulations. But when Mr Yarov took off the bandages I couldn’t believe my eyes. My boys looked perfect – not a bruise or a scar on them; you’d never think that they’d just been through a major op! I’ve had to sell my house and cash in my pension, but Mr Yarov deserves every penny if this can help my two boys start a new life.’
Andy McNab’s eagerly anticipated new novel is published on the 7th November. Now I could wait patiently for the next two weeks and sit on the exclusive action-packed extract I had planned to post, but would you want to sit on a piece of fiction so explosive that my heart races just thinking about it and I come out in a cold sweat?
No here at between the lines we are not that selfish, for your enjoyment may I have the pleasure in presenting to you in all it’s intense finery an extract from… BRUTE FORCE!!
I watched Benjamin Lesser hunch over the TPU, remove a penknife from his jeans and unscrew the lid. He turned the Parkway anti-clockwise, lifted out the rubber pad and dropped it and the knife onto the deck. Then he made his way back the way he had come. He was walking, not running. Good drills: he didn’t want to break a leg and be stuck down here when the device kicked off. He wanted to make sure he could get upstairs before the Parkway did its bit.
The moment he’d disappeared, I legged it towards the TPU. He’d set the Parkway to fifteen minutes. I grabbed the rubber, jammed it into place and turned the dial back down to zero.
I picked up the knife and cut the ring main about three metres from the detonator. Whatever happened now, only three metres of det cord would ignite. It had the power to rip through human flesh, but it wasn’t going to do much damage to the ship.
I edged round beside the first dustbin lid and waited. Big Ben would be back. He was too professional and committed to just shrug his shoulders when it didn’t detonate.
I kept reminding myself that his death had to look like an accident. I imagined the frantic activity up on deck as they tried to get the boats away before it detonated.
Significant savings are expected on pensions, flu jabs and winter fuel allowances if the pilot scheme is successful.
For the past three years Mrs Withers has fought a lone battle against the National Health Service who consistently refused to carry out the radical and very expensive operation on her two identical sons. ‘The bureaucrats and accountants in the NHS just didn’t want to know,’ said Mrs Withers. ‘One doctor even said, “What’s the point?” Like there’s one rule for identical twins and another rule for everybody else!’
