Showing results by author "Colin" in All Categories

What do you get if you put a comedian, a scientist and an internet expert in a room together? The answer is Great Unanswered Questions, a panel game in which resident funnyman Colin Murphy teams up with brainiac Dr David Booth and computer geek Matthew Collins to tackle ludicrous questions and provide the correct (or at least the funniest) answers.

In these eight stories, Barrett takes us back to the barren backwaters of County Mayo, via Toronto, and illuminates the lives of outcasts, misfits and malcontents with an eye for the abrupt and absurd. A quiet night in the neighbourhood pub is shattered by the arrival of a sword-wielding fugitive. A funeral party teeters on the edge of this world and the next, as ghosts won't simply lay in wake. A shooting sees an everyday call-out lead a policewoman to confront the banality of her own existence.

Mount Kailas is the most sacred of the world’s mountains – holy to one fifth of humanity. Isolated beyond the central Himalayas, it is claimed by myth to be the source of the universe created from cosmic waters and the mind of Brahma. Its summit has never been scaled, but for centuries the mountain has been ritually circled by Hindu and Buddhist pilgrims. Colin Thubron joins these pilgrims, after an arduous trek from Nepal, through the high passes of Tibet, to the magical lakes beneath the slopes of Kailas itself. His trek around the great mountain, revered by multitudinous others, awakes an inner landscape of solitude....

Delroy Grant—dubbed the Night Stalker—was one of the nation's most wanted men, a shocking sex predator. During his 17-year reign of fear, he established a clear MO. Target an elderly woman, living alone. Night Stalker is the chilling true story of one of the most testing manhunts the Metropolitan Police have ever undertaken. It is a glimpse into the heart of darkness—and into the mind and work of the brilliant detective who brought one of London's most feared monsters to justice.

In the middle of the second century AD, Rome was at its prosperous and powerful apex. The emperor Marcus Aurelius reigned over a vast territory that stretched from Britain to Egypt. The Roman-made peace, or Pax Romana, seemed to be permanent. Then, apparently out of nowhere, a sudden sickness struck the legions and laid waste to cities, including Rome itself. This fast-spreading disease, known now as the Antonine plague, may have been history’s first pandemic. Soon after its arrival, the Empire began its downward trajectory toward decline and fall.

Written by the author of the best-selling Welsh learners' novel Coed y Brenin, this book should help you expand and improve your Welsh, while being both interesting and entertaining. It should be suitable for those who've done a year or more of evening classes, although we'd hope that more advanced learners would also get a lot out of it.

In the early 18th century, the Pirate Republic was home to some of the great pirate captains, including Blackbeard, "Black Sam" Bellamy, and Charles Vane. Along with their fellow pirates - former sailors, indentured servants, and runaway slaves - this "Flying Gang" established a crude but distinctive democracy in the Bahamas, carving out their own zone of freedom in which servants were free, Blacks could be equal citizens, and leaders were chosen or deposed by a vote.

If there’s one trait that makes someone well-suited to comedy, it’s being able to take a punch - metaphorically and, occasionally, physically. Told with a healthy dose of self-deprecation, A Very Punchable Face reveals the brilliant mind behind some of the dumbest sketches on television, and lays bare the heart and humor of a hardworking guy - with a face you can’t help but want to punch.

As a subject, it has perplexed and fascinated generations of scientists, historians and more, and continues to spark the most intriguing questions being asked in science today. Can time be stopped? Is time travel possible? Does time even exist? In these 10 bite-sized essays, Colin Stuart delves into these big questions and uncovers the most awe-inspiring and revealing things we should all know about time.

When notorious gangster "Fat Sam" Mahood is murdered, the chief suspect is arrested nearby. But he seems to have suffered a breakdown. Incarcerated in a mental institution, he's known only as the Man in the White Suit. The suspect remains an enigma until Nurse Brenda calls on Mystery Man, Belfast's finest mystery bookshop owner, to bring his powers of investigation to bear....

By the 16th of July, the Master of Lonsdale was concerned but not yet worried. Dr Browne-Smith had passed through the porter's lodge at approximately 8:15 a.m. on the morning of Friday, 11th July. And nobody had heard from him since. Plenty of time to disappear, thought Morse. And plenty of time, too, for someone to commit murder....

David Tennant, Anthony Head, Don Warrington and Shaun Dingwall read these five original stories featuring the Tenth Doctor. Also included in this collecton are behind-the-scenes conversations with the book's authors and readers.

When a blind, retired dentist is run down by a logging truck as he crosses the road to post a letter, Dr Siri Paiboun, official and only coroner of Laos, finds him faced with his most explosive case yet. The dentist’s mortal remains aren’t nearly as intriguing as the letter in his pocket. Written in invisible ink and encrypted, the letter presents Dr Siri with an irresistible challenge.

Royal insider Lady Colin Campbell sets the record straight on many of the most controversial aspects of Diana's turbulent life. In The Real Diana, she reveals that the reason she knew so much about what went on behind the palace gates was because Diana herself was the source. Drawing upon these confidences - as well as on conversations with countless people who knew Diana and with Diana herself in the final years of her life - Lady Colin Campbell combines true insight with true compassion to bring us the most intimate and revealing portrait of the Princess of Wales.

After travelling through time and space with the Doctor, Henry Gordon Jago and Professor Litefoot are back in London starting brand new lives. Jago has become a huge celebrity and Litefoot the quiet owner of a bookshop, but in all other respects it is business as usual. As they investigate a wealth of new cases - including a restaurant where the food eats the people and a book with dangerous powers - a long game is playing out. A figure from their past is back, and this time he means to destroy them....

Possibly the most important and informative book ever compiled during the Covid era and a must read (listen) for everyone. The thirty four contributors, the Canaries, to this collection of essays are courageous people. They are critical thinkers who are prepared to put everything on the line to speak their truth. They strive to alert us all to what COVID was, and what may lie ahead.

It Worked for Me is filled with vivid experiences and lessons learned that have shaped the legendary career of the four-star general and former Secretary of State Colin Powell. At its heart are Powell's "Thirteen Rules" - such as "Get mad, then get over it" and "Share credit" - that introduce his principles for effective leadership: conviction, hard work, and, above all, respect for others. A natural storyteller, Powell offers warm and engaging parables with wise advice on succeeding in the workplace and beyond.

When a top British agent is murdered in Hamburg, spymaster Tweed is desperate to know why his man was killed – and who he should target for revenge.The investigation quickly leads Tweed to a devastating conclusion – one of his four European sector chiefs is a traitor. Tweed’s terrible problem is that he does not know which one. With time running out, Tweed realises he may also be tracking a mass murderer – and that an appalling scandal in London will break if he does not find the killer.

For Oxford, the arrival of 27 American tourists is nothing out of the ordinary...until one of their number is found dead in Room 310 at the Randolph Hotel. It looks like a sudden and tragic accident. Only Chief Inspector Morse appears not to overlook the simultaneous theft of a jewel-encrusted antique from the victim's handbag. Then, two days later, a naked and battered corpse is dragged from the River Cherwell. A coincidence? Maybe. But this time Morse is determined to prove the link.

The Amur River is almost unknown. Yet it is the 10th longest river in the world, rising in the Mongolian mountains and flowing through Siberia to the Pacific. For 1,100 miles, it forms the tense border between Russia and China. Haunted by the memory of land-grabs and unequal treaties, this is the most densely fortified frontier on Earth. In his 80th year, Colin Thubron takes a dramatic journey from the Amur's secret source to its giant mouth, covering almost 3,000 miles.