Скачать книгу - Barefoot Boy with Cheek (Unabridged)

Bryan Gallagher's reminiscences of the Ireland of his youth, first heard on Radio 4's 'Home Truths', transport you to a world of boyhood pranks, playground politics and the confusion of growing up in a land that is every bit as magical and captivating as the stories he has to tell.Barefoot in Mullyneeny is Bryan Gallagher's evocative tale of a childhood remembered through the people and landscape of Fermanagh, near the beautiful shores of Lough Erne in Ireland. Bryan chronicles a time when all the big boys went to school in bare feet and secretly watched the Saturday night bands and dances in halls lit by Tilley lamps; where it was known to be nothing less than the biblical truth that if you put a horse-hair across the palm of your hand when you were about to be punished at school, the cane would split in two.Gallagher's writing will touch the hearts of those who long for the innocence of childhood and the simplicity of an era long past. Whether relating tales of murderous bicycle chases through the darkened streets of Cavan, of ghosts and fairy forts or the anguish of emigration, this remarkable memoir vividly recreates life in rural Ireland in the 1940s and 50s.For those who thought that life in Ireland was one of the poverty and misery of James Joyce or Frank McCourt, Barefoot in Mullyneeny offers a view of the Ireland of yesteryear that combines the touching, homely nostalgia of Nigel Slater's Toast and Laurie Lee's Cider with Rosie with a humorous optimism that is unmistakably Ireland at its best.

Paddy Crerand's eagerly-awaited autobiography recounts the previously untold story of one of post-war football's fieriest characters. As a defensive midfielder, famed for his tough tackling, for Scotland, Celtic and Manchester United from 1957 to 1972, he was the Roy Keane of his day and this book holds nothing back on or off the field.As a Catholic born in the then infamous Gorbals area of Glasgow, Crerand was determined to escape from an extraordinarily tough background of family tragedy, religious bigotry and working in the Clyde shipyard, to become a professional footballer.As a Celtic player in the early years of Jock Stein's management, Paddy Crerand was forced to play in the shadow of the then dominant Rangers team. At Manchester United, however, he enjoyed great success in Sir Matt Busby's post-Munich Air Disaster team, winning two league titles, the FA Cup and the European Cup, and playing alongside the likes of George Best, Bobby Charlton, Denis Law and Nobby Stiles.In his own distinctively punchy style, Crerand reveals the full truth about his controversial friendship with the hard-drinking Protestant Rangers star 'Slim' Jim Baxter and the legendary Liverpool manager Bill Shankly; what it was like to be George Best's minder and Matt Busby's confidant; and his passionate involvement in Irish nationalist politics.Crerand’s life story is a genuine triumph over adversity told by someone whose informed opinion on Manchester United and football in general is as respected today as it was forty years ago.

A fascinating narrative excursion into a bizarre episode in 19th century Ethiopian and British imperial history, featuring a remote African despot and his monstrous European-built gun.Towards the end of 1867, Emperor Tewodros II of Ethiopia burnt his own capital, took his vast mortar – named 'Sevastopol' – and began a retreat to the mountain stronghold of Mekdala. For months thousands of his followers struggled to build a road for the great gun, levelling the soil of the high plains, hacking out a way down into mile-deep gorges. At the same time, a hostile British force, under General Napier, was advancing from the coast. It was the climax to the reign of one of the most colourful and extraordinary rulers in African history.Discovering traces of the road in the highlands, and drawing on years of involvement with Ethiopia, Philip Marsden recounts the story of Tewodros. From his spectacular rise – from camel-raider to King of Kings – Tewodros was a man who combined a sense of Biblical destiny with personal charisma and military genius. He restored the fortunes of the ancient Christian kingdom, introduced reforms to his army and to the church, and dreamed of an alliance with the great powers of Europe.But as his reforms stalled and the British Foreign Office lost his letter to Queen Victoria, Tewodros's behaviour became more and more violent and erratic. When he imprisoned the British consul, years of negotiation culminated in one of the most bizarre – and expensive – campaigns of the Victorian age.'The Barefoot Emperor' is history at its most thrilling and dramatic. Using narrative skills proven in such acclaimed books as 'The Bronski House' and 'The Chains of Heaven', Philip Marsden recreates scenes and characters of glittering intensity – and the intriguing paradoxes of a central figure grappling not only with his own people and his own demons, but with the seductive and unstoppable approach of the modern world.

A dark, compelling tale of sex, guilt and morality, exploring the complexity of date rape, from the author of Kissing EnglandA He Said/She Said novel about date-rape, that tells the dramatic story of a compulsive, obsessive, profoundly carnal love affair between a rich NorthLondon princess and a bolshy Anglo-Irishman: a love affair that somehow ends up in the gladiatorial arena of court number 18, the Old Bailey.But it isn’t just a courtroom drama, nor is it just a highly sexed love story. In its examination of rape and the issue of rape, at the contemporarylynch law we apply to love and lust, it offers a startling new look at the savage and eternal war between the sexes.As boy and girl fight with the guilt of their own longings, The Cheek Perforation Dance becomes a startlingly honest, often unsettling examination of a very modern romance.