Today, Fleet Street is just a term for the newspaper business. But not so long ago it was a real place. Each paper had its own favourite pubs, its own extraordinary characters, and its own stock of legendary tales about the triumphs and disasters that had befallen friends and enemies. It was the Street of Dreams; the Street of Adventure; the Street of Disillusion and, in the end, sadly, the Street of Profits. But once upon a time it was a place of magic. Mike Molloy began in Fleet Street as a messenger boy on the Sunday Pictorial, and subsequently worked as a cartoonist, page designer, feature writer, and features executive. Eventually he was appointed the thirteenth and youngest editor of the Daily Mirror, a post he held for ten years. To his surprise, as he had opposed the take-over, when Robert Maxwell bought the Mirror, Maxwell made him editor-in-chief of the group. This is Molloy’s spellbinding, and often hilarious, account of his years working with some of the giants, and pygmies, who produced the nation’s daily papers. Along the way he tells of his encounters with politicians, prime ministers, rock stars, American presidents, trade union leaders, members of the royal family, and some of the legendary figures of show business. In the final sector of the book he charts his astonishingly surreal five years with Robert Maxwell, whose chaotic reign brought new heights of blundering absurdity to the role of the tyrannical ‘press lord’.
Mike Lithgow joined the Fleet Air Arm in 1939. A year later he was flying from the deck of the ill-fated carrier Ark Royal. Lithgow flew in the attack which sank the Bismarck, and later was in the search for the Tirpitz. While on patrol in the South Atlantic his plane flew into the sea and he and his crew were left floating in their Mae Wests eight hundred miles from the nearest land...their rescue can only be described as miraculous. In 1945 Lithgow became a test pilot with Vickers Supermarine organisation; since 1948 he has been Chief Test Pilot. In his brilliant career with Vickers, Lithgow has flown the world demonstrating the prowess of that wonderful aircraft, the Swift, and its succeeding prototype, F525. His story is entertaining, intensely readable, and revealing of a very brave man.
“Superb . . . one of the most honest, candid, and truly delightful memoirs . . . the perfect memorial to one of the Fleet Air Arm’s greats.”—Aircrew Book Review A classic in every sense of the word, this book charts Commander R. “Mike” Crosley’s service career in the Fleet Air Arm during the entire period of the Second World War. Part of his service saw him in action aboard HMS Eagle, flying Sea Hurricanes on the Harpoon and Pedestal Malta convoys of June and August 1942. It was during this time that he shot down his first enemy aircraft and survived the dramatic sinking of HMS Eagle. From there he graduated on to Seafires, (the Naval equivalent of the Spitfire), and flew this type in Combat Air Patrols over Norway and ramrod strikes from Operation Torch (the invasion of French North Africa in November 1942), through to D-Day in June 1944 in the European Theatre of Operations, and then in the Pacific abroad HMS Implacable as part of the British Pacific Fleet in 1945 until the end of the Pacific War, by which time he had command of his own combined squadron, 801 and 880. They Gave Me a Seafire sets to bring the endeavors of Crosley to a whole new generation of enthusiasts, and it should appeal across the board to fans of aviation, naval history and families and friends of Armed Forces, past and present. “The fascinating publication details Mike’s incredible capacity for survival, and sheer skill as a pilot, which were remarked on at the time, securing him a number of decorations.”—Island Life Magazine
Here it is: the next big puzzle sensation, destined to join sudoku and kakuro as a bestselling blockbuster. Yubotu is the Japanese word for "U-Boat" or submarine, and this collection plays a variation on the traditional favorite known as Battleships. It's co-created by Peter Gordon and Mike Shenk, the team that first brought this type of puzzle to America. The object is to locate 10 ships in a fleet--four subs, three destroyers, two cruisers, and one battleship--all hidden in an "ocean" represented by the spaces in a grid. An introduction explains all the basics in detail, taking solvers through a sample puzzle, with the puzzles getting more difficult as you go along until they're absolutely brain-busting!
A Billion Suns is a wargame of interstellar combat that puts you in command of fleets of powerful starships, from squadrons of agile, but fragile, fighters, to hulking and powerful capital ships. When combined with some spaceship miniatures, a tape measure, a deck of playing cards and some dice, this rulebook provides everything you need to play exciting and tense tabletop games of interstellar exploration and combat. Using simple dice pool mechanics, you must carefully manage your resources and seize the opportunities that come your way in order to lead your fleet to victory and assert your dominance over the stars.
This is the fascinating story of Dorothy Odam-Tyler, quadruple Olympian and twice high jump silver medallist, in both 1936 and 1948, with the same height as cleared by the winner. 16-year-old Dorothy Odam was inspired by the spectacular Nazi Olympics in Berlin, before the cruel intervention of World War Two, which wrote off the Games of 1940 and 1944 when the maturing Dorothy might reasonably have been expected to challenge for gold. Returning to serious competition in 1948 as a young mother, Dorothy capitalised on the home Olympic opportunity, when London was offered and accepted as host city, with the athletics events being staged at the impressive ready-made Wembley Stadium Dorothy's story moves from her junior school tomboy days, to precocious teenage triumphs, the daunting war years when sport went virtually on hold, to a delayed, long and finally very successful senior career. Later, Dorothy took to coaching with enthusiasm and did much to help her beloved Mitcham AC develop. She worked as an unpaid technical athletics official, and she also acted as team manager, accompanying British athletes abroad on several occasions. When her serious athletics career finished she worked in two schools, predominantly as a games teacher. Later in retirement, Dorothy joined husband Dick at the Croham Hurst Club in South Croydon to become a keen and successful golfer. National recognition came in 2000 when she was awarded an MBE, which she felt was long overdue, a view she claimed to have confided to Prince Charles during the investiture. Really she felt that she deserved to have made a Dame, a view which she expressed to many listeners in the years that followed. To say that she was an extremely interesting character would be the understatement of the century. WHAT THE REVIEWERS SAID MARY RAND MBE, 1964 TOKYO OLYMPIC PENTATHLON, GOLD What a great read. I thoroughly enjoyed it! I remember Dorothy very well, but did not really know her, as I was that much younger. I had no idea what an incredible all-round athlete she was (The ignorance of the young!) It was also nice to see how much she gave back to the sport. A fantastic job, with all the incredible details and her strong personality captured. She more than deserved to have her story told. I think Dorothy would be thrilled with the end result. This book does her proud!! I hope athletes of today reading it will appreciate how tough you had to be with the conditions available back then. DAME MARY PETERS CH, 1972 MUNICH OLYMPIC PENTATHLON, GOLD I commend Mike Fleet for writing the story of Dorothy Odam-Tyler as a record of a great athlete of her time, who should never be forgotten. I met her a couple of times, and she was certainly quite a character. On one occasion, when she was the manager of a small British team competing in Germany, she was the life and soul of the party and quite flirty! ISOBEL POOLEY, 2014 COMMONWEALTH GAMES HIGH JUMP SILVER, BRITISH OUTDOOR RECORD HOLDER 1.96M. I was fascinated to read Dorothy's biography. She is truly an inspirational figure. I had previously heard a lot about her, but never had the full story. This is an enthralling, well researched account and is enriched by Mike's enthusiasm for athletic facts and details. It is quite funny in places, and gives an eye-opening insight into what the life of an athlete was like in those days. In particular, in contrast to today's jet setting, the travel to competition abroad was unbelievably time-consuming. I hope I can replicate a fraction of Dorothy's incredible success in the modern arena, and win some more medals for team GB.
Anyone viewing the ports of Tacoma or Seattle will be familiar with the green-and-white Foss tugboats directing huge ships into docks, scurrying alongside barges filled with products from around the world, and patiently pulling rafts filled with logs to mills or to ships headed overseas. Since 1889, the Foss family has taken their business from rowboats to powered launches, eventually developing some of the most powerful tugboats in the world. Foss Launch and Tug is a true American success story of struggling Norwegian immigrants who came to the Pacific Northwest and parlayed a single rowboat sale into a vast fleet. Now known as Foss Maritime Company, the business has expanded well beyond its Tacoma-harbor birthplace to secure for itself a niche in the worldwide market.
Troy Pearce and his elite team of drone experts are called in when rising tensions between China and Japan threaten to dramatically change the geopolitical climate of the world. When China stakes a dubious claim in the hotly disputed waters of the East China Sea, the prime minister of Japan threatens to dispatch the country’s naval assets and tear up its antiwar constitution unless the Americans forcefully intervene. The war-weary Americans are reluctant to confront the powerful Chinese navy directly, but if the Japanese provoke a military conflict with their historic enemy, treaty obligations would draw the United States into the fight. In order to deescalate the first foreign policy crisis of his administration, U.S. president Lane dispatches Troy Pearce and his team to Tokyo to defuse the situation. What they find is a quagmire of hawkish politicians, nationalistic fervor, special interests with their own hidden agendas, and possibly the greatest military threat that America has ever faced. In this treacherous atmosphere it will require all of Pearce’s cunning—and his team’s technological prowess—to separate the truth from misdirection, and prevent the world from plunging into war.
Before there was The Walking Dead there was Deadworld with over 100 comic issues and graphic novels released and 1,000,000 copies sold. Deadworld is considered by many to be the godfather of the modern day zombie comic... A supernatural plague has been unleashed on the world. The dead return to walk the earth...but this is no standard zombie story. The dead are just soldiers for those who have crossed the Gateway. The lead zombies are intelligent, sadistic, and in addition to having a hankering for flesh, enjoy the tortuous ordeals they put the surviving humans through... NOW: New York City... a blizzard... the world in ruin... the undead fill the city streets. Those few lucky enough to survive the initial wave of undead lie huddled together in power deprived buildings high above the streets. Kolin Fleet and his small band of survivors seek to get out of the city before the snow thaws and the zombies are roaming free once again. Unfortunately, King Zombie has other ideas. THIS ISSUE: Trapped in New York City, surrounded by legions of the undead, Kolin Fleet will determine the fate of those who trust him most. Will he take the road which leads him to the mysterious undead ruler of Manhattan known only as The Giant or try to bargain his way out through King Zombie? Will he sacrifice one of his own in order to lead the rest to safety? A Caliber Comics release.
In the latest mystery from New York Times bestselling author Charles Todd, World War I nurse and amateur sleuth Bess Crawford investigates an old murder that occurred during her childhood in India, a search for the truth that will transform her and leave her pondering a troubling question: How can facts lie? Bess Crawford enjoyed a wondrous childhood in India, where her father, a colonel in the British Army, was stationed on the Northwest Frontier. But an unforgettable incident darkened that happy time. In 1908, Colonel Crawford's regiment discovered that it had a murderer in its ranks, an officer who killed five people in India and England yet was never brought to trial. In the eyes of many of these soldiers, men defined by honor and duty, the crime was a stain on the regiment's reputation and on the good name of Bess's father, the Colonel Sahib, who had trained the killer. A decade later, tending to the wounded on the battlefields of France during World War I, Bess learns from a dying Indian sergeant that the supposed murderer, Lieutenant Wade, is alive—and serving at the Front. Bess cannot believe the shocking news. According to reliable reports, Wade's body had been seen deep in the Khyber Pass, where he had died trying to reach Afghanistan. Soon, though, her mind is racing. How had he escaped from India? What had driven a good man to murder in cold blood? Wanting answers, she uses her leave to investigate. In the village where the first three killings took place, she discovers that the locals are certain that the British soldier was innocent. Yet the present owner of the house where the crime was committed believes otherwise, and is convinced that Bess's father helped Wade flee. To settle the matter once and for all, Bess sets out to find Wade and let the courts decide. But when she stumbles on the horrific truth, something that even the famous writer Rudyard Kipling had kept secret all his life, she is shaken to her very core. The facts will damn Wade even as they reveal a brutal reality, a reality that could have been her own fate.
In June 1941 the Ark Royal won one of Britain's most famous naval victories. The German destroyer, Bismarck, had been ravaging the British fleet in the Atlantic. Sailing through a ferocious storm the Ark Royal tracked the Bismarck. A dozen swordfish bombers took off from her deck and pounded shell after shell into the German battleship, sending her to the ocean floor. It was a signal victory that resonated around the world. Hitler, furious at the loss of the German fleet's flagship, demanded that the Ark Royal be destroyed at whatever cost. HMS Ark Royal is one of the Royal Navy's most iconic ships. When she was launched in 1938 she was one of the most sophisticated weapons at the disposal of British military command. The aircraft carrier was the latest, and soon to be one of the most feared, developments in naval warfare. In her first two years of operation the Ark Royal survived countless attacks, and was considered one of the luckiest ships in the Navy. But her air of invincibility was to prove wishful thinking. Within one month of sinking the Bismarck, the Ark Royal too was destroyed while sailing off the coast of Gibraltar. And there she has rested, one kilometre below the surface of the Mediterranean, until her wreck was discovered by Mike Rossiter in 2004. In gripping detail, and using the testimony of survivors of the sinking and men who lived, flew and fought on the Ark Royal, Mike Rossiter tells the remarkable story of the life and legend of this most iconic of ships. Also, and for the first time, he reveals the story of the quest to discover the wreck of this naval legend.
Fjord-like Hood Canal channels beneath the snowcapped Olympic National Park, creating a summer paradise of warm days and inspiring scenery as well as a haven for marine life and watercraft. For eons, Twana Indians crisscrossed in canoes that sliced through water like salmon. The canals first tourist, Captain Vancouver, sailed a launch down the scenic route in 1792. For the next century, a mosquito fleet of tugboats, stern-wheelers, fishing boats, and barges ferried the men who came for logging or land. By 1889, lumberman and legislator John McReavy promoted Union City as Venice of the Pacific. In the 20th century, canal use shifted from logging to recreation as wealthy Easterners, San Francisco expatriates, and artists founded hunting lodges, fishing resorts, and even an artist colony. The Navy Yard Highway introduced automobile tourism, and new resorts, including Alderbrook, soon dotted the shoreline. After World War II, families bought summer homes and ski boats. Now, in the 21st century, kayaks and personal watercraft skim across the waters, and the canal is more popular than ever.
Now in paperback, revised and updated, the stirring and authoritative account of one of World War II's most highly decorated submarines Find ’Em, Chase ’Em, Sink ’Em is the first book to recount the tragic and mysterious loss of the World War II submarine USS Gudgeon. In April 1944, the highly decorated submarine USS Gudgeon slipped beneath the waves in one of the most treacherous patrol areas in the most dangerous military service during World War II. Neither the Gudgeon nor the crew was ever seen again. Author Mike Ostlund’s “Uncle Bill,” the operator of a farm implements business, was aboard that ship as a lieutenant junior grade. Through extensive research of patrol reports in U.S. and Japanese naval archives, interviews with veterans who had served aboard the Gudgeon before its final patrol, and the personal effects of the lost men’s relatives, Ostlund has assembled the most accurate account yet of this remarkably successful submarine’s exploits, of the men aboard from steward to captain, and of what we now know about her demise. Find ’Em, Chase ’Em, Sink ’Em details the memories and life lessons of the young men who went to sea aboard Gudgeon before its last patrol knowing hardly anything, and came home having seen too much.
World War I is one of the iconic conflicts of the modern era. For many years the war at sea has been largely overlooked; yet, at the outbreak of that war, the British Government had expected and intended its military contribution to be largely naval. This was a war of ideologies fought by and for empires. Britain was not defending simply an island; it was defending a far flung empire. Without the navy such an undertaking would have been impossible. In many respects the Royal Navy fought along the longest 'front' of any fighting force of the Great War, and it acted as the leader of a large alliance of navies. The Royal Navy fought in the North and South Atlantic, in the North and South Pacific, its ships traversed the globe from Australia to England, and its presence extended the war to every continent except Antarctica. Because of the Royal Navy, Britain could finance and resource not only its own war effort, but that of its allies. Following the naval arms race in the early 20th century, both Britain and Germany were equipped with the latest naval technology, including revolutionary new vessels such as dreadnoughts and diesel-powered submarines. Although the Royal Navy's operations in World War I were global, a significant proportion of the fleet's strength was concentrated in the Grand Fleet, which confronted the German High Seas Fleet across the North Sea. At the Battle of Jutland in 1916 the Royal Navy, under the command of Admiral Jellicoe, fought an iconic, if inconclusive battle for control of shipping routes. The navy might not have been able to win the war, but, as Winston Churchill put it, she 'could lose it in an afternoon'. The Royal Navy was British power and prestige. 43,244 British navy personnel would lose their lives fighting on the seas in World War I. This book tells their story and places the Royal Navy back at the heart of the British war effort, showing that without the naval dimension the First World War would not have been a truly global conflict.
A solitaire version of the classic paper and pencil game! A grid shows an "ocean," in which a flotilla of vessels--that you have to find--is concealed. Most of the puzzles have helpful hints revealing the contents of a few squares, and indicate how many squares in the corresponding rows and columns that contain ships. Sample puzzles show strategies for eliminating possibilities and clueing into likely arrangements. Puzzles are ranked according to difficulty.
For anyone who ever stood in awe of a three-story-high dump truck or marveled at the engineering revolution propelling mechanical vehicles into the robotic age, Ultra Haulers presents the past, present, and future of the world’s greatest haul trucks. From early rigid trucks and articulated dump trucks to tire technology and scraper tractors, Ultra Haulers details the innovations, evolutions, and revolutions in large-scale earthmoving equipment. Author Mike Woof, former editor-in-chief of World Mining Equipment magazine and current international editor for E&MJ and Coal Age, is a leading authority on mining equipment, including the largest, most sophisticated factory-made equipment produced. The book incorporates original analysis, primary data, and firsthand commentary, putting an ear to the ground and a finger to the pulse of this dynamic and exciting field. Both knowledgeable hobbyists and industry veterans will enjoy Woof’s sweeping overview, which is beholden to no one manufacturer, no one type of machine, and no one era, but to the entire field. With expert, prescient commentary, Woof’s understanding of these machines and enthusiasm for the engineering triumphs they represent comes through on every page.
The Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicle is the newest land warfare system in the United States Army and Marine Corps inventory. Designed to meet the challenges of operating in a counterinsurgency environment, the MRAP has taken survivability to a new level. MRAPs are currently manufactured by three companies: BAE Systems, Navistar International Military Group, and Force Protection Inc. Each company manufactures an MRAP according to one of three classifications set by the US Department of Defense: Category I, Category II, or Category III. The Category I MRAPs are designed for urban combat. Category II covers the MRAPs designed for convoy security, medical evacuation, and explosive ordnance disposal. The Category III MRAP performs the same function as Category II but is designed to carry more personnel. Since their introduction in 2007, MRAPs have performed remarkably in the asymmetric warfare environment. Their unique design and survivability characteristics have saved the lives hundreds of soldiers who otherwise would have been lost to landmines or IED attacks. As with any combat system, however, the MRAP is not without its drawbacks.
The starship Theodore Roosevelt is fighting on the far outskirts of a galactic war, its crew made up of retreads and raw recruits. A new first officer reports, Wilson Cole, a man with a reputation for exceeding his orders (but getting results). He's been banished to the Teddy R. for his actions, but once there he again ignores his orders. ... This is the first of five novels about the starship Theodore Roosevelt. The next four will be, in order, Pirate, Mercenary, Rebel, and Flagship.
Today, even the largest development organisations are turning to agile methodologies, seeking major productivity and quality improvements. However, large-scale agile development is difficult, and publicly available case studies have been scarce. Now, three agile pioneers at Hewlett-Packard present a candid, start-to-finish insider's look at how they've succeeded with agile in one of the company's most mission-critical software environments: firmware for HP LaserJet printers. This book tells the story of an extraordinary experiment and journey. Could agile principles be applied to re-architect an enormous legacy code base? Could agile enable both timely delivery and ongoing innovation? Could it really be applied to 400+ developers distributed across four states, three continents, and four business units? Could it go beyond delivering incremental gains, to meet the stretch goal of 10x developer productivity improvements? It could, and it did--but getting there was not easy. Writing for both managers and technologists, the authors candidly discuss both their successes and failures, presenting actionable lessons for other development organisations, as well as approaches that have proven themselves repeatedly in HP's challenging environment. They not only illuminate the potential benefits of agile in large-scale development, they also systematically show how these benefits can actually be achieved. Coverage includes: Tightly linking agile methods and enterprise architecture with business objectives Focusing agile practices on your worst development pain points to get the most bang for your buck Abandoning classic agile methods that don't work at the largest scale Employing agile methods to establish a new architecture Using metrics as a "conversation starter" around agile process improvements Leveraging continuous integration and quality systems to reduce costs, accelerate schedules, and automate the delivery pipeline Taming the planning beast with "light-touch" agile planning and lightweight long-range forecasting Implementing effective project management and ensuring accountability in large agile projects Managing tradeoffs associated with key decisions about organisational structure Overcoming U.S./India cultural differences that can complicate offshore development Selecting tools to support quantum leaps in productivity in your organisation Using change management disciplines to support greater enterprise agility
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