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Montaigne (Pushkin Collection)
by Will Stone Stefan ZweigWritten during the Second World War, Zweig's typically passionate and readable biography of Michel de Montaigne, is also a heartfelt argument for the importance of intellectual freedom, tolerance and humanism. Zweig draws strong parallels between Montaigne's age, when Europe was torn in two by conflict between Catholicism and Protestantism, and his own, in which the twin fanaticisms of Fascism and Communism were on the verge of destroying the pan-continental liberal culture he was born into, and loved dearly. Just as Montaigne sought to remain aloof from the factionalism of his day, so Zweig tried to the last to defend his freedom of thought, and argue for peace and compromise. One of the final works Zweig wrote before his suicide, this is both a brilliantly impassioned portrait of a great mind, and a moving plea for tolerance in a world ruled by cruelty.From the Trade Paperback edition.
Montaigne in Barn Boots: An Amateur Ambles Through Philosophy
by Michael PerryThe beloved memoirist and bestselling author of Population: 485 reflects on the lessons he’s learned from his unlikely alter ego, French Renaissance philosopher Michel de Montaigne."The journey began on a gurney," writes Michael Perry, describing the debilitating kidney stone that led him to discover the essays of Michel de Montaigne. Reading the philosopher in a manner he equates to chickens pecking at scraps—including those eye-blinking moments when the bird gobbles something too big to swallow—Perry attempts to learn what he can (good and bad) about himself as compared to a long-dead French nobleman who began speaking Latin at the age of two, went to college instead of kindergarten, worked for kings, and once had an audience with the Pope. Perry "matriculated as a barn-booted bumpkin who still marks a second-place finish in the sixth-grade spelling bee as an intellectual pinnacle . . . and once said hello to Merle Haggard on a golf cart."Written in a spirit of exploration rather than declaration, Montaigne in Barn Boots is a down-to-earth (how do you pronounce that last name?) look into the ideas of a philosopher "ensconced in a castle tower overlooking his vineyard," channeled by a midwestern American writing "in a room above the garage overlooking a disused pig pen." Whether grabbing an electrified fence, fighting fires, failing to fix a truck, or feeding chickens, Perry draws on each experience to explore subjects as diverse as faith, race, sex, aromatherapy, and Prince. But he also champions academics and aesthetics, in a book that ultimately emerges as a sincere, unflinching look at the vital need to be a better person and citizen.
Montana: The Biography of Football's Joe Cool
by Keith DunnavantRich in anecdotal detail, insight and context, Montana is a powerful story about a man who was defined by his intense competitiveness, and how this intangibly helped him become one of the ionic figures in football history. As long as football is played, Joe Montana will be synonymous with the heart-pounding rally. Seemingly impervious to the pressure of a scoreboard deficit, the quarterback known as Joe Cool brought a steadying calm to every huddle, especially when the situation seemed especially dire. His reputation for miracles began to take root at the University of Notre Dame. In the 1979 Cotton Bowl, he overcame the flu, hypothermia and a 22-point deficit to lead the Fighting Irish to a stunning victory over Houston. This narrative continued in the NFL, as he engineered 31 fourth-quarter comebacks, including victories known in professional football lore as The Catch and The Drive, forever casting his career in a heroic glow.While leading the San Francisco 49ers to four Super Bowl championships over a nine-year period, establishing a new standard for passing efficiency, and twice earning the league's Most Valuable Player award, Montana became the signature quarterback of the 1980s and one of the greatest ever to play the game. Overcoming his own limitations, which caused him to be underrated coming out of Notre Dame, he quickly mastered Bill Walsh's West Coast Offense, and thereby, helped reinvent offensive football. But it was rarely easy. Like the rallies he so often produced, his life was filled with the sort of tension that made his journey seem routinely dramatic: The father who pushed him. The high school coach who challenged his commitment. The college coach who very nearly squandered him. The back surgery that almost ended his career. The younger athlete who tried to take his job.In Montana, acclaimed author Keith Dunnavant sketches the definitive portrait of a man who repeatedly defied the odds, on and off the field.
Montana Americana Music: Boot Stomping in Big Sky Country
by Smith Henderson Aaron ParrettMontana's relationship to Americana music is as wide and deep as the famed Missouri River that inspired countless musicians seated at its shores. From the fiddling of Pierre Cruzatte and George Gibson in the Corps of Discovery to the modern-day loner folk of Joey Running Crane and Cameron Boster, the Treasure State inspires the production of top-notch country music. In the 1950s, bands like the Snake River Outlaws fostered a long-standing love of hillbilly honky-tonk, and in the 1970s, the Mission Mountain Wood Band added a homegrown flavor of its own. Contemporary acts like the Lil' Smokies and songwriter Martha Scanlan promise a vibrant future for the local sound. Author and musician Aaron Parrett explores this history to show what it means to boot stomp in Big Sky Country.
Montana Entertainers: Famous and Almost Forgotten
by Brian D'AmbrosioTreasure State stars Gary Cooper and Myrna Loy found unparalleled success during the Golden Age of Hollywood. For more than a century, Montana has supplied a rich vein of entertainment and personality--from daredevils to dancers and even mimes. Born in Miles City in 1895, comedian Gilbert "Pee Wee" Holmes played sidekick to such stars as Tom Mix. One-time Butte resident Julian Eltinge went on to become America's first famous female impersonator. There was Taylor Gordon, whose golden voice propelled the son of a slave from White Sulphur Springs to Harlem Renaissance fame. From the little-known Robyn Adair to the ever-popular Michelle Williams, author Brian D'Ambrosio marks Big Sky Country's long-standing connections with America's performing arts.
Montana Madams
by Nann ParrettMen flooded to the Montana frontier for gold, furs, rich land, and jobs. Women followed, but their options were more limited. Here are stories of women who made a desperate choice, turning the law of supply and demand to their advantage. Many eked out a meager but independent existience; grit and business acumen brought remarkable wealth and influence—even respectability—to a few. From Alzada to Yaak, these enterprising women shaped Montana communities, in some cases helping to fund social programs and public education.
Montana Women From The Ground Up: Passionate Voices in Agriculture & Land Conservation (American Heritage)
by Kristine E. EllisGrowing up on the family ranch, Linda Finley fought hard to gain the acceptance and respect as a ranch hand that her brothers took for granted. Arlene Pile barely remembers learning to ride a horse and run machinery--she was so young. She learned to drive on an 8N Ford tractor with a buck rake. Lee Jacobsen became the first woman in the state licensed to artificially inseminate cattle. Meet these and other Montana women passionate about caring for their land and determined to make the lifestyle their own. Many never doubted for a moment that they would spend their lives in agriculture, while others speak of their surprise and delight to find themselves living on the land. All agree that they wouldn't be happy doing anything else.
Montauk
by Max Frisch Jonathan Dee Goeffrey SkeltonMax Frisch's candid story of his affair with a young woman illuminates a lifetime of relationships. Casting himself as both subject and observer, Frisch reflects on his marriages, children, friendships, and careers; a holiday weekend in Long Island is a trigger to recount and question events and aspects of his own life, along with creeping fears of mortality. He paints a bittersweet portrait that is sometimes painful and sometimes humorous, but always affecting. Emotionally raw and formally innovative, Frisch's novel collapses the distinction between art and life, but leaves the reader with a richer understanding of both.
Montauk: The Alien Connection (Montauk)
by Stewart SwerdlowReveals the most amazing story yet to surface in the area of alien abduction. This is an autobiographical and factual account from Swerdlow, a gifted mentalist who was born clairvoyant but haunted by strange time-space scenarios. After suffering alien abductions and government manipulations, Stewart met Nichols and discovered his own role in time travel experiments, known as the Montauk Project. After refusing to break his association with Nichols, Stewart was incarcerated by the authorities but the truth began to reveal itself. Struggling for his life, Stewart used his mental abilities to overcome the negative influences surrounding him and ultimately discovered the highest common denominator in the alien equation -- an interdimensional language which communicates to all conscious beings.
Montazeri: The Life and Thought of Iran's Revolutionary Ayatollah
by Sussan SiavoshiBy the time of his death in 2009, the Grand Ayatollah Montazeri was lauded as the spiritual leader of the Green movement in Iran. Since the 1960s, when he supported Ayatollah Khomeini's opposition to the Shah, Montazeri's life reflected the crucial political shifts within Iran. In this book, Sussan Siavoshi presents the historical context as well as Montazeri's own political and intellectual journey. Siavoshi highlights how Montazeri, originally a student of Khomeini became one of the key figures during the revolution of 1978-9. She furthermore analyses his subsequent writings, explaining how he went from trusted advisor to and nominated successor of Khomeini to an outspoken critic of the Islamic Republic. Examining Montazeri's political thought and practice as well as the historical context, Siavoshi's book is vital for those interested in post-revolutionary Iran and the phenomenon of political Islam.
Monteagudo. Pionero y mártir de la unión americana
by Pacho O'DonnellAmbicioso, seductor, déspota, genio político, terrorista por temperamento y por sistema, pluma talentosa, demagogo exaltado, estadista de carácter, trabajador incansable, traidor y corrupto, honesto y fiel, oportunista, patriota. Esos y muchos otros juicios contradictorios ha recibido la corta vida pública del jacobino Bernardo Monteagudo. Ambicioso, seductor, déspota, genio político, terrorista por temperamento y por sistema, pluma talentosa, demagogo exaltado, estadista de carácter, trabajador incansable, traidor y corrupto, honesto y fiel, oportunista, patriota. Esos y muchos otros juicios contradictorios ha recibido la corta vida pública del jacobino Bernardo Monteagudo, desde los diecinueve años, cuando se doctoró en Chuquisaca -cuna de revolucionarios como Moreno y Castelli-, hasta los treinta y cinco, cuando una puñalada le atravesó el pecho en una preciosa noche de verano limeña. Dieciséis años intensos, fulgurantes, que lo mantuvieron, tan joven, en el centro de las grandes decisiones políticas; junto a Castelli en el Ejército del Norte; figura clave de la Asamblea del Año XIII cuando gobernaba Alvear; mano derecha insustituible de San Martín y O'Higgins durante las luchas independentistas en Chile y Perú; finalmente ladero y hombre de confianza de Bolívar en la consolidación de la victoria revolucionaria. Siempre fue pobre y fue siempre un gran escritor, revulsivo, provocador, apasionado, convincente, que aún hoy es de lectura fluida, como puede comprobarse en los textos recopilados en el Apéndice de este libro. Un colosal propagandista de las ideas y proyectos que concebía. Entre ellos, como pionero y mártir, la unión latinoamericana. La defensa innegociable de esa causa le otorgó para siempre su lugar en la Historia. Escribía Monteagudo, para el futuro, en 1812: "Nosotros estamos en nuestra aurora, la Europa toca su occidente; y si las tinieblas se apresuran a envolverla, para nosotros amanecerá un día puro y risueño; ciudades numerosas saldrán del seño de estos desiertos inmensos; nuestros buques cubrirán los mares, la abundancia reinará dentro de nuestros muros y no se verán sobre nuestros altares y en nuestros tribunales sino dos palabras: humanidad y libertad". La crítica ha dicho... «Con una prosa clara, rítmica, sin dilaciones y hasta didáctica, O'Donnell se atreve a develar todo sobre este personaje». Dolores Caviglia, La Gaceta (Tucumán)
Montgomery Clift: A Biography (Limelight Ser.)
by Patricia Bosworth&“The definitive work on the gifted, haunted actor&” (Los Angeles Times) and &“the best film star biography in years&” (Newsweek). From the moment he leapt to stardom with the films Red River and A Place in the Sun, Montgomery Clift was acclaimed by critics and loved by fans. Elegant, moody, and strikingly handsome, he became one of the most definitive actors of the 1950s, the first of Hollywood&’s &“loner heroes,&” a group that includes Marlon Brando and James Dean. In this affecting biography, Patricia Bosworth explores the complex inner life and desires of the renowned actor. She traces a poignant trajectory: Clift&’s childhood was dominated by a controlling, class-obsessed mother who never left him alone. He developed passionate friendships with Marilyn Monroe and Elizabeth Taylor in spite of his closeted homosexuality. Then his face was destroyed after a traumatic car crash outside Taylor&’s house. He continued to make films, but the loss of his beauty and subsequent addictions finally brought the curtain down on his career. Stunning and heartrending, Montgomery Clift is a remarkable tribute to one of Hollywood&’s most gifted—and tormented—actors.
Month And A Day: A Detention Diary
by Ken Saro-Wiwa William BoydThe moving last memoir of the outspoken critic of the Nigerian regime and international oil companies he held responsible for the destruction of his homeland-who lost his life in the campaign for the basic rights fo the Ogoni people of Nigeria.
A Month in Siena
by Hisham MatarFrom the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Return comes a profoundly moving contemplation of the relationship between art and life. After finishing his powerful memoir The Return, Hisham Matar, seeking solace and pleasure, traveled to Siena, Italy. Always finding comfort and clarity in great art, Matar immersed himself in eight significant works from the Sienese School of painting, which flourished from the thirteenth to the fifteenth centuries. Artists he had admired throughout his life, including Duccio and Ambrogio Lorenzetti, evoke earlier engagements he’d had with works by Caravaggio and Poussin, and the personal experiences that surrounded those moments.Including beautiful full-color reproductions of the artworks, A Month in Siena is about what occurred between Matar, those paintings, and the city. That month would be an extraordinary period in the writer’s life: an exploration of how art can console and disturb in equal measure, as well as an intimate encounter with a city and its inhabitants. This is a gorgeous meditation on how centuries-old art can illuminate our own inner landscape—current relationships, long-lasting love, grief, intimacy, and solitude—and shed further light on the present world around us.Praise for A Month in Siena“As exquisitely structured as The Return, driven by desire, yearning, loss, illuminated by the kindness of strangers. A Month in Siena is a triumph.”—Peter Carey
Monticello (Cornerstones of Freedom)
by Norman RichardsA biography of the farmer, architect, statesman, President, inventor, and educator whose inventiveness was exemplified by Monticello.
La montonera: Biografía de Norma Arrostito. La primera jefa de la guerrilla peronista
by Gabriela SaidonConvertida en un clásico del periodismo, esta biografía se pregunta por los setenta, la década que marcó a fuego al país. Hoy se reimprime con nuevo prólogo, bibliografía e información actualizada, a la luz de nuevas miradas sobre el lugar de las mujeres en la militancia y en los centros clandestinos de detención, tortura y desaparición, con respuestas y nuevas preguntas, para ahondar en la vida de una mujer política que fue, según define su autora, "metalizada" por la historia. Legendaria y trágica, la historia de Norma Arrostito constituye uno de los capítulos más singulares de la vida política argentina reciente. Fue la única mujer en la cúpula de Montoneros y la única en participar del secuestro de Pedro Eugenio Aramburu en 1970. La montonera cuenta su vida y traza la parábola de casi ocho años de clandestinidad que terminaron con su desaparición durante la última dictadura cívico militar en la ESMA; también se remonta a su infancia, su adolescencia y su juventud para responder a la pregunta de porqué una chica porteña de clase media, de padre anarquista y madre católica devota, militante del Partido Comunista, da un giro de 180 grados para convertirse al peronismo y transformarse en una de las referentes de la lucha armada en la Argentina de los setenta.
Monty: His Part in My Victory (Spike Milligan War Memoirs)
by Spike MilliganVOLUME THREE OF SPIKE MILLIGAN'S LEGENDARY MEMOIRS IS A HILARIOUS, SUBVERSIVE FIRST-HAND ACCOUNT OF WW2'The most irreverent, hilarious book about the war that I have ever read' Sunday Express 'Brilliant verbal pyrotechnics, throwaway lines and marvelous anecdotes' Daily Mail ______________ 'It's all over, Von Arnheim has surrendered and he's very angry.' 'This could mean war . . .' The third volume of Spike Milligan's laugh-a-line account of life as a gunner in World War Two resumes on the eve of victory in North Africa. Now Britain's looniest war hero must combat some of the direst threats a soldier has ever faced - boredom ('Christ, I just thought of Catford'), moving camp ('It's a sort of Brighton with camels'), moving camp again ('We're already somewhere else'), a visit to Carthage ('It's terrible, it's like Catford') and a perilous encounter with the gloriously endowed Mademoiselle Villion ('"Help! massage," I said weakly').Against the odds, they survive and are sent at last to Italy to be killed...______________ 'That absolutely glorious way of looking at things differently. A great man' Stephen Fry 'The Godfather of Alternative Comedy' Eddie Izzard 'Manifestly a genius, a comic surrealist genius and had no equal' Terry Wogan 'A totally original comedy writer' Michael Palin 'Close in stature to Lewis Carroll and Edward Lear in his command of the profound art of nonsense' Guardian
Monty: The Autobiography
by Colin MontgomerieThe autobiography of Colin Montgomerie, the triumphant Ryder Cup captain and one of Britain's most successful golfers.Colin Montgomerie is a golfing legend. Ranked Europe's No. 1 for an unparalleled seven years in a row, he is equally renowned as a player of great passion. The son of a keen Scottish golfing family, Colin was already showing his prodigious talent as a young boy. After completing his education in America, where he benefited from a golf scholarship, Colin turned professional in 1987, beginning a truly remarkable career.Even with more than 40 international tournament victories and eight European Order of Merit titles to his name, Monty is perhaps best known for his amazing contributions to the European Ryder Cup team, eight times as a player, winning five times and undefeated in singles, and most recently as a victorious European Ryder Cup captain, amid unforgettable scenes at Celtic Manor in October 2010.Montgomerie's autobiography is the story of both a fantastic talent and a complex personality, and of a golfer who remains determined to add to his already impressive achievements. It is a book about one of the greatest golfing characters in the world trying to achieve a personal and professional balance. And it is about a true hero of the Ryder Cup.
Monty: The Autobiography
by Colin MontgomerieThe autobiography of Colin Montgomerie, the triumphant Ryder Cup captain and one of Britain's most successful golfers. Colin Montgomerie is a golfing legend. Ranked Europe's No. 1 for an unparalleled seven years in a row, he is equally renowned as a player of great passion. The son of a keen Scottish golfing family, Colin was already showing his prodigious talent as a young boy. After completing his education in America, where he benefited from a golf scholarship, Colin turned professional in 1987, beginning a truly remarkable career. Even with more than 40 international tournament victories and eight European Order of Merit titles to his name, Monty is perhaps best known for his amazing contributions to the European Ryder Cup team, eight times as a player, winning five times and undefeated in singles, and most recently as a victorious European Ryder Cup captain, amid unforgettable scenes at Celtic Manor in October 2010. Montgomerie's autobiography is the story of both a fantastic talent and a complex personality, and of a golfer who remains determined to add to his already impressive achievements. It is a book about one of the greatest golfing characters in the world trying to achieve a personal and professional balance. And it is about a true hero of the Ryder Cup.
Monty and Rommel: Parallel Lives
by Peter Caddick-Adams&“An accessible, well-honed study of two fascinating characters&” who famously fought each other in numerous battles during WWII, from Egypt to D-Day (Kirkus). Bernard Montgomery and Erwin Rommel faced one another in a series of extraordinary battles that established each man as one of the greatest generals in history. Born four years apart, their lives were remarkably similar. Each came from provincial roots, nearly died in WWI, yet emerged from that great conflict with glowing records. Through their many duels, including their legendary conflicts in North Africa and later at the Normandy D-Day invasion, Peter Caddick-Adams tracks and compares their military talents and personalities. Monty and Rommel explores how each general was raised to power by their war leaders, Churchill and Hitler, and how the innovative military strategy and thought of both permeate down to today's armies.
Monty and the Canadian Army
by John A. EnglishGeneral Bernard Law Montgomery, affectionately known as "Monty," exerted an influence on the Canadian Army more lasting than that of any other Second World War commander. In 1942 he assumed responsibility for the exercise and training of Canadian formations in England, and by the end of the war Canada’s field army was second to none in the practical exercise of combined arms. In Monty and the Canadian Army, John A. English analyses the way Montgomery’s operational influence continued to permeate the Canadian Army. For years, the Canadian Army remained a highly professional force largely because it was commanded at almost every lower level by "Monty men" steeped in the Montgomery method. The era of the Canadian Army headed by such men ceased with the integration and unification of Canada’s armed forces in 1964. The embrace of Montgomery by Canadian soldiers stands in marked contrast to largely negative perceptions held by Americans. Monty and the Canadian Army aims to correct such perceptions, which are mostly superficial and more often than not wrong, and addresses the anomaly of how this gifted general, one of the greatest field commanders of the Second World War, managed to win over other North American troops.
Monty Python Speaks: The Complete Oral History
by David MorganWith a Foreword by John Oliver, host of Last Week TonightIn celebration of the 50th anniversary of its BBC debut, a revised and updated edition of the complete oral history of Monty Python—an insightful, in-depth portrait of the brilliant and hysterically funny show that transformed modern comedy.Broadcast by the BBC between 1969 and 1974, Monty Python’s Flying Circus introduced something completely different: a new brand of surrealistic, stream-of-consciousness comedy that pushed the traditional boundaries of format, style, and content. Blending brilliant satire with slapstick silliness, The Pythons—Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones and Michael Palin—spoke to a generation eager to break free of the conventional. Making their way across the Atlantic and the world, the Pythons’ zany approach to comedy would have a monumental influence on modern popular culture, paving the way for farcical entertainment from Saturday Night Live to The Simpsons to Austin Powers.In Monty Python Speaks, David Morgan has collected interviews with Monty Python’s founding members, actors, producers, and other collaborators to produce a no-holds-barred look at the Pythons’ legendary sketches and films, including Monty Python’s Life of Brian, Monty Python and the Holy Grail (the inspiration for the hit Broadway musical Spamalot), and The Meaning of Life. Featuring four new chapters that focus on the group’s oeuvre since the first edition’s publication twenty years ago, as well as a new foreword and updated resources, Monty Python Speaks offers a fascinating peek behind the scenes of the Pythons’ creative process—including the friendships and feuds—that catapulted a comedy revolution.
Monty Python Speaks!
by David MorganWhen the innovative comedy group Monty Python embarked on their unique partnership, combining intelligence with silliness in a stream-of-consciousness display of nonsense, satire, sex and violence, they made a mark on popular culture which is still being felt today. Now, on their 30th anniversary, the five surviving Pythons -- along with some chief co-conspirators including the BBC's Barry Took and Ian MacNaughton, the late Graham Chapman's companion David Sherlock, and the legendary Douglas Adams -- remember what it was like to build a comedic collaboration for the ages. Monty Python was a state of mind -- a way of looking at the world as a place where walking like a contortionist is not only considered normal but is rewarded with government funding, where people speak in anagrams or operate a cheese-less cheeseshop, where highwaymen redistribute wealth in floral currencies and knights hop around on imaginary steeds. Here, in their own words -- and with rare backstage photographs never before published -- is a look into that rare collective mind: the story of the Python's meeting, their collaboration, their clashes, their struggles to maintain artistic control over their work, and their efforts to expand themselves creatively -- from television to films, books, recordings and stage shows. Here are the artists who made their personal mark on humor, engendered amazing passion from their fans worldwide, and built a lasting monument to spam (the luncheon meat, not the e-mail). In short, it's . . .
Monty Python's Tunisian Holiday: My Life with Brian, a Memoir
by Kim Howard Johnson"One of the finest and most accurate records of the making of the film that I have ever read. I just wished I could remember what actually went on then."--Terry Jones"If anyone can remember more about making the Life of Brian than me, it's Kim ‘Howard' Johnson. He came, he saw, he got into costume. While the rest of us were fighting to upstage each other, Howard had a notebook hidden in his toga."--Michael Palin"Since I've forgotten everything, it will be great to read what was actually going on in Tunisia. Just as long as I'm the most quoted, the most vital to the shooting, and the most interesting. You don't have to mention my stunning good looks if you don't want to."--Terry Gilliam"Of all the books that I am planning to read in my dotage, there is none I am more looking forward to than Monty Python's Tunisian Holiday. . . . Not only does ‘Howard' Johnson know more about Python than anyone outside of the IRS, he was in Tunisia for most of the filming of Life of Brian, and is the only person who captured every thoughtless remark, heated exchange, embarrassing detail, petty insult, and spiteful act of indifference."--John Cleese"Kim ‘Howard' Johnson was invented by Graham Chapman during an idle moment on the set of The Life of Brian. ‘Let's invent a person,' he said. ‘An American fan from the Midwest,' chimed in Michael Palin, ‘who keeps a daily diary of Python filming. And then doesn't publish it for years and years.' How we laughed, and each day we'd make up stuff this ‘person' would write about us."--Eric Idle In 1978, Kim "Howard" Johnson ran away to join the circus---Monty Python's Flying Circus, that is. The Pythons converged on Tunisia to film their timeless classic, Life of Brian, and Howard found himself in the thick of it, doubling for nearly all the Pythons, playing more roles in the film than John Cleese, and managing to ruin only one shot. He became the unit journalist, substitute still photographer, Roman soldier, peasant, Biggus Dickus's double, near-stalker, and, ultimately, friend and confidant of the comedy legends. He also kept a detailed journal of what he saw and heard, on set and off, throughout those six weeks. The result is a unique eyewitness account that reveals the Pythons at work and at play in a way that nothing else written about them could do. Now, for the first time ever, the inside story of the making of the film is revealed through the fly-on-the-castle-wall perspective. Even the most diehard fans will get a fresh take on the comedy greats through some never-before-revealed nuggets of Python brilliance: what John Cleese offered to exchange for suntan lotion; Terry Jones directing in drag; Michael Palin's secret to playing revolutionaries and peasants; Graham Chapman gets naked; Terry Gilliam gets filthy; Eric Idle haggles; the secret of the Thespo-Squat; Mrs. Pilate; talk of George Harrison; the cake-flinging that jeopardized the production; badminton, impromptu cricket, and erotic frescoes; and the first-ever presentation of "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life." Here, uncensored, are the legendary Pythons in their prime. It was a period of comedy history that will never be duplicated, and Monty Python's Tunisian Holiday captures the wit, the genius, and the sheer silliness of the six men that comprised Python.
Monty's Highlanders: 51st Highland Division in the Second World War
by Patrick DelaforceThe 51st Highland Division was the most famous infantry division that fought with the British Army in WW2. It was the only infantry division in the armies of the British Empire that accompanied Monty from during Alamein to BerlinAfter the 1940 disaster at St Valry when many were killed or captured, the re-formed 51st were a superlative division, brilliantly inspired and led. The Highway Decorators (after their famous HD cypher) fought with consummate success through North Africa and Tunisia and from Normandy into the heart of Germany. Blooded at Alamein where they suffered over 2000 casualties they pursued the Afrika Korps via Tripoli and Tunis fighting fierce battles along the way. They lost 1,500 men helping to liberate Sicily. Back to the UK for the second front, the Highlanders battled their way through Normandy bocage, the break-out to the Seine, triumphal re-occupation of St Valry, and were the first troops to cross the Rhine, fighting on to Bremen and Bremerhaven. In the eleven months fighting in NW Europe in 1944 and 1945 the Highlanders suffered more than 9000 casualties.