Showing results by narrator "Ric Jerrom" in All Categories

Harry Leslie Smith is a great British stalwart. A survivor of the Great Depression, a Second World War veteran, a lifelong Labour supporter and a proud Yorkshire man, Harry's life has straddled two centuries. As a young man, he witnessed a country in crisis with no healthcare, no relief for the poor, and a huge economic gulf between the North and South. Now in his 90s, Harry wanders through the streets of his youth and wonders whether anything has actually changed.

For the first time in history, the navies of the world have united against a common enemy - a couple of thousand rag-tag, underfed men and boys in the western Indian Ocean. Crammed into open boats and armed with ancient AK-47s, they range up to a thousand miles from home shores in Somalia. No one knows how many die at sea. But occasionally they hit the jackpot, seizing vessels and crews to be ransomed for millions of dollars.

As one of the last remaining survivors of the Great Depression and the Second World War, I will not go gently into that good night. I want to tell you what the world looks like through my eyes, so you can help change it.... In November 2013, 91-year-old Yorkshireman, RAF veteran, and ex-carpet salesman Harry Leslie Smith’s Guardian article – "This year, I will wear a poppy for the last time" – was shared almost 60,000 times on Facebook and started a huge debate about the state of society.

Rome, 51 BC: The centurion Lucius Oppius has left the battlefields of Gaul to venture to Rome. But he is about to discover the capital of the Empire can be every bit as dangerous as its provinces. Under orders from Caesar to secure an item of intelligence that will help him become a Consul again, Oppius is manipulated into taking part in a gladiatorial contest. The soldier must not only fight his enemies in the arena however. Marcus Porcius Cato warns "Caesar’s Champion" that victory inside the arena will bring death outside of it.

Pharsalus, 48 BC: The battle will decide the fate of a civil war and empire. Caesar's forces are outnumbered, but he believes his veterans will not be outmatched. For one veteran, the centurion Lucius Oppius, the battle will be about revenge rather than glory. Oppius has vowed to avenge his father's death. His enemy is Flavius Laco - a former gladiator and an agent of Pompey the Great. Against the backdrop of one of Ancient History's most momentous battles two soldiers will wage their own personal war.

At 22, the war is over for RAF serviceman Harry Leslie Smith - author of the acclaimed Harry's Last Stand - but the battle for love and hope rages on. Stationed in occupied Hamburg, a city physically and emotionally ripped apart by Allied bombing, and determined to escape grinding poverty of his Yorkshire youth, Harry unexpectedly finds a reason to stay: a young German woman by the name of Friede.

Will knows a secret. Somewhere in the forest, behind the abbey where he lives, is a grave. And beneath the snow lies something he thought could never die.But Will is not alone in knowing the truth behind the Crowfield Curse. Hidden in the dusk, someone else is watching...A spooky, suspenseful story for older children from acclaimed author Pat Walsh, The Crowfield Curse was shortlisted for the Times Children’s Fiction Competition.

DI Mark Tartaglia spends a night in a west London hotel with a woman he has just met. When he is called out to the same hotel the next morning to investigate a murder, he realises it must have taken place while he was there. If things weren't already complicated enough, the investigation takes a new and horrifying turn when he recognises the young female victim.

The body of bestselling novelist Joe Logan is found dumped in a disused Victorian crypt at the Brompton Cemetery. He had been tied up, shot and castrated - why? Detective Inspector Mark Tartaglia is convinced that Logan's personal life holds the key. Logan had been working on an unfinished manuscript, but all trace of it has now disappeared. Could it hold a vital clue? Then the body of a second man is discovered in an old boathouse on the Thames - killed in an identical fashion to Logan.

Ravenna, 50BC. Caesar’s forces stand upon the borders of Gaul and Italy. The prospect of a civil war grows ever likelier each day. But for the veteran soldier Lucius Oppius, this may be one conflict too far. With a new lover, he is tempted to end his long military career - and start a new life. But can any man truly be free of his past and who he is? In Rome, Cicero attempts to secure a peace. Against him, a powerful faction in the Senate is bent upon destroying Caesar, for personal and political reasons.

Alesia, 52 BC: The besiegers have become the besieged. Caesar's army stands upon the brink of annihilation, caught between two enemy armies. Ramparts have been constructed, but they must also be defended. The centurion Lucius Oppius believes he will be part of the defence, but Caesar has other plans for the former standard bearer. Oppius is ordered to venture north of Alesia to capture Vercingetorix's war chest of gold.

These 25 new stories mark Graham Swift's return to the short form after seven acclaimed novels and confirm him as a master storyteller. They unite into a richly peopled vision of a country that is both a crucible of history and a maze of contemporary confusions.

The Franco-Prussian War started in 1870 when Otto von Bismarck engineered a war with the French Second Empire under Napoleon III, as part of his plan to unite Prussia with the southern German states as a new Germany. Stephen Badsey examines the build-up, battles, and impact of the war, which was an overwhelming Prussian victory with massive consequences.

Myshkin was born on a certain day and died on a certain day - and some things happened to him in between. These things presented him with ethical questions, and this book is a record of his attempt to answer those questions. Discovered by his son after Myshkin's death, A Good Life is one man's reckoning with the life he has led and the choices he made. It is at once a philosophical handbook for living and a pause-resisting narrative.

History in the House looks at the temperaments, ideas, imagination, prejudices, intentions and influence of a select and self-regulated group of men who taught modern history at Christ Church: Frederick York Powell, Arthur Hassall, Keith Feiling, J. C. Masterman, Roy Harrod, Patrick Gordon Walker, and Hugh Trevor-Roper (a Victorian radical, a staunch legitimist of the protestant settlement, a conservative, a Whig, a Keynesian, a socialist, and a contrarian).

Everyone has a motive.... When Aubrey Merryhill has a car accident and ends up in a coma, the running of his company passes into the capable hands of his trusted assistant. But when the routine police investigation suggests an attempted murder, there are several potential suspects: an ambitious assistant, a disgruntled wife, a greedy landlord or perhaps a revenge-fuelled employee....

Mr Marble is in serious debt, desperate for money to pay his family's bills, until the combination of a wealthy relative, a bottle of cyanide, and a shovel offer him the perfect solution. In fact, his troubles are only just beginning. Slowly the Marble family becomes poisoned by guilt, and caught in an increasingly dangerous trap of secrets, fear, and blackmail. Then, in a final twist of the knife, Mrs Marble ensures that retribution comes in the most unexpected of ways....

Juggling all the tasks and resources you need to make a project run smoothly can seem like an onerous task—from engaging with stakeholders and scoping out the full specification of the project, through to keeping a rein on costs and sticking to schedules. Manage Projects Successfully offers calm and practical advice to help you with setting priorities, communicating with others, monitoring progress and dealing with unexpected events.

While it's sometimes said that a little stress is good for you, too much can damage your health, jeopardise your performance at work and affect your relationships. With the rise of remote and hybrid working, such issues are only becoming more common and it's too easy to feel worn down and exhausted by stress and worry. Deal with Stress will help you to identify and understand the causes of stress, recognise the symptoms and find the right answers to put you back in control.

The essential guide for working in diverse teams and across cultures today. This practical self-help guide will optimise the performance of individuals and teams working in an intercultural environment. By increasing awareness of the nature and impact of diversity in the workplace and national cultural differences, it demonstrates how to use the power of difference to achieve positive results for all. Learn how to mitigate unconscious bias to create inclusive organisations and how to use key cultural dimensions to communicate and cooperate in intercultural teams.