First Light by Geoffrey Wellum - A Compelling & Evocative Read

Advantages: A moving, compelling and evocative personal account of a true hero.
Disadvantages: None

...INTRODUCTION We owe an immense debt of gratitude to the service men and women who have sacrificed so much to defend our freedoms, none more so than to the brave ?Few*? of the Royal Air Force (RAF) who defended our skies against the sustained waves of bombers that the Luftwaffe hurled at English cities during the Battle of Britain in the autumn of 1940. (*the phrase comes from a Winston Churchill's speech made on 20th August 1940, when he said "Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few ".) Geoffrey Wellum was one of those men, patrolling the blue skies in his Spitfire with his fellow pilots of 92 Squadron at the tender age of 19, an age where for many of us, the most important decision revolved around which pub to go to with our mates on a Friday night. He left school, at 17, to join the RAF two...

Hishyeness 06.05.2009 · Read review
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Review of First Light - Geoffrey Wellum

FREE DVDs

Advantages: Free trial, large choice, post included,new realeases
Disadvantages: see review

...I like movies and I like freebies, so when you get offered both in one swoop you?re bound to accept! I used my two week free trial with this company and remained with them for a couple of monthsbefore moving on to try many other companies free trials (and winning a new DVD player on Tesco DVD rental site on their free trial offer). I then had an email from DVDs 365 asking me to go back, and offering me a free DVD if I did so. I had just left Tesco (with my new DVD player) so I chose to go back with them. ∆◊◊ THE SERVICE THEY OFFER ∆◊◊ Basically it?s like going to a video shop and hiring films on DVD, except you don?t pay for each film you chose ? rather a monthly fee for which you can watch as many movies as you can fit in, for us this is usually around 8 a month (2 a week usually weekends...

dabmim 15.11.2004 · Read review
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Review of dvds365.com

Surprising Picture Quality - Panasonic DVD-S54

Advantages: Incredible picture quality when compared to my old non-upscaling player with a scart lead
Disadvantages: Sometimes disc drive can be really noisy when DVD's initially load.

...At first I wasn't convinced by up-scaling DVD player technology but was persuaded after reading an article in "What Hi-Fi? Sound and Vision" magazine. Unable to afford a Blu-Ray player my sister and I bought the Panasonic DVD-S54 to match our parents brand new Panasonic TX-32LZD80 LCD television as their Christmas 2008 present. Admittedly it was a slightly selfish purchase as we both live at home and wanted to watch DVDs on the big new TV ourselves! We bought the player from the electrical retailer Comet for about £100 just before Christmas so there were no discounts applied. On Christmas day when opened we found a relatively small box tightly packed with the player in polystyrene packaging. All the components such as cables, remote and manuals were well presented in their own protective plastic bags, to keep them protected. The player...

bobbacon985 12.02.2009 · Read review
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Review of Panasonic DVD-S54

When Benny met Geoffrey

Advantages: Quirky, wordy, brainy, zany
Disadvantages: Christopher Biggins

...Mark Lawson, he wants to be Geoffrey Hill (brainy poet) and Benny Hill (zany non-poet). It is not a case of pushing the Benny out, or the Geoffrey for that matter. His habitual presentation style, standing hands by his sides, speaking directly to camera in his posh RADA-trained voice, might sound forbidding. But he aims, he says, for his programmes to be as much music hall as lecture hall. He wants to be neither the breathlessly enthusiastic celeb presenter nor the earnest academic. He achieves this mainly visually. He subverts TV conventions, especially those of the worthy documentary form. So while an interviewee faces the camera, apparently speaking to him, you?ll see Meades wandering across the background of a shot. A blow-up Meades doll stands in for him on a show which explores his fear of heights. He?ll be seen peering through...

Silverback 25.09.2009 · Read review
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Review of The Jonathan Meades Collection (Box Set) (DVD)

Dark Angel

Advantages: Great story well written
Disadvantages: Too much chance and luck involved in plot

...Background: This is the second Geoffrey Archer novel I have read, the previous one being Shadow Hunter. Having now learnt the difference between Geoffrey Archer and Lord Jeffrey Archer the former Politian and writer. I saw this in my local bookshop and liked the sound off it so I decided to give it a go. About the Author: Geoffrey Archer had a successful career in the media as a National journalist before taking the plunge and becoming a writer. He was born in 1944 and since this switch he has written nine highly acclaimed novels. This is his newest thriller and was written in 2004. Synopsis of the book: The book begins in 1948, when Tom Sedley's 14 year old sister is brutally murdered in a quiet and supposedly friendly part of North London. Within a short space of time a tramp is arrested and charged with the crime...

CPTDANIELS 04.08.2008 · Read review
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Review of Dark Angel - Geoffrey Archer

Shadow Hunter

Advantages: Fascinating story, well written.
Disadvantages: Epilogue would have been good

...Background: When I picked up this book I meant to pick up a book by Jeffrey Archer. But I made a mistake and only once I had read the book and published the review for it did someone kindly point out it was Geoffrey not Jeffrey Archer I was reviewing!! About the author: Geoffrey Archer spent 25 years working for ITV before he used his knowledge and experience to write his first book. So far he was written eight best selling novels; Sky Dancer, Shadow Hunter, Eagle Trap, Scorpion Trail, Java Spider, Burma Legacy, The Lucifer Network and Fire Hawk. About the book: Philip Hitchens is a troubled and disturbed man. In the past few days he has discovered that his wife Sarah has been sleeping around while he has been away from home. His mind is clearly not on Commanding his very powerful Nuclear Submarine HMS Truculent...

CPTDANIELS 19.04.2008 · Read review
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Review of Shadowhunter - Geoffrey Archer

Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales

Advantages: First rate entertainment
Disadvantages: Not a single one!

...I do not think that we laughed so much in ages! The animated Canterbury Tales is a masterful and extremely well done re-telling of Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. The animation is better than first rate. The animations were undertaken by some of the top animators in Europe, made in Wales and Russia the production values were exceedingly good. It was almost possible to forget that they were animations, sometimes, the work was so exquisite. The Canterbury Tales were written by Geoffrey Chaucer who was a scholar, a gentleman, a diplomat and also something of a 14th century secret agent. The Canterbury Tales was not entirely finished, but must be one of the most enduring pieces of fiction ever written in England. The characters of the pilgrims who were taking part in the pilgrimage form London to Thomas a Becket's shrine in...

Martinscholes 12.10.2005 (13.10.2005) · Read review
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Review of Canterbury Tales (Animated) (DVD)

Will Geoffrey Replace His Silks For Silks?

Advantages: Yet another 'Francis' Novel to educate us . . . this time about legal processes
Disadvantages: Some similarities to other minor plot lines . . . .

...A melodic tune broke into my concentration. I pulled my Pumpkin coloured RAZR out of its case and answered the phone by flicking it open. "Hello?" . . . . . . . . "Is that Mrs James? This is Tettenhall Library. The Dick Francis book you reserved is ready for collection." . . . . . . . . "Is Wednesday okay?" . . . . . . . . . "Certainly; you can only borrow it for a fortnight, though, as it is still on the reserve list, you know!" . ~ ~ ~ ~ SILKS: ~ ~ Racing Silks and Legal Silks? ~ ~ ~ ~ This novel, the 41st of the "Dick Francis" enterprise, centres round an amateur jockey, Geoffrey Mason (known on the track as 'Perry' because his PAYING job is as a Barrister) who rides his own horse, court cases permitting, in steeplechase races reserved for amateur riders. This is his TRUE passion, having been...

jesi 01.12.2008 · Read review
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Review of Silks - Dick Francis & Felix Francis

A Journey into Literature

Advantages: English literature at its finest
Disadvantages: None

...the difficult ones. Children are not the kindest of critics and I knew full well that a book of a different kind would be running when I spoke the words of whatever passage I chose. The other pupils took bets on how many words I would fail over. When this trial was due all around were stunned to see my hand go up into the air and to hear me volunteer to be the first to perform; I had a plan! Geoffrey Chaucer and the Canterbury Tales were going to rescue me from my tormentors. I had read the book many times in a version translated into modern English by Professor Neville Coghill and always it had made me laugh out loud and I was certain that one in particular of its wonderful stories would so transfix my audience that they wouldn?t notice how poorly I delivered it to them. So it proved, the gambling was abandoned as all about me lost count...

TrueSatan 29.11.2002 · Read review
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Review of Canterbury Tales - Geoffrey Chaucer

YAMAHA DVD-S 557 this is THE DVD player of all time.

Advantages: Brilliant DVD player, perfect quality
Disadvantages: cant think of any

......

plainpaul 22.02.2009 · Read review
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Review of Yamaha DVD-S 557