It's Humphrey Time.

Advantages: Lovely pictures
Disadvantages: Too gentle for slightly older toddlers.

...***Background*** My final Christmas book review is one about a charming elephant called Humphrey. He was created by Sally Hunter and there are a number of books written about him. Humphrey is part of a large elephant family and he is only 3 but has lots of fun with his big sister Lottie who is 5. You can find lots more about these lovely characters at www.humphreys-corner.com. The designs have been turned into cards, soft toys and they also appear on children's clothes and bedding sets. ***The Story*** The book starts, "Humphrey and Lottie love Christmastime?watching the soft, floaty snow." As we go through the book we see Humphrey and his sister Lottie getting ready for Christmas. They help lick out the bowl after their mummy has made the Christmas cake and we see them opening the last door on their advent...

belfin 24.01.2007 · Read review
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Review of Humphrey's Christmas - Sally Hunter

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

The Third World War by Humphrey Hawksley

Advantages: superb post iraq thriller
Disadvantages: none

...The Third World war is thriller written by BBC news broadcaster Humphrey Hawksley. It is set in the immediate future, with Iraq and the war on terror still very much the current issues of the time. The book begins dramatically with an attack on the Indian Parliament by muslim terrorists. The Indian Prime Minister Vasant Metha finds himself helping to fight off the attack alongside his daughter Meenashki. A few days later the President of Pakistan is assassinated which serves as the trigger for a series of uprisings by Muslim extremists in East Asia. Meanwhile a US military base in Japan is hit by a North Korean missile and a sample of the smallpox vaccine disappears from a laboratory in Russia. All these events initially seem unconnected but the American and British intelligence services soon discover chilling links between...

Soundsexciting 27.12.2005 · Read review
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Review of The Third World War - Humphrey Hawksley

Bogart at his best

Advantages: Superb dramatisation of the book
Disadvantages: None

...of the same name by Dashiell Hammett. Although this is not the only film of The Maltese Falcon that has been made, it is, as far as I and many a film buff is concerned, the definitive version, with Humphrey Bogart giving his arguably best performance ever. As Sam Spade, Bogart is a character of several layers. At first glance, he is as unpleasant as some of the criminals he chases - he sleeps with his partner's wife and is apparently unconcerned when his partner dies - but as the film progresses, his good side emerges - despite his cynical nature, he does care for people and will go out of his way to ensure that right prevails. As a fictional character, Sam Spade is a real challenge for any actor, yet Bogart accepts the challenge and runs with it, resulting in a five star performance that knocks the socks off the excellent performances by his co...

sunmeilan 10.11.2007 · Read review
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Review of The Maltese Falcon (DVD)

Hush a Bye Baby

Advantages: provides stimulation for babies, helps develop skills, soothing
Disadvantages: expensive, musical tune is too short

...My Son sleeps in a cot bed and I purchased a musical cot mobile to provide stimulation and interaction whilst he is lying down, as well as helping him to develop his skills and to occupy him. Musical cot mobiles can encourage baby?s hand to eye co-ordination and refine motor skills. They are usually very colourful and the moving toys encourage baby?s eyes to focus. My Son has never been a good sleeper and I am lucky if he has two 30 minute naps a day. I wind up the mobile just before he has a nap, so that he associates the music with ?nap time? and he has a little play which helps tire him out a little before he sleeps. Humphrey?s Corner is a range designed exclusively for Mothercare by Sally Hunter. The Baby Jack and Daisy Musical Cot Mobile is suitable from birth and co-ordinates with the Humphrey?s Corner bedding range...

sweetdaisy 14.04.2009 · Read review
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Review of Humphrey's Corner Jack and Daisy Mobile

'I told you I was ill.' on his headstone

Advantages: A biased account of the life of this Irish comic genius and lunatic!
Disadvantages: Perhaps too revealing and not to everyone's taste.

...In writing this review I am keenly aware that Spike Milligan may not appeal to everyone as an icon of British comedy. I only became interested in him through his improbable wartime memoirs, his various books of comic verse and his insane novels, Puckoon and the Looney. My curiosity was heightened by his TV appearances on talk shows in his later years, here it appeared was a true eccentric with a genuine twinkle in his eye. Then when Humphrey Carpenter produced a biography of Milligan I just had to read it. After all, he had done such a fine job with JRR Tolkien and other English stalwarts. Spike (Terence Alan) Milligan KBE was born in Ahmednegar, India on the 16th April 1918, the son of Irish born Leo Milligan, an officer in the British Army. Apparently Leo was quite a colourful character who often dressed up as a cowboy and did...

britum2000 14.09.2006 (18.09.2006) · Read review
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Review of Spike Milligan - Humphrey Carpenter

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

Goon But Not Forgotten

Advantages: Good for those interested in Milligan
Disadvantages: Not for the casual reader

...The biographer as protagonist? I had read reviews claiming Humphrey Carpenter?s style was too intrusive in this biography of the late Goon Spike Milligan and I can see where that came from. I do not feel a biography of a comedian should be funny, at least there will be bits where you appreciate the subject?s comic genius but there is no need for the biographer to quip and jest and join in the fun. However shortly after I finished reading this Humphrey Carpenter gave up the ghost so I will not criticise him any further. To be fair he had written a number of very good biographies, the ones about Auden, Britten and Tolkien probably being the best I have read. So, to Spike?s biography. Spike Milligan achieved fame for his work with ?The Goons? a pioneering team (Peter Sellers, Harry Secombe and briefly Michael Bentine) on radio who...

JoePoirot 15.03.2005 · Read review
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Review of Spike Milligan - Humphrey Carpenter

Sir Humphrey tells it like it is

Advantages: see text
Disadvantages: none

...To me, Sir Nigel Hawthorne always came across as an unassuming, even self-deprecating, thoroughly decent man, without a trace of pretension. He was also one of my favourite actors of the last twenty years or so. And I’m happy to say that this memoir, written while he was fighting the cancer which killed him, does nothing to counteract that picture of an extremely likeable person. Born in England in 1929, he and the family emigrated to South Africa when he was small. Having got the acting bug during his schooldays, he realised that the only way he could further his ambitions of making it his career was to make the journey home again. After years of struggling with minor roles, occasionally on TV but mainly on the stage, he landed the role of Sir Humphrey Appleby in ‘Yes Minister’ and ‘Yes Prime Minister...

JOHNV 11.10.2002 · Read review
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Review of Straight Face - Nigel Hawthorne