Our Books: Biography & Memoir

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A Missionary Family
in Nigeria and Uganda
1936 – 1964
By
Martin Wyatt

In 1936, a bright young man from a London working class family went to Nigeria to work for the Church Missionary Society bookshop in Lagos. Two years later an intelligent and high-spirited young woman from a different part of London took up an isolated missionary post in eastern Nigeria. This couple met early in World War II, fell in love and decided to marry.
This dual biography is about a man and woman deeply in love, yet often held apart by circumstances; about wartime travel; about faith and determination; about bringing up a family in unusual circumstances; about achievement and failure; about living in a dedicated community with its problems and its humour. This is about the life led by Don and Rex Wyatt, their personal thoughts about it, the dilemmas they faced, and how they dealt with them.

Their son has put together this book to explore the realities of missionary life for these two people, their colleagues, the families they left behind and the family they brought into being. Describing it as “an attempt to understand the past”, Martin Wyatt has used the letters his parents wrote to each other, other records, his mother's memoir and his own memories.

The results of Martin Wyatt’s explorations paint a vivid picture of the time, triumphs and heartbreak of people who chose this vocation in the early Twentieth Century.

Across the Shallow Waters
The Life and Times of
a Marks & Spencer Manager
By
Reg Clark

This autobiography chonicles the life, loves and trials of a British businessman from early boyhood during World War II to retirement as a senior manager at Marks & Spencer. Surviving a tough childhood during The Blitz, Reg Clark became a happily married man with four children while rising steadily through the ranks in his chosen profession. A life of give and take, great sadness and happiness, here is an accurate glimpse of a 20th Century man coping with the stresses of marriage, a career, family life, health crises and the challenge of aging gracefully.

Whilst at times smooth and tranquil, the “shallow waters” crossed in the course of his life were often treacherous and difficult to navigate. Yet Reg did so heroically and industriously, with an inherent sense of integrity and fairness—extended even to those who wronged him.

“We make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give.” - Sir Winston Churchill

" That best portion of a good man's life, His little, nameless, unremembered acts of kindness and of love."
—William Wordsworth (1770 - 1850)


"The Writers' Workshop," an organisation itself comprised of best selling authors, pronounced Across the Shallow Waters as "enjoyable, absorbing, humorous, touching, and holding the attention throughout" —something which it could only say of very few autobiographies.

An Indian in
My Bed
By
Gylda Thomas

AN INDIAN IN MY BED is a fascinating and upfront true-life account of a 60-year-old Englishwoman’s love affair with an Indian waiter half her age. The author met him during a trip to Southern India undertaken with more spiritual objectives in mind. The book’s frankness, its romantic spirit, and the light it throws on sexual relations between middle-class western travellers and young opportunist Asian men—is not always as clear-cut as one might imagine, as witness the crucial part played in this story by the waiter’s dying mother.

One reads with increasing curiosity about what becomes of this unlikely couple. Like Jane Juska’s A Round-Heeled Woman, Gylda Thomas writes openly and sympathetically about the sort of relationship—crossing age, race, nationality and class barriers—that’s still considered taboo in some quarters.

website: www.gyldathomas.co.uk

 

-COMING SOON!-

Ruby—My Precious Gem!
By
Bernie Burgess
In Collaboration with Frank Bowles

A truly remarkable story of a young Irish girl from Belfast, Northern Ireland who took show business by storm in the mid 50s with a succession of hit records - at one time she had no less than five hits in the TOP TWENTY - all at the same time! This was a unique accomplishment, a world record, not even Madonna enjoyed that magnificent feat. Ruby Murray went on to stardom and was 'Top of the Bill' for many years throughout the UK and Ireland. RUBY - MY PRECIOUS GEM! is her story. Ruby Murray was born in 1935 in a working class area of Belfast. She had a unique singing talent, which was to take her onto the bright lights and stardom. Ruby became the darling of the nation. She eventually met and married Bernie Burgess, of the Jones Boys, during a summer season in Blackpool. They had two children Julie and Tim and lived for a while in Wootton, Northampton.

Unfortunately, far too much pressure, from all quarters, was placed on their relationship. They were divorced in the mid 70s but Bernie always maintained his love for her. RUBY - MY PRECIOUS GEM! is a biography in memory of this sweet Irish colleen who won over an Englishman's heart and will tug at your heartstrings!

This year (2006) sees the 10th anniversary of Ruby's death. A plaque will be put in place on the wall of the Ulster Hall, Belfast on March 29th. 2006. in honour of her exceptional talent and her contribution to the world of music, singing ,recording and entertainment. Her son Tim will also be travelling the UK and Ireland in a 'one man show' entitled 'A Tribute to Ruby Murray'.

 

"I would like to put the records straight once and for all! I intend to tell you the true life story and achievements of a show business personality who was so totally different to all other fellow professionals. She was unique in so many ways. I will tell how it really was, because nobody could have been closer to her than me. Why? Because I'm very proud to say - Ruby was my wife!"
— Bernie Burgess

Outside Looking In
By
Pete Mitchell
alias
Stratmaster

Life has its price, and one way or another; we will all have to pay for it. On invitation, I went to see a famous clairvoyant called, 'Madame Faye'. Her prediction of the assassination of president J.F. Kennedy brought her worldwide recognition. I was a total sceptic and we had never met before. In retrospect, everything she told me about my past was true, and what is stunning beyond belief, is the fact that all the major events in this book, were predicted in detail by 'Madame Faye' to me, at her house in the summer of 1966. The last thing she said to me was, 'you will be successful with your music, but only after a long hazardous journey, and you'll have to sacrifice everything for it.

For most musicians, it's usually a case of playing for fun. Some play professionally, and others make the 'Big time'. I take the view, that a real musician is rarer still. He doesn't play to survive - HE SURVIVES TO PLAY.

My only credentials for having this point of view are some thirty years playing on the pub and club scene and still gigging strong.

website: www.stratmaster.co.uk/

 

It is all very well "famous people" writing their biographies at the ripe old age of 22. This book deal with the aspects of a man who has lived a proper life, and worked his butt off, for little or no finacial remuneration. It shows the "fag paper" thinness between fame and fortune and being an also ran. A missed phone call, someone letting you down, or being shafted by a Mr.10%. In the ivory towers of modern wannabe fame, people like Pete Mitchell are a forgotten entity... the club/pub player. The sacrifices that these guys have made for the furthering of Live Rock & Roll has been very succinctly documented in this book. Pete has given us a "no holds barred", from the heart synopsis of his life, and for that he must be thanked and applauded.
— Bill Jessop

THE GOAL GOURMET
The Peter Kitchen Story
By
Neilson Kaufman

Doncaster Rovers and Leyton Orient as one of their greatest ever players. In more recent polls conducted by BBC’s Football Focus, FourFourTwo Magazine and other popular fanzines, he was voted as one of their best players—some of these polls taking place more than twenty years after he played for them, and is today still considered a cult hero by both sets of fans.
Born in Mexborough, South Yorkshire in 1952, Peter Kitchen attended Mexborough Grammar School and represented Yorkshire Senior Schools and England 'B' teams. He was spotted by Doncaster Rovers manager, Lawrie McMenamy, and signed up in June 1970, beating Leeds United to his signature. He made his league debut at Shrewsbury Town on 27 November 1970, scoring after just ninety seconds.


Between 1970 and 1985, Peter Kitchen went onto play for five different League clubs and scored a total of 210 senior goals from 545 appearances, even after his retirement from the professional game, he turned out for Corinthian Casuals Vets and knocked-in 280 goals from 228 appearances.
In this book about one of the greatest goal scorers from the lower divisions, author Neilson Kaufman captures the life and times of Peter Kitchen's career. The book also features many previously unpublished photographs from Peter's own collection, and there is a full statistical record on one of the great players ever to put on a Doncaster Rovers and Leyton Orient shirt.


This book is a must for the bookshelves of any football fan with an interest on the men who shaped the beautiful game and in particular for the fans of the clubs for which Peter Kitchen played.

-COMING SOON!-
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