13-year old Ryan doesn’t want to visit his grandparents. He’s not interested in old people. Old people are boring! He wants to play computer games. His best friend Ashraf misses his grandparents—they’re in Egypt, and he lives in England now. So he goes to visit Ryan’s grandparents. Both Ashraf and Albert, Ryan’s grandfather, love football. Soon Ashraf agrees to be the coach of Albert’s new football team, Grandad’s Eleven. Ryan feels like he is losing his friend. Ashraf can’t understand why Ryan won’t help him with the team. And Albert? He’s worried about the game next week. Grandad’s Eleven has only ten players! Grandad’s Eleven is a short story for readers who like sports, friends, family… and surprises.
In 2013 he decided to tell his life story, hoping that someone may someday want to read it. It is an insightful look back to the world of yesterday, and deals with subjects ranging from school discipline, family feuds and office politics, to the joys of children and grandchildren, the loss of loved ones, and the perils of caravanning in Europe. The story is told in the frank and forthright manner you would expect from a true Yorkshireman, full of honesty, self deprecation and dark humour. It also shows that an ordinary man can have an extraordinary tale to tell.
Albert Fenn and his friends are all over sixty years old, and they all want to play football. With their young Egyptian friend they start Grandad's Eleven! This is their success story. Suitable for Adult Literacy and ESL. Elementary Level.
Autobiographies are usually the preserve of celebrities or politicians - those who were born great, achieved greatness or had greatness thrust upon them. Patrick Behan falls into none of the above categories. In the 87 years he spent on this planet, he lived an ordinary life, seldom straying from his native Dublin. He was not a witness to momentous events - he simply got on with his life and raised his family as best he could. A popular fallacy is that an ordinary life is, by extension, uninteresting. In this random sequence of tales and reminiscences, we are led through a life full of fascinating memories, combined with recollections of a local history that is fast fading from human memory. Whether it is driving the turf by horse and cart into Dublin city centre, or watching film star Tom Mix ride a white horse up James' Street in full cowboy regalia, the reader is treated to a slice of Dublin life, as seen from the point of view of one of its ordinary citizens.
Shaye and Grandad must solve a Mystery. Something so incredible it would blow your mind. What lies in wait for the two Adventurers only time will tell? When Shaye woke on what seemed like any other normal day he never expected even in his wildest dreams to be searching for hidden treasure. Or, to be stuck in a dark cellar with an odd smelling Zombie with false teeth and a Big wonky eye. Inside the big old creepy house, there are hidden rooms and secret passages and strange things you couldn’t imagine seeing even in the scariest films. William, Shaye’s grandad had decided to visit his oldest friends at the end of the road care home. A house once owned by Sir Edward Cranach an industrialist with a love of gold. Old Terry Chapman had found a strange little book in the library with five clues to where the gold is buried, but they are not alone in this quest, someone is watching them. Who is the shadowy figure? And can Shaye, grandad and his friends find the gold before the stranger? An Amazing fun Children's illustrated Mystery and Adventure book.
Chance encounters and life changing events are at the heart of these 19 stories. Paul believes he will never recover from the death of his wife until he meets one of her former friends. Despite his daughters' anxieties, a relationship begins to develop. The grandfather in the title story reluctantly tells his grandson how he lost an eye in the battle of the Somme. A soldier involved in the D. Day landings makes a promise to his friend. Grace, living in a residential home, struggles to separate present from past experience. All the stories in this collection draw you into the lives and emotions of those involved and make you want to keep reading. "That eye, boy . . . it tells a story." "It's staring up at me from the bottom of the glass. Through the water. I look up at him, at the empty socket the eye occupies every day. Like part of the right hand side of his head has been scooped out. t doesn't scare me. I've never known him any different."
A bombshell in the newspaper causes Veronica Tracey to scramble for a plan to deal with potential fallout. Then out of the blue, she steps into a minefield created by her Nana and her on-again off-again boyfriend Ben Reynolds. The blast radius touches all aspects of her life permanently changing the trajectory. Before Ronnie can fully process that stunner she gets word from Genesis that Ben is missing while working an intelligence gig. Finding Ben proves challenging even with her special skill set. With lies and half-truths mounting up, an illegal arms deal, incoming bad actors, and surprising revelations, life seemingly spins out of control. Concurrently, Crockett grapples with a request to shield an old friend from the CIA and FBI, presenting both a challenge and an unforeseen advantage for the team. The convergence of all factors sets fires that the team aren’t sure they can extinguish as they hurtle ever closer to the brink of world war.
“UNUSUAL AND POSSIBLY UNIQUE” - The comments of a retired Metropolitan Police Dog Sergeant who had proofread a book written by Tim Clements. Discover the extraordinary life of a dedicated police officer in this captivating memoir. Unveiling experiences never encountered by senior officers, the author’s manuscript has finally been published. For thirty years, the author served as a Constable in Kent Police, immersing himself in a diverse range of extraordinary circumstances alongside the routine demands of the job. From handling peculiar cases to engaging in day-to-day police work, he delves into a myriad of encounters that defined his career. As his grandson faces bullying, the author aims to inspire by showcasing that hard work, humour, and a thirst for learning can conquer anything. This expanded edition delves deeper into grassroots policing, revealing the satisfaction and worth found in one of the most challenging occupations. From bustling communities to solitary patrols covering vast areas, witness the author’s time in Tonbridge and Sevenoaks, culminating in his role as the community officer for the Otford area.
While this book is primarily not concerned with British imperialism or colonial history, it has been written to contribute to the study and understanding of the root cause of what led to political and liberation consciousness among Africans from the 1890s - 1950s. In this book, an African girl outlines the effects of colonialism from colonial scenarios she witnessed, and stories told to her by her charismatic, charming, cunning, hero, and Victorian grandfather named Ngosa Kabaso Shompolo Mulutula, who was recruited by Dr. David Livingstone’s entourage to help ferry the explorer’s embalmed body from Chitambo Village in Serenje district of present day Zambia where he died in May 1873 to Bagamoyo in Tanganyika (present day Tanzania) on the East Coast of Africa for shipment to United Kingdom on the Indian Ocean via Suez Canal and the Mediterranean Sea. The author states that her grandfather was a young teenager with a relentless enduring spirit for survival. It is as a result of this strong mentality in him that made him accept to undertake a six months journey of 1,500 miles on foot with other pallbearers to ensure that Dr. Livingstone’s body should be taken to sleep among his people. She also points out that her grandfather did not meet the British explorer per say as he was already dead at the time he got recruited to undertake the great epic journey across the crocodile infested swamps and rivers, while fending off dangerous animals in the thick forests of Africa to Tanganyika. It is in her belief that her grandfather and Dr. Livingstone may have met in spirit as porters carried Dr. Livingstone’s remains on their bare shoulders day and night, probably whispering to him and asking for guidance whilst in despair for directions to Tanganyika. Their belief in their beloved great doctor missionary and explorer whose corpse they were carrying was total and unquestionable hence in times of total danger, frustration and despair his African porters called out his African petty name of (Bwana Munali) ‘Big Hunter’ and asked his spirit to protect them until they arrived at Unyanyembe and later Bagamoyo on the Indian Ocean, East Coast of Africa in October 1873. Of the three senior porters, Susi, Chuma and Jacob Wainwright, and 79 other porters, only Wainright (who was most literate) was accorded the chance to escort Dr. Livingstone’s coffin to United Kingdom and witnessed Livingstone’s funeral at Westminster Abbey on 18th April 1874. It is reported that Chuma and Susi whom Livingstone rescued from a slave trader and worked for him longest were later sent for by James Young in 1874 to visit the United Kingdom three months after the funeral mainly to assist with compiling Livingstone’s last part of his expedition. The remaining 79 porters who endeavored the Great Epic Journey including Mulutula were paid off and summarily dismissed by the Acting Consul at Zanzibar Captain W.F. Prideaux who discriminated against female porters and were not paid their final wages. A warship HMS Vulture collected the corpse from Bagamoyo for delivery at Zanzibar from where the body was repacked and shipped to Aden on the first mail ship and thereafter got transferred to the P&O Liner Malwa still watched over by Wainright and, from Alexandria, also accompanied by Livingstone’s son Tom. They arrived at Southampton on 15th April, 1874. The dismissed 79 unsung heroes then embarked on a disastrous torturous return journey back home without medical facilities nor equipment for navigation as they were taken away from them at Unyanyembe by Lieutenant Verney Lovett Cameron which were not returned as he continued across Africa leaving the corpse at Bagamoyo. In his own words, Mulutula said, “Most porters died on their return trek from starvation, natural fatigue, malaria, diarrhea, snake/crocodile bites and occasional attacks from wild animals and villagers who mistook them for Arab slave traders. However, wandering through unknown territories resulted in fortune and fame to ‘Mulutula’, who for example accidentally wandered off into Mulala kingdom where he met and married the chief’s granddaughter, Lucie Mulala. Chief Mulala could not give consent to Mulutula’s first proposal to his granddaughter because he considered him as a commoner, a wandering traveler and foreigner known in the local dialect as “abena fyalo”, and a man of no fixed aboard. Unperturbed Mulutula returned after securing documents introducing him as a descendant of Chiefs and a son of a respected village headman. Armed with those documents, presents and accompanied by a number of elders as per his tribe’s tradition when seeking a woman in marriage, Mulutula headed back to Mulala Kingdom to officially ask for Lucie Mulala’s hand in marriage (traditional marriage proposal.) As a way to welcome Mulutula and his entourage into his royal family, Chief Mulala gave his new son in-law massive pieces of land. It is out of his courage, desire to prosper and fighting spirit that Mulutula later established Katobole village which resonates to the author’s mind unspeakable memories of bravery, love and true understanding of how Dr. Livingstone’s death resulted in a marriage that outlived the test of time, bringing forth off-springs who among them is the author of this book Thanks to Livingstone’s Great Epic journey in our area for without his death in our country, my grandfather would have never met and married grandma Princess Lucie Mulala. oooooOOOOOooooo
