When Science Goes Wrong (48 page)

SO THAT’S WHY THEY CALL IT GREAT BRITAIN

by Steve Pope

In this quirky new book, Steve Pope reveals the stories behind some of the world's most remarkable inventions and discoveries - and all of them are British.

Presented in an easy to read A-Z  format, So That's Why They Call It Great Britain is quite simply crammed full of fascinating facts.

For example, did you know we gave the world chocolate bars, fizzy drinks, the flushing loo, computers and the iPod ?

We also came up with the cash machine, safari parks, the collapsible umbrella, the light bulb and text messaging.

Of course there were more serious inventions too like ibuprofen, anaesthetics, innoculations and antibiotics. We unlocked the DNA code, produced the world's first test tube baby and invented ultrasound.

Trains, planes and automobiles revolutionised the way we travel and our advancements with computer technology gave everyone the world wide web.

Not bad for a country which covers less than half of one per cent of the earth’s land mass.

Our agricultural and industrial revolutions changed the way the world ate and worked, our legal and political system has been copied across the globe, our explorers discovered new lands and our language is spoken everywhere.

Most of the world’s major sports originated here and the television set that they are watched on was also invented by a Brit.

And we lead the world in one other thing: self-deprecation. This book shows – without boasting, and with tons of humour, unknown facts and weird stories – just why our country is called GREAT Britain

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PICKING UP THE BRASS

The 80s! The Army! The Madness

by Eddy Nugent

It's 1985, The Smiths are in the charts and Maggie Thatcher is in No10. Eddy Nugent's in Manchester, he's 16 and he's slowly going out of his mind with boredom. So what does he do? He joins the British Army.

Overnight, he leaves the relative sanity of civvie street and falls headlong into the lunatic parallel universe of basic training: a life of press ups, boot polish and drill.

Gradually, he finds his feet and settles down to life as a soldier. There's still plenty of press ups, boot polish and drill to occupy him, but he finds time for beer, girls and other bad behaviour.

Andy McNab he isn't.

Picking Up The Brass is a hilarious, riotous and FHM-approved look at life as a young recruit.

About the author:

'Eddy Nugent' is the nom de plume of two soldiers, Ian Deacon and Charlie Bell. Closely based on their own experiences, it's a must-read for anyone who has served, anyone who is planning to join up or anyone who's ever thought, 'Surely not every soldier in the Army is trained to kill people with a toothpick?'

'Hilarious'

The Big Issue

Laugh Out Loud Funny

Soldier Magazine

EDDY NUGENT AND THE MAP OF AFRICA

by Eddy Nugent

''For the first time in my young military career, those recruitment posters showing lads windsurfing and relaxing on the beach swam into my mind s eye without a trace of irony.''

Young soldier Eddy Nugent can't believe his luck. It's 1991, and he's been posted to tropical Belize - where he works seven hours a week and spends the rest of his time drinking, swimming in the Caribbean and getting to know the local ladies.

It's all a far cry from the rainy Manchester streets where he grew up. But it can't last, and before long Eddy is catapulted over to Germany, where the British Army and a few battered Land Rovers are all that stands between the mighty Soviet Union and world domination...

The hilarious sequel to Picking Up The Brass.

WATCHING MEN BURN

A Soldier’s Story

by Tony McNally

Gunner Tony McNally had a vital job in the Falklands - as a Rapier missile operator, his job was to protect the British ships and men from air attack by the fearless and desperate Argentinian pilots. His war went well - until June 8, 1982. McNally and his Rapier system were dug in on the hillside overlooking Bluff Cove, guarding the Sir Galahad troop ship as it sat waiting to offload hundreds of soldiers. Suddenly, enemy fighter-bombers screamed into the bay... and McNally's system failed. He watched, helpless, as bombs rained down on the defenceless ship.

Fifty men of the Welsh Guards lost their lives and many others - famously including Simon Weston - were horribly burned. McNally's life changed in that moment.

He left the army after the war and - though he re-enlisted and even volunteered for two tours of Northern Ireland - he was riddled by guilt and plagued by nightmares and flashbacks of that awful day.

Watching Men Burn is his gripping, moving and funny story of army life and the dreadful reality of warfare and its effects on the survivors.

With a foreword by Simon Weston.

CURSE OF THE Al DULAIMI HOTEL…

And Other Half-truths From Baghdad

by Colin Freeman

Colin Freeman is a tabloid hack, wasting his life hanging around outside the houses of minor celebrities. His job is soul-destroying and his personal life isn't much better. So he jacks it all in and goes to Iraq - as Britain's most amateur war correspondent. Against the odds, Freeman finds his feet and reveals a slice of Iraq unlike any other (getting shot in the backside along the way) and delivers a hilarious and insightful travelogue from the edges of modern journalism.