Under One Gosport Roof

Literature & Fiction

Gary, David

Humor & Satire

Chaplin Books

HMS Ganges Days: From Nozzer to Dabtoe in 386 Days

Biographies & Memoirs

Broadbent, Peter

Leaders & Notable People

Mrs Handbag and the Magic Seed

Maskell, Clair

Walking around Lee-on-the-Solent provides tantalising glimpses into its past - whether it's the balconied Victorian buildings in Pier Street, the Art Deco frontages above the shops in Marine Parade West, the airfield with its gliders soaring peacefully overhead, the hovercraft museum, the sight of yachts on the sparkling waters of the Solent, or the lengthy list of names on the War Memorial. And perhaps you remember, or have heard talk of, the Tower with its ballroom and cinema, the Pier Hotel in its heyday, and the outdoor swimming pool? 
But what's the real story behind the history of Lee-on-the-Solent? Whether you are a resident or a visitor, you are bound to discover something new in this fascinating account. Why would Isle of Wight monks build a windmill at Lee? Why would you have needed the help of the baker's boy if you wanted to get a train at Elmore Halt? What was on offer at Bulson's Stores and Pleasure Retreat? Why was a rainstorm so popular at the Anglican church? Why did the last two Englishmen to fight a duel choose Browndown as the venue? What made prefabs the envy of many residents? And why was a patch of grass in the wildgrounds always tended in the shape of a cross? You'll find the answer to these questions and many more in Exploring the History of Lee-on-the-Solent. 
Best of all, you'll discover why you should raise a glass to John Robinson, the Victorian entrepreneur without whom Lee-on-the-Solent would surely not exist.

Exploring the History of Lee-on-the-Solent

History

Green, John W.

Europe

When actor Will Shephard turned up at the Beverley Hills offices of Dino De Laurentiis, he expected to be interviewed for a modest role in the great man's next production. 
"My agent told me on the phone that you were looking for actors who could do animal movements, but she didn't tell me what the film was about," said Will. 
"It's King Kong," said the producer. 
"You mean a remake of the 1933 film?" 
"Yes." 
"What's the role I'm being considered for?" 
"It's Kong." 
And so began an extraordinary few months in Will's life as he joined fellow actor and make-up artist Rick Baker to become the one of the 'guys in the ape suit', striding through miniature jungles, wrestling a giant rubber snake, running amok in Manhattan and scaling the World Trade Center. Inside the suit it was fearsomely hot, the special contact lenses made him dizzy and he frequently had to insert a tube through the gorilla mask in order to breathe. 
But the illusion was perfect: audiences never knew that the highly publicized, forty-foot tall, mechanical Kong that had cost millions of dollars to develop only got a few seconds of exposure, and that on screen for the rest of the movie were Rick and Will, clad in rubber and bear-hide. 
Inside King Kong is Will's journal of his experiences on the set in 1976. This delightful, engaging and funny account is accompanied by behind-the-scenes photographs that are being published for the first time.

Inside King Kong: A Journal

Shephard, Will

Arts & Literature

I Was Rupert Murdoch's Figleaf

BULL, John

Professionals & Academics

A Victorian Somebody: The Life of George Grossmith

Arts & Photography

Stephen Wade

Performing Arts

John Sandiman is a librarian at a run-down Glasgow college full of feckless students and overseen by hopeless jobsworths. 
Fed up with his job, still mourning the cowardly way that Jessica, his ex-girlfriend, dumped him and bemoaning the apathy of the Scots, Sandiman dreams of the time when Caledonia was led by kings. 
So when Natalie, his colleague and drinking buddy, mentions something called The Book of Deer, he takes no notice. After all, there's little a librarian can do to change the world. 
Or is there? What Sandiman did not anticipate was that a fictional character from Scotland's past would come vibrantly to life, hurling him into a quest to face his own past and change his country's future. 
Spanning two millennia from the sea kingdom of Dalriada to the Scottish referendum of 1997, The Legend of John Macnab takes readers behind events they thought they knew and brings them face-to-face with a forgotten icon more splendid than the Stone of Destiny.

The Legend of John Macnab

Christie, James

British & Irish

Felix Wild: A Foundling on Board HMS Warrior

When Penelope Gordon was headhunted to go and work in Doha, Qatar, her sole experience of the Middle East had been a brief luxury break in Dubai. Her husband Lionel, a much-travelled naval officer, was more blas about the move, but neither was quite prepared for the experience that followed. Penelope left her NHS job at Queen Alexandra Hospital in Portsmouth to head up medical leadership and education in a state-of-the-art set of hospitals in Qatar a country, she discovered, where there were no maps, where everyone drove their cars rather like theyd drive camels (fast and wildly), where many of her female staff were completely swathed in black with only their eyes visible, and where no-one expected to have to do something when there was a servant to do it for them, even if it was only pressing the start button on the coffee machine. In this captivating and amusing memoir, Penelope shows how she managed to find the humour in dealing with a culture that was often baffling and opaque and how she not only survived 800 days in Doha, but turned it into an adventure.

800 Days in Doha

Gordon, Penelope

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