Showing results by narrator "John Telfer" in All Categories

A psychopathic criminal on the run from prison. A family of five held hostage in their home. A frantic police manhunt across the snowbound Derbyshire moors. Just one survivor. The definitive account of the terrifying 1977 Pottery Cottage murders that shocked Britain. For three days, escaped prisoner Billy Hughes played macabre psychological games with Gill Moran and her family, keeping them in separate rooms of their home while secretly murdering them one by one.

This selection of essays by Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) demonstrate the varied power of his genius. Compiled from his lecture tours, newspaper articles, essays and epigrams, these writings show that beneath his trademark wit and love of paradox, Oscar Wilde was an original and remarkably modern writer.

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, unique tales inspired by traditional literary forms appeared frequently in socialist-leaning British periodicals, such as the Clarion, Labour Leader, and Social Democrat. Based on familiar genres, these stories were meant to entertain readers of all ages - and some challenged the conventional values promoted in children’s literature for the middle class. Acclaimed critic and author Michael Rosen brings together more than 40 of the best and most enduring examples of these stories in one beautiful volume.

From the vaults of the British Library comes a new anthology celebrating the best works of forgotten, never-since-republished supernatural fiction from the early 20th century. Waiting within are malevolent spirits eager to possess the living and mysterious spectral guardians - a diverse host of phantoms exhumed from the rare pages of literary magazines and newspaper serials to thrill once more.

John Telfer reads this exclusive audio adventure, set after the conclusion of Miracle Day, featuring Captain Jack Harkness. Jack Harness is in need of a holiday. He wants to get away from Torchwood, away from the human race - and where better to get completely away from it all than Cotter Paluni's World, a planet surrounded by deadly scarlet lightning and cut off from the entire universe? But there are some shocks in store for Jack....

Based on letters and documents - not seen for 70 years - written by the Catholic Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur during the Nazi occupation of Belgium, this audiobook tells the remarkable story of these brave and faithful women and how they served to resist the German forces. In great detail, these letters document the lives of the sisters and convents under the Nazi regime, detailing the hardships of bombings, hunger and the executions of innocents. But they also tell the story of how these brave and faithful women worked to defeat the Nazis.

1905. A year after 'the affair' in Dinas Powys, Thomas Bexley has become a drunkard and recluse, haunted by terrible visions of the dead. But when news of a spate of extraordinary kidnappings reaches him, Thomas is shocked to learn that his dear friend and former mentor, Professor Elijah Hawthorn, is the lead suspect. Discovering a plea for help from Hawthorn claiming to have unearthed a gruesome conspiracy at the heart of the Metropolitan Police, Thomas embarks on a journey to prove Hawthorn's innocence.

Have you ever had the desire to achieve something remarkable? Would you like to be better or do something absolutely awesome? Have you ever thought about having much more than you have right now? Are you ready to play a bigger game? Play a Bigger Game will help you smash your goals. Whether you're an individual or part of a large organisation, this practical guide to getting what you want will enable you to achieve real results, no matter what!

No other group of animals has had such a complex and lengthy relationship with humankind as birds. They have been kept in cages as pets, taught to speak and displayed as trophies. More practically, they have been used to tell the time, predict the weather, foretell marriages, provide unlikely cures for ailments, convey messages and warn of poisonous gases. When There Were Birds is a social history of Britain that charts the complex connections between people and birds, set against a background of changes in the landscape and evolving tastes, beliefs and behaviours.

Detective fiction writer Coleby is asked for his theory on a murder case that seemingly points to one conclusion. But when the facts don’t quite add up, Coleby must draw on his crime writing experience to construct a plausible narrative.

In these six stories, the Saint encounters monsters of both the human and the animal variety: unscrupulous fraudsters in Hamburg; a confrontation with a rhino; perfect murders in Paris; a temperance leader deserving to be taken down a peg or two; a thief duping tourists in Sweden; and the hunt for the most famous monster of them all on the shores of Loch Ness. You can trust the Saint to deal with anything life throws at him with charm, imagination and steely determination.

The youngest soldier who fought in the Great War is believed to have been just 12 years old. Many thousands of other boys are known to have faked eye tests, inflated their small chests and stood on tiptoes to bluff their way into a war of unforeseen horror. How and why so many under-aged boys were able to get to the battlefields is a complex mystery of World War I, and until Richard van Emden's classic account, largely unexplored.

When a group of missionaries get caught up in bloody African civil war, London is forced to act. For the men of 40 Commando, Royal Marines, it should be a quick in and out. A nice clean operation. But what awaits them will test them like never before. And, facing overwhelming odds, this time the skill and raw courage of these legendary fighting men may not be enough....

In these three stories, everyone's favourite criminal follows his nose and finds yet more trouble.In The Miracle Tea Party, an attack on Inspector Teal leads Simon to discover a packet of Miracle Tea with truly miraculous properties. In The Invisible Millionaire the Saint and Hoppy agree to meet a woman with information on a major swindle - only to find her dead.

Whether he is in Cannes, St Tropez, Nassau or Lucerne, the Saint always finds some action to interest him. In these seven stories Simon faces competition in the jewel thief business, encounters an unpleasant movie mogul, uncovers a Ponzi scheme that isn't what it seems, deals with sabotage in the world of motor racing, finds a missing body, tangles with the Russians and rescues an heiress.

In this biography of Count Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy, A. N. Wilson narrates the complex drama of the writer's life: his childhood of aristocratic privilege but emotional deprivation, his discovery of his literary genius after aimless years of gambling and womanizing, and his increasingly disastrous marriage. Wilson sweeps away the long-held belief that Tolstoy's works were the exact mirror of his life and instead traces the roots of Tolstoy's art to his relationship with God, with women, and with Russia.

Harry Tate is a loyal MI5 officer and a servant of the State. But when two civilians are shot dead during a drugs intercept gone wrong, he is forced to take an immediate posting to the Red Station. What he doesn't know is that this remote Balkan outpost is a punishment, and he won't be going home. With an assassination team coming for him and invading Russian forces heading straight for the Red Station, Harry does whatever he can to save himself. But with few allies and enemies everywhere, Harry's chances of survival shrink with each passing day....

Ancient Egypt wasn't all pyramids, sphinxes and gold sarcophagi. For your average Egyptian, life was tough, and work was hard, conducted under the burning gaze of the sun god Ra. During the course of a day in the ancient city of Thebes (modern-day Luxor), Egypt's religious capital, we meet 24 Egyptians from all strata of society - from the king to the bread-maker, the priestess to the fisherman, the soldier to the midwife - and get to know what the real Egypt was like by spending an hour in their company.

October 1604. Plague has hit London, and the theatres are closed. But the capital's loss is Plymouth's gain, when a London theatre troupe, the Company, arrive on their 'Plague Tour'. Country physician Gabriel Taverner is bewitched and unnerved by the Company's sexually charged staging of Othello. But when Gabriel's friend tells him of a dangerous whispered conversation overheard during a brief break, he is relieved the Company will soon be on their way. Then one of the actors collapses, and Gabriel finds himself caught in a waking nightmare, where nothing is as it appears.

In Closing the Vocabulary Gap, the author explores the increased demands of an academic curriculum and how closing the vocabulary gap between our "word poor" and "word rich" students could prove the vital difference between school failure and success. This must-listen book presents the case for teacher-led efforts to develop students' vocabulary and provides practical solutions for teachers across the curriculum, incorporating easy-to-use tools, resources, and classroom activities.