A Life Adventure: in the Air, on the Road and Behind a Camera
Author: Jim Richards
Publisher: CreateSpace
ISBN:
Category: Biography & Autobiography
Page: 398
View: 710
'I never saw the wires.' Those succinct opening words introduce a potentially-deadly sailplane crash, from which, by a twist of fate, the author escapes unharmed. From that near-death experience to the final poignant farewell scene, Jim Richards' first-person story, with its audacious choices, unswerving determination, and joy in the doing is a non-stop page-turner.With vivid descriptions, optimism and wry humor the author traces his lifelong fascination with aircraft, taking the reader behind the scenes in radio, advertising and on high-action commercial film shoots involving refueling tankers, jet fighters, helicopters, Concorde and, of course, sailplanes. For the author, learning to fly sailplanes at Narromine, New South Wales, was at first befuddling, then a challenge, finally an exultation. With an unrivaled eye for detail, he takes us into the cockpit with him; we are there at the controls, rising like a bird, flying great distances at speed, powered only by the sun. Richly textured with anecdotes, memorable characters and pulse-quickening action, The Road To Narromine will lift your spirits, re-awaken belief in a glass half full and change forever the way you view a summer sky.“Loved the descriptions of flying and the sheer joy of it comes through beautifully. Jim Richards makes me want to get up there in the thermals with him.” Carl Hoffman—best-selling author of The Lunatic Express and Hunting Warbirds“The Road To Narromine is a love story—a story about a love of flying, told with infectious enthusiasm, in brilliant, evocative prose. This is a book that delights, surprises and enchants the reader with its subject's flame for life.” Clinton Smith—award-winning author of The God Game, The Fourth Eye, Exit Alpha, Deep Six and Project Thunder“ . . . truly captures the beauty and mystery of silent flight. Full of inside details, vast panoramas and human interest . . . about much more than just the flying. I want to drive that road!” Tony Koester—author, columnist, editor, sailplane pilot, flying instructor.
An Australian version of Huckleberry Finn As it follows the life of a barefooot, bucktoothed brat as he grew up on the banks of the Chinamans Lagoon. Enjoying the freedom of life in the bush with all the attendant humor and heartache of a lifestyle that no longer exists in our modern world.
The 1980s was a time of significant social, political and cultural change. In Australia law was pivotal to these changes. The two High Court cases that this book explores- Koowarta v Bjelke-Petersen in 1982 and the Tasmanian Dams case in 1983- are famous legally as they marked a decisive reckoning by the Court with both international law and federal constitutionalism. Yet these cases also offer a significant marker of Australia in the 1980s: a shift to a different form of political engagement, nationally and internationally, on complex questions about race, and the environment. This book brings these cases together for the first time. It does so to explore not only the legal legacy and relationship between Koowarta and Tasmanian Dams, but also to reflect on how Australians experience their law in time and place, and why those experiences might require more than the usual legal records. The authors include significant figures in Australian public life, some of whom were key participants in the cases, as well as established and respected scholars in law, history, Indigenous and environmental studies. The book offers a combination of personal recollections of the cases- the drama of how they were brought before the courts and decided- as well as a consideration of the cases’ ongoing significance in Australian life. This book was previously published as two special issues in the Griffith Law Review.
A childhood spent living in NSW around 1900. Working in the outback and on the railways. A chequered war service in Light Railway Operating Companies. Deserting in 1919 and starting a new life in Manchester working for Armstrong Whitworths. Becoming works manager for General Gas Appliances in Audenshaw. War production including complete landing craft.Retirement as a grocer and farmer in Yorkshire. This is an unusual biography because he had many secrets whilst alive which the author has teased out by research. Despite all this he is still loved by his family. A very human story of a good man. Fully illustrated
In 1985 Jacqueline Kent was content with her life. She had a satisfying career as a freelance book editor, and was emerging as a writer. Living and working alone, she relished her independence. But then she met Kenneth Cook, author of the Australian classic Wake in Fright, and they fell in love. With bewildering speed Jacqueline found herself in alien territory: with a man almost twenty years older, whose life experience could not have been more different from her own. She had to come to terms with complicated finances and expectations, and to negotiate relationships with Ken’s children, four people almost her own age. But with this man of contradictions – funny and sad, headstrong and tender – she found real and sustaining companionship. Their life together was often joyful, sometimes enraging, always exciting – until one devastating evening. But, as Jacqueline discovered, even when a story is over that doesn’t mean it has come to an end.