Fergus Fleming

Describes a series of nineteenth-century British expeditions into Africa, the Arctic, and Antarctica, chronicling the adventures of explorers who ventured into some of the most perilous unknown regions of the world

Barrow's Boys

In the mid-19th century, the North Pole was a mystery. Explorers who tried to penetrate the icy wastes failed or died. After Sir John Franklin disappeared with all his men in 1845, serious efforts began to be made to find the true Northernmost point. This is a vivid and witty history of the disasters that ensued.

The Quest for the North Pole

Ninety Degrees North

Paul Dowswell

'Spies' is a collection of chilling tales from the world of espionage - from the glittering domain of Mata Hari in turn of the century Paris, to the clinical Cold War professionals of Washington and Moscow.

Spies

Enter the Celtic world of gods, goddesses, & the cosmos, where King Arthur pulled a sword from a stone. Here, with maps & historical overviews, are some of the most powerful & unforgettable Celtic stories ever told. A dramatic series that captures, culture by culture, the information that never makes it into the history books: strange stories, mystic rites, angry gods, vision quests.

Celtic Myth

Heroes of the Dawn

The witty and engaging letters of the man who created the world's most famous spy--James Bond.

Ian Fleming's James Bond Letters

The Man with the Golden Typewriter

From the author of Ninety Degrees North, a spellbinding account of how officers of the British Navy explored the world after the Napoleonic Wars. In 1816, John Barrow, second secretary to the British admiralty, launched the most ambitious program of exploration the world has ever seen. For the next thirty years, his handpicked teams of elite British naval officers scoured the globe from the Arctic to Antarctica, their mission: to fill the blanks that littered the atlases of the day. Barrow’s Boys is the spellbinding story of these adventurers, the perils they faced—including eating mice, their shoes, and even each other to survive—and the challenges they overcame on their odysseys into the unknown. Many of these expeditions are considered the greatest in history, and here they’ve been collected into one volume that captures the full sweep of Barrow’s program. “Here is all the adventure you could want, stirringly and generously told.” —Anthony Brandt, National Geographic Adventure “History at its most romantic.” —The Columbus Dispatch “A sure bet for fans of Caroline Alexander’s The Endurance, this captivating survey of England’s exploration during the nineteenth century illuminates a host of forgotten personalities.” —Publishers Weekly “Travel history of the best kind: entertaining, informed and opinionated.” —The Sunday Times

A Stirring Story of Daring, Fortitude, and Outright Lunacy

The 40 gripping accounts of the most amazing feats in the history of exploration are divided into three sections - The Age of Reconnaissance, The Age of Inquiry and the Age of Endeavour. Each section is prefaced by an essay introducing key aspects of the age in question and identifying themes that are developed in greater detail in the stories that follow.

Cassell's Tales of Endurance

On August 16, 1952, Ian Fleming wrote to his wife, Ann, "My love, This is only a tiny letter to try out my new typewriter and to see if it will write golden words since it is made of gold." He had bought the golden typewriter as a present to himself for finishing his first novel, Casino Royale. It marked in glamorous style the arrival of James Bond, agent 007, and the start of a career that saw Fleming become one the world's most celebrated thriller-writers. And he did write golden words. Before his death in 1964 he produced fourteen best-selling Bond books, two works of non-fiction and the famous children's story Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang. Fleming's output was matched by an equally energetic flow of letters. He wrote constantly, to his wife, publisher, editors, fans, friends and critics--and to the wife of the man whose name Fleming appropriated for his hero--charting 007's progress with correspondence that ranged from badgering Jonathan Cape about his quota of free copies--a coin was tossed and Fleming lost--to apologizing for having mistaken a certain brand of perfume and for equipping Bond with the wrong kind of gun. His letters also reflect his friendship with such contemporaries as Raymond Chandler, Noel Coward and Somerset Maugham. This entertaining and engaging compilation traces the arc of Fleming's literary career and details the inner working of James Bond. Set against the backdrop of his Jamaican retreat Goldeneye, and a troubled marriage, Fleming's letters are filled with wit, humor and occasional self-doubt. They reveal an intimate portrait of a man, an era and a literary phenomenon.

Annabel Merullo

Este libro, que presenta los relatos que nos han legado los protagonistas de las expediciones junto con imágenes originales, arroja luz sobre la identidad de aquellos hombres y mujeres, su modo de proceder y, ante todo, las maravillas que encontraron a su paso. Constituyen un grupo heterogéneo de científicos, navegantes ambiciosos, viajeros solitarios o grandes aventureros que, a pesar de sus diferencias en lo que respecta a sus orígenes o formación, tienen un rasgo en común: nos han legado un vívido retrato de lo desconocido. En estas páginas aparecen personajes como Alexander von Humboldt, George Lyon, John Ross, Robert Peary, Umberto Nobile, Freya Stara, Jacques Cousteau o Buzz Aldrin. El volumen, que recopila un amplio corpus de dibujos, fotografías y textos de publicaciones periódicas, junto con comentarios de expertos que sitúan en el contexto adecuado cada expedición, y un prólogo de Michael Palin, es una magnífica introducción al mundo que habitamos. Obra rigurosa, dinámica y sorprendente, nos ofrece una visión caleidoscópica de tres siglos de exploración.

relatos de aventuras y descubrimientos

La mirada del explorador

Tony Allan

Charles Phillips

From the earliest hunters and gatherers, African people have shared stories and legends about their origins and beliefs. These legendary myths have embedded themselves in the lives and culture of the African people and are represented in art, design, and music. This book explores some of these myths and legends and shows how they continue to manifest themselves in modern African culture.

African Myths and Beliefs

Full of eccentric characters, Killing Dragons is the story of the first British mountaineers to tackle the Alpine summits of Switzerland during the late eighteenth century. Originally the explorers of this area were poorly equipped, wearing ordinary shoes and no protective clothing. The British arrived intent on reaching every Alpine summit, and 'mountaineering' was born. The title refers to the mythical creatures said to inhabit these peaks: 'Here be dragons,' said the old maps ...

The Conquest Of The Alps

Killing Dragons

The critically acclaimed author of Ninety Degrees North offers a vivid account of the exploration of the Sahara that focuses on the exploits and experiences of two men--Charles de Foucauld, a one-time sensualist who abandoned his decadent lifestyle for a religious vocation, and Henri Laperrine, the founder of a legendary camel corps. Reprint.

Two Men and an Empire of Sand

The Sword and the Cross

Examines the myths and beliefs of Sub-Saharan Africa.

The Traveller's Daybook invites you to cross ocean, desert, mountain and ice-cap in the company of the world's greatest explorers, wanderers and writers... Fergus Fleming's day-by-day anthology of travel writing ranges widely across time as well as place: from Christopher Columbus's 'discovery' of the West Indies in 1492 to Anton Chekhov's journey through Siberia in the nineteenth century and on to Wilfred Thesiger's wanderings in Arabia's 'empty quarter' in the 1940s. Each quoted extract is accompanied by a brief commentary that introduces the writer and establishes the context of the excerpt. Fleming's itinerary offers both a wealth of exotic destinations, and a many-hued patchwork of moods: the astonishment of the seventeenth-century diarist John Evelyn on beholding the size of women's shoes in Venice; the stoic courage of Captain Scott facing death at forty degrees below zero; the exasperation of Dylan Thomas at finding himself in a 'stifflipped, liverish, British Guest House in puking Abadan'; and the philosophical introspection of Fridtjof Nansen as he drifts in an 'interminable and rigid world' of Arctic ice. Here you will find Napoleon's travel tips to his niece, a flight over Germany with Hitler, and an ex-pat dinner in Morocco where human blood is served from the fridge by the pint. Covering the whole calendar, including leap years, these 366 journeys are by turn lyrical, witty, tragic and bizarre - but always entertaining.

A Tour of the World in 366 Quotations

The Traveller's Daybook

Nach dem Triumph bei Trafalgar hat sich in der Royal Navy Langeweile breit gemacht. Die Offiziere warten ungeduldig auf eine Chance zu neuen Heldentaten. John Barrow, in der Admiralität zuständig für die Flotteneinsätze, gibt sie ihnen. In der Morgendämmerung der Industrialisierung lässt er Heizrohre in seinen Schiffen installieren und schickt sie ins ewige Eis. Eine Expedition nach der anderen endet im Desaster: Barrows Boys erfrieren, ertrinken, sterben an Skorbut, Schwarz- oder Gelbfieber, werden von Eingeborenen ermordet oder essen sich vor Hunger gegenseitig auf. Doch allen Strapazen zum Trotz bleiben die exzentrischen Entdecker bar aller Selbstzweifel. Auf dem schmalen Grat zwischen heldenhaftem Wagemut und schierem Wahnsinn feiern die Entdecker im Packeis den Geburtstag ihres Königs, der schon vor Monaten gestorben ist. Andere durchqueren die Sahara in voller Uniform – und stimmen angesichts feindlicher Tuareg ein beherztes "Rule Britannia" an. Am Ende sind es nicht mehr neue Kontinente, sondern die verschollenen Männer aus vorangegangenen Expeditionen, die zu finden Barrows Leute sich aufmachen. Noch nie hat ein einzelner Beamter so viel Energie und Geld investiert – und absolut nichts erreicht. Sein Handeln ist nicht nur Exempel für die Selbstüberschätzung des Menschen angesichts der Unbezwingbarkeit der Natur, sondern auch eine unglaubliche Geschichte von absurden Reisen und haarsträubenden Abenteurern, die Fergus Fleming mit schwärzestem Humor erzählt.

Eine unglaubliche Geschichte von wahrem Heldenmut und bravourösem Scheitern

The golden moments of exploration and adventure - glorious, triumphant, perilous and dramatic. In the 18th century, exploration entered a new dimension - explorers were motivated by scientific inquiry rather than greed. To this end they were expected to make a full record of everything they encountered; and for the first time in history, that record was to include pictures as well as words. Combining gripping first-hand accounts with original images, THE EXPLORER'S EYE gives an insight into who these people were and what they saw. They were a mixed bunch but, whatever their training or background, they provided a vivid portrait of the unknown. In the early days they drew their own pictures, later they were equipped with draughtsmen, later still they carried cameras, and ultimately they were accompanied by film crews. The power of their images is matched by that of their journals. Here you have Alexander von Humboldt braving the electric eels of South America and Robert Peary explaining his relationships with Eskimos.

First-hand Accounts of Adventure and Exploration

The Explorer's Eye

An account of the exploration of the Sahara focuses on the exploits of two men--Charles de Foucauld, who abandoned his decadent life for a religious vocation, and Henri Laperrine, the founder of a legendary camel corps.

Nel 1804, quando John Barrow ascende al soglio di secondo segretario dell'Ammiragliato britannico, sulle carte dei di lì a poco sudditi di Vittoria spicca ancora un numero allarmante di zone bianche. Alcune – l’Australia, e anche l’Antartide – per il momento potevano rimanere tali, ma in altre si annidavano enigmi da sciogliere quanto prima, data l'importanza strategica loro attribuita: il vero corso del Niger, ad esempio, e l’esistenza o meno di un Passaggio a nordovest. Su entrambi Barrow aveva idee spesso sbagliate, ma comunque chiare: e, soprattutto, la possibilità di realizzarle. Quindi, muovendosi dalla scrivania così di rado che in occasione del congedo i superiori, convinti che non potesse separarsene, gliene fecero dono, Barrow trascorse i quarant’anni del suo regno a montare un impressionante numero di spedizioni verso il Polo o l’Equatore. Difficilmente quelle avventure scampavano al disastro, al grottesco, o a una miscela variabile di entrambi. Eppure, ognuna contribuì alla maggior gloria del loro mandante, a tempo perso consulente del più importante editore inglese di viaggi, John Murray, quindi censore alquanto arcigno e non del tutto spassionato dei resoconti con cui i suoi ragazzi, portata a casa la pelle, speravano di arrotondare una paga piuttosto misera. La lunga, entusiasmante, divertentissima storia di caratteri leggendari come Parry, Ross e Franklin – dei loro sogni, delle loro imprese, della loro follia – è stata sempre raccontata come un'epopea. In questo libro, Fergus Fleming l’ha finalmente trasformata in ciò che, in realtà, era fin dall’inizio: una commedia nera, percorsa dalla tensione quasi smaniosa che anima tutti i suoi personaggi, protagonisti o comprimari che siano. E che da queste pagine, per contatto, si trasmette al lettore.

I ragazzi di Barrow

Whether writing of the Alps, the high seas, or the North Pole, Fergus Fleming has won acclaim as one of today's most vivid and engaging historians of adventure and exploration. The Sword and the Cross takes us to the Sahara at the end of the nineteenth century, when France had designs on a hostile wilderness dominated by deadly Tuareg nomads. Two fanatical adventurers, Charles de Foucauld and Henri Laperrine, rose to the cause of their country's national honor. Abandoning his decadent lifestyle as a sensualist and womanizer, Foucauld founded a monastic order so severe that during his lifetime it never had a membership of more than one. Yet he remained a committed imperialist and from his remote hermitage continued to assist the military. The stern career soldier Laperrine, meanwhile, founded a camel corps whose exploits became legendary. During World War I the Sahara's fragile peace crumbled. In the desert mountains Foucauld paid a tragic price for his role as imperial pawn. Laperrine, by then recalled to the Western Front, returned to avenge his friend.

- Collections of thrilling adventure stories, all based on actual life events - Ideal for reluctant readers.

Fergus Fleming

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