In the tradition of Dava Sobel's Longitude comes sailing expert David Barrie's compelling and dramatic tale of invention and discovery—an eloquent elegy to one of the most important navigational instruments ever created, and the daring mariners who used it to explore, conquer, and map the world.Since its invention in 1759, a mariner's most prized possession has been the sextant. A navigation tool that measures the angle between a celestial object and the horizon, the sextant allowe...

With 2014 marking the tercentenary of the Longitude Act, this eloquent celebration of the sextant tells the story of this elegant instrument and explores its vital role in man’s attempts to map the world.This is the story of an instrument that changed the world. In prose as crisp as the book’s subject, David Barrie tells how and why the sextant was invented; how offshore navigators depended on it for their lives in wild and dangerous seas until the advent of GPS – and the sextant’s...

When they visit their Uncle Vince, little do Bridget and her younger brother Robert know that today will be a day like no other as they join him in hair-raising escapades, travelling across infinite space and thousands of years, accompanied by Leonardo, their uncle's Irish wolfhound, the coolest dog in the universe! During this adventure of a lifetime, they soon discover how dangerous life can be in other centuries, and when they become separated from their time machine, the time traveller...

THE SUNDAY TIMES NATURE BOOK OF THE YEAR'A compelling investigation of navigation in the animal kingdom.' Mail on Sunday'David Barrie, who himself has sailed the oceans using a sextant, is passionate about navigation and describes in delightful detail the myriad ways in which animals get around ... eye-opening book.' Frans de Waal, New York Times'Only a sailor could relate the navi...

A book about animal navigation - how creatures, great and small, find their way and how brilliantly they manage without benefit of maps or instruments - and what lessons there are for human beings.In Incredible Journeys, award-winning author David Barrie takes us on a tour of the cutting-edge science of animal navigation, where breakthroughs are allowing scientists to unravel, for the first time, how animals as various as butterflies, birds, crustaceans, f...

David Barry’s autobiography spans almost five decades of theatre, film and television experience. As a 14-year-old he toured Europe with Sir Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh, in one of the most prestigious post-war theatre tours. Vivien Leigh took a shine to him and he saw both sides of her complex character first hand. One minute she was sweetness and light, and the next she became a screaming harridan as she publicly berated Sir Laurence. In his early twenties, he starred as Frankie Abb...

"Just astonishing . . . Our natural navigational capacities are no match for those of the supernavigators in this eye-opening book."—Frans de Waal, The New York Times Book ReviewPublisher's note: Supernavigators was published in the UK under the title Incredible Journeys.Animals plainly know where they're going, but how they know has remained a stubborn mystery—until now. Supernavigators is a globe-trotting voyage...

Sie müssen ohne GPS auskommen und finden doch ans Ziel, ob schwimmend, fliegend oder krabbelnd – Fische und Vögel, Insekten und Meeressäuger auf dem Weg zu Partnern, Nahrung oder ihren Winterquartieren. Die navigatorischen Meisterleistungen der Tiere stellen die Forschung vor Rätsel: Ameisen und Bienen, die mithilfe von Lichtmustern navigieren, Meeresschildkröten und Langusten, die sich am Erdmagnetfeld orientieren, und Wale, die über Tausende von Meilen einen geraden Kurs beibehalten. Fun...

First broadcast in 1968, Please Sir! is generally considered to hold a firm place in the distinguished ranks of the greatest British sitcoms. David Barry - known to millions as mummy's boy Frankie Abbott - was a fan favourite, appearing in all three series as well as both the 1971 feature film and spin-off TV show The Fenn Street Gang. In this entertaining and expertly-written memoir, David tells the whole story, from his own audition all the way through to what the gang are doing today. A...

Originally published in 1985, and available for the first time in paperback, Bondmen & Rebels provides a pioneering study of slave resistance in the Americas. Using the large-scale Antigua slave conspiracy of 1736 as a window into that society, David Barry Gaspar explores the deeper interactive character of the relation between slave resistance and white control.

Do you love cinema and want to know more about its history? Are you a film fan looking for an informative yet light-hearted review of the last one hundred and thirty years of the silver screen? If so, you've found what you're looking for! In this book, TV and movie star David Barry takes us on a journey through the history of cinema, from the silent movies at the time of the birth of the industry all the way up to today's CGI-fuelled blockbusters. The author guides us through this huge sub...

After decades of theatrical ventures and performing together, 1957 would be the last time Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh would work together, with a European tour and London season of Shakespeare's seldom-performed Titus Andronicus. Strangely, not much has been written about one of the most prestigious touring theatre productions of all time, which visited six European capitals and became the first British Shakespearean company to perform beyond the Iron Curtain at the height of the Col...