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The Machine Gunners
''The Machine Gunners'' is a children's historical novel by Robert Westall, published by Macmillan in 1975. Set in northeastern England shortly after the Battle of Britain (February 1941), it features children who find a crashed German aircraft with a machine gun and ammunition; they build a fortress and capture and imprison a German gunner. The author also wrote a play based on the book, and others have adapted it for television and radio. A sequel, '' Fathom Five'', set two years later, was published in 1979. Westall won the annual Carnegie Medal from the Library Association, recognising the year's outstanding children's book by a British subject, and ''Machine Gunners'' was named one of the top ten Medal-winning works for the 70th anniversary celebration in 2007, selected by a panel to compose the ballot for a public election of the all-time favourite. Plot summary Set during the Second World War the story follows six children living in the fictional town of Garmouth which ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Robert Westall
Robert Atkinson Westall (7 October 1929 – 15 April 1993) was an English author and teacher known for fiction aimed at children and young people. Some of the latter cover complex, dark, and adult themes. He has been called "the dean of British war novelists". His first book, '' The Machine Gunners'', won the 1975 Carnegie Medal for the year's outstanding children's book by a British subject. It was named among the top ten Medal-winners at the 70th anniversary celebration in 2007. Westall also won a second Carnegie (no one has yet won three), a Smarties Prize, and the once-in-a-lifetime Guardian Prize. Early life and career Robert Westall was born 7 October 1929 in North Shields, Northumberland. He grew up there on Tyneside during the Second World War, which he used as the setting for many of his novels, including his own life. He earned a Bachelor's degree in Fine Art at Durham University and a post-graduate degree in Sculpture at the Slade School of Art in London in 1 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Machine Gun
A machine gun is a fully automatic, rifled autoloading firearm designed for sustained direct fire with rifle cartridges. Other automatic firearms such as automatic shotguns and automatic rifles (including assault rifles and battle rifles) are typically designed more for firing short bursts rather than continuous firepower, and are not considered true machine guns. As a class of military kinetic projectile weapon, machine guns are designed to be mainly used as infantry support weapons and generally used when attached to a bipod or tripod, a fixed mount or a heavy weapons platform for stability against recoils. Many machine guns also use belt feeding and open bolt operation, features not normally found on other infantry firearms. Machine guns can be further categorized as light machine guns, medium machine guns, heavy machine guns, general purpose machine guns and squad automatic weapons. Similar automatic firearms of caliber or more are classified as aut ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Stronghold
''The Stronghold'' is a children's historical novel by the Scottish writer Mollie Hunter, published by Hamilton in 1974. Set in the Orkney islands during the 1st century BC, the story is an imaginative reconstruction of the development of the broch, the circular stronghold design of fortifications that dot the islands. The main character is a lame young dreamer who turns his fear of the Roman slave-raiders into a strength, not only for himself, but for all the islanders. Hunter won the annual Carnegie Medal from the Library Association The Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals, since 2017 branded CILIP: The library and information association (pronounced ), is a professional body for librarians, information specialists and knowledge managers in the ..., recognising the year's best children's book by a British subject. Setting The action is set on the largest of the Orkney islands (now known as Mainland, Orkney, Mainland). At the time of the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Polka Theatre
Polka Theatre is a children’s theatre in Wimbledon, London Borough of Merton, for children aged 0– 13. The theatre contains two performance spaces - a 300-seat main auditorium and a 70-seat studio dedicated to early years performances. Polka Theatre is a producing theatre which also tours shows nationally and internationally. The building also features a creative learning studio, a garden, an outdoor playground, indoor play area, exhibition spaces and a cafe. Polka Theatre is a registered charity number 256979 and an Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisation. It is also funded by the London Borough of Merton and a number of private charitable trusts and foundations, individuals and commercial companies. History Polka Theatre started life as a puppet touring company in 1967 under the Artistic Directorship of Richard Gill. The theatre venue (formerly the Holy Trinity Halls in Wimbledon) opened on 20 November 1979 and was the UK’s first theatre venue dedicated ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Imperial War Museum
Imperial War Museums (IWM) is a British national museum organisation with branches at five locations in England, three of which are in London. Founded as the Imperial War Museum in 1917, the museum was intended to record the civil and military war effort and sacrifice of Britain and its Empire during the First World War. The museum's remit has since expanded to include all conflicts in which British or Commonwealth forces have been involved since 1914. As of 2012, the museum aims "to provide for, and to encourage, the study and understanding of the history of modern war and 'wartime experience'." Originally housed in the Crystal Palace at Sydenham Hill, the museum opened to the public in 1920. In 1924, the museum moved to space in the Imperial Institute in South Kensington, and finally in 1936, the museum acquired a permanent home that was previously the Bethlem Royal Hospital in Southwark. The outbreak of the Second World War saw the museum expand both its collections and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ivan Jones (author)
Ivan Jones is a British writer of fiction. His work includes novels, picture books, plays, poetry anthologies, television series and many adaptations for BBC Radio. He was born in Shropshire and educated at Adams Grammar School in Newport and has a first degree from Birmingham University and a master's degree from the University of Nottingham. Novels and picture books Jones' best known novels are The Ghost Hunter series, published by Scholastic and Kindle The books were adapted into three six-part series for BBC Television. The first series was broadcast in 2000, second series in 2001 and the third series in 2002. They are still being shown in the UK and in other parts of the world. One of the main characters in the series was Mrs Croker, played by Jean Marsh (who also acted in ''Upstairs Downstairs''). Will Theakston played Roddy Oliver. The ghost boy, William Povey, was played by Lee Godwin and Roddy's sister was played by Verity-Jane Dearsley. '' The Ghost Hunter'' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of Talk radio, spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasting House, London. The station controller is Mohit Bakaya. Broadcasting throughout the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands on FM broadcast band, FM, Longwave, LW and Digital Audio Broadcasting, DAB, and on BBC Sounds, it can be received in the eastern counties of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, northern France and Northern Europe. It is available on Freeview (UK), Freeview, Sky (UK & Ireland), Sky, and Virgin Media. Radio 4 currently reaches over 10 million listeners, making it the UK's second most-popular radio station after BBC Radio 2, Radio 2. BBC Radio 4 broadcasts news programmes such as ''Today (BBC Radio 4), Today'' and ''The World at One'', heralded on air by the Greenwich Ti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William Corlett
William Corlett (8 October 1938 – 16 August 2005), was an English author, best known for his quartet of children's novels, ''The Magician's House'', published between 1990 and 1992. Biography Corlett was born in Darlington, County Durham. He was educated at Fettes College, Edinburgh, then trained as an actor at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. Later in life he came out as gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late ..., and it was from his partner, Bryn Ellis, that he gained some of his inspiration for ''The Magician's House''. Corlett died at Sarlat in France. Bibliography Plays * ''Another Round'' (1963) * ''The Gentle Avalanche'' (1964) * ''Return Ticket'' (1966) Teleplay * "Barriers" (1980) * "The Red Signal", "Through a Glass Darkly", "The Fourth Man", and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Home Guard (United Kingdom)
The Home Guard (initially Local Defence Volunteers or LDV) was an armed citizen militia supporting the British Army during the Second World War. Operational from 1940 to 1944, the Home Guard had 1.5 million local volunteers otherwise ineligible for military service, such as those who were too young or too old to join the regular armed services (regular military service was restricted to those aged 18 to 41) and those in reserved occupations. Excluding those already in the armed services, the civilian police or civil defence, approximately one in five men were volunteers. Their role was to act as a secondary defence force in case of invasion by the forces of Nazi Germany. The Home Guard were to try to slow down the advance of the enemy even by a few hours to give the regular troops time to regroup. They were also to defend key communication points and factories in rear areas against possible capture by paratroops or fifth columnists. A key purpose was to maintain control of the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Luger P08 Pistol
The Pistole Parabellum—or Parabellum-Pistole (Pistol Parabellum), commonly known as just Luger or Luger P08 is a toggle-locked recoil-operated semi-automatic pistol. The Luger was produced in several models and by several nations from 1898 to 1949. The design was first patented by Georg Luger. It was meant to be an improvement of the Borchardt C-93, Borchardt C-93 pistol, and was initially produced as the ''Parabellum Automatic Pistol, Borchardt-Luger System'' by the German arms manufacturer Deutsche Waffen und Munitionsfabriken (DWM).Datig, Fred A., ''The Luger Pistol'', Gun Digest, 1957 ed., Chicago Illinois: Edward Keogh Co. Inc. (1956) pp. 164-165 The first production model was known as the ''Modell 1900 Parabellum''. It was followed by the "Marinepistole 1904" for the Imperial German Navy. The Luger was officially adopted by the Swiss military in 1900, the Imperial German Navy in 1906 and the German Army in 1908. The Luger was the standard service pistol of Switzerland ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Polish Armed Forces In The West
The Polish Armed Forces in the West () refers to the Polish military formations formed to fight alongside the Western Allies against Nazi Germany and its allies during World War II. Polish forces were also raised within Soviet territories; these were the Polish Armed Forces in the East. The formations, loyal to the Polish government-in-exile, were first formed in France and its Middle East territories following the defeat and occupation of Poland by Germany and the Soviet Union in September 1939. After the fall of France in June 1940, the formations were recreated in the United Kingdom. Making a large contribution to the war effort, the Polish Armed Forces in the West was composed of army, air and naval forces. The Poles soon became shock troops in Allied service, most notably in the Battle of Monte Cassino during the Italian Campaign, where the Polish flag was raised on the ruined abbey on 18 May 1944, as well as in the Battle of Bologna and the Battle of Ancona (bot ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Occupation Of Norway By Nazi Germany
The occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany during the Second World War began on 9 April 1940 after Operation Weserübung. Conventional armed resistance to the German invasion ended on 10 June 1940, and Nazi Germany controlled Norway until the capitulation of German forces in Europe on 8 May 1945. Throughout this period, a pro-German government named Den nasjonale regjering (English: the National Government) ruled Norway, while the Norwegian king Haakon VII and the prewar government escaped to London, where they formed a government in exile. Civil rule was effectively assumed by the '' Reichskommissariat Norwegen'' (Reich Commissariat of Norway), which acted in collaboration with the pro-German puppet government. This period of military occupation is, in Norway, referred to as the "war years", "occupation period" or simply "the war". Background Having maintained its neutrality during the First World War (1914–1918), Norwegian foreign and military policy since 1933 was large ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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