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The Riddle Of The Sands
''The Riddle of the Sands: A Record of Secret Service'' is a 1903 novel by Erskine Childers. The book, which enjoyed immense popularity in the years before World War I, is an early example of the espionage novel and was extremely influential in the genre of spy fiction. It has been made into feature-length films for both cinema and television. The novel "owes a lot to the wonderful adventure novels of writers like Rider Haggard, that were a staple of Victorian Britain". It was a spy novel that "established a formula that included a mass of verifiable detail, which gave authenticity to the story – the same ploy that would be used so well by John Buchan, Ian Fleming, John le Carré and many others." All of the physical background is completely authentic – the various Frisian islands and towns named in the book actually exist and the descriptions of them accurate (often, from the author's own experience). The same is true for the various "sands" of the title – vast ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Erskine Childers (author)
Robert Erskine Childers DSC (25 June 1870 – 24 November 1922), usually known as Erskine Childers (), was an English-born Irish writer, politician, and militant. His works included the influential novel '' The Riddle of the Sands''. Starting as an ardent Unionist, he later became a supporter of Irish Republicanism and smuggled guns into Ireland in his sailing yacht '' Asgard''. He was executed by the authorities of the nascent Irish Free State during the Irish Civil War. He was the son of British Orientalist scholar Robert Caesar Childers; the cousin of Hugh Childers and Robert Barton; and the father of the fourth President of Ireland, Erskine Hamilton Childers. Early life Childers was born in Mayfair, London, in 1870. He was the second son of Robert Caesar Childers, a translator and oriental scholar from an ecclesiastical family, and Anna Mary Henrietta Barton, from an Anglo-Irish landowning family of Glendalough House, Annamoe, County Wicklow, with interests in France su ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yachting
Yachting is the use of recreational boats and ships called '' yachts'' for racing or cruising. Yachts are distinguished from working ships mainly by their leisure purpose. "Yacht" derives from the Dutch word '' jacht'' ("hunt"). With sailboats, the activity is called sailing, and with motorboats, it is called powerboating. Racing History The history of sailing dates back to prehistoric times but the racing of sailing boats is believed to have started in the Netherlands some time in the 17th century. Soon, in England, custom-built racing " yachts" began to emerge. In 1851, the Royal Yacht Squadron in Cowes challenged the American yacht ''America''. The race took place in the Solent. The ''America'' won the race and took the trophy, the America's Cup, back to the US where, held by the New York Yacht Club, it remained until 1983. The cup was then lost to the Royal Perth Yacht Club of Australia, which entered the '' Australia II'' into the contest. Meanwhile, yacht ra ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thriller (genre)
Thriller is a genre of fiction, having numerous, often overlapping subgenres. Thrillers are characterized and defined by the moods they elicit, giving viewers heightened feelings of suspense, excitement, surprise, anticipation and anxiety. Successful examples of thrillers are the films of Alfred Hitchcock. Thrillers generally keep the audience on the "edge of their seats" as the plot builds towards a climax. The cover-up of important information is a common element. Literary devices such as red herrings, plot twists, unreliable narrators, and cliffhangers are used extensively. A thriller is often a villain-driven plot, whereby they present obstacles that the protagonist must overcome. The most common genres that overlap with the thriller genre include crime, horror and detective fiction. Characteristics Writer Vladimir Nabokov, in his lectures at Cornell University, said: In an Anglo-Saxon thriller, the villain is generally punished, and the strong silent man ge ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ken Follett
Kenneth Martin Follett, (born 5 June 1949) is a British author of thrillers and historical novels who has sold more than 160 million copies of his works. Many of his books have achieved high ranking on best seller lists. For example, in the US, many reached the number-one position on the ''New York Times'' Best Seller list, including ''Triple'' (1979), '' The Key to Rebecca'' (1980), ''Lie Down with Lions'' (1985), '' A Dangerous Fortune'' (1993), '' World Without End'' (2007), '' Fall of Giants'' (2010), '' Winter of the World'' (2012), and '' Edge of Eternity'' (2014).New York Times List of Number One Best Sellers Early life and education Follett was born on 5 June 1949 in Cardiff, Wales. He was the first child of Martin Follett, a tax inspector, and Lavinia (Veenie) Follett, who went on to have two more children, Hannah and James. Barred from watching films and television by his Plymouth Brethren parents, he developed an early interest in reading but remained an indiffe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Andrew Boyle
Andrew Philip More Boyle (27 May 1919 – 22 April 1991) was a Scottish journalist and biographer. His biography of Brendan Bracken won the 1974 Whitbread Awards and his book ''The Climate of Treason'' exposed Anthony Blunt as the "Fourth Man" in the Cambridge Five Soviet spy ring. He was born in the Scottish city of Dundee, and was educated at Blairs College in Aberdeen and the University of Paris. During the Second World War he was part of Britain's military intelligence in the Far East. After the war he joined the BBC as a radio scriptwriter and producer. In 1965 he was the founding editor of the BBC Radio 4 programme ''The World At One'' which "gained a reputation as one of the best informed news programs and won an audience of four million". He also wrote the definitive biographies of Lord Trenchard, the father of the Royal Air Force and Erskine Childers, Irish Nationalist and author. Bibliography * * * * * * * Boyle left uncompleted biographies on John Mo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
North Sea
The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian Sea in the north. It is more than long and wide, covering . It hosts key north European shipping lanes and is a major fishery. The coast is a popular destination for recreation and tourism in bordering countries, and a rich source of energy resources, including wind and wave power. The North Sea has featured prominently in geopolitical and military affairs, particularly in Northern Europe, from the Middle Ages to the modern era. It was also important globally through the power northern Europeans projected worldwide during much of the Middle Ages and into the modern era. The North Sea was the centre of the Vikings' rise. The Hanseatic League, the Dutch Republic, and the British each sought to gain command of the North Sea and access ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Norderney
Norderney ( nds, Nördernee) is one of the seven populated East Frisian Islands off the North Sea coast of Germany. The island is , having a total area of about and is therefore Germany's ninth-largest island. Norderney's population amounts to about 5,850 people. In 1946 Norderney gained municipal status and belongs to the Aurich "Kreis" (county). On the northern side of the island lies a long sandy beach. The neighbouring island to the east is Baltrum, which lies about 800m (half a mile) away beyond the Wichter Ee. To the west is the island of Juist, about away on the other side of the Norderneyer Seegatt. The entire eastern half of Norderney belongs to the Lower Saxon Wadden Sea National Park. Access to the park is restricted, as it is subdivided in zones of different accessibility for the protection of the wildlife. The status as a National Park also affects all types of traffic on the island, while especially car traffic is subject to strict regulations. The mai ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by Kingdom of England, English and Kingdom of Scotland, Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against Kingdom of France, France. The modern Royal Navy traces its origins to the early 16th century; the oldest of the British Armed Forces, UK's armed services, it is consequently known as the Senior Service. From the middle decades of the 17th century, and through the 18th century, the Royal Navy vied with the Dutch Navy and later with the French Navy for maritime supremacy. From the mid 18th century, it was the world's most powerful navy until the World War II, Second World War. The Royal Navy played a key part in establishing and defending the British Empire, and four Imperial fortress colonies and a string of imperial bases and coaling stations secured the Royal Navy's ability to assert naval superiority ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Imperial German Navy
The Imperial German Navy or the Imperial Navy () was the navy of the German Empire, which existed between 1871 and 1919. It grew out of the small Prussian Navy (from 1867 the North German Federal Navy), which was mainly for coast defence. Wilhelm II, German Emperor, Kaiser Wilhelm II greatly expanded the navy. The key leader was Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz, who greatly expanded the size and quality of the navy, while adopting the sea power theories of American strategist Alfred Thayer Mahan. The result was a Anglo-German naval arms race, naval arms race with Britain, as the German navy grew to become one of the greatest maritime forces in the world, second only to the Royal Navy. The German surface navy proved ineffective during the First World War; its only major engagement, the Battle of Jutland, was a draw, but it kept the surface fleet largely in port for the rest of the war. The submarine fleet was greatly expanded and threatened the British supply system during the Atlantic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Memmert
Memmert is a small East Frisian island off the northern coast of Germany, with an area of . Memmert is uninhabited, with only one house on the island for wildlife-spotting purposes. Occasionally, some guests from the neighboring islands visit Memmert for recreation. Memmert is officially a wildlife protected area. The island plays an important role in Erskine Childers's novel ''The Riddle of the Sands ''The Riddle of the Sands: A Record of Secret Service'' is a 1903 novel by Erskine Childers. The book, which enjoyed immense popularity in the years before World War I, is an early example of the espionage novel and was extremely influenti ...'' (1903). Notable people * References External links East Frisian Islands Islands of Lower Saxony Uninhabited islands of Germany {{germany-island-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
East Frisian Islands
The East Frisian Islands (German: ''Ostfriesische Inseln'', West Frisian: ''Eastfryske eilannen'', stq, Aastefräiske Ailounds) are a chain of islands in the North Sea, off the coast of East Frisia in Lower Saxony, Germany. The islands extend for some from west to east between the mouths of the Ems and Jade / Weser rivers and lie about 3.5 to 10 km offshore. Between the islands and the mainland are extensive mudflats, known locally as ''Watten'', which form part of the Wadden Sea. In front of the islands are Germany's territorial waters, which occupy a much larger area than the islands themselves. The islands, the surrounding mudflats and the territorial waters (The ''Küstenmeer vor den ostfriesischen Inseln'' nature reserve) form a close ecological relationship. The island group makes up about 5% of the Lower Saxony Wadden Sea National Park. The largest island by surface area is Borkum, located at the western end of the chain; the other six inhabited islands are from ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
German Empire
The German Empire (), Herbert Tuttle wrote in September 1881 that the term "Reich" does not literally connote an empire as has been commonly assumed by English-speaking people. The term literally denotes an empire – particularly a hereditary empire led by an emperor, although has been used in German to denote the Roman Empire because it had a weak hereditary tradition. In the case of the German Empire, the official name was , which is properly translated as "German Empire" because the official position of head of state in the constitution of the German Empire was officially a " presidency" of a confederation of German states led by the King of Prussia who would assume "the title of German Emperor" as referring to the German people, but was not emperor of Germany as in an emperor of a state. –The German Empire" ''Harper's New Monthly Magazine''. vol. 63, issue 376, pp. 591–603; here p. 593. also referred to as Imperial Germany, the Second Reich, as well as simply Germa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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