Results narrated by "Mark Rice-Oxley" in All categories

Stefan Zweig was born on the 28th November 1881 in Vienna, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and into a wealthy Jewish family with interests in banking and textiles. Zweig first published in 1900 and two decades later was a popular and highly regarded author in many parts of the world, although not in England. He was also the librettist with Richard Strauss of two operas and a keen collector of autographed musical manuscripts. His collection of over two hundred pieces was later donated to the British Library.

Do you want to plan fast, effectively, and stress-free? You can finish your planning in less time and produce awesome lesson activities that your students will love. Written by an experienced teacher trainer, manager, and education blogger, Lesson Planning for Language Teachers will show you: a simple, four step planning process that works for every lesson, how to write laser-targeted goals in 30 seconds flat, how to set a context that motivates your students, how to know which lesson structure to use to avoid confusion and chaos, and much more!

The tantalising brief of a secret government project from the Cold War era. But, it can’t be real, can it? Toby Steele is a typical night shift tech support guy, working alone, mostly in peace, until something strange happens on the night of the 22nd of February, 2022. At 22:22:22—One moment that changes his life, forever. How will he deal with the new skills he’s acquired, and what do they mean for his future? What secrets has a one-hundred-year-old lady in a care home kept from the world for more than half a century?

Throughout the long centuries of human history is the want, and the need, to share information, to exchange ideas and for that knowledge and experience, for curiosity and learning, to be the basis of a civil society. In this volume we offer up a small selection of talents from the literary landscape of 1800 to 1849 and its male authors whose time has now come again.

Life in a Martian colony can be tough for a 12-year-old! You can’t just go outside to hang out because, well, you’d suffocate and die. Elliot lives a regular Martian life. He goes to school, plays football, and tries to avoid the mean kids. But he never gets to leave the colony buildings. That is, until he goes on a science trip where he makes a discovery that could change the course of humanity forever: a strange doorway in a volcanic cave! Who put it there? What’s on the other side?

Guy de Maupassant is justly revered as one of the strongest proponents of the short story. The miniature gems he created are woven from the many worlds and strata of society that surrounded him. From feuds and revenge to tales of avarice and friendship de Maupassant is the master of all and second to none.

Johann Christoph Friedrich Schiller was born on 10th November 1759, in Marbach, Württemberg, the sole son of six children, into a very religious family. Although primarily admired for his plays Schiller also wrote histories, poetry and some notable translations. In his short story ‘The Criminal from Lost Honour’ the layers of a man’s life are examined as perhaps only Schiller and his literary genius can.

As a writer Zola wrote numerous short stories, essays, plays and novels. When ‘La Confession de Claude’ was published and received the attention of the police Hachette fired him. He continued to write and after his first major novel, ‘Thérèse Raquin’ (1867), Zola started the series called ‘Les Rougon-Macquart’, a carefully planned twenty-volume history of a single family under the reign of Napoléon III.

Hector Hugh Munro, more familiarly known by his pen-name ‘Saki’, was born in what was then Akyab in British Burma on 18th December 1870. His father was an Inspector General for the Indian Imperial Police, and his mother the daughter of a Rear Admiral. After a stint working in Burma with the Indian Imperial Police, Saki decided to move to London to make a living as a writer. Initially he wrote as a journalist for a number of newspapers and magazines before attempting an historical study, ‘The Rise of the Russian Empire’, whose real value lay in directing him to writing short stories instead.

Edward George Earle Bulwer-Lytton was born on the 25th May 1803 the youngest of three sons. In 1828 his novel, ‘Pelham’, brought him an income, together with commercial and critical success. He followed these with a string of applauded works across several genres: historical fiction, mystery, romance, the occult, science fiction and poetry.

Richard Garnett C.B. was born on the 27th February 1835. Educated in Bloomsbury he then joined the nearby British Museum as an assistant librarian in 1851, shortly after his father’s death. As an author he wrote several volumes of verse, a book of short stories and several biographies and history books.

Dorothy Kathleen Broster was born on 2nd September 1877 at Devon Lodge in Grassendale Park, Garston, Liverpool. Her novels, mainly historical fiction, peaked in popularity with ‘The Flight of the Heron’, in 1925, a best-seller followed up by two sequels. As well as poetry and various articles she also wrote several short stories, the best known of which is a classic of weird fiction ‘The Couching at the Door’ in which an artist appears to be haunted by a mysterious entity.

Richard Garnett C.B. was born on the 27th February 1835. Educated in Bloomsbury he then joined the nearby British Museum as an assistant librarian in 1851, shortly after his father’s death. As an author he wrote several volumes of verse, a book of short stories and several biographies and history books.

Móric Jókay de Ásva was born on the 18th February 1825 in Komárom, then in the Kingdom of Hungary but now part of Slovakia. Due to his timid and delicate constitution he was educated at home until the age of 10 and then sent away to complete his studies at the Calvinist college at Pápa. At 12 his father died, and he was pushed to honour him by replicating his career as a lawyer. He studied hard and completed the curriculum at Kecskemét and Pest. He won his first case as a newly graduated lawyer.

Móric Jókay de Ásva was born on the 18th February 1825 in Komárom, then in the Kingdom of Hungary but now part of Slovakia. Due to his timid and delicate constitution he was educated at home until the age of 10 and then sent away to complete his studies at the Calvinist college at Pápa. He found a career in law to be dull and, encouraged by the positive reaction to his first play, he moved to Pest in 1845. There he published, first in a newspaper, and then as a novel ‘Hétköznapok’ (‘Working Days’). It was acclaimed as a masterpiece.

Convicted criminal Simms finds himself imprisoned not behind bars, but within the confines of an alien technology so advanced, it’s indistinguishable from reality. Trapped on a deserted island, Simms thought he had found paradise. But little did he know, he was actually imprisoned on Mars in a simulated world created by the Vehni. As he struggles to survive and unravel the island’s mysteries, Simms must also face a journey of self-discovery and transformation.

With Simms locked away in a mind prison, after his attempt to hijack the Vehni ship in orbit, Elliot, Mei, and Dimitri embark on a new mission: a trip to Earth. Thanks to a groundbreaking Vehni medical process, humans from Mars can now withstand the harsh gravity of Earth without feeling like they are being crushed. When the three friends are framed for a UFO attack and thrown into a web of age-old extraterrestrial secrets, they must fight for their survival—and the fate of Earth.

Welcome to Twin Brothers Mountains, nestled in the highlands of the Isle. This is a saga of two families who arrive on the Isle and earn citizenship. They become landowners on the Twin Brothers Mountains. The story follows their adventures and misadventures in today's world. Tom Langley arrives on the Isle before his eighteenth birthday.

In this Italian set story two Englishmen fall into problems over their love for a coquettish Genoese girl. When she turns both their lives upside down horrendous consequences inevitably follow.

The world since earliest times has always had spies. Information is a valuable commodity and even more so in times of war or tension. Many authors and poets have had real life incarnations as spies from Christopher Marlowe and Aphra Behn to Daniel Defoe. But it’s a dangerous game. Working in a murky, secretive world where any trust given could be at the expense of your life.