Cover picture – an unknown
musician, whose natural
elegance, and casual
comfort with his guitar
signify a love of music
and the stories music
can tell …
Love Me Tender
The stories behind the world’s favourite songs
Max Cryer
Some of the world’s best-loved songs have had remarkable origins. Had Robert Burns not heard an old man sing a quavering version of an ancient Scottish country song, we would never have had ‘Auld Lang Syne’. Miss Jane Ross wrote down the tune she heard played by a piper at an Irish village fair in 1855. Had she not done so, the rest of the world would not have heard ‘Danny Boy’. Marie Antoinette heard a peasant nurse sing an obscure lullaby to her princely son. The empress’s unexpected promotion of the song resulted in its now being listed by The Guinness Book of Records as one of the three most familiar songs in the world.
Sit back and enjoy the ride while Graham Hutchins takes you on a journey of discovery around New Zealand.
Starting in the deep south with the steam-driven Kingston Flyer and the historic Taieri Gorge Railway, he describes a dozen unique rail journeys, ending up at Auckland’s 21st-century Britomart Station. He joins tourists from around the world on the celebrated TranzAlpine Express, travels the major TranzCoastal and Overlander lines, and explores a number of shorter trips en route, including the special Art Deco excursion train to Napier.
Hutchins’ narrative is always lively and entertaining — a personal travelogue in which he describes the main features of the landscape while enjoying conversations with fellow-travellers he meets along the way.
With more and more people finding themselves still single in their thirties, there is a huge demand for this book! Women are now more independent and financially secure than ever before — they no longer feel the need for a man to ‘look after them’. But this focus on their career means they’re often too busy or not interested in finding a soul mate until the body clock starts ticking!
In her compelling memoir, The Girl with the Cardboard Port, Judith McNeil shared the incredible story of her life in the turbulent world of Singapore and Malaya during the 1960s. Now, in No One’s Child, Judith takes you on a journey back to her childhood — as a ‘railway brat’, growing up in small towns along the tracks while her father worked on the lines.
The First World War Diary of Brigadier-General Herbert Hart
ed. John Crawford
When Herbert Hart left his home town of Carterton in 1914 to serve as a major with the New Zealand Expeditionary Force, he could not have imagined that he would return as a much decorated brigadier-general. His rise to leadership was swift, as he commanded the Wellington Battalion during the closing stages of the Gallipoli campaign, then went on to serve as a battalion and brigade commander on the Western Front between 1916 and 1918. read more >>
