The biography I read to research this post was Imran Khan by Ivo Tennant which is an excellent book. Imran is one of the greatest cricketeers of all time and was a brilliant all rounder. He was a fast bowler and was born in Pakistan. I think cricket tends to be played by countries in the Commonwealth and it’s a shame other countries don’t seem to play it as it’s a great game. My home town Kidderminster has a very good local side and has several players in the county side, Worcestershire. Imran played for Sussex & then Worcestershire. Sussex were a struggling side and he was just an up and coming player when he played for them. He also played for Pakistan and was captain for more than a decade. Pakistan was only second to the West Indies under his captaincy. He made many controversial decisions whilst captain of Pakistan and doing the job was like wading through a minefield. He just missed an undergraduate place at Cambridge but went to Oxford instead which is the same university Benazir Bhutto went to. He claims his faith is a more important gift than his sporting ability and is a devout muslim. He has dated some beautiful women like Susannah Constantine but these days keeps quite a low profile. He has been offered a place in government but seems unlikely to take it. He does help raise funds for charity but these days lives quietly on an estate in Pakistan.

I am reviewing the novel Headhunters by Jo Nesbo which is an excellent thriller and which I bought from a carboot sale. This is a standalone thriller and the proceeds from the book and the film rights go to charity. The plot is there is a corporate headhunter who is also an art thief. He uses the interviews as an excuse to find out if potential clients have any expensive art and what security arrangements they make and then steals it. Anyway one particular client is having an affair with his partner and has a picture worth millions so he decides to steal it. This particular client is a bit of a gangster and wants to kill him. His partner plants a tracer device on him that he can’t get rid of and the art owner is trying to find him so he can run his lorry into him or shoot him. His partner gets murdered. He hides the painting in the roof of his car where no one will look. One thing that does come up in the story is that the client who is dutch was in the army and posted in Suriname where he was captured and horribly tortured. In one scene also the headhunter called Roger has to hide in a cesspit with a toilet roll for a snorkel. There is a satisfying ending rather than a happy one and there is lots of twists and turns. Also the book was made into a norwegian language film fairly recently. It is available on dvd and blu ray.

The book I read to research this post was Grass Farming by DW Morris et al which is an excellent book which I bought from a carboot sale. This book is a bit of a classic on the subject of sheep and cattle farming. The main thing this book is about is making the most of the available grass because modern farming is about being efficient. Dairy farming is the most productive of the 3 types of farming covered but to make it pay each cow must produce 4,500 litres of milk per year. This means they must have good quality grass and feed and must enjoy eating it. At one time they would grow grass one year and alternate that with italian ryegrass and kale. Modern thinking is to grow grass all the time with a small amount of land set aside for any additional crops which will be fed as part of their winterfeed. This helps make the grass more drought resistant, improves soil structure, helps the grass be more disease resistant and also you can grow more grass. It has to have fertilizer regularly. They normally have 1 bull and sell the male calves for veal. Even a small farms needs at least 100-150 cows. Often a farm that size will have only 2 people working it. If you have ewes you need approximately 10 times as many as cows for a given size of land. Sileage which is fed in winter must be protected from rain and should be stored in either a dutch barn or water tight silo. The rain can wash a lot of the nutrients out of it. You should also grow a reasonable amount of clover with the grass and should keep the weeds to a minimum.

I am reviewing the novel 8th Confession by James Patterson et al which is an excellent thriller. This book is part of the womens murder club series which is apparently the most successful series of thrillers of the last 10 years. In this installment someone is murdering the famous and wealthy and strangely they appear to have peaceful expressions on their faces as if they didn’t see it coming. I will tell you it involves a krait which is a snake. The other crime running in parrallel is Bagman Jesus who was a preacher and homeless person and has been murdered. Also he’s a bit of an mdma dealer. Also Yuki is trying to prosecute a case involving a murderess who looks set to walk free and have the case declared a mistrial. It isn’t helped by the hotshot lawyer who is doing the case for the publicity it will give his firm. Also Cindy the reporter is going out with Lindsays boss. Lindsay in the meantime has been asked by her partner if she will marry him. Lindsay is the tough cop with the heart of gold who is dealing with the 2 lots of murder cases. There is happy outcomes to all this. I did read this book when it was first published  and recently bought it again from a carboot sale and thought it would be good to do a blog on it.

The book I read to research this post was The History of the Police in America by Samuel Walker 2nd edition which is an excellent book. The first police force in the world was the peelers brought in by Sir Robert Peel in London & of course at one point he was the prime minister. Prior to the police force people were expected to fend for themselves although in a town there would often be a shire reeve later shortened to sheriff and he could call on the general public for help. The american were originally based on the english model and many of the immigrants were from Britain. In out of the way places they would often have a sheriff. In the cities however they would have a police force. The police didn’t adopt guns until the late 19th century & even in Brooklyn which was a separate city with a population of 500,000 the police were unarmed until 1880. In europe the police are very centralised with in most cases one agency that all the police work for. America in contrast has a decentralised police force with many agencies and the police in one place are usually independent of the police elsewhere. One thing the police in America also have is publicly elected members working for the police often including the sheriff. There has been controversy about this because some people the police discriminate against minorities and try to please the majority. Obviously in some cases this is true. In Britain recently we have had elections for police commisioners but the police mostly are independent of the government although they have still had problems.

I am reviewing the film Paul which is very funny & an excellent film. It stars & is written by Simon Pegg & Nick Frost who are probably most famous for Shaun of the Dead. In addition it also stars Jason Bateman, Kristen Wiig, Bill Hader, Seth Rogen & Sigourney Weaver. The plot is 2 brits attend a comic book convention & visit Area 51 in Nevada famous for its UFOs & pick up an alien hitch hiker who has to get home & they are pursued by the FBI in the process. Of course this area is also the bible belt & Kristen who plays a born again christian with one eye who gets healed by the alien & inadvertently gets kidnapped by the 2 brits whilst being pursued by her overbearing father who carries a shot gun. The title Paul refers to the name they know the alien by who is voiced by Seth Rogen & done with CGI graphics. They apparently wanted character actors rather than comedy actors to play the FBI so as to make it more realistic. I watched this on blu ray & there is an excellent commentary on there. Another bit of trivia is at the comic book convention is at the beginning when they at the comic book convention & Nick buys a sword alledgedly based on a sword used in the Star Wars movies they originally wanted it to be the sword used in Blade but weren’t allowed to. There is a happy ending to this film & Sigourney gives a great but brief performance as a baddie after the alien. In fact all the cast are pretty good.

The book I read to research this post was A History of Kidderminster by Nigel Gilbert which is an excellent book. I grew up in Kidderminster, Worcestershire, England & this book is the first history of this town in over a century. I currently live in Birmingham. Around the time of William the Conqueror, the doomsday book lists several villages in the area that would go to make up Kidderminster & the Wyre Forest district. At that time the population had been ravaged by the wars with the Welsh, Scots & French where many citizens of the area had fought and died. The income from the area had plummeted. The population would be ravaged again when the black death swept the country and half the population were wiped out. King Charles the 1st gave Kidderminster a town charter. In the 19th century there would be an epidemic of cholera that would finally make the council realise decent sanitation was needed. For over 2 centuries it was the centre of carpet manufacture in England. Kiddy started out as a cloth producer and when they applied these skills to making carpet at first it was hung on walls or draped on furniture. The looms were only 4 1/2 ft wide & Brintons decided to invest in a 15 ft wide one & also a gourdes knot maker that made look just like indian & persian rugs. All this revolutionised carpet manufacture in the area. More recently the factories in the centre of town having given way to shopping centres. Some buildings that should have been preserved have been demolished but the mood now appears to be to preserve what they can. Also there was a lot of controversy over the local hospital being downgraded & a new hospital being built at Worcester. The catchment area for Kidderminster was big and patients faced quite a long ambulance ride to Worcester 15 miles away. An independent MP was voted in which helped things but sadly he lost his seat at the last election. There was also controversy over proposals to build a huge incinerator on an old sugar refinery site but now they’re building a housing estate there.

I have become a new seller on Amazon.co.uk & am selling stuff under the name David Roberts Technology. I haven’t any ratings from satisfied customers yet but I am the cheapest on the site for these items.

A light chaser controls disco lights & this item is sold in Maplin for £25.00

Light Chaser CT4003M £16.00 + p+p £4.39 this item is new.

Book secondhand A History of Kidderminster by Nigel Gilbert £8.00 + p+p £2.80

 Book secondhand  Windows Server 2008 Networking & Network Access Protection £12.00 + p+p £2.80

Training DVD/ROM Total Training Dreamweaver 8 £15.00 + p+p £4.07 – secondhand dvd/rom

Secondhand book Digital Home Technology Integrator All in One Exam Guide 2nd edition £14.00 + p+p £2.80

Secondhand blu ray Kylie Minogue – Kylie X 2008 region free £4.00 + p+p £1.26

Secondhand blu ray Shakira – Oral Fixation Tour blu ray + cd region free £3.00 + p+p £1.26

Secondhand book British Airways, Its Aircraft, History & Liveries £8.00 + p+p £2.80

Secondhand DVDs Swedish Series with subtitles Wallander films 8-13 £18.00 + £1.26

Secondhand DVDs Exile BBC series £5.10 + £1.26

Incidently I am only posting in the UK. As I sell more stuff I’ll list it on this blog.

I am reviewing the autobiography Between The Lines by Victoria Pendleton which is excellent. Victoria won gold medals for cycling at the last 2 olympics. She’s british and was regarded as our best chance of a gold medal at the last one. At the London Olympics despite breaking the world record she got disqualified in a qualifying round in the team pursuit because she and Jess her partner overtook each other at the wrong point. She still won the single events but for Jess her Olympics was over. She was very young and not at her peak and while Victoria has now retired, Jess is considered a prospect at later Olympics. Victoria was very thin as a child and had a hard time convincing anyone she could be a top cyclist. A lot of people told her to try the endurance events because traditionally sprint cyclists are very muscular. She also craved attention from her dad who would go on long cycle rides with her brother and would only take her along sometimes. Her mum didn’t like the idea of her cycling on a velodrome as a child because it was dangerous. Whilst training as a professional cyclist she also did a honours degree in Sports Science. This helped no end in her training. As a child she was very self conscious of how thin she was and it’s interesting that nowadays she often appears in mens magazine and has even done some nude shots. Currently she wants to become a catwalk model and has stopped weight training & has been losing weight in a bid to do this.

The thriller novel I am reviewing in this post is Back Spin by Harlan Coben which is excellent & which I bought from a secondhand bookstore. This is part of the Myron Bolitar series of novels which are about a sports agent who solves crimes for celebrity sportspeople. Nowadays he tends to do standalone thrillers. In this installment he has to solve a kidnapping of a child belonging to a couple who are professional golfers. The lady is very successful and one of the top players in the world. The husband by contrast once squandered a huge lead in a top tournament but is the complete opposite although in just the last couple of days is doing well once again in a tournament. Without telling you too much the husband is unhappy in the current relationship which has marred his performance in golf in the past. He now has a relationship on the side which is helping his performance. Obviously the kidnapping is related to this and the kidnapper wants money, lots of it. There is a happy ending. It also keeps your interest throughout & is one the better entries in this series.