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A Dog is not just for Christmas...but these two could be!

I promised you some news about Rohan and India, so here it is!   The brand new book of stories about their lives at TURN Education is now av...

Saturday 28 March 2015

IT'S HERE!


Just released (28th March, 2015) the brand new compilation of 'nostalgedy' stories,




Don't just take an hour off tonight, take a whole 50 years off and come and join Philip as he takes you on a journey that takes in learning to drive, pub outings and taking to the high seas, amongst many other amusing tales.



AVAILABLE NOW - JUST 99p/99c

The fourth book in the ever popular 'nostalgedy' series of books. However, you don't need to start at Book 1 and work through to Book 4, or even start at Chapter 1 etc., you can dip in and out at will, and it will all make sense. 

Yet another collection of tales from yesterday and today, designed to bring a smile to your lips (although I can't think of anywhere else you would want a smile) and a warm glow of recollection…wherever you fancy having a warm glow, I suppose. 

Here you will find a whole bunch of 'nostalgedy' stories. For those of you new to the concept of 'nostlagedy', it's a word I've coined to describe nostalgic articles where the accent is on comedy. I thought about 'comalgia' but I decided it sounded like something you would need to rub with liniment. 

They say that strategy is something that is only obvious in hindsight (I don't know who this 'they' is, but they seem to say a lot of things) but it is certainly true of this compilation. I was casting about for an overall theme for the stories when I realised that, one way or the other, the majority are about transport. Of course, I've now decided that this was my intention all along! 

Armed with an overarching theme, the structure for the book just had to be after the style of the old Highway Code, which I remember poring over, first for my Cycling Proficiency Test and later for my Driving Test (and have never looked at it again since). Do you remember the old Highway Code? It used to have separate sections for the different road users, such as The Road User On Foot, The Road User On Two Wheels and so on. Well, if it was good enough for the Highway Code, it's definitely good enough for me. Hence this compilation is split into sections covering The Author on the Road, The Author on Rails, The Author at Sea and, finally, The Author at Large, which is a catch-all description of everything that I couldn't shoe-horn into the other three sections. 

In these sections you will experience, amongst other things; the dubious delights of flat, warm beer at 08.30 in the morning as you set off by train for Blackpool, the horrifying sight of three less than agile people crossing the M5 on foot, the three-year slog of endeavouring to learn to drive and the trials of trying to find a working cash machine in Malaga in the wee small hours. All of these stories, and many more besides, are yours for the reading. 

Amazon Universal Link:

Monday 23 March 2015

Last Chance to Win a Free Advance Copy!

There's still chance to win a FREE advance copy of 'Giving a Bull Strawberries'. Just email the name of the famous Burtonian we're looking for to mail@philwhiteland.co.uk.

Here are all the clues to date:

Born in Burton upon Trent on 1st November, 1934 as one of twins, this character actor was the son of our local District Nurse. He appeared in many of the popular TV series in the 1960s and 1970s, including The Saint and The Avengers.

His twin sister's name is Shirley. He has three children, all of whom work in broadcasting in one form or another. One of his daughters is now more famous than he is for her dramatic roles. He is probably best known for playing Albert Frazer in 24 episodes of the original 1970's Onedin Line. 

His children are Abigail and Samantha, both actresses, and Matthew, who is a film and TV journalist. Samantha is, arguably, the most famous of the three, appearing as Miss Moneypenny in the Pierce Brosnan Bond films. 

His daughter, Samantha, was also Auntie Angela in the hit comedy series 'Outnumbered' and she also played Lady Rosaumund Painswick in Downton Abbey. 


A quick trip to Google should get you the answer, I should think ;-)