Dancing on Ice – The End of an era

Dancing on Ice – The End of an era

After 9 successful years Dancing On Ice will hang up its skates at the end of the next series.

The final series will in effect feature an All Winners line up ( with a few added extras for comedy entertainment value ) – among those seeking the ultimate glory of Champion of Champions will be previous winners Ray Quinn, Hayley Tamaddon , Suzanne Shaw , Beth Tweddle , Sam Attwater and Kyran Bracken.

Other competitors include Bonnie Langford , Zaraah Abrahams , Gareth gates , David Seaman , Joe Pasquale , Gary Lucy , Jorgie Porter with Todd Carty completing the line up.

Back to grace the ice will of course be the legendary  former British , European , Olympic & World Champions, Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean. I , for one , can remember the 1984 Winter Olympics at Sarajevo when the pair became the highest scoring figure skaters of all time (for a single programme) receiving twelve perfect 6.0s and six 5.9's which included artistic impression scores of 6.0 from every judge.

We have a number of books in stock about both ice skating but more notably about this talented duo and co judge Robin Cousins and his close rival the late John Curry.

TORVILL AND DEAN

The author has been a personal friend of the couple since 1978 and it well equipped to tell the remarkable tale of two ordinary people from Nottingham, who achieved world status ad carved themselves a special niche in the British public's esteem. Winning many British , World and European championship and best of all for their portrayal of Bolero.

TORVILL AND DEAN : FIRE ON ICE

An attractive photo album of the famous  Ice Skating dancers, which includes many favourites such as Let's face The Music and Dance, Barnum and of course the haunting Bolero ,which scored them a line of perfect 6's!

SKATING FOR GOLD

A charming autobiography by British Olympic gold medallist, ice skater Robin Cousins. This is a disarmingly frank account of how a young boy who loved cartwheels and handstands became the most brilliantly daring performer ever seen on skates.

JOHN CURRY

Biography of Men's Olympic , European and World Ice Skating champion.

 

 

 

A Christmas Gift With A Difference? How About A Book Signed By the Author'?

If you are struggling to find someone that last minute present for Christmas, have you thought about buying them a book that is signed by the author?

To me there is something very special about owning books that have been signed by the author. I started to collect signed first editions some years ago. One of the first signed books that I owned was a present from my sister when I was in my mid teens. I was and still am a 'cricket lover'. At that time, one of my heroes was the late great cricketer, former captain of England and latterly Sky Sports commentator, Tony Greig. The book that was given to me was 'Tony Greig - Cricket - The Men and the Game'.

                                                                         

I still own this book and would never sell it, as the sentimental value is worth far more than the book would realise if sold. For me, there is something special about owning a book that is 'signed by author'. I feel that by simply hoding the same book that the author has held (or at least had in front of him or her, whilst signing it), I somehow have a personal connection with the person (even if was one of several hundred that they wearily signed that day).

When JK Rowlings first Harry Potter novel, 'Harry Potter and The Philosopher's Stone' was released on 30th June 1997, little did those lucky few first purchasers realise that they were in fact buying the equivalent of a valuable piece of art. I have just had a look on Ebay and there is a signed first edition of the book up for sale. (Just in case you are not sure whether your copy is one of these the all important print line reads

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

and the credit on the main publisher page is to Joanne Rowling, not JK Rowilng). The Buy It Now price on this particular item is $30,000 and you would not be paying over the odds at that price!

The reason for mentioning this, is that ever since the first 'Potter' book was published, collectors started to speculatively buy up signed first editions of the books of new authors, just in case they might be buying for £25.00 a book that might ultimately fetch many thousands. Alas the JK Rowlings of this world are few and far between. However this did not stop publishers from joining the bandwagon and a whole host of previously unheard of authors found their first novels being released in beautiful covers, often slip cased and even in limited editions runs. 

Other collectible signed books come in the form of autobiographies by some of the world's famous names in a variety of fields and again the signed 1st editions of such books are eagerly sought after by collectors. When Hilary Clinton released her autobiography 'Living History' in 2003, we were fortunate enough to buy a signed 1st Edition at £25.00 or thereabouts. We sold this some years later for several hundred pounds. 

So there are a number of reasons why people buy signed by author books. For me though, the most satisfying reason for owning a signed by author book goes back to the reason my sister bought that book of Tony Greig's for me over 35 years ago.Not only was she buying me a book by one of my heroes - the fact that it was signed by my hero made it feel that extra bit special - almost as if by owning it, I could say 'I know him - Tony Greig - he's a friend of mine!'

At Stortbooks we have over 200 'signed by author' books listed on our page at Abebooks. The authors are a mixture of novelists, people from the sporting world, politicians, famous actors, comedians, people in public life in general - and as an example of the diverse nature of the 'signed by author' books you will find amongst our stock, you will find books by, and signed by, people such as;

Former US President Jimmy Carter, the legends that are Jane Fonda and Lauren Bacall, Former Prime Minister Edward Heath, Comedian Ronnie Corbett, Val Doonican, Karren Brady the entrepreneur and of 'The Apprentice' fame, and in no particular order, Michael Atherton, Clive Lloyd, Maureen Lipman, Sue Ryder, Chris Bonnington, Dick Francis, GP Taylor, Isable Allende, Brian Close, William Boyd, Henry Cooper, Ian Botham, Mary Higgins Clark, Auberon Waugh, Geoff Boycott, Phillip Pullman, Darren Shan, Germaine Greer, Eoin Colfer, Godfrey Evans, Lindsey Davis, Howard Jacobson, Lisa St Aubin de Teran, Mark Haddon, Jilly Cooper, Nick Hornby, Louis de Berniers, Annabel Goldsmith, Sebastian Faulks, Bernard Cornwell and many others.

Many of our books are brand new signed first editions that we have bought new. These in many cases have never been read and they are in very good condition. We do not sell them as 'new' books, but in reality that is what many of them are! All of our signed books are extremely reasonably priced. 

To browse for yourself click the link Stortbooks 'Signed by Author' Collection and buy online. Alternatively simply email stortbooks@sky.com for more details or to place an order by email and we'll get straight back to you.

The Ashes are here!!

                                                                             

The First Test match between England and Australia started at Trent Bridge yesterday... and what a day it was with 14 wickets tumbling to set the series off with a bang. All five matches during the series are sell outs and with Summer looking as though it has finally arrived in the UK, the nation is looking for the England cricketers to carry on where Andy Murray in tennis and The British and Irish Lions in rugby union,  have left off.

At Stortbooks we have an extensive catalogue of cricket books from some of the finest cricket writers in the world from Agnew and Arlott to Willis, Woolmer and Warner.

Whether it be Ashes Series gone by including the fascinating Bodyline Series of 1932/1933, amateur cricket, county cricket or cricket in far flung parts, we cover it all. Why not ask us for an up to date catalogue of all our cricket books so that you can peruse at you leisure during the lunch or tea interval?

Contact us on carl@storbooks.com and will will email a catalogue by return.