Tales from the Coast
()
Currently unavailable
Currently unavailable
About this ebook
In Tales From The Coast by Alex Askaroff, Alex brings England’s history vividly back to life. His tales are by the men and women who are keepers of memory. As you travel the roads and lanes of Sussex with author Alex Askaroff, wonders and delights unfold. You’ll meet the grown up Nuria, the girl in the Salvador Dali painting asleep under a rosebush cuddled with Dali’s pet lynx, and visit the mill pond haunted by Vivian Leigh’s ghost. You’ll stand on the ground where Harold fell and William the Conqueror, by strength and luck and cunning, claimed a country. You’ll be welcomed by Cockney royalty, and entertained by the Eastbourne tailors who sewed maternity dresses for Queen Elizabeth II. Veterans and farmers, hops pickers and mill-workers, all of them are revealed as extraordinary “ordinary” folk in this compilation of true stories from the English coast.
Alex Askaroff
I was born in the latter half of the 1950's in the busy bomb-blitzed seaside town of Eastbourne on the South Coast of England. Rubble still lay in places from the 11,000 or so buildings damaged by German planes. I grew up in the manufacturing trade surrounded by sewing machines. My mother was a skilled Viennese seamstress with a wonderful design ability. She invented and patented such things as the Raincape that simply pulled over a pushchair to keep the baby dry in the rain and the Top‘n’Tail, a changing-mat that baby could not roll off, with pouches at the bottom for such as talc and nappy-rash cream. My dad was born in Moscow on the first official day of the Russian revolution in October 1917, not a good start. His life seemed to be dramatic from then on. He was smuggled out of the country as a child. Some 30 years later, and you’d think two lifetimes of experiences, by his tales, he settled in the quaint seaside tourist resort of Eastbourne and started a manufacturing company called Simplantex. It grew to the largest of its kind in Europe and it was here that I learnt my trade that eventually led to me becoming a Master Craftsman. The stair-well walls leading to the offices at the factory were lined with patent documents for many great ideas. Ideas that were produced in their thousands every week and went to the four corners of the world—from New Zealand to Iceland. We were supplying film stars and royalty alike. Harrods would place special orders for special people and even more special babies. It was a real thrill to see Princess Diana carrying our future King in one of our hand made Palm Leaf Moses baskets. For over 30 years the names Simplantex and Premiere Baby were synonymous with the best you could buy for your baby. We would see babies wrapped in our products being carried around by the rich and famous and on television. With the rights to such toys and fabrics as Paddington Bear and Beatrix Potter almost no home was without our merchandise. My fascination with Singer started early as I had inherited the fingers of my forefathers who were watchmakers and I adored the complex mechanisms that made sewing machines work. I studied engineering at college and went to work on the factory floor. Many specialists trained me in the art of sewing machine repair and in their teachings was always Isaac Singer. As I wrote books about my work around the South East of England I started to piece together the intricate tale of Isaac and in my 10th book I bring him back from the dead, a forgotten giant who shaped the world in which we now live.
Related to Tales from the Coast
Related ebooks
Tales from the Coast Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Willow Pond: A 1950s Childhood in South East Essex Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTreasure Island Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Tabloid Secrets: The Stories Behind the Headlines at the World's Most Famous Newspaper Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPennine Childhood Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHotel Tiberias: A Tale of Two Grandfathers Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Footnotes: A Journey Round Britain in the Company of Great Writers Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Crossing: The Bestseller of 1904 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Crossing: 'The days passed. The wind grew colder'' Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMy Father's Son: The Memoir of Earl Haig Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCardigan - A Novel Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAllan Ramsay: Makar of Edinburgh Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBen o' Bill's, The Luddite Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Figure in the Cave: And Other Essays Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBen o' Bill's, the Luddite: A Yorkshire Tale Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRising Wolf the White Blackfoot Hugh Monroe's Story of his First Year on the Plains Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMy Brilliant Career/My Career Goes Bung Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5After the Dance: Selected Stories of Iain Crichton Smith Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Tinker's Leave Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Ghost Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMartin Hyde: “All I ask is a tall ship and a star to sail her by.” Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Shell of Stone Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPaint and Prejudice Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRodney Stone: "We can't command our love, but we can our actions." Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsNow Then: A Biography of Yorkshire Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe House of Souls Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Coleshanger: Recollections from an English village Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMy Brilliant Career Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOverture and Beginners Please: An Autobiography in Five Movements Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDownfall: The Helots' Tale, #1 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Historical Biographies For You
The Devil's Chessboard: Allen Dulles, the CIA, and the Rise of America's Secret Government Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Indifferent Stars Above: The Harrowing Saga of the Donner Party Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln's Killer: An Edgar Award Winner Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Book of Charlie: Wisdom from the Remarkable American Life of a 109-Year-Old Man Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Master Slave Husband Wife: An Epic Journey from Slavery to Freedom Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Vanderbilt: The Rise and Fall of an American Dynasty Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Twelve Years a Slave (Illustrated) (Two Pence books) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Gulag Archipelago: The Authorized Abridgement Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Devil and Harper Lee Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Profiles in Courage: Deluxe Modern Classic Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Moveable Feast Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Diary of Anne Frank (The Definitive Edition) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Seven Pillars of Wisdom: A Triumph Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Black Like Me: The Definitive Griffin Estate Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5King Leopold's Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Benjamin Franklin: An American Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Coreyography: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Girls of Atomic City: The Untold Story of the Women Who Helped Win World War II Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mein Kampf Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Frida Kahlo: An Illustrated Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: An American Slave Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Leonardo da Vinci Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Galileo's Daughter: A Historical Memoir of Science, Faith and Love Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Art of Community: Seven Principles for Belonging Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Shakespeare: The World as Stage Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Self Made: Inspired by the Life of Madam C.J. Walker Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Tales from the Coast
0 ratings0 reviews