Playing the Moldovans at Tennis - Tony Hawks

INTRODUCTION Having read all of Danny Wallace's books and been amused if slightly appalled at his childish challenges, I was recommended the works of Tony Hawks by Ms Larsbaby. It seems that Mr Hawks is also famed for his silly challenges and could be seen as something of an inspiration for people like Wallace & Dave Gorman who also like to indulge their egos in ostensibly pointless bets. Moldova was a part of the Soviet Union and has been an independent country since 1992. It's a landlocked country in Eastern Europe located between Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east and south. With little previous experience to go on I was keen to find out ...  Read the complete review

INTRODUCTION When hubby borrowed the three Tony Hawks books from the library, I wasn’t very interested. While being mildly impressed that one of the singers of ‘Stutter Rap’ could also write books(!), I classed this kind of subject matter as ‘not my kind of thing’. I had filed Tony Hawks away with Bill Bryson. Travelogues were not for me. But when hubby began reading Playing The Moldovans At Tennis, I found my linguistic services were needed. Moldova is a former Soviet republic between Romania and the Ukraine, so names mentioned were either Romanian or Russian in origin. I had studied Russian at University (just before ...  Read the complete review

Tony Hawks is mad. Completely mad. As a March Hare. No, scrap that. He's as mad as a hare at any time of the year. This is the man who upon hearing the words- "I hereby bet Tony Hawks the sum of One Hundred Pounds that he cannot hitch hike round the circumference of Ireland, with a fridge, within one calendar month."…. promptly went and did it, and within the time limit too. For a few short weeks the people of Ireland christened Tony their 'Fridge Man' and he won his futile bet. Okay, so the combined cost of a small fridge a return ticket to Ireland had cost him more than his winnings, but a victory was won for mindless ...  Read the complete review

It's true what they say, travel does broaden the mind. Before we took flight around the world my reading habits consisted of a daily browse of the TV guide and the occasional NME. Backpackers, like students, have more time on their hands than they know what to do with (despite the fact that one of the wonders of the world is next door to the hostel!). With disposable free time you've got to be creative in finding things to do. More often than not there is volumes of reading material at your disposal. You could say that travel writing is the easy option for the lazy author. You don't have to think, just write about what you see or ...  Read the complete review

Did you know that it was the mother of Mike Nesmith (the one from The Monkees who wore the woolly hat) who invented correction fluid? Or that the actress Hedy Lamarr invented a secret communication system which helped the Allies defeat the Germans in the Second World War? You see, women have great ideas. Men on the other hand have crazy ideas. Take, for example, Sir Clive Sinclair and his little C5 electric vehicle. Apparently we were all going to be driving them. When it was discovered that, actually, no one wanted to buzz along at a pace somewhere trailing behind snail they died a rapid death. Like I said, men have crazy ideas. Tony Hawkes has plenty of crazy ideas. As ...  Read the complete review