5 books found
Volume 1 of 3. Originally published in 1849, this work gives details of “the life and services of every living officer in ‘Her Majesty's Navy” who was serving or had retired by 1845 – nearly 5,000 officers in all. Generally acknowledged as the most comprehensive work of its kind, it was a considerable undertaking for one man to piece together such detailed biographies. This information was compiled from official records and from details supplied by the officers themselves. The service details found on every page reflect the centuries-old naval traditions of devotion to duty and great bravery in the face of danger. They also provide information on the many naval actions that were fought at the end of the eighteenth and first half of nineteenth centuries. Coincidentally, the original publication took place during the year of issue of what is now referred to as the Naval General Service Medal. In 1847 Queen Victoria authorised this award to be struck to record the services of naval officers and men who took part in various actions between 1793 and 1815, later extended to 1840. The award was limited to those who were alive at the time of the announcement. Over 200 Naval actions were commemorated on clasps to this medal; details of these and a considerable number of other engagements are to be found throughout this volume. Over the century and a half since its publication, this work has established itself as an essential reference work for naval historians and for a wider section of the public who are in search of their naval ancestry.
Since his rise to fame in the television series 21 Jump Street in 1987 and his subsequent transition to film acting, Johnny Depp has received constant criticism for his choice of roles--at least until his popular turn in the Pirates of the Caribbean series. This book aims to reveal the ways in which Depp's choices of film roles, though often considered eccentric, allowed him to develop into the representative film actor of his time. It organizes all of Depp's films chronologically, narrating in the process his transition from underestimated teenage pretty boy to bona fide Hollywood hotshot. Along the way, the book addresses Depp's relationship to earlier film actors, especially to Marlon Brando and the silent comics; the influence of Depp's androgynous sexuality on both his choice of roles and his acting; and his relationships with directors Terry Gilliam and Tim Burton.