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The book introduces the central issues in teaching Physical Education in the secondary school. It is divided into four parts; the curriculum, improving teaching, improving learning, and the future. The book contains chapters on all key aspects of provision, including planning, teaching methods, assessment and special educational needs. Also included are chapters on areas that are often neglected, for example the place of the subject within the wider curriculum, the teaching of talented pupils, and subject leadership. ... Read more

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A different Waugh
In this book we find a different Waugh, without his acustomed piercing humour. Two biographies, one of a saint and martyr an the other of a converted priest and scholar. It's very practical finding both works together in a single volume. Campion'life is a masterpiece of hagiography. In this kind of work it's common the lacking of literary excellence. Here we have a deep investigation offered to us in the best style. The life of Ronnie Knox -in spite of some observations we can find in Christopher Syke's biography of Waugh, very interesting in fact- we can living with him, and we cannot not loving him. We are obliged to think a lot about our own spiritual life and about the problems of catholic culture in last cantury. ... Read more

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"The Evelyn Waugh who emerges from this fascinating and masterful account is a far different, and a far more complex, figure than the one most readers know."--New York Newsday. Photos. ... Read more

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A great biography
Outstandingly informative. Opens your eyes to the snob in the author - which we readers can forgive, if not for his loyal conversion to Catholicism, but for his unfailing wit he never fails to put to use. ... Read more

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Scoop is the closest thing foreign correspondents have to a bible. They swear by—and along with generations of general readers laugh at—the zany antics of reporters in fictional Ishmaelia.Few readers, however, are acquainted with Waugh’s memoir of his stint as a London Daily Mail correspondent in Abyssinia (now Ethiopia) during the Italian invasion in the 1930s. An entertaining account by a cantankerous and unenthusiastic war reporter, Waugh in Abyssinia provides a fascinating short history of Mussolini's imperial adventure as well as a wickedly witty preview of the characters and follies that figure into Waugh’s famous satire.In a new foreword, veteran foreign correspondent John Maxwell Hamilton explores how Waugh ended up in Abyssinia, which reallife events were fictionalized in Scoop, and how this memoir fits into Waugh’s overall literary career, which includes the classic Brideshead Revisited. As Hamilton explains, Waugh was the right man (a misfit), in the right place (a largely unknown country that lent itself to farcical imagination), at the right time (when the correspondents themselves were more interesting than the scraps of news they could get.)The result, Waugh in Abyssinia, is a memoir like no other.AUTHOR BIO: John Maxwell Hamilton, a longtime public radio commentator, has reported in the United States and abroad for ABC Radio, the Christian Science Monitor, and others.He is dean and Hopkins P. Breazeale LSU Foundation Professor at the Manship School of Mass Communication at Louisiana State University and the author or coauthor of five books. ... Read more

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Waugh's Book - Waugh in Abyssinia
I thought 'Waugh in Abyssinia' is one of the worst books ever written about Ethiopia by outsiders. From the content, one can easily see that Waugh was disposed favorably towards Fascist Italy and was constantly annoyed that Ethiopians did not treat him the way he was used to be treated in other colonized countries.

He himself says that he is irritated by the average Ethiopian person who thinks he is equal to anyone in the world. Even if one considers that this was written during World War II, I find it difficult to forgive this guy for thinking so blatantly in a racist manner. The book is just a reflection of his frustration. I find it difficult that European readers continue to admire this guy.

Frankly, I consider the money I spent on the book as a total waste.

Waugh was a great travel writer, but why buy this?
I agree with the other reviewer of this book that much of Evelyn Waugh's travel writing, at least in the 1930s when he was at his sharpest as a writer, was among the best in English in the twentieth century (comparable to Robert Byron and Peter Fleming), and that this title is at the top of the Waugh list.Readers should know, however, that there is a very inexpensive anthology of all of Waugh's travel writings available from amazon: Waugh Abroad (ISBN 1400040760).It is in hardcover in the Everyman series and amazon sells it new for less than $ 20.I may be overlooking something, but the anthology seems to be a far better choice:Evelyn Waugh went lots of places and wrote brilliantly about many, including but not limited to Ethiopia.

"Waugh in Abyssinia" seems a forgotten jewel
Today there are only two copies available on Amazon used books!What a great book. Only 169 pages, but a wonderful insight into the leadin to the Italian invasion of Abyssinia (not long before WWII) and thru to the early period of the consolidation of the Italian victory.
The super justly famous Evelyn Waugh created, in this book, a tremendously educational outline and insight into a whole period, and parts of it are so witty that tears of laughter were running down my face several times.

Interestingly, to me at least, the original purchaser of the copy I got evidently did so in 1986, in Nairobi. I have a feeling it is not available at your local newsstand, but if I knew how good it is and didn't already have it.. I'd sure be looking for it.
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Popular English comic novelist. Key themes: Catholicism and decline of the aristocracy. Writings include: Sword of Honour, Brideshead Revisited, Black Mischief. Volume covers the period 1926-1980. ... Read more

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Evelyn Waugh was a loving Husband, a wise and affectionate father and the funniest English novelist of the century. This selection of letters does full justice to these splendid attribute's " Phillip Toynbee. ... Read more

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The characters who appear and occasionally reappear in the novels of Evelyn Waugh form a fascinating, intricate group. They and the world they moved in came partly from Waugh's imagination, but were also often based on real-life models. In this companion to Waugh's work Iain Gale provides what it is hoped will be indispensible background information on everyone from Lady Metroland and John Beaver to William Boot, Sebastian Flyte and Charles Ryder in succinct, cross-referenced biographies. ... Read more

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'[The Brideshead Generation] has both style and substance, and is above all an enjoyable companion. It has a wildly amusing cast, here controlled by a skilful director.' Evening Standard'Jovial and entertaining, full of the sort of stories that your friends will tell you if you don't read it before them.' Independent'Carpenter has read widely and has collected an enormous fund of entertaining stories and facts.' Sunday Telegraph'Hauntingly sad and wonderfully funny and by far the best thing Humphrey Carpenter has done.' Fiona MacCarthy, The Times ... Read more

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Break Out the Dinner Jackets
Highly enjoyable book, though the contemplation of the level of seemingly effortless wit and culture, and by such young people, on display within makes one wonder what went wrong with his own development. I found Carpenter's overall tone towards Waugh a little too reverent at times. He was a fine writer and I appreciate that he was a formidable personality, but there were plenty of occasions when he was ridiculous, or nasty, where I don't feel it was necessary to continue to defer to him on the grounds of his literary genius. I always want some sense that the biographer or historian is on near equal footing with his subject in some area of active or mental life, and I never feel this with Carpenter.

Much is made sometimes of the lack of personal happiness enjoyed by many of the figures in this book, but I don't see them as any unhappier than legions of people of a similar kind of intelligence but far less visible accomplishment and consequently at least equally consuming frustrations. The circumstances of these characters and the license of their statuses and in many instances personalities as artists allowed them to indulge in their depression a little more flamboyantly that the average cubicle sap can permit himself to do, but I do not see them as inordinately unhappy compared to others so much as more elaborately developed in that direction.

I have written more on this book on my blog, bourgeoissurrender.[...]

Rereading this after 14 years - what a wonderful book!
I loved it the first time but may be enjoying it even more the second--possibly because in the interim I have read Beerbohm (Zuleika Dobson in particular; the existence of which this book made me aware), Powell's Dance to the Music of Time, and others. (In some ways this group literary biography tops Powell's work - by the end of Time, I felt a bit worn out by the multitude of characters who appeared so briefly, whereas here I feel like I get a bead on even the most minor "characters." Very much feel like I'm in the company of someone who knows his stuff--knows the best stories--has an eye for great detail and great anecdote, and an empathy (balanced by humor, or vice versa) for his subjects. And he's sitting there in a study with a ton of personal letters and memoirs and diaries spread out on the table, pointing out the best bits. Excellent writer, too. And no, I am no relation....

Serious and Amusing
This is an admirable book, well written, balanced and well researched. After a slightly hesitant start, the scene shifts to Oxford in the early twenties; it comes across as a very dissolute place, with distinct homosexual undertones. The noticeable "public school" backdrop leaves you wondering why anyone should send their child to an English boarding school (at very great expense, incidentally). But they did, and still do. However, at Oxford we are introduced to a veritable galaxy of talent, including Evelyn Waugh, the lead character in the book, Graham Greene, John Betjeman, Osbert Lancaster, Anthony Powell and others. There are some very amusing quotes and anecdotes.

But the book becomes increasingly serious, and whilst not specifically a work of literary criticism, it cites reviews and gives the background to the works of Waugh and to a lesser extent others. It also looks at the curious world of the Roman Catholic convert. At the end I felt a little sad for Waugh and some of his contemporaries. In spite of their achievements, by no means all of them seemed happy. ... Read more