Latest news with #desertisland
Daily Mail
17-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
It is a truth universally acknowledged that Lily Samson doesn't like...
What Book... ...are you reading now? I am enjoying a biography of Alfred Hitchcock – The Dark Side Of Genius, by Donald Spoto. It has taught me a lot about my favourite director and how I can learn from him to be a better writer. I was interested to discover that, aged 16, Hitchcock fell in love with reading Edgar Allan Poe, feeling that his films were comparable to Poe's novels as 'a completely unbelievable story told to the readers with such spellbinding logic that you get the impression that the same thing could happen to you tomorrow'. ..would you take to a desert island? My favourite thriller writer is Patricia Highsmith and my favourite Highsmith is The Cry Of The Owl, which I rate even more highly than her Ripley novels. Highsmith loved exploring twisted duos, her most famous being the men who make a pact to murder each other's wives in Strangers On A Train. In The Cry Of The Owl, the protagonists are a stalker and a person being stalked, but they end up reversing their roles. ...gave you the reading bug? Danny The Champion Of The World, by Roald Dahl. I grew up in a family on benefits and attended a middle-class school. I felt out of place, but a teacher there nurtured me, telling me I was going to be a published writer when I grew up, and giving my seven-year-old self hope! He introduced me to Dahl when he lent me his battered copy of Danny The Champion Of The World. The touching relationship between the book's widowed father and his son spoke to me, given that my father was ill and emotionally absent. Dahl sometimes gets misjudged for being a cruel author, there is also great tenderness in his writing. ... left you cold? PRIDE And Prejudice, by Jane Austen. I can see that Austen is a brilliant writer, that her observations – written 'with a fine brush on a little bit of ivory' – are subtle and astute. But I derive little pleasure from reading her. As a teenager, I much preferred Bronte's Wuthering Heights and its unhinged, wild, surreal spirit; the relationship between Cathy and Heathcliff stirred my soul, whilst Elizabeth and Darcy left me cold. But I'm aware that I'm in a minority here…
The Sun
06-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The Sun
‘Millionaire Castaway' David Glasheen dead at 81 after starring in Channel 5 island doc with Ben Fogle
Former millionaire David Glasheen, who moved to a desert island after losing his fortune, has died aged 81. The ex-stockbroker had been living alone on the idyllic Restoration Island, located off North East Australia, since 1997 after losing his fortune in the stock exchange crash 10 years prior. 4 4 4 4 David featured in Ben Fogle's Channel 5 documentary and showed his stripped back lifestyle. The ex-gold mining tycoon and property magnate, who at his most successful was worth an estimated £22million, lived in a wooden beach shack with only his loyal dog Polly for company. But despite having limited electricity, fresh water and facing regular battles against deadly wildlife, the bearded exile insisted he felt safe on the island in an interview a few years ago. He said: "Here there are snakes, spiders and crocodiles but it is safer here than lots of other parts of the world when you hear about terrorist attacks. "I love it here because I have my safety, no matter how old and how tough you are you still want to go to bed knowing you are not going to be attacked.' Self-sufficient David, who was born in Sydney's Northern Beaches to an Irish family, added at the time that there was nowhere he'd rather be than on his "heaven on earth" natural paradise. is your go-to destination for the best celebrity news, real-life stories, jaw-dropping pictures and must-see video.
Geek Dad
20-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Geek Dad
‘Then There Was One:' A Book Review
Who wouldn't want to read a mash-up of The Hunger Games and Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None? As the title suggests, Then There Was One leans heavily on one while borrowing a little from the other. The result? An entertaining mystery and a compulsive Young Adult thriller. The book is set in the future. Humankind has spread into Space. Earth has been left behind but not forgotten. Planets have been terraformed, and humans are colonising deep space. 'The Pinnacle' is a reality TV game show that draws millions of viewers. It has a huge cash prize and will change the winner's life forever. It is also supposed to be non-lethal. Contestants are eliminated, but not eliminated . The story is told from the viewpoint of three contestants, starting before they are taken to the game's secret location. Each of them has a burning desire to win the money, and a hinted-at secret. Two of the three are wealthy, with parents high up in the echelons of political power. The third, Raya, is a street kid on a mining planet, where the miners are exploited by their rich overlords. The three join the other seven contestants and are taken to a beautiful desert island. Before filming starts the next morning, they're told to make themselves comfortable at a table laden with food. It's at that point that things start to go wrong. This is a fun survival, cat-and-mouse thriller. One of the entrants to the Pinnacle dies from eating poisoned food at the banquet. Who was responsible? Was it one of the contestants or a sinister move by the TV production company? The teenagers in the show assume that people will arrive in the morning and help them out. Except they don't. Instead, the bodies pile up. What is going on? Who is behind the killings, and what secrets are lying behind the eyes of the wannabe winners of The Pinnacle? Discovering the answers to these questions makes Then There Was One a fun journey. There are some great tense set pieces, and as the field narrows, it is genuinely perplexing who the perpetrator is. If I had a criticism, I'd say that the novel lacks the depth of similar offerings. There's no burning social commentary here, much beyond 'rich people often aren't always very nice,' but not every book has to be deep. A compelling story is enough to make an entertaining read. While the book doesn't have the visceral thrill of The Hunger Games , Wendy Cross has created a world with greater logical consistency. The dystopian regions of The Hunger Games always bugged me, but there is no such irritation here. The denouement, when it comes, is a clever piece of misdirection, though the clues are there as we read through. And There Was One is a solid addition to a burgeoning genre. It's not going to redefine our expectations of what dystopian fiction can do, but it does deliver an intriguing mystery with an interesting conclusion. If you would like to pick up a copy of Then There Was One, you can do so here in the US and here, in the UK. (Affiliate Links) If you enjoyed this review, check out my other book reviews, here. I received a copy of this book in order to write this review. Liked it? Take a second to support GeekDad and GeekMom on Patreon!
