Book of Firsts
First Time Almost Everything Happened
Nonfiction, Reference & Language, Reference, Almanacs & Trivia, Trivia, Social & Cultural Studies, Social Science, Cultural Studies, Popular Culture, History
| Author: | Gordon Kerr | ISBN: | 9781909284296 |
| Publisher: | RW Press | Publication: | June 3, 2013 |
| Imprint: | RW Press | Language: | English |
| Author: | Gordon Kerr |
| ISBN: | 9781909284296 |
| Publisher: | RW Press |
| Publication: | June 3, 2013 |
| Imprint: | RW Press |
| Language: | English |
Contents
Introduction
Achieving - Achievement
Communicating - Communication
Computing - Technology
Eating & Drinking - Food & Drink
Entertaining - Art & Entertainment
Getting Around - Transport
Healing - Health & Medicine
Law-making, Law-breaking and Fire-fighting - Law & Order
Living - Life & Lifestyle
Playing – Sports & Recreation
Ruling - Politics & Government
Spending & Saving - Money
‘It’s not winning silver; it’s losing gold’, says a famous Nike ad, hammering home the painful truth that posterity has little compassion for those who finish second. They are, more often than not, expunged from history, years – perhaps even decades – of grinding toil and desperate hope cast into the dustbin of history. Who really gives much thought these days to English aviator Percy Pilcher, who almost won the Palm for the first controlled, powered and sustained heavier-than-air human flight several years before the Wright brothers, but crashed in a glider and died of his injuries? Who talks much these days about the American astronaut, Alan B. Shepard, the second man to go into space after Russian cosmonaut, Yuri Gagarin stunned the world with his daring flight into the unknown in 1961?
All that really matters is being first, whether it is the first hotel in Britain to have a microwave installed – the Kew Gardens Hotel in London – or the first person to ski down Mount Everest – Slovenian Davo Karnicar who did just that in almost five hours in 2000. History is kind to people who have succeeded. Who can forget the magnificent effort of English athlete Roger Bannister, who ran the first sub-four-minute mile in 1954, a feat said by many to be impossible? And how grateful are we for the inventiveness of men such as Scotsman John Logie Baird and the American Thomas Alva Edison who gave us television and the electric light bulb, respectively?
Author Biography
Gordon Kerr was born in the Scottish new town of East Kilbride and worked in the wine trade and then bookselling and publishing before becoming a full-time writer. He is the author of numerous books in a variety of genres, including art, history, true crime, travel and humour. He has a wife and two children and lives in Hampshire and – when he can – South West France.
Contents
Introduction
Achieving - Achievement
Communicating - Communication
Computing - Technology
Eating & Drinking - Food & Drink
Entertaining - Art & Entertainment
Getting Around - Transport
Healing - Health & Medicine
Law-making, Law-breaking and Fire-fighting - Law & Order
Living - Life & Lifestyle
Playing – Sports & Recreation
Ruling - Politics & Government
Spending & Saving - Money
‘It’s not winning silver; it’s losing gold’, says a famous Nike ad, hammering home the painful truth that posterity has little compassion for those who finish second. They are, more often than not, expunged from history, years – perhaps even decades – of grinding toil and desperate hope cast into the dustbin of history. Who really gives much thought these days to English aviator Percy Pilcher, who almost won the Palm for the first controlled, powered and sustained heavier-than-air human flight several years before the Wright brothers, but crashed in a glider and died of his injuries? Who talks much these days about the American astronaut, Alan B. Shepard, the second man to go into space after Russian cosmonaut, Yuri Gagarin stunned the world with his daring flight into the unknown in 1961?
All that really matters is being first, whether it is the first hotel in Britain to have a microwave installed – the Kew Gardens Hotel in London – or the first person to ski down Mount Everest – Slovenian Davo Karnicar who did just that in almost five hours in 2000. History is kind to people who have succeeded. Who can forget the magnificent effort of English athlete Roger Bannister, who ran the first sub-four-minute mile in 1954, a feat said by many to be impossible? And how grateful are we for the inventiveness of men such as Scotsman John Logie Baird and the American Thomas Alva Edison who gave us television and the electric light bulb, respectively?
Author Biography
Gordon Kerr was born in the Scottish new town of East Kilbride and worked in the wine trade and then bookselling and publishing before becoming a full-time writer. He is the author of numerous books in a variety of genres, including art, history, true crime, travel and humour. He has a wife and two children and lives in Hampshire and – when he can – South West France.
