Kirjahaku

Great stories of unusual happenings on and off the cricket field. The story of cricket is littered with big stories, like Bodyline, underarm balls and tycoons changing the game. But, like Tony Greig checking out the pitch with his keys, sometimes things fall through the cracks.Sticky Wickets takes a look at stories both big, small and perhaps forgotten. From bees and their dislike of cricket to a storm caused when a cameraman criticised a Test player's fielding. It's perfect to pick up when rain delays play.

Praise for The Slab "History as it should be written. With beer. About beer. Crisp. Refreshing. Won't cause bloat." John Birmingham, author of Leviathan "I thought I'd been asked to review Christos Tsiolkas' The Slap and was pleasantly surprised to find myself reading about beer. The Slab is a full-bodied book, with a fruity aftertaste and a nose that carries the slightest hint of sawdust and vomit. I suggest you XXXX it." David Hunt, author of Girt "The Slab is less a historical document, more a rollicking ride through a bizarrely untapped part of an openly beer worshipping nation's past. That's not to say you won't learn anything; you will - and about much more than beer. But you'll also walk away infused with the sheer joy that Glen has clearly poured into every - and I mean every - page." James Smith, The Crafty Pint Beer. You know it and, chances are, you love it. But you might not know the part beer has played in Australian history. Right from the start beer was there. It was on board The Endeavour when Captain Cook set sail for Australia. It was drunk not long after the First Fleet landed in Botany Bay. It was there when World War I soldiers got a skinful and ran riot in the streets of Sydney. It was there in World War II when soldiers did it again, this time in Brisbane. It was there during the era of six o'clock closing where people were still drinking it long after the little hand had passed the six. It was even there when it really shouldn't have been - when Canberra declared itself an alcohol-free zone. What? You didn't know the nation's capital used to be dry? Well, then you probably need to read this book by award-winning beer writer Glen Humphries. As a bonus, you'll also find out just what the hell Voltron has to do with Victoria Bitter.

After getting caught swiping a few chickens from a neighbour, James Squire was sentenced to seven years in Sydney Cove. You could say it was the best thing he ever did - it led to him become a brewer, policeman, property tycoon, respected citizen and a bloody rich guy. All because of the theft of a few chooks. But if all you know about James Squire is what you've read on labels on beer bottles, then you really don't know that much at all. This book - the first biography of Squire - separates the facts from the well-known myths about his life. For instance, he never stowed away on the First Fleet ship carrying female convicts, didn't get lashed for stealing the ingredients to make beer and might not have been the first person to grow hops in Australia. He was also a man who may have used a false name on his daughter's birth certificate, loathed people who cut down trees on his property and got along far better with the natives than most of the other white newcomers. Along the way you'll also discover a few other things about Sydney Cove, including Captain Arthur Phillip's efforts to get his hands on some Aboriginal heads for a friend, early Australian's fondness for cider rather than beer, the fight rival brewer John Boston had over a dead pig and the marine who tried to trade his hat for an Aboriginal child.

In 1982, Midnight Oil was a band in trouble. Their last album, Place Without a Postcard, was supposed to be their big breakthrough but it hadn't worked out that way. So they found themselves in London, feeling the pressure of recording what was a "make or break" album. Members threatened to leave, others had nervous breakdowns and the ANZ bank manager back home was sweating as he watched the overdraft he'd approved for the band get bigger and bigger.If this album went the same way as the last one, it could be the end of Midnight Oil. Out of the crisis came 10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1, an album that changed everything for the band. It entered the charts and stayed there for more than three years. They started playing bigger venues - and they were able to pay back the bank manager.Two years later, they headed to Japan to record the polarising Red Sails in the Sunset. It managed to do what 10-1 couldn't - give the band their first No1 album. But again the band found themselves facing the possibility it could all be over, courtesy of lead singer Peter Garrett's tilt at federal politics. If he wins, the band loses.In Sounds Like an Ending, journalist and author Glen Humphries takes a track-by-track look at these two albums and the times and turmoil that fuelled them. That includes wondering whether the 10-1 title was a sly dig at a certain Australian music TV show, finding out the stories behind some of the songs and explaining what's really happening on the cover of Red Sails in the Sunset.

The story that led to reunion of legendary band Tumbleweed. An in-depth look at Sunday Painters, a band decades ahead of their times. ...iconic shows like HOPE, HyFest and the Steel City Sound exhibition. These are just of the more than 100 stories about Wollongong bands written by journalist Glen Humphries 1997 through to 2018.

"Could you estimate the number of houses and backyards you have unlawfully entered?" "No, it would be terribly hard to say." "Would it be hundreds or would it be thousands?" "Many, many hundreds. Perhaps thousands."- The Kingsgrove Slasher's police questioning Between 1956 and 1959, suburban Sydney was terrorised by a phantom known as the Kingsgrove Slasher. A peeping Tom, he graduated to breaking into houses to watch people sleep before later slashing women and girls with a razor while they lay in their beds.He punched a 21-year-old woman into unconsciousness, breaking her teeth and cutting her mouth, hit a teenage girl in the face with a piece of wood and slashed a deep wound across the stomach of a 64-year-old woman. The Slasher also groped teens in their beds, and one of his 18 victims was just seven years old.Night Terrors is the first detailed account of the Kingsgrove Slasher case. It draws on hundreds of newspaper articles written at the time - which show the level of fear in the community - as well as the transcripts from the court hearings, which had been sealed since 1959. The result is a true-crime book that might make it hard for you to go to sleep at night.

On July 13, 1985, the world tuned in to watch Live Aid beamed in from Wembley in London and John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia. The massive event was spawned from Bob Geldof's idea six months earlier to raise money for Ethiopian famine victims through the release of the charity single, Do They Know It's Christmas?.The iconic performance on that day came from Queen, a band that had been considering calling it quits just months earlier. Performing in front of an estimated audience of 1.9 billion people, the fourpiece stole the show and revitalised their career.Alright takes a look back at Queen's performance on that day as well as revisiting the origins of the Band Aid single and the logistics behind getting Live Aid off the ground.

The Wollongong music scene is now well and truly on the map, thanks to Hockey Dad, the Yours and Owls Festival and the Farmer and the Owl label. They spearheaded a golden age for the local scene, where people outside Wollongong finally realised what was going on in the coastal town an hour south of Sydney. But this wasn't the first high point for the local scene, which stretches back to the mid-1950s. In Lull City, Glen Humphries focuses on the creation of this current golden age for the scene while also casting an eye back to see what went on before we got to this point.

Keira Street has seen plenty of action, including murder, arson and a gun-happy nightwatchman. Businesses have come and gone from the strip - including a funeral parlour, a car yard or two and even a petrol station. It is a key marker for an iconic family-owned bus company and a former football player who opened up multiple venues in the street's restaurant precinct. Bigger buildings have gone up, turning what was once a place where people lived to one where they work, shop and have fun after hours.

Stunningly designed flexibound book profiling the top 40 most famous Australian pop and rock songs. What a famous song is about and what you think it's about aren't always the same thing. National Anthems names the top 40 classic Australian songs and tells the stories behind them - many unknown. From Hunters and Collectors' Throw Your Arms Around Me to INXS's Don't Change and Red Gum's I Was Only 19, author Glen Humphries unearths hidden gems and surprising back stories about the bands. It's a celebration of great Australian music that will have you reaching for old vinyl or phone apps to give some of these classics another listen. Chances are, each song is not what you had assumed.