Gareth Owen

Albert J. Luxford has long been known as "The Gimmick Man" in the film and television industry, but he has remained one of its unsung and unknown geniuses despite his well-known work. He equipped James Bond with some of his most memorable gadgets; made possible many of the effects and sequences in the Carry On series. He worked on such shows and movies as Are You Being Served?, The Muppets, Highlander, and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, among many others. In this memoir, Luxford reminisces with great good humor about his life and work and shares some tricks of the trade. He left school at 16 to attend the Institute of Automobile Engineers in West London and began in the film industry as an engineer at Pinewood Studios. The bulk of this work is made up of Luxford's recollections about his experiences in special effects. This is a genuine tour behind the scenes by an incomparable master of movie magic.

In the shadow of a failed international intervention in Somalia, Gareth Owen lands in war-torn Angola, thrust into a besieged city teetering on the brink. Malanje, encircled by UNITA rebels deploying medieval tactics, becomes ground zero for a crack team of Irish aid workers fighting to stave off starvation for tens of thousands of children. Amid mortar fire and minefields, Owen bears witness to haunting violence and unwavering human spirit. His eight-month emotional descent unfolds as a complex tapestry of deep camaraderie, visceral fear, and the painful reckoning of his own privilege. At the heart lies a brutal legacy —colonial plunder and Cold War complicity – tempered with the inspirational humanitarian ethics of a bygone era. Three decades later, Owen’s story resurfaces—raw and unflinching. Unhealed Wounds interrogates the mythology of white saviourism, sheds light on forgotten lives and demands remembrance in an age of eroding global solidarity. Powerful and evocative, this memoir invites readers to urgently contemplate what has been lost from the true embodiment of humanity’s collective cause: connection between and respect for all peoples. Far more than a personal account, it is a searing moral reckoning for our divisive contemporary times of eroding internationalism and encroaching global catastrophe.

This is the remarkable memoir of Lidia Lukes-Hitchcock, a film production manager who fled communist Prague to forge a prolific career making Hollywood blockbusters. Leaving Czechoslovakia seemed impossible, but a chance encounter with Barbra Streisand changed everything. Inspired, Lidia spent years meticulously planning a daring escape from the grey streets of Communist Prague to the bright lights of Hollywood, with her young son by her side. Lidia's determination and resilience eventually propelled her to London, where she forged a new life working on some of the biggest films of the 1990s and 2000s. A key figure on films like Mission: Impossible, The Saint, The Man in the Iron Mask and Cast Away, Lidia has worked with stars such as Tom Cruise, Leonardo DiCaprio, Sean Connery, Richard Gere, and Tom Hanks, as well as legendary directors including Stanley Kubrick, Brian De Palma, and John Woo. Escape to Hollywood emerges from behind the iron curtain and onto the red carpet with a star-studded cast that would be the envy of anyone in show business. This is a story that only Tinseltown could produce.

For nearly eight decades, the Royal family has been gracing the red carpet to see the most eagerly anticipated film of the year. Since 1946, The Royal Film Performance has been an annual highlight of the entertainment social calendar, where cinema’s most famous icons have come face to face with royalty.With authors Gareth Owen and Robert Sellers, dive into the glitz, glamour and regal encounters of each Royal Film Performance, the memorable moments and the fascinating stories. From Marilyn Monroe’s nervous encounter with Queen Elizabeth II to the cheeky remarks of Jayne Mansfield, witness the intersection of cinema’s luminaries and royalty.As the curtain rises on this cinematic celebration, The Royal Film Performance: A Celebration pays homage to the stars, the royals and the unsung heroes of the industry, sure to delight fans of the royal family and cinema aficionados alike.

In 1993, Gareth Owen volunteered to go to Somalia with an Irish aid agency. Located in a remote desert outpost, he encountered the brutality of conflict and famine and experienced the hardships and struggles of an extraordinary race of desert warriors. He rubbed shoulders with the French Foreign Legion and Greek Special Forces and worked alongside a band of international aid workers striving to feed the Somali people. And as the country began to recover, he found himself losing connection with the Somalis as their resentment towards the international presence grew and violent confrontation erupted. In this accessible and engaging memoir, Owen, now Humanitarian Director at Save the Children UK, recounts the entanglement of violence and humanity at the heart of this notorious peacekeeping operation. This is a story of human resilience and contradictory friendships, of loyalty, courage and extraordinary endeavour - but mostly it is a story about the meaning of human connection in desperate circumstances. Part memoir, part history and part politics, When the Music's Over sees beyond the criticism of humanitarian intervention and challenges us to consider the enduring importance of international solidarity in a world where notions of common humanity and universal peace are increasingly being abandoned.

'a book you simply must read if you’re a fan of movies, James Bond or Roger Moore’ - Movies in Focus‘Owen writes with wit, affection and poignancy . . . Highly recommended’ - From Sweden with Love‘a breezy, enjoyable read that takes few sittings to get through . . . The affection and energy with which Raising an Eyebrow has been written is intoxicating’ - Entertainment FocusHaving taken on the role of Roger Moore’s executive assistant in 2002, Gareth Owen became the righthand man to an icon, as well as his co-author, onstage co-star and confidant. Gareth was faithfully at Roger’s side for fifteen years until his passing in 2017.In Raising an Eyebrow, Gareth Owen recounts his times with Roger Moore and gives a unique and rare insight into life with one of the world’s most beloved actors.For all his celebrity, Roger Moore was quite reserved; in interviews he rarely spoke about himself, much preferring to tell fun tales about others. But his trusted sidekick was with him throughout his worldwide travels, his UK stage shows, his writing process and his book tours, and as he received his Knighthood. There were genuinely hilarious, heartfelt and extraordinary moments to be captured and Gareth Owen was there to share them all.

Who is Norman Smith and why on earth are we reading about his latest impulsive hobby? Why is he under investigation? Are the characters he interacts with real people or merely figments of the author's fevered imagination? Most importantly, how would he manage without his long suffering wife, Mrs G? Norman Smith's Hobbies explores the carnage that a maverick hobbyist can unwittingly unleash, creating disastrous side-effects on family, friends and foes alike.

Charming, erudite, and the very personification of the English gentleman, Dennis Price was without doubt also one of the most promising and talented newcomers to the world of theatre and film in the late 1930s, and he arguably reached his screen best in the classic Ealing comedy 'Kind Hearts and Coronets'. Huge praise was lavished upon him and he was compared alongside theatrical contemporaries Laurence Olivier, John Gielgud and Ralph Richardson as being destined for great things. Scene-stealing performances followed over the next few decades in such differing films as 'The Dancing Years', 'The Intruder', 'Private's Progress', 'The Naked Truth', 'Tunes of Glory', 'Tamahine' and 'Theatre of Blood', to name but a few. Though whilst his career was blossoming his private life was going through turmoil when, after one of his several affairs was discovered by his wife, he faced the shame of divorce, separation from his two children and when coupled with significant tax bills, it all proved too much and the actor attempted suicide. Eventually bouncing back, he reinvented himself as a character actor and appeared in scores of notable films—and was often the best thing in them!

Follow a group of children as they climb to the top of a hill and race each other to the bottom by rolling in this fun rhyming poem – written by acclaimed poet Gareth Owen, and accompanied by the colourful illustrations of Vicky Fieldhouse. Yellow/Band 3 books offer varied sentence structure and natural languageA scene of the hill and surrounding area on pages 14–15 allow children to discuss the events of the poem, providing a wealth of speaking and listening opportunities.Text type: A poemCurriculum links: Citizenship: Taking partThis book has been quizzed for Accelerated Reader.

Build your child’s reading confidence at home with books at the right level This wonderfully emotive collection of poems by award-winning poet Gareth Owen explores both the humorous and more serious elements of childhood, and is filled with beautiful illustrations by much-loved illustrator Peter Bailey Ruby/Band 14 books give increasing opportunities for children to develop their skills of inference and deduction.A poetry bookA seasonal garden scene on pages 46 and 47 highlight the changing weathers and emotions that are focused on throughout the poems, providing plenty of speaking and listening opportunities.Curriculum Links: Citizenship: Living in a diverse world

This exhaustive and affectionate history is crammed with information and rare pictures from the famous Shepperton Studios. From assistants to directors, producers, stars, prop men, production managers and studio executives, the author has interviewed over 200 industry people and has painstakingly researched the history of the studio site from its first recorded use in the Doomsday Book through its redevelopment as one of Britain's first major film studios in 1932. The studio has housed classic movies featuring comedy great Will Hay, to blood-churning horrors starring Todd Slaughter through the studio's covert use during the Second World War as a camouflage manufacturing plant and on to its reopening with great classics such as The Third Man, The Tales Of Hoffman, Dr Strangelove and I'm All Right Jack, and on to modern greats such as Flash Gordon, Alien, Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves, The Crying Game, Chaplin, Gladiator, Troy, Batman Begins, The Da Vinci Code and The Golden Compass. This is their story.

In a career spanning six decades, director of photography Alan Hume has worked on over 100 films and television shows and progressed through the ranks from a young clapper boy to one of the best lighting cameramen in the business. From early films with David Lean, through the popular Carry On series, Amicus horror, four James Bonds, Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, A Fish Called Wanda, Shirley Valentine, Stepping Out, and others, Alan Hume has worked alongside some of the most acclaimed directors and producers and biggest film stars. The memoir, from his evacuation as a child in World War II to his retirement, includes a collection of rare photographs, both in front of and behind the camera. He explains technical details and insights of the industry while divulging anecdotes about celebrities and filmmaking. It concludes with a summary of the technological changes throughout his career and to the present, and a full filmography. With great good humor, Hume offers an incomparable tour behind the camera.