Informazioni generali

Nome canonico: Bird, Michael J.
Nome legale: Bird, Michael John Hereford
Data di nascita: 1928-10-31
Data di morte: 2001-05-11
Sesso: male
Nazionalità: UK
Luogo di nascita: Londen, UK
Luogo di morte: Great Shelford, Cambridgeshire, UK
Istruzione: Chesterton School
Cambridgeshire College of Art and Technology
Attività lavorative: Schrijver
Scriptschrijver (BBC ∙ Yorkshire Television ∙ Independent Television)
Journalist (Cambridge Daily News ∙ Daily Mirror and the Daily Herald)
Publicity Manager for the new National Extension College
Breve biografia: Michael J. Bird (31 October 1928, London – 11 May 2001, Great Shelford, Cambridgeshire) was an English writer.

In addition to several novels, he was perhaps best known for the television dramas he wrote for the BBC. His series for the BBC all had the common theme of being set in the Mediterranean - The Lotus Eaters and Who Pays the Ferryman? were set in Crete, The Aphrodite Inheritance was set in Cyprus and The Dark Side of the Sun took place on Rhodes. Breaking with this practice, his final series for the BBC, Maelstrom, was set in Norway.

Bird also wrote for the following series during his career: Danger Man, Special Branch, The Onedin Line, Arthur of the Britons, Secret Army and Warship.

Utenti

Recensioni

The Aphrodite Inheritance di Michael J Bird

This is a novelisation of a TV series from the 1970s. Michael Bird wrote several of these and most are available on kindle. As I read I found I could remember the programme so it was doubly enjoyable. Not great literature but a good read.

Segnalato

mlfhlibrarian | Sep 23, 2022 |

The Town That Died: The True Story of the Greatest… di Michael J. Bird

5573. The Town That Died The true story of the greatest man-made explosion before Hirosima, by Michael j. Bird (read 1 Aug 2018) Well, as recently as 22 May 2017 I read Curse of the Narrows , by Laura M. MacDonald, which tells the story of the explosion on Dec 6, 1917, at Halifax, Nova Scotia, and you would not think I would need to read another book about that fateful event. But I came across this book, The Town That Died, and since my daughter Sandy had just visited Halifax I thought I would read this little (only 192 pages) book, first published in 1962. The author did a lot of research and quotes a lot from reports but I did not feel he did a particularly good job explaining the event though he sets the stage and tells well of the explosion. He also tells at some length of the trial but one has the same feeling I had after reading the other book in May; we are not told of anyone being held responsible financially for the great losses so many innocent people suffered. ...… (altro)

Segnalato

Schmerguls | 1 altra recensione | Aug 1, 2018 |

Maelstrom di Michael J. Bird

Based on a BBC television series from 1985, this is a mix of thriller, mystery, romance even horror story set in Norway. Catherine Durrell inherits a boatyard and two houses, one on an island, from Hjalmar Jordahl, a man unknown to her. Travelling from England to Norway she meets Jordahl's family and attempts to discover why she was named in his will.
The plot does depend on Catherine not involving the police at any point, while putting herself in danger time and again. But accepting that I liked the story and will look out for the television version.… (altro)

Segnalato

si | Jan 8, 2013 |

Town That Died, The di Michael J Bird

Many people in this age of man-made destruction are not familiar with the first, the largest, man-made explosion in the world before Hiroshima, in the somewhat isolated Maritimes of Canada. This is the story of how on Dec. 6, 1917, the town of Halifax was decimated.

The late Michael J. Bird wrote this account of the explosion in 1962. Since then there have been several editions, the edition I read was printed in 2011.

Several books have been written both about what led to this disaster, and also used as a background for a few novels. How could such a huge event happen in Halifax? World War I was still going on, ships were the only option for transporting supplies from North America and Halifax was the closest outgoing port to Europe. This book is the best I've read on the subject, utilizing official reports and records of the event as it happened, as well as eye-witness testimony.

The explosion itself gave the appearance of what we would later see as the atomic bomb, a mushroom cloud over twelve thousand feet high. The explosion not only blew buildings down, windows shattering, and stripping the clothes from people in the path of the wind blast, but also caused a tsunami. Most of Halifax and Dartmouth on the other side of the harbour, were flattened in minutes, then came the fires. A number of factors come into play to cause this. A ship weighed down with ammunition and gasoline and a ship coming out of the harbour collided, causing the friction of the steel to spark and start a fire on the ammo ship.

This book reads very well, and is well documented. It is factual and yet personal in a way. The feelings of fear, miscommunication, confusion, and trauma, along with heroism and the flip side of looters, brings the human perspective into play. The nervousness of the captain of the ship with ammo and his desperation trying to avoid a collision is alive with tension. Hundreds of bodies, more than 3,500, were never identified and are buried in a mass grave and many more died in the harbour. Hundreds were blinded by either the flash or from flying shards of window glass. I recommend this book on the basis of its facts and realism of a casualty of a war being fought on another continent.… (altro)

Segnalato

readerbynight | 1 altra recensione | Oct 26, 2012 |

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