Gamgee

Thanks for the response. I ended up buying one on Saturday, and so far am very pleased with it. It works as well as my cooker for baking, roasting and grilling. Can't use it like a hob though - or at least I've not worked out how to

Its a Czech design - basically a saucepan with the heating element in the lid. Lakeland are the sole UK importers. http://www.hoorayforhomecooking.co.uk/What%20is%20a%20Remoska.htm It doesn't make a mention on Wikipedia - which seems a bit odd...

Hi All, Does anyone here have any experience with the Remoska cookers that Lakeland sell in the UK ? And if so - would you recommend them/do they live up to the hype ? I'm very tempted to try one of these small cookers - but don't know anyone who has one, and from the Googling I've done virtually all the links seems to in someway be hosted by or derived from Lakeland themselves... tia

I'm glad someone mentioned Shogun

5 Live and Radio 2 mainly - with some 6 Music and Sports Extra, and a lot of Radio 4 podcasts.

John Steinbeck's 'Of Mice and Men'.

Watchers was the first book of his I read, and still the one I remember most vividly and fondest. Off the back of reading that I ploughed through 20 odd (excuse the pun - not actually read any of the Odd Thomas ones) of his novels up to the late 1990s (Seize the Night, being the last I think), but seem to have lost touch with him since then. Have always enjoyed what he wrote and found him an incredibly easy read - but having just flicked through the past titles I've read I'm pushed to remember what actually happened in almost half of them.

If you are looking for an epic tale with pretty much every variant of magic appearing at some point how about giving David Eddings' 'The Belgariad' series a try: Pawn of Prophecy, Queen of Sorcery, Magician's Gambit, Castle of Wizardry and Enchanters' End Game. Or Raymond E. Fiest's Riftwar trilogy: The Magician, Silverthorn and A Darkness at Sethanon.

Thanks again for the warm welcome

Thanks for the suggestion (just looked them up on wikipedia). Something else to add to my reading list

Couldn't comment on The Hobbit, as it never came up. But LOTR came up a few times - all of which in disparaging ways.

An obvious one (as already cited umpteen times above) - 'The Lord of the Rings'. The first book I can remember actually wanting to read when I was a kid was 'The Hobbit' - the end of which I'd caught on Jackanory back in I think 1980, and was determined to find out what I'd missed. Loved the book - and had to read the sequel LOTR and really had my eyes opened when it wasn't just a longer 'hobbit'. Also amused me that every English teacher I had hated the book

Good point. I've enjoyed reading John Le Carre's 'Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy' and indeed watching(and re-watching) the TV series - being fully aware who the traitor is. Will have to add one of Christie's novels to my reading list

I've read the book (which I'd certainly recommend). Read it off the back of enjoying the Robert Powell film version and was curious how close it was to the book. Think I've seen all of the film adaptations (Hitchcock's 1935, the 1959 you've seen and 1978 one) - the most faithful is probably Powell's - but all of them use the basic premise of the book well and are enjoyable in their own right.