Bookshop

Vic Armstrong - The True Adventures of the World's Greatest Stuntman
The True Adventures of the World's Greatest Stuntman
Limited quantities signed by Vic Armstrong

The title of Vic Armstrong’s movie memoir (written with Robert Sellers) is no idle boast. He’s won an Oscar in 2001 for technical achievement, for the refinement and application of his own invention, the fan descender, used to safely slow the descent of stunt performers in high free falls. In 2002 he was awarded the Bafta Michael Balcon award for British contribution to cinema; he won the Taurus Award at the World Stunt Awards in 2005, where his old mate Arnie (he never calls him Arnold) Schwarzenegger presented it to him ; and he is the only action director / stunt performer to be honoured by the Palm Springs Walk Of Stars.

Vic has worked on some of the biggest movies of the last forty years, and a fair few middling ones in between, never delivering anything less than 100% . He’s got the scars, broken bones and anecdotes to prove it, and it’s all here, in this brilliantly entertaining read, laced with contributions from a who’s who of movie stars, producers and directors who, to quote fictional Fall Guy Colt Seavers, Vic has made ”look so fine”.

The book is a chronological approach to Vic’s career, beginning with and interweaving between other jobs, his love of horses and natural affinity for training even the most recalcitrant nag. Doubling for Harrison Ford on Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade, Vic did the leap from horseback on to the tank, nearly missing his mark. It wasn’t the first time he’d doubled for Harrison of course, they first met on Raiders Of The Lost Ark , when Harrison quipped during an interview “Yeah, we look alike. He spent several nights with my wife before she realised.”

These days Vic is a highly regarded and sought after second unit action director, and something of a frustrated director in the fullest sense. One of his cherished memories is directing Christopher lee in an episode of The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles. He gently pricks a few Hollywood egoes along the way too, recalling how at that time writer Frank Darabont was keen to get Lee’s autograph. Years later when Vic raised this in conversation with Darabont, he claimed not to recall the incident. To most seeming prima donnas credit on set, when they realise Vic is a professional only interested in getting the best for them and the production, tempers are assuaged and movie magic is realised.

Vic has never lost his love of the movie game, and still gets a tingle down the spine when setting off for the next job. He has slid down a rope as first ninja to attack Blofeld’s volcano base in You Only Live Twice, and parachuted for Dickie Attenborough on A Bridge Too Far. He has directed battle scenes for Kenneth Branagh’s Henry V; and filled in again for Harison Ford for weeks on Indiana Jones And The Temple Of Doom when Harrison was recuperating from a back injury caused during earlier filming. Vic has mentored and promoted many upcoming stunt performers and helped improve the level of professionalism and amazing action we get to enjoy on screen. His latest job is as action director / co-ordinator on The Amazing Spider-Man, working with brother Andy and his grown up children, keen to bring more realistic web swinging, fighting and wall climbing to everyone’s favourite web-slinger.

We have few copies left which will be available at our Christmas party on a first come first served basis.




Shane Rimmer - Thunderbirds to Pterodactyls
Shane Rimmer - Thunderbirds to Pterodactyls
Limited quantities signed by Shane Rimmer

Shane Rimmer’s voice is familiar to millions from his role as Scott Tracy, the pilot of Thunderbird 1, but there are many other facets to his remarkable career.

In From Thunderbirds to Pterodactyls Shane recalls the years he spent as an actor, voice artist and writer for Gerry Anderson’s classic productions, as well as his appearances in other memorable shows such as Doctor Who, Coronation Street and Lipstick On Your Collar.

Equally at home in Star Wars or Out of Africa, Shane’s talents as a character actor have been called upon by some of the film industry’s leading directors. He worked for Stanley Kubrick in Dr Strangelove and Christopher Nolan in Batman Begins. Between the two he notched up appearances in three James Bond movies and had a close encounter with a low-flying dinosaur in The People that Time Forgot.

This wry and refreshingly frank autobiography sheds new light on some of the best-loved films and television series ever made, as well as revealing what life is really like for a jobbing actor in the sometimes less than glamorous world of showbusiness.


Price: £25.00 (includes postage)


Sir Roger Moore - My Word Is My Bond

Sir Roger Moore - My Word is My Bond
Very limited quantity of signed bookplate copies available

Roger tells his story from his wartime childhood in South London to his seven decades in the entertainment buisness
  • Includes fabulous photographs from Roger’s private collection.

  • As Simon Templar in The Saint, Lord Brett Sinclair in The Persuaders and, of course, James Bond, Roger is the quintessential suave British hero.

  • He shares his recollections of working and playing with a galaxy of stars including Audrey Hepburn, Elizabeth Taylor, Sean Connery, Michael Caine, Grace Kelly, Frank Sinatra, Noël Coward, Gregory Peck, David Niven, Elvis Presley, Joan Collins and the Spice Girls.

  • Roger also shares his experiences working world-wide for UNICEF and the great impact this has had on him.

  • Unique bookplate signed by by Sir Roger Moore

Price: £50.00 (includes postage)


Gareth Owen - The Shepperton Story
The Shepperton Story by Gareth Owen
Very limited quantity of signed bookplate copies available


This exhaustive and affectionate history is crammed with information and rare pictures from 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.

These copies are signed by the author and Guy Hamilton


Price: £40.00 (includes postage)