Bücher von Peter Nichols

This is the story of the man without whom the name Charles Darwin might be unknown to us today. That man was Captain Robert FitzRoy, who invited the 22-year-old Darwin to be his companion on board the Beagle .This is the remarkable story of how a misguided decision by Robert FitzRoy, captain of HMS Beagle, precipitated his employment of a young naturalist named Charles Darwin, and how the clash between FitzRoy's fundamentalist views and Darwin's discoveries led to FitzRoy's descent into the abyss.One of the great ironies of history is that the famous journey--wherein Charles Darwin consolidated the earth-rattling 'origin of the species' discoveries--was conceived by another man: Robert FitzRoy. It was FitzRoy who chose Darwin for the journey--not because of Darwin's scientific expertise, but because he seemed a suitable companion to help FitzRoy fight back the mental illness that had plagued his family for generations. Darwin did not give FitzRoy solace; indeed, the clash between the two men's opposing views, together with the ramifications of Darwin's revelations, provided FitzRoy with the final unendurable torment that forced him to end his own life.

"An extraordinary story of bravery and insanity on the high seas. . . . One of the most gripping sea stories I have ever read." -- Sebastian Junger, author of The Perfect StormIn the tradition of Into Thin Air and The Perfect Storm, comes a breathtaking oceanic adventure about an obsessive desire to test the limits of human endurance.In 1968 nine sailors set off on the most daring race ever held and never before completed: to single-handedly circumnavigate the globe nonstop. Ten months later, only one of the nine men would cross the finish line and earn fame, wealth, and glory. For the others, the reward was madness, failure, and death.Gorgeously written and meticulously researched by author Peter Nichols, this extraordinary book chronicles the contest of the individual against the sea, waged at a time before cell phones, satellite dishes, and electronic positioning systems. A Voyage for Madmen is a tale of sailors driven by their own dreams and demons, of horrific storms, and of those riveting moments when a decision means the difference between life and death.

Many people go to the sea in boats, but few of them write as movingly about the experience as Peter Nichols does in this enthralling meditation on the wonders of sailing, the mystery of the sea, and the ebbs and flows of love. With only a sextant, his own instincts as a seasoned sailor, and a boat full of memories of his foundering marriage, Nichols sets out alone from England for Maine, where he plans to sell his beloved twenty-seven-foot sailboat, Toad. Halfway across the ocean, his boat springs a leak and his voyage becomes a desperate struggle to survive.Filled with intelligence, bravery and humor, Sea Change is a thrilling adventure story. It is a classic tale of a man struggling to come to terms with his reckless spirit, his highest hopes, and his broken dreams.

Poppy is a celebration of Victorian values and exposes the hypocrisy, racism, drug dealing, money worship and sexual repression of the time through its favourite entertainment form. Dick Whittington, his man Jack, Sally the Principal Girl, the Dame, two pantomime horses, a flying ballet, a transformation scene and even the traditional song-sheet are all brought on to tell the serious and finally devasting story of the single most profitable crop of the British East India Company.4 women, 6 men

It's the mid-1950s and 'innocent abroad' Steven Flowers has travelled to Florence to teach English in a chaotic language school, Lingua Franca. He is soon adopted by fellow Brit, Peggy, but is more interested in Heidi, a newcomer from Munich.

Ted Forrest is a playwright with a problem ΓÇö writer''s block. When we first meet him ΓÇö bitter, disillusioned and consumed with envy of Miles Whittier, a younger, more successful playwright ΓÇö he has retreated to the country in an attempt to stimulate his creative impotence by writing an autobiographical novel.|2 women, 3 men

In a mock Tudor manor gone to seed lives 70 year old Maud and her younger son, forty five year old Mo. She speaks more to the soundless television than to him and he plays New Orleans jazz on his drums. An attempt to destroy this happy way of life is made on the occasion of the father's funeral by Hedley, the older son, and by Queenie, Mo's twin sister from California. But the cloistered pair prefer to remain in what is, in effect, a shed in the garden of Heartbreak House.2 women, 2 men

Forget-me-not Lane'' is a bittersweet play about fathers, families and nostalgia - about (in Nichol''s words) a youth which was bitter to live through but sweet to remember. It was first performed in 1971 at the Greenwich Theatre, London.|4 women, 5 men

Music hall routines with clever and ribald lyrics highlight this British hit about an army entertainment unit in post World War II Malaya.1 woman, 10 men

Bri, a schoolteacher and his wife Sheila have a 10-year old spastic child named Josephine, who is completely helpless and utterly dependent. Bri hides behind irony and sarcasm. Sheila believes the child is her penance for a promiscuous past and soldiers on devotedly with their little "Joe Egg". Well-meaning family and friends offer sundry solutions, everything from adoption to euthanasia but ultimately Bri finds he cannot continue and leaves Sheila and Joe behind.-4 women, 2 men