Martin McGovern

Martin McGovern

About

The Octogenarian Ski-jumper is a celebration of the achievements of the famous and not-so-famous, arranged according to the age of the person at the time of the achievement. Chapters for those aged 20 to 69 are available here: the full book contains achievements of those ranging from newborns to centenarians. I've been writing nearly all of my professional life; the first piece I ever wrote was a travel article for a company magazine, when I visited in Albania in 1988. I also was the author of Microsoft's initial document on how to apply patches to computers; it made the top ten on their download site. 

Murdo

Murdo

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Description

<p>When Jessica Bryant pesters her wealthy parents to allow her to have a dog as a pet, the answer is a resounding &quot;No&quot;; but they soon come to regret their decision when thier home is broken into one evening whilst they are out and their daughter kidnapped and held for ransom. The kidnappers, in the form of four seedy and incompetent characters wearing Disneyland-type masks, take her hostage and keep her incarcerated in a place from which there appears to be no escape. However, they reckon without the resourcefulness of our heroine, and the courage of a wonderful stray dog who comes to her aid and whom she names 'Murdo'. And so begins an exciting and humurous accounting of the couples' adventures together as they consistently foil and outwit the abductors whilst on the run together.<br /> This is a lovely story of the friendship between a girl and a dog, bringing out themes of responsibility, camaraderie, redemption, salvation and self-sacrifice. It includes some wonderful dialogue sequences as Jessica teaches her new four-legged friend how to communicate with her, with additional delightful conversations between the animals when a rabbit and a sparrow join forces with them in an effort to outwit the kidnappers and restore Jessica safely back to her parents' home. </p>

Story Behind The Book

On my wife's forty-fourth birthday, our son had chicken pox and we couldn't go to a party. Uncharacteristically, she was bemoaning this misfortune. &quot;And I'm forty-four&quot; she said. &quot;No-one ever achieved anything aged forty-four&quot;. This chapter is one of the results of that conversation.

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