Martin Oliver - Boys Miscellany

Written by Martin Oliver Illustrated by Mike Phillips Cover illustrations by Agnese Baruzzi Edited by Bryony Jones Designed by Barbara Ward Cover designed by Angie Allison First published in Great Britain in 2012 by Buster Books, an imprint of Michael OMara Books Limited, 9 Lion Yard, Tremadoc Road, London SW4 7NQ www.busterbooks.co.uk DISCLAIMER The publisher and author disclaim, as far as is legally permissible, all liability for accidents, or injuries or loss that may occur as a result of information or instructions given in this book. Use your best common sense at all times, always wear appropriate safety gear, stay within the law and local rules, and be considerate of other people. Always remember to ask a responsible adult for assistance and take their advice whenever necessary. Copyright Buster Books 2012 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means, without the prior permission in writing of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition, including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser. The image on page is by Andrew Pinder.

The image on page is by Martin Remphry. A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. ISBN: 978-1-78055-040-4 ISBN: 978-1-78055-147-0 in Epub format ISBN: 978-1-78055-148-7 in Mobipocket format

Super Stilts Run faster, jump higher and push yourself to the limit with stilts on springs. Zorbing Strap yourself into a giant ball and roll down a steep slope. Away you goooooo! Sky Diving Throwing yourself out of a plane never gets boring, no matter how often you do it. Underwater Hockey Its just like normal hockey, but its played under water and no oxygen tanks are allowed.

Cave Diving Combine the thrill of pot-holing with the skill of diving, navigating through flooded underground cave systems. Heli-Skiing Jump out of a helicopter on to a high mountain slope and ski through untouched snow. Watch out for avalanches. Shark-Cage Diving Come face to face with a great white shark. Not for the faint-hearted! Extreme Ironing Make ironing more exciting by doing it at the top of a mountain or under water.

You dont have to be an astronaut to enjoy some of the benefits of space travel. You dont have to be an astronaut to enjoy some of the benefits of space travel.

Here are some products invented by NASA for space exploration that have come in handy on Earth.

In 1990, during a dig in the desert near Guadalupe, USA, archaeologists made a series of incredible discoveries. Underneath the sandy dunes, they found what appeared to be the remains of a giant statue of a pharaoh, items of clothing and harnesses for chariots. Were they about to turn history on its head and prove that ancient Egyptian explorers had reached America? Er, no. The remains they had found were built as part of the set of a 1923 epic movie, The Ten Commandments. The set was one of the largest ever built and included huge statues, temples and buildings up to ten storeys high.

When the cameras stopped rolling, the set was huge and would cost too much money to move, so a large trench was dug in the desert and everything was bulldozed into it.

There can be more than 60,000 bees in a bee colony. Life must get pretty crowded. Honey bees flap their wings an amazing 11,000 times a minute. This causes the buzzing sound you can hear when they fly. An average worker bee will only make 1/12 of a teaspoon of honey in its lifetime thats not enough to cover a single piece of toast! If a bee ate two tablespoons of honey, it would have enough energy to fly around the world. The Titanic was a huge ship that sank in 1912 but do you know the fates of the two other ships in the fleet, the Olympic and the Britannic? The Olympic Launched in 1911, the Olympic had an unfortunate habit of crashing into other ships. Next page