Have you ever wanted to be a lumberjack? Had trouble with a dead parrot? Or gone for a silly walk?Combining outrageous humour, unbridled creativity and surreal animation, John Cleese, Michael Palin, Graham Chapman, Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones and Eric Idle entertained millions and inspired generations of future comedians. Including all Monty Python material ever produced, from the Flying Circus to the Life of Brian to Spamalot! with biographies, programme guides and a filmography, this is a must-have plethora of Pythonism and a fitting tribute to comedic pioneers.

'Theystretch a dark hand from the sea,' said their founder Sir Winston Churchill, 'to pluck the enemy sentries from their posts.'

Raised in the dark, post-Dunkirk days of 1940 to carry the war to the enemy, in five short and violet years the British Army Commandos established a reputation that has made the name 'Commando' the mark of the fighting man.

The Commandos began as small-scale raiders but their operations grew in size and destruction as the war progressed until, in the end, there were four full Commando Brigades; superb units which fought in every theatre of war, from Norway to Burma, from the coast of France to the islands of Yugoslavia. The Commandos were disbanded in 1945-46 but reformed in the 1970s, and in 1982, about 1000 army Commandos set sail to fight in the Falklands War.

The long and proud history of the army contains accounts of many fine and distinguished units but few can equal - and none exceed - the story of the British Army Commandos.