Broad and up-to-date coverage of the principles and practice in the fast moving area of Distributed Systems. Distributed Systems provides students of computer science and engineering with the skills they will need to design and maintain software for distributed applications. It will also be invaluable to software engineers and systems designers wishing to understand new and future developments in the field. From mobile phones to the Internet, our lives depend increasingly on distributed systems linking computers and other devices together in a seamless and transparent way. The fifth edition of this best-selling text continues to provide a comprehensive source of material on the principles and practice of distributed computer systems and the exciting new developments based on them, using a wealth of modern case studies to illustrate their design and development. The depth of coverage will enable students to evaluate existing distributed systems and design new ones.

Wendy Toye directs this thriller starring John Justin as Philip Chance, a successful writer. Philip's publisher Maurice (Raymond Huntley) calls Philip back from the south of France with an invitation to write a biography of a young pilot, Martin Teckman (Michael Medwin), who was killed during a test flight in a new warplane, the Walters-Armitage F109. As Chance delves into the life of Teckman and the crash, he struggles to make sense of contradictory information. When friends and colleagues of Teckman start disappearing, Chance realises how murky the case is and begins to question the circumstances of Teckman's death.

Junior doctor Simon Sparrow (Dirk Bogarde) gains a position at St Swithin's Hospital in London and ends up sharing 'digs' with a bunch of slightly older young medics, all of whom have failed the previous year on account of their inability to keep to the curriculum. Sparrow tries to find a balance between the antics of his new peers and the ever-terrifying Sir Lancelot Spratt, chief surgeon at St Swithin's and a man on the lookout for miscreant doctors wherever they may be. Menaced by the advances of his landlady's daughter, and feelings for one of the nurses, will Sparrow be able to qualify?

Trevor Howard is a clerk in a South Seas trading post who gets involved in a smuggling plot via a secret sea route, eventually betraying his employer and destroying himself in the process. The film confronts the core theme of Conrad's novel - the battles of the noble and the ignoble. It enjoyed enormous publicity - mainly in the form of Kerima, the sultry starlet who brings the downfall of the shiftless trader, Howard.

School For Scoundrels sees in Terry-Thomas in his quintessential role of cad and bounder, using his lecherous ways to steal the heart of April away from her hapless suitor Henry Palfrey (Ian Carmichael). Sick of being one of life’s losers, Palfrey enrols at the college of ‘Lifemanship’ under the tutor ledge of the incomparable Alastair Sim and proceeds to learn the arts of one-upmanship and gamesmanship in an effort to outdo his caddish rivals and turn his life around.

Private's Progress teams Terry-Thomas once more with Ian Carmichael, this time in an army set comedy. Carmichael plays Stanley Windrush, a bookish and introverted flunkie from Officer candidate school, who is thrown into the deep end of rough and ready army life and must contend with rough-hewn fellow private Cox (Richard Attenborough), an eccentric crackpot Major Hitchcock (Thomas) and a nonplussed commanding officer played by Dennis Price.

Make Mine Mink is based on Peter Coke's West End comedy Breath of Spring and concerns the blundering excursions into crime of a bunch of pinheaded amateurs, who specialize in lifting valuable furs and apparently devoting the loot to charity. Terry-Thomas plays one of a group of lodgers who all team up as the thieves as a convenient escape from the meaningless routine of their daily lives. Along with their aging landlady Dame Appleby (Athene Seyler), the misfits conspire to carry out a series of daring raids, keeping the only ex-con member of the household in the dark – the beautiful housekeeper played by Billie Whitelaw.

Bungling thieves are the order of the day once again in Too Many Crooks that also stars fellow Comic Icon Sid James. When their planned robbery of the safe lecherous millionaire Billy Gordon (Terry-Thomas) actually results in the kidnap of his wife, Gordon couldn’t be happier to be rid of her. Refusing to pay the ransom sets the stage for Mrs Gordon’s sweet revenge…

The Naked Truth is the third in the trilogy of films here scripted by Michael Pertwee. Co-starring Peter Sellers in one of his early roles, the film centres around the exploits of four celebrities, including Terry-Thomas as politician Lord Mayley, who band together to assassinate from blackmailing low-life reporter Dennis (Dennis Price).

Brothers In Law sees Terry-Thomas star alongside Richard Attenborough and Ian Carmichael in this comedy about an hapless newly qualified barrister and his first disastrous appearances in court as he encounters a succession of cantankerous judges.

Upper class twit Windrush (Ian Carmichael) causes military mayhem when he joins up in the army. An inept soldier, he unwittingly becomes involved in his high-ranking uncle's (Dennis Price) scam to appropriate some rather valuable spoils of war - a haul of German jewels. A sequel followed with 'I'm Alright Jack'.

An early adventure for everyone's favourite time traveller. When the TARDIS lands on the planet Marinus, the Doctor (William Hartnell), Ian, Barbara and Susan are captured by Arbitan, Keeper of the Conscience of Marinus. The Conscience is an all-powerful machine which controls the planet in an attempt to regulate crime, but it requires four missing crystals to complete its function. Otherwise, the machine could fall into the hands of the Voord, led by the evil Yartek. The TARDIS crew are thus charged by Arbitan with recovering the crystals before it is too late.