'I am just going outside and may be some time.' With these words, on 17 March 1912, Captain Oates walked out to his death in an Antarctic blizzard and won a place for himself in history as 'a very gallant gentleman'. His reputation for courage and endurance as one of the members of Scott's doomed expedition to the South Pole is as powerful today as it was almost a century ago. Yet, as Sue Limb and Patrick Cordingley reveal in this new edition of their classic biography of the man, there is much more to Captain Oates's life than his final famous act of self-sacrifice. Their work is, as Sir Ranulph Fiennes noted, a 'fascinating character study of a quintessential British hero'.

Life was tragic enough before this spring started. With a distinct lack of boobage and an arse so big that birds of prey could nest within its shadows, Jess Jordan is saddled with the Goddess Flora for a best friend, a Britney Spears look-alike so gorgeous that one grain of her divine dandruff could make the blind see again. Jess knows that her soul mate is Ben Jones, a divine mixture of Leonardo diCaprio, Prince William, and Brad Pitt who oozes mystery and charisma. But the campaign to get Ben to notice her brings on a cavalcade of mortification and disaster, including, but not limited to, a minestrone soup explosion that takes place in her bra and a schoolwide viewing of a videotape that features a topless Jess referring to her breasts as "Bonnie" and "Clyde."
Meanwhile, Jess's death-obsessed Granny moves into her bedroom, along with her grandfather's remains; her hypochondriac dad, who sends her daily "horrorscopes" like "You will fall asleep with your mouth open, and a family of earwigs will move in," acts strange about Jess staying with him this summer; and her longtime friend Fred, a television violence addict and closet thumbsucker, has decided that he can't stand being around her. Jess is determined to make things right . . . but with her offbeat sense of humor and her wildly active imagination, things get complicated along the way.

"From the Hardcover edition."