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Just in time for Father’s Day the paperback for How to Drive a Tank… is now out and available to order via Amazon and other online retailers as well as any good local bookshop. So after two years in hardback I thought I’d share two of my favourite emails from readers. I’ll share more in future.

And if you’re one of the people who is thinking of emailing me about an adventure you have in mind, please, just do it. I regularly receive requests and read all of them if even I can’t guarantee I can actually take part.

From Stephen (one of my most recent reader reviews):

Hi Frank, Read your book and loved it. Very funny thing happened though; on the day that I bought it, I had planned in advance to (that day) write to Charles Bronson and recommend that with all his spare time he start doing yoga instead of his ten million sit ups a day routine (Yoga has a bad image problem but I do it and LOVE it!!). Then as I was flicking through the book in the bookshop I stumbled across the ‘Yoga for psychopaths chapter…Bizarre!!! Anyway my real motivation for writing is that yesterday I saw that James May (one of the three old sad pretend irreverent from Top Gear, or is it ‘Last of The Summer Wine?), has written (or at least had GHOST-written) a rip off copy of your book called ‘How to land a 330 Bomber and other tips for the modern gent’ and it was in a far more prominent position in the shop. Sadly it seems that Marketing, Plagiarism Capitalism and Brand names are more important than originality and creativity. Sue him if you can! Best wishes and Regards Stephen. P.S. Found the assertiveness bit in your book very helpful in dealing with mad ex girlfriend who I am forced to have contact with.

From Allan (one of my first reader reviews):

Dear Frank I recently bought your `How to drive a tank,’ book, and have to say its one of the best reads I’ve had in a long time. I’ve laughed more reading this book then I have with television lately, and some of the situations you talk about just made me fall flat on the floor ( or laugh very hard on the bus). As a 16 year old lad who is constantly seeking knowledge I must admit I was drawn to `make things go boom,’. You can be sure that if there are women screaming and running away at a party, I am now officially the cause. My girlfriend is now the owner of the book, she has a good laugh at the sexual chapters and particularly loves your introduction to `laughing and crying,’. I don’t mind the fact she keeps telling me I’m going to die one day, but must she be so upfront about it? Thanks for a great read that I am sure will be read many times. From your newest fan.

It’s always brilliant to receive your emails, so do keep them coming. Thanks a million, Frank.

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People keep asking whether James May’s latest tome is, as they say, “the highest form of flattery”.

What do you think?

Frank Coles 2009: How to Drive a Tank…and Other Everyday Tips for the Modern Gentleman.

James May 2010: How to Land an Airbus A330 and Other vital skills for the Modern Man.

Our B-title was Modern Man funnily enough.

I’m sure Mr May’s effort will run year-on-year in the stocking stakes. It’s already spawned a TV show. And whether it’s flattery or not when you’re just breaking in, like me, it sure kills any hope of a book two in that particular series.

Ah well, I’ll guess I’ll just have to come up with another original idea. In the mean-time it’s great to hear that Tank regularly gets passed around the dorms of Britain’s boys’ schools as a must-read.

Thank you readers for writing in.

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Sam Chell, one of the readers of How to Drive a Tank… asks, “How can I get in contact with some of the people you met in your book as i am really interested in doing some of the things you did? Please help me if you have the time, thanks.”

Well Sam, it’s a good question and one I’m asked regularly, so, by section, here are the people, companies and books I used to do the things you read about in Tank. Book links are at the bottom.

Section 1: Life skills Every Man Should Have

Frank in a Tank

Chapter: How to Drive a Tank
Tank School
Contact: Alastair Scott
Tel: 07971 635189 / 01873 880301
Email: alastairgscott AT tiscali.co.uk (replace AT with @)
Web: http://www.tankschool.co.uk/

Chapter: Handbrake Turns and Other Naughty Driving Skills
Company: Dynamic Drivers
Contact: Richard Knott
Tel: 01934 830303
Email: richardknott1 AT aol.com
Web: http://www.dynamic-drivers.co.uk/

Chapter: Pick Locks, Safes and Chastity Belts
For a peerless and easy to understand lock-picking primer see Locksport Internationals pdf here: http://cdn.makezine.com/make/lsiguide.pdf. And check out Lockpicking101 for everything else, especially their Newbie FAQ. If you’re desperate for bump keys simply google “bump key” with the specific lock you’re after.

Chapter: How to Hotwire Cars and Motorbikes
I used a Bedouin’s pre-stripped Nissan Patrol during a job on the Saudi/Jordan border to illustrate the basics of a car hotwire. You can view it on Nat Geo Adventure here or press play on the Youtube embed below:

Chapter: How to Defeat Security Systems
See this post elsewhere on the blog.

Chapter: How to Get a Gun in any City in the World in the Next Few Hours
A chapter with its tongue firmly wedged in cheek. If you’re after info on the Kambol range in Cambodia check out their armaments and prices here and read about Dan White’s experience here.

Chapter: How to Disappear Without a Trace
For legal and relatively straight forward ways to do this meet Grandpa and the Six Flags or here.

Chapter: How to Hide a Dead Body
Read the chapter, sense of humour required.

Chapter: Make Things Go Boom
I’ll be posting a series of videos on this chapter in time for the paperback launch on November 4th 2010.

Chapter: Drill It ‘Til You Can Kill It
Company: Edelweiss Tactical
Web and contact: http://www.edelweisstactical.com
They have firearms, rapid assault tactics and driving courses available. All are excellent. Watch this space for more details in the coming months.
Videos: Nat Geo or watch below on Youtube embed below:

Chapter: How to Fight – The Everyday Application of Extreme Force
Check out Mick Coup’s videos on this post or go to the Core Combatives website. I highly recommend Mick for zero-BS practical approach to real-world fighting.

Chapter: How to Survive the Wild…Because You Never Know When You Might Need To
Train in remote areas of the UK and abroad with the excellent trainers at Woodsmoke.

Chapter: How to Gamble – It’s All in the Game
There are literally hundreds of websites out there explaining how to play the different forms of casino gambling, two of my fave poker sites are: http://www.cardschat.com and http://www.pokerplayer.co.uk/. Books: Breaking Vegas; Play Blackjack Like the Pros, Professional Blackjack; Holden on Hold ‘em, Big Deal; the always brilliant How to Cheat at Everything and of course these two classic Bond scenes that have defined what gambling and casinos are about for generations: First one shows Baccarat, the second Craps. Enjoy.

Chapter: Learn Any Language – In a Week, In a Month, In a Year
A superb resource for beginners is: http://how-to-learn-any-language.com. Books: Learn Any Language; The Quick and Dirty Guide to Learning a Language Fast and any thing by Michel Thomas.

Chapter: Learn to Jam in a Day
Get started now, tune your guitar with www.howtotuneaguitar.org, learn your first blues shuffle with Mojo’s excellent www.threechordguitar.com take a course with www.accessrock.com or study offline with The Complete guitarist.

Section 2 will be posted soon…

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Frank beats himself up for the illustrator

For those of you who enjoyed the chapter How to Fight – The Everyday Application of Extreme Force you’ll know I trained with Mick Coup the originator of Core Combatives (C2 for short). Mick’s uploaded some videos to YouTube that cover the fundamental strikes outlined in the book and I’ve added links to them below.

For those of you who haven’t read the book C2 is a no-nonsense, zero-BS combat system that gives you the fundamental skills and tactics to succeed in a real-world fight.

Mick’s a great guy to train with, both knowledgeable and demanding, and his C2 package is designed to be relied on when the shit really hits the fan. You can also find out more here: www.corecombatives.com.

HIGHLINE STRIKE VIDEOS:

The Basic Highline Strike – Why?

Basic Highline Strike – Lateral Transition Introduction

Now click the following links if you want to watch the rest, enjoy!

Highline Strike Breakdown 1 | Highline Strike Breakdown 2

Elbow Strike Breakdown 1 | Elbow Strike Breakdown 2

LOWLINE STRIKE VIDEOS:

Knee Strike Fundamentals

Happy new year to you all! And many thanks to all the readers of my book for your queries over the Christmas period. I now have a backlog and will try to respond to you personally or post the answer here if it’s a question I’ve been asked more than once.

Max from Jersey asks…

“I am a French man based in Jersey and I read your book. I really enjoyed it. I was wondering if you were considering to translate to French at some point? I think it would be a great success in France. Thanks in advance for your answer. Best wishes, Max.”

Thanks for your question Max. I know there are several translation talks going on at the moment and if a French version is commissioned I’ll let you know here. For German readers we should start one or two translations of the sample chapters on the book page in the coming weeks.

Thanks again, and to all my readers, feel free to ask questions at any time. I will always try and respond to you, although please bear in my mind that sometimes my workload or location often means I can’t.

Keep smiling, F.