Classic travel from the comfort of your armchair

sites

Armchair Travellers' Site: Eland books have built up a loyal following by resurrecting forgotten classics of travel literature. Distinguished by their sparse, cream covers, the books on the list include authors such as Norman Lewis and Martha Gellhorn. I'm a fan myself of several of their titles, but I have to admit I was surprised to find them setting up shop on the Web, such is their elitist, traditional image. But Eland devotees will be pleased to see that their new site (http://www. travelbooks.co.uk) is as uncluttered as their books, with the bare essentials on its catalogue of 39 titles and how to order. No fancy graphics here, but you can read an extract from each title. You can order titles on-line with your credit card, or phone in your choice. Eland's publisher will also take suggestions via e-mail for other titles that deserve to be rejuvenated.

Trivial site: There is no other word for it, because this is an unashamedly irrelevant and unimportant site. Email Trivia (http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/ triviaware/) is for those who want to add a bit of frivolity to their e-mails, to make them witty, memorable or curious. In short, what it offers is a little piece of downloadable software that automatically appends a piece of trivia to your e-mail messages. You can choose between "Ascii Art", "On This Day", "Poems", "Quotes", "Jokes" and "Fascinating Facts", as well as creating your own Favourites selection.

It also allows you to pose a trivia question to your recipients on subjects such as music, history, showbiz, sport and travel. If they want to find out the answer, they can e-mail the question to the Email Trivia answering service. Before shelling out the pounds 20 charge for this piece of frivolous cyber-gadgetry, you can try out a demo version.

Models Site: Another dollop of frivolous stuff, with this site devoted to the promotion of British models. Women only, as far as I could tell. But wannabe Naomi Campbells or Kate Mosses with global ambitions need not feel constrained by its British focus, because Models.co.uk (http://www.models.co.uk/) links to model agency Web sites across the world. As you might expect, there is a section on beauty, health and fitness, as well as various fashion links. The tackiest section is the monthly featured model, complete with vital statistics.

Hypochondriacs' Site: More health and beauty stuff, with the arrival of Boots on the Web (http://www.Boots.co.uk). And a great place to find pills and potions to deal with those mysterious ailments your doctor refuses to recognise. But I guess our ubiquitous high street chemist's main aim with this site is to spruce up its dowdy image. They have grand and important ambitions: their aim is "to become the pre-eminent site for information on health, beauty, pregnancy, birth, early years and summer at home and abroad". You can choose between health, family, "your looks" and "your summer", and there is also a live pollen count, a vitamin database and advice on common ailments.

Musicians' Site: A musos' site that is more than the usual collection of links to other musos' sites, although Kurt Kelly's Backstage Pass has a pretty eclectic selection to choose from - the Doors to INXS to the Supremes. And they have a great home page image. But what marks out Backstage Pass (http://bspaa.com/) is its advice service for budding professional musicians, covering everything from dealing with agents and producers, to entertainment law and finance. You can order a complete "Musician's Survival Course" via the site. Of course, as I'm tone deaf and have more chance of singing a duet with Jim Morrison than of becoming a professional musician, I can't say whether their advice is worth taking or not.

Viking Site: The bearded horny-hats have arrived on the Web, although not for a campaign of pillage and destruction. Pity, really, because there are quite a few Web sites that would benefit from a bit of slash and burn at the hands of the Vikings. But this is the home page of the Jorvik Viking Centre in York (http://www. demon.co.uk/tourism/jvc/), a real-world archaeological museum where they have recreated a Viking city that existed on the site some 1,000 years ago. The focus of the site is a well-designed guide to the city, complete with sights and sounds and bits and bobs of Viking history, as well as admission details. And if you are a big Viking fan, you might want to check out their collection of links to other Viking sites on the Web.

Wildlife Site: Animal rights campaigners might want to check out the new Wildlife Network (http://homepages.enterprise. net/mrw/wildnet.html). This is an organisation that claims to be more conciliatory than most animal rights groups. The Wildlife Network criticises the violent confrontations that have taken place over some animal rights controversies, such as fox hunting, because they have reduced the debate to insults and point-scoring. But apart from some invitations to support them and a few news clippings, there is not much on the site yet. See how it develops.