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The Funny Farm
By Jackie Ellis. 2004
How often have you thought you might like to chuck it all in, leave the steaming metropolis and its noise…
and dirt behind and make for pastures new, to begin your life again? We often talk about it but people rarely do it. Jackie Moffat is one of those who did. In 1982 she and her family - armed with a bucketload of optimism, stout boots and a highly developed sense of the ridiculous - upped sticks from London (where she'd lived all her life) and went North, to Cumbria. Their destination was the Eden Valley, and a small stock-rearing and dairy farm called Rowfoot, and there they have spent the past twenty years getting to grips with the practice of running a working farm, keeping sheep, cattle, pigs and horses, becoming part of the (often eccentric) community, coping with the ups and downs (Foot and Mouth devastated them) of farming life. For the past ten years, the author's written a regular column for the Cumbria and Lake District Life magazine, and it was this that inspired her to write about her life in rural England and the trials, tribulations and pleasures of running a farm.For the Love of Frenchies: The Dogs that Changed my Life
By Pete Wicks. 2018
The only way is a rescue dog.French Bulldogs are the UK’s most popular dog breed, and nobody loves them more…
than Pete Wicks. Although he’s most famous for his appearances on The Only Way is Essex, he’s never happier than when he’s with his best friend – no, not James Lock – his French Bulldog Eric. But their story hasn’t been all walkies and biscuits. In 2016, Pete was devastated to suddenly lose his adored French Bulldog Ernest at just three years old. The Wolfpack was torn apart. Left to pick up the pieces with Eric, he realised that he knew very little about the breed and the reason why Ern died so young. In honour of his old pal, Pete teamed up with animal charities and uncovered the shocking unregulated breeding and illegal importation that led to the life-threatening illness Ernest suffered from. And the problem is widespread. But if you want one of the best companion dogs you could ever own, a pup that is affectionate and playful (or some would say mischievous), then a French Bulldog is perfect for you. Here Pete reveals the many tips he’s learned for a happy life with a Frenchie, and how we can all help to eradicate the problems facing the breed. Most touchingly, for the first time he bravely recounts that love and grief we all feel for a special dog. This is a book that EVERY dog lover needs to read.The Gold: The real story behind Brink’s-Mat: Britain’s biggest heist
By Neil Forsyth, Thomas Turner. 2023
The real story that inspired the BBC drama, The GoldOn Saturday, 26 November 1983, an armed gang stole gold bullion…
worth almost £26 million from the Brink's-Mat security depot near London's Heathrow Airport. It was the largest robbery in world history, and only the start of an extraordinary story. For forty years, myths and legends have grown around the Brink's-Mat heist and the events that followed.The heist led to a wave of international money laundering, provided dirty money that helped fuel the London Docklands property boom, caused seismic changes in both British crime and policing, and has been linked to a series of deaths that continued until 2015.The Gold is the conclusion of extensive research and includes exclusive testimony from one of the original robbers who gives his version of events for the first time. The result is the astonishing true story of the robbery of the century.THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER 'FULL OF FUNNY AND HEART-WARMING STORIES' Sunday ExpressThe charming sequel to Felix the Railway Cat, with…
more exciting adventures from his life on and off duty at Huddersfield Railway Station. Felix, Senior Pest Controller at Huddersfield station, has been at the heart of a close-knit community since the day she arrived as a kitten. But now, having risen to fame, everyday life at the station has become rather hectic; while reporters and fans clamour for a glimpse of her, Felix and her human co-workers find themselves, and the station, in quite a whirlwind. With the job seemingly too big for one fluffy feline to handle, it seems only sensible to recruit a young apprentice to the team: enter, Bolt. Full of funny and heart-warming stories, with personal tales from Felix's biggest fans, this is the remarkable tale of Felix and Bolt, the ultimate pest-controlling duo.AS SEEN ON THE ONE SHOW & GOOD MORNING BRITAINPraise for Felix the Railway Cat: 'The global sensation' Daily Telegraph'A phenomenon' Big Issue'The purrfect railway cat' Daily Express Royalties from the sale of this book will be donated to Huddersfield Samaritans and Action for ChildrenFor Crying Out Loud: The World According to Clarkson Volume 3 (The World According to Clarkson)
By Jeremy Clarkson. 2008
Jeremy Clarkson, shares his opinions on just about everything in For Crying Out Loud.The publication of The World According to…
Clarkson in 2004 launched a multi-million copy bestselling phenomenon. But to no avail. Jeremy's one man war on crimes against common sense has not yet been won. And out hero's still scratching his head at the madness of it all. But it's not all bad. He's learnt a little along the way, including:• Why binge drinking is good for you• The worst word in the English language• The remarkable secret of eternal youth• The problem with America• And how to dispose of a seal For anyone who's been driven to wonder just what is the matter with people these days, For Crying Out Loud is the perfect riposte. Surprising, fearless and always laugh-out-loud funny, Clarkson's back. And he's got a point . . .For Crying Out Loud is a hilarious collection of Jeremy's Sunday Times columns and the third in his The World According to Clarkson series which also includes The World According to Clarkson, And Another Thing... and How Hard Can It Be?Praise for Jeremy Clarkson:'Brilliant . . . laugh-out-loud' Daily Telegraph'Outrageously funny . . . will have you in stitches' Time Out'Cars take a back seat as Clarkson grumpily lets rip . . . the man has a point!' ZooNumber-one bestseller Jeremy Clarkson writes on cars, current affairs and anything else that annoys him in his sharp and funny collections. Born To Be Riled, Clarkson On Cars, Don't Stop Me Now, Driven To Distraction, Round the Bend, Motorworld and I Know You Got Soul are also available as Penguin paperbacks; the Penguin App iClarkson: The Book of Cars can be downloaded on the App Store.Jeremy Clarkson because his writing career on the Rotherham Advertiser. Since then he has written for the Sun and the Sunday Times. Today he is the tallest person working in British television, and is the presenter of the hugely popular Top Gear.Fat Bloke Slims: How I Lost Three Stone
By Bruce Byron. 2009
Bruce Byron is a popular character in The Bill. He's about three to four stones overweight, nearing fifty and, in…
his own words, a heart attack waiting to happen. 'You see, I have a weight issue - the issue being that I have too much of it. Currently in the UK around six in ten men are medically defined as overweight and one in six as obese. Obesity in the UK has more than doubled in the past eighteen years, amongst blokes it's tripled and with this come increased risks to our health including heart disease - the UK's biggest killer. According to my friends at the British Heart Foundation, heart disease kills one in five males. It is responsible for 32% of premature deaths in males. Someone in the UK has a heart attack every two minutes. That could be me. So, here we are. This is the documented journey of a soon to be fifty-year-old, seriously overweight man who works long hours and wants to be around to see his children grow up, a man who wants to play and do exciting activities with my family, enjoy growing old with my beautiful wife and be around long enough to enjoy the rewards of our very hard-earned success.Today's the day I stop making excuses.'From There to Here: 16 True Tales of Immigration to Britain (The Decibel Penguin Prize #2)
By Menaka Raman, Cosh Omar, Vesna Maric, Kirti Joshi, Zlatko Pranjic, Nimer Rashed, Anita Sethi, Xenia Crockett, Nina Joshi, Toni Jackson, Mimi Chan-Choong, Cliff Walker, Ali Sheikholeslami, Marek Kazmierski, Jade Amoli-Jackson, Charmaine Joshua. 2007
We asked people from any background to send us their true personal accounts of immigration to Britain. The response was…
significant, and the range of entries overwhelming. Six judges - including Shami Chakrabarti of Liberty and the novelist Kate Mosse - selected the best, most illuminating and most powerful entries to be published in this book.The result is the widest-reaching contemporary survey of the immigrant experience published in many years. In these pages you'll discover sixteen very different voices, each one presenting a very different point of view. In taking us around the world, each account shows a new side to the most complicated journey of all, Finding a place to call home.'The country's ethnic and religious make-up is already making a vivid mark on our literature. I am proud and delighted to be its patron' David Lammy MPFar from the East End: The moving story of an evacuee's survival and search for home
By Iris Jones Simantel. 2012
** Saga Magazine 'Life Story' competition winner**From the streets of London to the Welsh countryside, evacuee Iris Simantel tells of…
her desperate search for somewhere to belong in Far From the East End.Born in 1938 under threat of looming war, Iris spent her early years playing in the rubble of bombed buildings in Dagenham by day and cowering in a dusty shelter at night. But the hardships of poverty and the dreaded Blitz could not match the pain she felt at her parents' indifference. She prayed that just once her mother would hold her when the bombs rained down. But loneliness only intensified when she was evacuated.Finding the nurturing home she had always dreamt of in her adopted Welsh parents, she wonders what, when she returns to London after the war, will be waiting for her. Will she ever be able to love her philandering father, depressive mother and an angry, bullying brother? Will her family even survive? Or will she have to look farther afield for the affection she so longs for? Prepare to be taken on a beautiful and emotional journey with Iris Simantel's nostalgic memoir, Far from the East End.Iris Simantel is the acclaimed winner of the Saga Magazine 'Life Story' competition, telling of her evacuation from Dagenham to Wales, and her family's post-War move to South Oxney. She now lives in Devon.Fanny Burney: Her Life
By Kate Chisholm. 1998
Fanny Burney (1752-1840) is best known as the author of EVELINA, one of the most engaging novels of the eighteenth…
century. But for much of her long life, she was also an incomparable diarist, witnessing both the madness of George III and the young Queen Victoria's coronation. To read the journals she kept from the age of sixteen is to step back into Georgian England, meeting Dr Johnson, Garrick and Reynolds, being chased round the gardens of Kew Palace by the King. . . She was lady-in-writing to Queen Charlotte; she married an aristocratic emigre from the French Revolution and had her first and only child when she was forty-two; she was in Paris as Napoleon's armies marshalled against England, and in Brussels she heard the muffled guns, and watched the wounded being carried back from Waterloo. Kate Chisholm's delightful biography, incorporating the latest research and illustrate with unusual portraits and drawings, is lively, funny, shocking, informative and deeply moving; it paints a vivid portrait of a woman of great talent, against the changing background of England and France, a culture and an age.You’ve Got To Laugh: Stories from a Life Lived to the Full
By Alison Hammond. 2021
The hilarious, heartwarming and joyful memoir from much-loved presenter Alison Hammond, host of ITV's This Morning.'This woman's laugh is like…
gold dust' Huffington Post '[A] national treasure' Metro 'I always say a day is wasted without laughter . . .' Alison Hammond loves to laugh. And the nation laughs with her. Her sunny personality and zest for life have brought joy to millions and made her one of the UK's best-loved television presenters. Known for her hilarious and unforgettable interviews with Hollywood A-listers, Alison is also responsible for countless classic moments of broadcasting gold - from getting stuck on a caravan door to delivering Christmas cash dressed as an elf. But who is Alison Hammond really, and how did she become the personality we know and love? Shaped by the influence of her incredible mum, Alison went from small roles on television shows as a youngster to that life-changing appearance on Big Brother, before landing her dream job on This Morning. And through it all, she found the joy in every day, the positives in any situation. You've Got to Laugh gives a never-before-seen insight into Alison's life: her loves, her losses - with a side order of gossip. As well as being a hugely entertaining and uplifting read, Alison's story will inspire you to grab life with both hands and make the most of every single moment. 'Interviewer extraordinaire, reigning queen of the huns, and an out-and-out national treasure' BustleA Young Man's Passage
By Julian Clary. 2005
This is Julian Clary's story, in his own words - the tale of an awkward schoolboy who became a huge…
worldwide success on stage and screen.After a sheltered suburban upbringing, Julian was sent to St Benedict's, where beatings from 'holy' men gave him some brutal life lessons, and other 'unholy' boys his first awakenings of sexuality. He had just one true friend and ally, Nick - to his other school peers, Julian's aloof demeanour made him an enigma or simply a figure of ridicule. In school he was just another pained adolescent, but inside Julian was a new Jean Genet or Quentin Crisp bursting to get out.Leaving St Benedict's thankfully behind him, Julian went on to college where he found his true vocation as an entertainer with a peculiar comic brand of smut and glamour. At the same time, he was finding as much sex as he could, sometimes with remarkably less-than-glamorous characters.Periods in community theatre and the singing telegram industry followed before Julian hit the big time with cabaret co-star Fanny the Wonder Dog as The Joan Collins Fan Club. Soon, the world was his oyster. But fame came at a price, as Julian struggled not only with the reality of being a high-profile gay man in the 1980s but also the pain of losing his lover to terminal illness.Far more than just another celebrity autobiography or 'funny book', this is a touching, beautifully written and wryly witty account of a unique progression from shy child to comedy icon.Young James Herriot: The Making of the World’s Most Famous Vet
By John Lewis-Stempel. 2011
Set in Glasgow in the 1930s, Young James Herriot is the fascinating story of Herriot’s formative years at veterinary college,…
recounting the tales behind his calling to work with animals and his early friendships. With no modern drugs, and a lot of trial-and-error, James sets about learning how to treat the local farm animals and the pets of city folk.Accompanied by a cast of eccentric professors and an ensemble of aspiring veterinarians, this book reveals a world now lost to us, showing how life in pre-war Britain changed an enthusiastic young student named Alf Wight into the man who would charm millions of readers the world over.You Must Like Cricket?: Memoirs of an Indian Cricket Fan
By Soumya Bhattacharya. 2006
The great C L R James once asked: 'What do they know of cricket who only cricket know?' For some…
of us answering that can keep you awake at night.Soumya Bhattacharya knows this: he has a steady job, a loving wife, a daughter he dotes on. But most of all he has cricket. Or perhaps more accurately: cricket has him. Ever since he can remember, he's loved the game. From his first knockabouts on the living-room carpet - with his mother's paper bats and balls - he progressed to Test Match Special on short-wave, then to the whole panoply of obsession: one-dayers, Test matches, TV highlights, re-runs of TV highlights, always following one team - India. When you come from a country where the game is more than a religion, you must like cricket, right?In this sparkling memoir of a lifetime spent in the company of eleven men, a green field and a billion other worshippers, Soumya Bhattacharya gives us a guided tour of the soul of a cricket obsessive. Part reportage, part travelogue, part cultural politics, You Must Like Cricket? takes us from his home in Kolkata to Lord's and back again as Bhattacharya explores the joys and the lows (mostly the lows) of a thirty-year love affair, how one game has become so closely tied to a nation's identity, and the troubling hold cricket has over him. But if your home ground was called Eden Gardens, where else would you rather be?"He would say to me, ‘You can’t stop me – no one can!’ There was no let-up from his evil.…
I knew he would never stop, so I just had to do what I could to survive." Mandy Thomas was just 18 when she met the man who would change her life forever. She was soon under his spell – and then her real nightmare began. Mandy found herself part of a cruel and violent relationship that she couldn’t escape. Until one day he went too far… You Can’t Run is Mandy’s searingly honest and moving true story.Free At Last: Diaries 1991 - 2001
By Tony Benn. 2002
Tony Benn is the longest serving MP in the history of the Labour Party. He left Parliament in 2001, after…
more than half a century in the House of Commons, to devote more time to politics. This volume of his Diaries describes and comments, in a refreshing and honest way, upon the events of a momentous decade including two world wars, a change of government in Britain and the emergence of New Labour, of which he makes clear he is not a member. Tony Benn's account is a well documented, formidable and principled critique of the New Labour Project, full of drama, opinion, humour, anecdotes and sparkling pen-portraits of politicians on both sides of the political divide. But his narrative is also broader and more revealing about day-to-day political life, covering many aspects normally disregarded by historians and lobby correspondents, relating to his work in the constituency, including his advice surgeries. This volume also offers far more of an insight into Tony Benn's personal life, his thoughts about the future and his relationship with his family, especially his remarkable wife Caroline, whose illness and death overshadow these years. Tony Benn is a unique figure on the British political landscape: a true democrat, a passionate socialist and diarist without equal. With this volume, his published Diaries cover British politics for over sixty years. It is edited, as are all others, by Ruth Winstone.Flying High: My Story: From AirAsia to QPR
By Tony Fernandes. 2017
'What a life. Tony Fernandes has accomplished amazing things - and who's to say what he can go on to…
achieve?' Sir Richard BransonThe inspiring story of business hero and Apprentice Asia star Tony FernandesAs a boy, Tony Fernandes wanted to be a pilot, a footballer or a racing driver. By 2011 he'd gone one better: founding his own airline and his own formula one team, and becoming Chairman of Queens Park Rangers, helping them reach the Premier League again after a 15-year absence from the top flight. Flying High is the memoir of an exceptional business leader; the man who created Asia's first budget airline, democratizing air travel in Asia and building AirAsia into a multi-billion-dollar company in the process. Published as Tony returns as the face of the second series of Apprentice Asia, this inspiring personal story will be a major global publishing event.Tony Fernandes studied at Epsom College, UK, and the London School of Accoutancy. He worked for Virgin Communications and Warner Music before acquiring AirAsia and relaunching it as Asia's first low-cost carrier in 2001/2. He is currently Group CEO of AirAsia, Chairman of QPR football club and owner of the Caterham F1 team. Tony has been awarded a CBE, titled twice by the King of Malaysia and awarded the Legion d'Honneur by the French government. He has also received awards from major business media outlets including theInternational Herald Tribune, Business Times, Business Week, Fast Company and Forbes.Elsewhere: One Woman, One Rucksack, One Lifetime of Travel
By Rosita Boland. 2018
'Utterly engaging.' - Sunday TimesFrom her first life-changing solo trip to Australia as a young graduate, Rosita Boland was enthralled…
by travel. In the last thirty years she has visited some of the most remote parts of the globe carrying little more than a battered rucksack and a diary.Documenting nine journeys from nine different moments in her life, Elsewhere reveals how exploring the world – and those we meet along the way – can dramatically shape the course of a person’s life. From death-defying bus journeys through Pakistan to witnessing the majestic icescapes of Antarctica to putting herself back together in Bali, Rosita experiences moments of profound joy and endures deep personal loss.In a series of jaw-dropping, illuminating and sometimes heart-breaking essays, Elsewhere is a book that celebrates the life well-travelled in all its messy and wondrous glory.The Extra Mile: The Inspirational Number One Bestseller
By Kevin Sinfield. 2023
THE INSPIRATIONAL NUMBER ONE BESTSELLERThe extraordinary memoir of the sporting icon, devoted friend and fundraising hero who has inspired the…
nation in his fight against MND‘A very British hero, the unassuming yet utterly superb Kevin Sinfield – rugby league great turned rugby union coach turned charity fundraiser, all while carrying a torch for the true meaning of sport and friendship. The Extra Mile tells how Sinfield set about raising money to combat motor neurone disease, the appalling condition that has gripped his former Leeds Rhinos teammate and best pal, Rob Burrow. If Sinfield weren’t such a modest man, his story could be subtitled, How to Be a Decent Person.’ The Times, Sports Books of the Year, 2023'An inspirational and life-affirming read. What Kevin Sinfield has achieved on and off the field is truly remarkable. His inspiring leadership and relentless focus on fundraising for MND shows how we should all strive to care more for each other' Gareth Southgate'If you want inspiring, uplifting and empowering... give this amazing man some of your time' Jake Humphrey'Kevin Sinfield is adored and respected . . . he is the best of men' Brian Moore, Daily Telegraph'I've always thought Kevin Sinfield was a hero. His quiet, calm, committed leadership makes people want to support him and we are all doing that as he supports Rob Burrow and everyone living with MND' Clare Balding'The friendship between Kevin Sinfield and Rob Burrow gives you faith in humankind' Sir Chris HoyThe Extra Mile is no ordinary sports memoir. But Kevin Sinfield is no ordinary sportsman. A one-club legend of Leeds Rhinos, who has now crossed codes as a defence coach for the England national rugby union team, Kevin Sinfield is a rugby icon. But in recent years has shown heroism of a very different kind through his selfless and extraordinary fundraising for motor neurone disease (MND), the terminal illness that has affected his best mate and former teammate Rob Burrow.Sinfield's epic challenges have included running 7 ultra marathons in 7 days, and running over 101 miles in 24 hours. In the process, Sinfield has captured the hearts of the nation and over £7 million for MND. He was awarded an OBE in the Queen's Birthday honours for his efforts, along with the Freedom of Leeds and a special BBC Award for his fundraising.Told with Sinfield's characteristic warmth, dry wit and inspirational leadership, The Extra Mile is the story of an astonishing life, of an enduring friendship, of perseverance against the most difficult of challenges, and of a remarkable, humble human being who has defied the odds. The book equips readers with the tools and the mindset to embrace togetherness and to overcome their own challenges. It leaves the reader with the urgent question: Who would you go the extra mile for to help in life?PRAISE FOR KEVIN SINFIELD'Inspirational does not do him justice, he's that and much, much more' Matt Dickinson'Kevin Sinfield is an incredible human being' Gabby Logan'A total hero' Yvette Cooper'Britain's greatest sportsman (off the pitch) ... Kevin Sinfield's fundraising is a poignant story of friendship and human endeavour' The TimesNumber 1 Sunday Times bestseller, June 2023Fingers in the Sparkle Jar: A Memoir
By Chris Packham. 2016
Voted the UK’s Favourite Nature BookThe memoir that inspired Chris Packham's BBC documentary, Asperger’s and MeEvery minute was magical, every…
single thing it did was fascinating and everything it didn't do was equally wondrous, and to be sat there, with a Kestrel, a real live Kestrel, my own real live Kestrel on my wrist! I felt like I'd climbed through a hole in heaven's fence.An introverted, unusual young boy, isolated by his obsessions and a loner at school, Chris Packham only felt at ease in the fields and woods around his suburban home. But when he stole a young Kestrel from its nest, he was about to embark on a friendship that would teach him what it meant to love, and that would change him forever. In his rich, lyrical and emotionally exposing memoir, Chris brings to life his childhood in the 70s, from his bedroom bursting with fox skulls, birds' eggs and sweaty jam jars, to his feral adventures. But pervading his story is the search for freedom, meaning and acceptance in a world that didn’t understand him.Beautifully wrought, this coming-of-age memoir will be unlike any you've ever read.El Infierno: My time inside Ecuador’s toughest prisons
By Pieter Tritton. 2017
“Gato’s head snapped back… We could make out the shots of several 9mms, a couple of 38s and one or…
two 45s. I hurled myself through the doorway and into the room. I didn’t look back.”Caught in an Ecuador hotel room with 8kg of cocaine, Pieter Tritton was no mule or dupe. He had planned and organised everything. The consequence: a 12-year sentence inside one of the world’s deadliest prison systems, where gun fights, executions and riots are a part of everyday life. As a Brit banged up abroad, Pieter had to learn how to survive – and fast – because one wrong move would mean death.This is the insider account of what it’s like to live in a place worse than hell and come out a changed man on the other side.