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Harold Nicolson
By Norman Rose. 2005
Harold Nicolson was a man of extraordinary gifts. A renowned politician, historian, biographer, diarist, novelist, lecturer, journalist, broadcaster and gardener,…
his position in society and politics allowed him an insight into the most dramatic events of British, indeed world, history.Nicolson's personal life was no less dramatic. Married to Vita Sackville-West, one of the most famous writers of her day, their marriage survived, even prospered, despite their both being practising homosexuals. Unashamedly elitist, bound together by their literary, social, and intellectual pursuits, moving in the refined circles of the Bloomsbury group they viewed life from the rarified peaks of aristocratic haughtiness. Few men could boast such gifts as Nicolson possessed, yet he ended his life plagued by self-doubt. 'I am attempting nothing; therefore I cannot fail,' he once acknowledged. What went wrong? It was a question that haunted Nicolson throughout his adult life. Relying on a wealth of archival material, Norman Rose brilliantly disentangles fact from fiction, setting Nicolson's story of perceived failure against the wider perspective of his times.Hiero the Tyrant and Other Treatises
By Xenophon. 1997
One of Socrates' Athenian disciples in his youth, Xenophon (c. 498-354 bc) fought as a mercenary commander in Cyrus the…
Younger's campaign to seize the Persian throne, and later wrote a wide range of works on history, politics and philosophy. These six treatises offer his informed insights into the nature of leadership. In the dialogue between the poet Simonides and Hiero, tyrant of Syracuse, Xenophon provides a consummate consideration of the burdens of being an absolute dictator and the superior happiness of the private man. Elsewhere, his biography of King Agesilaus II of Sparta depicts the author's patron as a model of piety, justice, courage and wisdom, while other texts consider the essential qualities of the cavalry commander, analyse the skills of the horseman and the hunter, and advance a bold economic plan for democratic Athens.Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now: My Difficult 80s
By Andrew Collins. 2004
'Higher education comes at exactly the right time: in the twilight of your teens, you're just starting to coagulate as…
a human being, to pull away from parental influence and find your own feet. What better than three years in which to explore the inner you, establish a feasible worldview, and maybe get on Blockbusters.'After an idyllic provincial 1970s childhood, the 1980s took Andrew Collins to London, art school and the classic student experience. Crimping his hair, casting aside his socks and sporting fingerless gloves, he became Andy Kollins: purveyor of awful poetry; disciple of moany music, and wannabe political activist. What follows is a universal tale of trainee hedonism, girl trouble, wasted grants and begging letters to parents. A synth-soundtracked rite of passage that's often painfully funny, it traces one teenager's metamorphosis from sheltered suburban innocent to semi-mature metropolitan male through the pretensions and confusions of trying to stand alone for the first time in your own kung fu pumps in a big bad city.Hard Knocks & Soft Spots
By Paddy Doherty. 2012
'I fight hard and love strong. I'm a traveller.'Paddy Doherty loves his life as an Irish traveller, but as a…
child he felt like an outsider. He was different to his siblings. On the rare occasions he went to school, he was bullied for being a gypsy boy. And beyond the gates of the camp he found nothing but hostility. Slowly, Paddy's hurt turned into anger and by the age of 11 he had started out on an illustrious career in bare-knuckle fighting. This earned him a position as one of the most well-respected (and feared) men in the travelling community. Yet while he won countless contests in the ring, the real battles he faced were very much outside.In this deeply honest autobiography, he tells of how he has loved and lost five children; plummeted to seven stone while battling depression, drink and drugs. He describes how it feels to be shot point-blank in the head and the lengths he'll go to to protect his people, as well as life since My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding and Big Brother.Told with all the warmth and humour he is famed for, Paddy's rich and colourful story is one that will stay with you for a long time to come.The Hounding of David Oluwale
By Kester Aspden. 1978
'David Oluwale's story has a raw power...and Kester Aspden makes it relevant for the reader of today' Mishal HusainAn award-winning…
microhistory that examines the death of David Oluwale and institutionalised police racism in Britain.When, in May 1969, the body of David Oluwale was found in the River Aire near Leeds, few questions were asked about the circumstances of his death. Oluwale was homeless and had spent time in a psychiatric hospital, an immigrant from Nigeria who was trapped in a system that had failed him miserably.Eighteen months later a lengthy campaign of harassment by two Leeds policemen was uncovered - Oluwale became national news in Britain, and a symbol for its black community. This extraordinary book draws on original archival material only recently released to revisit one of the most chilling crimes in British history, and at the same time raises questions as relevant today as they were at the end of the sixties.Winner of the CWA Gold Dagger for Non-Fiction 2008'Aspden's painstaking research, empathetic approach and ability to weave together a vivid wider social critique show Oluwale was done a terrible disservice' MetroCrime detection has gone to the dogs and squirrels are being busted for espionage. If you've never wondered about the…
new direction of 'intelligence-led policing' in our society, now is the time to start. It was a chance encounter with a police sniffer-dog that drew criminal lawyer Amber Marks into the hidden world of the science of smell and its law-enforcement applications. Soon she stumbled into a wonderland of contemporary surveillance, where the spying skills of bees, dolphins and a myriad other critters were being harnessed to build a 'secure world' of bio-intelligence. From the businesses, scientists and military departments developing new smell-based surveillance technologies, to good old-fashioned police dogs, Amber discovered a secret world of security forces, where animals and scent are as important as intelligence agents and CCTV.Part polemical exploration of our burgeoning surveillance society, part humorous memoir, this intriguing book will capture your imagination and get you wondering: just who stands to benefit from all this 'security'?Headlines and Hedgerows: A Memoir
By John Craven. 2019
Take a trip down memory lane with the memoir from national TV treasure John Craven, as he recounts both the…
highs and lows of one of the longest entertaining careers in history, and the people and animals that have helped to shape it. _______'A cracking read' Chris Evans, Virgin Radio Breakfast Show_______He began by reading the front page of the evening newspaper in the kitchen to his mother and aunt. Since then he's spoken into microphones to the nation on the BBC almost every week for more than half a century and is one of the most-beloved broadcasters of our time. Presenter of treasured programmes Newsround, Countryfile and Swap Shop, John brought us the headlines and breaking news of our childhood and later helped us discover the magic and wonder of the British countryside. Now, in his first ever autobiography, he recounts a life in news starting with the Grimthorpe Street Gazette, the handwritten newspaper he produced in his early teens - just one copy at a time, so small beginnings. Later, broadcasting on television to millions of children, his casual style of news-reading even found his jumpers making news. He writes about his childhood, his career and the people, events - and animals - that have shaped his life. This is John Craven. And this is the story behind the man so many of us grew up watching on our television screens._______'Magical memoirs. A BBC legend. A broadcasting icon. The best bits from cub reporter to Countryfile . . . his early career sounds like a riot' Daily MailThe Glossy Years: Magazines, Museums and Selective Memoirs
By Nicholas Coleridge. 2001
'The most entertaining book of the year' Sunday Times _____________________________________________________Diana touched your elbow, your arm, covered your hand with hers.…
It was alluring. And she was disarmingly confiding."Can I ask you something? Nicholas, please be frank..."Over his thirty-year career at Condé Nast, Nicholas Coleridge has witnessed it all. From the anxieties of the Princess of Wales to the blazing fury of Mohamed Al-Fayed, his story is also the story of the people who populate the glamorous world of glossy magazines. With relish and astonishing candour, he offers the inside scoop on Tina Brown and Anna Wintour, David Bowie and Philip Green, Kate Moss and Beyonce; on Margaret Thatcher's clothes legacy, and a surreal weekend away with Bob Geldof and William Hague. Cara Delevingne, media tycoons, Prime Ministers, Princes, Mayors and Maharajas - all cross his path.His career in magazines straddles the glossies throughout their glorious zenith - from the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s to the digital iterations of the 21st century. Having cut his teeth on Tatler, and as Editor-in-Chief of Harpers & Queen, he became the Mr Big of glossy publishing for three decades.Packed with surprising and often hilarious anecdotes, The Glossy Years also provides perceptive insight into the changing and treacherous worlds of fashion, journalism, museums and a whole sweep of British society. This is a rich, honest, witty and very personal memoir of a life splendidly lived.__________________________________________________________'An entertaining whirlwind' Evening Standard'Gentle, jolly . . . Blissfully funny' Sunday Telegraph'An irresistible read, hilarious, honest and insightful. I adored it' Tina Brown'Sparkling' Spectator'Forthright, witty and gossipy . . . a passion for glossy magazines shines through this effervescent memoir' Sunday ExpressHead Over Heels in the Dales
By Gervase Phinn. 2002
Join Gervase Phinn in the classroom where he faces his greatest challenge: keeping a straight face as teachers and children…
alike conspire to have him laughing out loud . . .'So funny, it will echo things that happen in your own life' 5***** Reader Review'A wonderful, entertaining and enjoyable read. The humour is infectious' 5***** Reader Review______ 'Could you tell me how to spell "sex" please?' Gervase Phinn thinks he's heard just about everything in his two years as a school inspector, but a surprising enquiry from an angelic six-year-old reminds him never to take children for granted. This year Gervase has lots of important things on his mind - his impending marriage to Christine Bentley (the prettiest headteacher for miles around), finding somewhere idyllic to live in the Yorkshire Dales, and the chance of a promotion.All of which generate their fair share of excitement, aided and abetted as usual by his colleagues in the office.Funny, uplifting and joyful, Head over Heels in the Dales is the third in Gervase Phinn's much-loved series.______'Gervase Phinn's memoirs have made him a hero in school staff-rooms' Daily Telegraph'A natural storyteller' Yorkshire PostHandstands In The Dark: A True Story of Growing Up and Survival
By Janey Godley. 2020
Brought up amid near-Dickensian squalour in the tough East End of Glasgow and sexually abused by her uncle, Janey married…
into a Glasgow criminal family as a teenager, then found herself having to cope with the murder of her mother, violence, religious sectarianism, abject poverty and a frightening family of in-laws.First-hand, Janey saw the gangland violence and met extraordinary characters within an enclosed and seldom-revealed Glasgow underworld - from the grim and far-from-Swinging 60s, to the discos of the 70s, to the tidal wave of heroin addiction which swept through and engulfed Glasgow's East End during the 1980s.This evocative, intimate and moving portrayal of a woman forced to fight every day for her family's future will strike a chord with anyone who has ever struggled against adversity.Haunted by Harvard: Continents of Exile: 8 (Penguin Modern Classics)
By Ved Mehta. 2008
Book 8 in Ved Mehta's Continents of Exile series. Nearly 50 years in the making, Continents of Exile is one…
of the great works of twentieth-century autobiography: the epic chronicle of an Indian family in the twentieth century. From 1930s India to 1950s Oxford and literary New York in the 1960s-80s, this is the story of the post-colonial twentieth century, as uniquely experienced and vividly recounted by Ved Mehta.Veritas continues Mehta's journey through education: this time as a Ph.D. student and Residential Fellow at Harvard. His experience illustrates the dramatic changes in institutional habits and behaviour that were to take places in the late 1960s, as well as how dramatically out-of-touch many senior lecturers were to the societal mood around them.The Girl in the Wicker Basket
By Ann Kenny. 2008
When Ann Kenny was four years old her foster mother hit her across the face with a fireplace shovel. She…
was left lying unconscious on the cold hard floor while the family went to mass. She almost lost an eye.This is just one of the childhood incidents Ann recalls in her vivid, shocking memoir of growing up in rural Ireland, in a house where she wasn't wanted. Her early story is Cinderella-like, but without the happy ending: she had two older sisters who were loved, but Ann was put to work on household chores and received constant neglect and physical abuse, and sexual abuse from her grandfather. On growing up Ann found it hard to escape the shadows of her past, marrying an alcoholic and effectively raised her children herself. Ann eventually found the road to recovery and her book is a testament to the strength of a survivor. She began writing the book as she set to find out who was the tiny child she remembered left in a wicker basket - that child turned out to be herself.The Harz Journey and Selected Prose
By Heinrich Heine. 1993
A poet whose verse inspired music by Schubert, Schumann, Mendelssohn and Brahms, Heinrich Heine (1797-1856) was in his lifetime equally…
admired for his elegant prose. This collection charts the development of that prose, beginning with three meditative works from the Travel Pictures, inspired by Heine's journeys as a young man to Lucca, Venice and the Harz Mountains. Exploring the development of spirituality, the later On the History of Religion and Philosophy in Germany spans the earliest religious beliefs of the Germanic people to the philosophy of Hegel, and warns with startling force of the dangers of yielding to 'primeval Germanic paganism'. Finally, the Memoirs consider Heine's Jewish heritage and describe his early childhood. As rich in humour, satire, lyricism and anger as his greatest poems, together the pieces offer a fascinating insight into a brilliant and prophetic mind.A Half Baked Idea: Winner of the Fortnum & Mason’s Debut Food Book Award
By Olivia Potts. 2019
WINNER OF THE FORTNUM & MASON'S DEBUT FOOD BOOK AWARD'A tender and beautifully written tour-de-force on love, grief, hope and…
cake. If this is not the book of the summer, I will eat my wig. An absolute triumph' THE SECRET BARRISTER 'An utterly beautiful, moving, bittersweet book on love and loss. I loved it' DOLLY ALDERTON _____________________________________________________When Olivia Potts was just twenty five, her mother died. Stricken with grief, she did something life changing and rather ridiculous: she gave up a high-flying legal career to study at the notoriously difficult Le Cordon Bleu, despite not being able to cook. No one ever told Olivia you couldn't bake your way to happiness - but could you?_______________________________________________ 'A brilliant, brave and beautiful book: funny and charming; utterly inspiring and life-affirming' Olivia Sudjic'A heart-wrenching yet humorous portrayal of grief, a delicious collection of recipes, an inspirational tale of changing careers, and a feel good love story' Vogue'Funny, sharp and sad. I laughed so much (and I cried)' Ella Risbridger, author of Midnight Chicken'An honest, brave and funny account of what it is to love, to lose love and how to make macarons' RedThe Gifts of Reading
By Robert Macfarlane. 2016
From the bestselling author of UNDERLAND, THE OLD WAYS and THE LOST WORDS - an essay on the joy of…
reading, for anyone who has ever loved a bookEvery book is a kind of gift to its reader, and the act of giving books is charged with a special emotional resonance. It is a meeting of three minds (the giver, the author, the recipient), an exchange of intellectual and psychological currency, that leaves each participant enriched. Here Robert Macfarlane recounts the story of a book he was given as a young man, and how he managed eventually to return the favour, though never repay the debt.From one of the most lyrical writers of our time comes a perfectly formed gem, a lyrical celebration of the transcendent power and humanity of the given book.Gypsy Bride: One girl's true story of falling in love with a gypsy boy
By Sam Skye Lee. 2011
'I felt like Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White and all the other fairy-tale princesses, and Pat was my Prince Charming.'Sam…
Skye Lee had often thought about getting married, but never imagined that her dress would be bright pink with flashing lights and weigh a staggering 20-stone. But then she didn't count on having a gypsy wedding...It's rare for a 'gorger', or non-traveller, to marry into the gypsy community. But after a shocking childhood tragedy, Sam found the comfort she needed from an unxpected source - Patrick and his family of travellers.Gypsy Bride is the heartwarming true story of how an ordinary girl finds herself discovering an extraordinary world. A place where 'grabbing' is a sign a boy fancies you, six-year-olds get spray tans, and christenings, weddings and funerals are jaw-droppingly flamboyant.This love story is more than boy meets girl. It's about a girl who falls in love with a whole race of people and their wonderful ways.H Jones VC: The Life & Death of an Unusual Hero
By John Wilsey. 2002
'A remarkable book - a worthy tribute both to the man John Wilsey calls "an unusual hero" and to the…
ethos of the British Army in which he lived and died.' John Keegan in his ForewordThis is the biography of the Falklands War hero whose death in the battle for Darwin and Goose Green was one of the turning points in the whole campaign. It is written with the consent of H Jones's widow, Sara, and is published to coincide with the twentieth anniversary of his death at the climax of the Falklands War. It is the story of an emblematic but complex war hero whose family history was unusual, whose army life included exposure to most of the military problems which Britain has encountered since the Second World War (including security in Northern Ireland, where H Jones was responsible for the search for Robert Nairac), and whose dramatic death and subsequent posthumous VC symbolised an extraordinary campaign which was truly the end of an era.The Gift of a Radio: My Childhood and other Train Wrecks
By Justin Webb. 2022
'Searingly honest... gripping... fascinating and hugely entertaining.'- Sunday Times'Moving and frank ... A story of a childhood defined by loneliness,…
the absence of a father and the grim experience of a Quaker boarding school. It is also one of the most perceptive accounts of Britain in the 1970s.'- Misha Glenny'A crisp, unself-pitying memoir of a 'trainwreck' youth ... I've always likes Webb on the radio. But I like him much more after reading this book. He offers precisely the kind of brisk honesty and considered analysis he expects from his interviewees. Our politicians should all read it, and step up their game.' -Telegraph.........................................................................................................................................................Justin Webb's childhood in the 1970s was far from ordinary.Between his mother's un-diagnosed psychological problems, and his step-father's untreated ones, life at home was dysfunctional at best. But with gun-wielding school masters and sub-standard living conditions, Quaker boarding school wasn't much better.Candid, unsparing and darkly funny, Justin Webb's memoir is as much a portrait of a troubled era as it is the story of a dysfunctional childhood, shaping the urbane and successful radio presenter we know and love now.........................................................................................................................................'I thoroughly enjoyed Justin Webb's bonkers childhood. He captures the middle class of the age with a tenacity only possible in one of its victims.' -Jeremy PaxmanThe Goalie: My Story
By Andy Goram, Iain King. 2009
This is the story of a genius with flaws. Lots of them. On the field, Andy Goram was a defiant…
figure between the sticks who, in many ways, defined the history-making nine-in-a-row team that brought so much success to Ibrox; off it, he careered through three divorces and a welter of lurid tabloid headlines sensationalising his hellraising antics.In this no-holds-barred account, Goram lifts the lid on his tempestuous life in football, from the Gers' glory days to a fairy-tale chapter with his boyhood heroes: Manchester United. His life in the Old Firm is examined in depth, from the saves that broke former Celtic manager Tommy Burns's heart to a story that was buried until now: Celtic's astonishing bid to sign him.Goram's Scotland career ended in bitterness when he walked out on the squad before France 98, and here he smashes the myths that have always surrounded his relationships with Craig Brown and Jim Leighton.This is the inside story of the man the fans voted Rangers' greatest-ever goalkeeper. He remains a genius with flaws: a legend simply known as The Goalie.Growing Out: Black Hair and Black Pride in the Swinging 60s (Black Britain: Writing Back #9)
By Barbara Blake Hannah. 2016
'A gorgeously exuberant account. . . writing that is natural and vivacious . . . a fascinating and hugely enjoyable…
read.' Bernardine Evaristo, from the IntroductionTravelling over from Jamaica as a teenager, Barbara's journey is remarkable. She finds her footing in TV, and blossoms. Covering incredible celebrity stories, travelling around the world and rubbing shoulders with the likes of Germaine Greer and Michael Caine - her life sparkles. But with the responsibility of being the first black woman reporting on TV comes an enormous amount of pressure, and a flood of hateful letters and complaints from viewers that eventually costs her the job.In the aftermath of this fallout, she goes through a period of self-discovery that allows her to carve out a new space for herself first in the UK and then back home in Jamaica - one that allows her to embrace and celebrate her black identity, rather than feeling suffocated in her attempts to emulate whiteness and conform to the culture around her.Growing Out provides a dazzling, revelatory depiction of race and womanhood in the 1960s from an entirely unique perspective.A title in the Black Britain: Writing Back series - selected by Booker Prize-winning author Bernardine Evaristo, this series rediscovers and celebrates pioneering books depicting black Britain that remap the nation.