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Still Talking Blue: A Collection of Candid Interviews with Everton Heroes
By Becky Tallentire. 2001
Do you still curse yourself over the day you met your hero; when instead of asking him the one question…
that's been nagging you for years, you couldn't utter a word because you were suddenly (and uncharacteristically) struck dumb? Well, curse no more. Still Talking Blue is a unique collection of interviews that will answer everything you wanted to know about your Everton heroes and with none of the unnecessary waffle - because it only asks the relevant questions, as submitted by the fans.Collated via the Internet, disenfranchised Evertonions scattered across the globe proudly display their astounding recall of bygone events and trivia. From Iceland to South Africa, Australia to Israel, long-suffering Bluenoses are finally given the opportunity to ask questions of their heroes and they do so with panache. The book contains in-depth interviews spanning the decades from the '50s, when shorts were long and Dave Hickson's quiff was the envy of Hollywood, right through to Dave Watson's final days at the club. Join us as we endeavour to track down John Bailey's 'big hat' and Gordon West's handbag, and move seamlessly on to more pressing topics such as Kevin Ratcliffe's biggest regret, Mick Lyon's worst injury and Alan Harper's favourite goal. So, if you lie awake at night wondering just what went wrong in the '68 Cup Final, whether Jimmy Gabriel still has his white trench coat, if Barry Horne really does like The Cocteau Twins or how Dave Hickson has managed to hang on to his hair, then unfurrow your brow because the answers all lie within these pages. No Evertonion should be expected to survive without this book.The Stig: The Untold Story
By Simon Du Beaumarche. 2012
Who is The Stig? Where did he come from? Why does he never speak?To answer these questions, award-winning biographer Simon…
du Beaumarche spent a year chasing The Stig and talking to those closest to him, including Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond, James May and leading figures from Formula 1, music, movies and the military.What he discovered is an explosive story of intrigue, influence and a sensational conspiracy that seeks to hide the truth about one of the 21st century’s greatest icons.Get behind the visor of the man, the myth, the driver, the legend, THE STIG.This book contains adult humour and some themes that may be unsuitable for children.The unsung and remarkable stories of the women who held London's East End together during not one, but two world…
wars. 'Inspiring tales of courage in the face of hardship' Mail on Sunday'Inspiring . . . Takes you back to a time of community and helping one another' 5***** Reader Review'It made me laugh and gasp in equal measure' 5***** Reader Review______ Meet Minksy, Gladys, Beatty, Joan and Girl Walker . . . While the men were at war, these women ruled the streets of the East End. Struggling against poverty to survive, and fighting for their community in our country's darkest hours. But there was also joy to be found. Across the East End the streets were alive - you need only walk a few steps for a smile from a neighbour or a strong cup of tea. From taking over the London Underground, standing up to the Kray twins and crawling out of bombsites, The Stepney Doorstep Society tells the vivid and moving stories of the matriarchs who remain the backbone of the East End to this day. ______ 'Kate Thompson's study of five working-class women who lived through the blitz shows how informal collectives can provide lasting support and inspiration . . . [a] fascinating account' Guardian 'An important glimpse into a vanishing world' Sunday Express'One of the best books I have read in recent years' 5***** Reader Review 'Crammed full of fascinating stories' BBC 2 Steve Wright'Fascinating . . . It was fascinating to hear how these women kept going' 5***** Reader Review 'Astonishing' Radio 5 LiveStephen: The Reign of Anarchy (Penguin Monarchs)
By Carl Watkins. 2015
Known as 'the anarchy', the reign of Stephen (1135-1141) saw England plunged into a civil war that illuminated the fatal…
flaw in the powerful Norman monarchy, that without clear rules ordering succession, conflict between members of William the Conqueror's family were inevitable. But there was another problem, too: Stephen himself.With the nobility of England and Normandy anxious about the prospect of a world without the tough love of the old king Henry I, Stephen styled himself a political panacea, promising strength without oppression. As external threats and internal resistance to his rule accumulated, it was a promise he was unable to keep. Unable to transcend his flawed claim to the throne, and to make the transition from nobleman to king, Stephen's actions betrayed uneasiness in his role, his royal voice never quite ringing true.The resulting violence that spread throughout England was not, or not only, the work of bloodthirsty men on the make. As Watkins shows in this resonant new portrait, it arose because great men struggled to navigate a new and turbulent kind of politics that arose when the king was in eclipse.Statesman of Europe: A Life of Sir Edward Grey
By T. G. Otte. 2008
'The lamps are going out all over Europe. We shall not see them lit again in our life-time.' The words…
of Sir Edward Grey, looking out from the windows of the Foreign Office at the end of August 1914, are amongst the most famous in European history, and encapsulate the impending end of the nineteenth-century world.The man who spoke them was Britain's longest-ever serving Foreign Secretary (in a single span of office) and one of the great figures of late Victorian and Edwardian Britain. Statesman of Europe describes the three decades before the First World War through the prism of his biography, which is based almost entirely on archival sources and presents a detailed account of the main domestic and international events, and of the main personalities of the era. In particular, it presents a fresh understanding of the approach to war in the years and months before its outbreak, and Grey's role in the unfolding of events.Yet Grey's life was not all public affairs, momentous as those were. He disliked being in London, much preferring country life at Fallodon, his family estate in Northumberland, and displayed none of the ambition of his contemporaries (or successors). He attended assiduously to his duties as director of the Great North Eastern Railway, one of the transformative enterprises in industry and communications of the period, and wanted to spend as much time as he could fishing. Apart from his memoirs, the only book he wrote was called The Charm of Birds. This hinterland gave quality to his judgements, and made his character attractive to his contemporaries.This important book is the definitive biography of one of the pivotal figures in European diplomacy, and a magnificent portrait of an age.Start Your Engines: My Unstoppable CrossFit Journey
By Sam Briggs. 2020
INCLUDES AN UPDATED CHAPTER ON THE 2020 SEASONYou don't get biceps like Briggs by giving up when the going gets…
tough... CrossFit superstar Sam Briggs, aka 'The Engine', is a true hero in the sport, with a level of endurance unparalleled in the game. This is the story of how she got to the top, and battled with everything she had to stay there. Sam's memoir takes in the whole story, from being kicked out of ballet lessons as a child but being accepted on the boys' sports teams, to working as a firefighter in West Yorkshire for ten years, tackling dangerous and adrenaline-fueled situations on a daily basis, and to taking up CrossFit at the comparatively ancient age of 27. Sam tells of what it took to become champion a mere three years later, and after a year out with a broken patella. Despite the numerous setbacks and debilitating injuries that have plagued her in the years that followed, when most other athletes would have thrown in the towel, Sam has fought, and continues to fight, to be the very best that she can be. Start Your Engines is the story of how, with a combination of grit, training and dogged motivation, it's never too late to achieve your dreams.Standing My Ground: The Autobiography
By Brendan Cummins. 2015
Brendan Cummins has made more senior hurling championship appearances than any other player in the history of the game. In…
an era that produced such brilliant goalkeeping talents as Davy Fitzgerald, Donal Óg Cusack and Damien Fitzhenry, many would argue that Cummins has earned the right to be considered the greatest of them all. Following his League debut for Tipperary in November 1993, Cummins went on to play at the top of the intercounty game for 19 consecutive seasons. He won two senior All Ireland medals, five Munster championships, four League titles and five All Star awards.From fearless shot-stopping to pinpoint accuracy on his puck-outs, Cummins was unrivalled in the consistency of his performances, a consistency underpinned by a sometimes punishing physical commitment, mental discipline and great attention to detail. He was the rock upon which Tipperary built their team under many managers and changes of personnel. Brendan Cummins' story is the story of Tipperary hurling over the last two decades. The ups and downs. The dramas. The characters. From his senior championship debut in 1995 under Fr. Tom Fogarty to his final games under Eamon O’Shea, Cummins has seen it all. Standing My Ground is a remarkable account of an extraordinary career.Sonia: My Story
By Sonia O'Sullivan. 2008
Sonia O'Sullivan is one of the greatest sporting figures Ireland has ever produced. In a career which saw her competing…
at the highest international levels for over a decade, she turned in world-class times in events ranging from the 1,500 metres to the marathon, capped by World Championship gold in the 5,000 metres in 1995 and Olympic silver in the same event in 2000. But her performances on the track are only part of the story of this passionate, sometimes fragile, and always compelling athlete.Now, Sonia tells the full story of her life for the first time - from her childhood in Cobh, Co. Cork, through her early successes on the track, to the highs of 1995 and 2000 and the low of the 1996 Olympics. Whether in triumph or in tears, Sonia has always been a uniquely fascinating - and mysterious - figure. This frank autobiography takes us behind the scenes of international athletics and behind the mask of a brilliant, vulnerable sportswoman.'As a story of dedication and perseverance finally rewarded, it's inspirational' Sunday Business Post'A cocktail of thrills, spills, heartache, near-things, personal tumult, and devastation. This is a book written from the heart' Irish Catholic'The candid nature of the book alone makes it a must-read for any Irish sports buff' Belfast News LetterSold as a Slave (Great Journeys Ser. #No. 8)
By Olaudah Equiano. 2007
In an adventurous and extraordinary life, Equiano (c.1745-c.1797) criss-crossed the Atlantic world, from West Africa to the Caribbean to the…
USA to Britain, either as a slave or fighting with the Royal Navy. His account of his life is not only one of the great documents of the abolition movement, but also a startling, moving story of danger and betrayal.Great Journeys allows readers to travel both around the planet and back through the centuries – but also back into ideas and worlds frightening, ruthless and cruel in different ways from our own. Few reading experiences can begin to match that of engaging with writers who saw astounding things: Great civilisations, walls of ice, violent and implacable jungles, deserts and mountains, multitudes of birds and flowers new to science. Reading these books is to see the world afresh, to rediscover a time when many cultures were quite strange to each other, where legends and stories were treated as facts and in which so much was still to be discovered.So Much To Tell
By Valerie Grove. 2010
Kaye Webb, a journalist with no publishing experience, burst into the world of children's books in 1961 and changed the…
face of children's publishing forever. Her child-like enthusiasm and shrewd business mind led her to become Puffin's most successful editor and the genius behind the Puffin Club, which opened up the exciting world of authors and books to children across Britain. But whilst Kaye's professional life had worked out beautifully, her private life had been the reverse. Kaye had two husbands before her marriage to the artist Ronald Searle, and the torment of his sudden and shocking departure never left her.Yet to the outside world Kaye Webb remained passionate and unstoppable. This is the unknown story of the woman who brought the joy of books to children everywhere whilst battling the emotional pain that plagued her private life.Snooker's World Champions: Masters of the Baize
By Luke Williams, Paul Gadsby. 1986
The top snooker players in the world compete for several trophies every year, but one carries more prestige than all…
the others put together - the World Championship. No other tournament in the sport carries with it so much history, so many golden moments of spectacular success and dramatic failure. Meticulously researched and including exclusive interview material with Steve Davis, Stephen Hendry and 2005 world champion Shaun Murphy, among others, Masters of the Baize is a comprehensive guide to the men who have lifted the greatest prize in snooker. From the legendary Joe Davis, the first champion in 1927, to modern-day masters like Mark Williams, all the sport's world champions are put under the microscope, while the colourful careers of forgotten figures such as Walter Donaldson and John Pulman and rogue heroes like Alex Higgins and Ronnie O'Sullivan are brought vividly to life. After uncovering the inauspicious origins of the game in nineteenth-century India, the authors examine every former world champion in his own comprehensive chapter. Additionally, a special section focuses on the extraordinary popularity of Jimmy White, by far the greatest player never to have won the title and one of the most emotive names in the sport.The Smart
By Sarah Bakewell. 2001
The Smart is a true drama of eighteenth-century life with a mercurial, mysterious heroine. Caroline is a young Irishwoman who…
runs off to marry a soldier, comes to London and slides into a glamorous life as a high-class prostitute, a great risk-taker, possessing a mesmerising appeal. In the early 1770s, she becomes involved with the intriguing Perreau twins, identical in looks but opposite in character, one a sober merchant, the other a raffish gambler. They begin forging bonds, living in increasing luxury until everything collapses like a house of cards - and forgery is a capital offence. A brilliantly researched and marvellously evocative history, The Smart is full of the life of London streets and shots through with enduring themes - sex, money, death and fame. It bridges the gap between aristocracy and underworld as eighteenth-century society is drawn into the most scandalous financial sting of the age.Slinging Arrows: How (not) to be a professional darts player
By Wayne Mardle. 2021
'Extremely funny' - Guardian Booze, Bullseyes and (more) BoozeHumanity has come a long way in the 500,000 years since Neanderthal…
man first started chucking spears around. Or has it? In his blisteringly funny new book, former professional player Wayne Mardle, whose crowd-pleasing antics were even more lively off stage than they were on, blows the lid off one of the UK's biggest televised sports.Known in darts circles as Hawaii 501 on account of his colourful Hawaiian shirts (yours for just forty-five quid - he's got a garage full of them) Mardle remains one of the planet's most recognisable players, having performed on the world stage during a professional career that saw him play all the greats and, quite frankly, lose to most of them. In this witty (frequently), honest (largely), and poignant (twice) guide to life both on and off the oche, Mardle delivers world-class advice - such as why you shouldn't go on a two-day Vegas booze bender before a major PDC final, or how to avoid going live on European TV with a string of expletives so outrageous that clips are still replayed, years later, on Belgian telly. Some are lessons Mardle learned the hard way; others, like why it's best to avoid being sued by a well-known biscuit manufacturer, are gleaned from green-room gossip spanning decades.Slim Jim Baxter: The Definitive Biography
By Ken Gallacher. 2002
Jim Baxter was one of the greatest footballers Scotland has ever produced. But his career was over by the time…
he reached 30 and in 2001 he died at the early age of 61, the victim of a lifestyle that ultimately destroyed him.Slim Jim Baxter charts the great man's rollercoaster years, his emergence at Ibrox as a world-class midfield player and the rapid decline as he pressed the self-destruct button and blew away his life as a footballer. Team-mates and friends tell how Baxter lived by his own rules and how he finally faced up to death with a courage and dignity which impressed all who saw him in his last few tragic months.Above all, Ken Gallacher's biography is the story of an extraordinary footballer who was touched by genius, and of a young man from the Fife coal-fields who could not always cope with the fame his skills brought him.Six Machine: I Don't Like Cricket ... I Love It
By Chris Gayle. 2016
'If the ball's there, hit it. Don't worry about what might happen. Play for the glory. Play for the six'Chris…
Gayle is the only man to have ever hit a six off the first ball of a Test match. But then producing the impossible is an everyday act for the West Indies legend: the first man to smash an international T20 century, the first to hit a World Cup 200, the fastest century in the history of the game. He has hit twice as many T20 sixes as any other man and scored two Test triple centuries. All this is delivered with cricket's biggest bat and an even bigger smile.Off the pitch, millions follow him on Instagram and Twitter to catch a glimpse of a globe-trotting life spent in nightclubs as much as nets, hot-tubs as often as helmets and pads. He plays late, parties later, demolishes a king-size pile of pancakes and then strolls out to mangle another hapless bowling attack.But do we really know him? Do we know what took a shy, skinny kid from a cramped tin-roofed shack in the dusty back streets of Kingston, sharing a bed with three brothers and stealing empty bottles to buy food, to the very top of the cricket world - without losing himself along the way?Outrageous and utterly original, this unputdowneable memoir will leave you reeling. Welcome to the world of the Six Machine.Sir Matt Busby: The Definitive Biography
By Patrick Barclay. 2017
The Man Who Made A Football ClubSir Matt Busby, who took Manchester United to unprecedented glory before seeing the club…
through profound tragedy, created the global entity that spreads from Old Trafford today.A player with Manchester City and Liverpool before the Second World War, Busby remained at the forefront of football through four decades and made an extraordinary contribution to the game in terms of both style and substance. In this definitive biography, Patrick Barclay looks back at Busby’s phenomenal life and career, including the rise of the Busby Babes in the 1950s, the Munich disaster that claimed 23 lives and the Wembley victory ten years on that made United the first English team to win the European Cup. Denis Law, Pat Crerand and such other members of that great side as Alex Stepney, David Sadler and John Aston are among the host of voices testifying to the qualities that set Sir Matt apart.This is the story of one of the greatest figures in football history, and of the making of a legacy that will last for ever.Sir Francis Drake
By Dr John Sugden. 2006
How well do you know the life of one of Britain’s great maritime heroes? Discover the truth behind a man…
who remains a legendary figure of history more than four hundred years after his death.Sir Francis Drake’s career is one of the most colourful on record. The most daring of the corsairs who raided the West Indies and Spanish Main, he led the English into the Pacific, and cirumnavigated the world to bring home the Golden Hind laden with Spanish treasure. His attacks on Spanish cities and ships transformed his private war into a struggle for surivival between Protestant England and Catholic Spain, in which he became Elizabeth I's most prominent admiral and marked the emergence of England as major maritime nation.‘Excellent...It deserves to become the standard Drake life. His scholarship is impeccable’ Frank McLynn, Sunday TelegraphThe Shoemaker and his Daughter
By Conor O'Clery. 2018
WINNER OF THE 2020 MICHEL DÉON PRIZE'O'Clery takes us into the hidden heart of Soviet Russia... An arresting and evocative…
story' Keggie Carew, author of Dadland'A tour de force ... Love, politics, murder, wars, and the fracturing of ties, personal and ethnic. O'Clery is a gifted writer' Luke Harding, bestselling author of CollusionThe Soviet Union, 1962. Gifted shoemaker Stanislav Suvorov is imprisoned for five years. His crime? Selling his car for a profit. On his release, social shame drives him and his family into voluntary exile in Siberia, 5,000 kilometres from home. In a climate that's unfriendly both geographically and politically, it's their chance to start again. The Shoemaker and His Daughter is an epic story spanning the Second World War to the fall of the Soviet Union, taking in eighty years of Soviet and Russian history, from Stalin to Putin. Following the footsteps of a remarkable family Conor O'Clery knows well - he is married to the shoemaker's daughter - it's both a compelling insight into life in a secretive world at a siesmic moment in time and a powerful tale of ordinary lives shaped by extraordinary times.Sharpy: My Story
By Graeme Sharp. 2006
Graeme Sharp is quite simply an Everton legend. Second only to the immortal Dixie Dean as the club's top goalscorer,…
he netted 159 goals in over 400 appearances for the Toffees. Sharp became a Goodison Park hero during the halcyon days of the '80s, when Everton won two League Championships, the FA Cup, the European Cup-Winners' Cup and came within an ace of a historic treble in 1984-85. Partnered first by his boyhood idol Andy Gray and then by England hero Gary Lineker, Sharp established a reputation as one of the finest strikers in the world and notched up 12 caps for his national side, Scotland. Although his eventual departure from Everton left a sour taste in his mouth, he continued to score goals for Oldham Athletic before becoming manager of the Lancashire outfit. But off-the-field frustrations blighted his tenure in the hot seat, and a spell as a manager in non-league football brought the curtain down on a magnificent career that ended with triumph for Bangor City in the Welsh Cup. In Sharpy: My Story, the former Everton star reveals all: the highs, the lows, the big names, the victories, the disappointments, the heartache, the lot!Shackleton (The Ladybird Expert Series #6)
By Ben Saunders. 2017
Part of the new Ladybird Expert series, Shackleton is a clear, simple and enlightening introduction to perhaps the most extraordinary…
survival stories of all time.Polar explorer Ben Saunders draws on his own experience of the Antarctic to bring to life the history, dangers and challenges of Shackleton's Endurance expedition. Inside, you'll discover how Shackleton, by successfully bringing all his men home in the face of near insurmountable odds, earned his reputation as one of the greatest leaders in history.Written by the leading lights and most outstanding communicators in their fields, the Ladybird Expert books provide clear, accessible and authoritative introductions to subjects drawn from science, history and culture.Other books currently available in the Ladybird Expert series include:· Climate Change· Quantum Mechanics· Evolution· Battle of BritainFor an adult readership, the Ladybird Expert series is produced in the same iconic small hardback format pioneered by the original Ladybirds. Each beautifully illustrated book features the first new illustrations produced in the original Ladybird style for nearly forty years.