Title search results
Showing 1 - 20 of 13965 items
RuPaul’s Drag Race UK: The Official Companion
By Christian Guiltenane. 2021
RuPaul's Drag Race UK returns to our screens with a stellar cast of incredible Queens ready to slay the runway.Discover…
the secrets of the Werk Room and get all the gossip backstage in exclusive interviews with the Queens. Take on mini challenges, learn the secret to a killer Snatch Game performance, and re-live the most iconic moments of RuPaul's Drag Race UK so far with stories from the Queens of the show. With special features, play-along games, secrets and trivia, this is your perfect companion to the Drag Race extravaganza! Remember kids, reading is fundamental!Rules for Modern Life: A Connoisseur's Survival Guide
By Sir David Tang. 2016
Do gentlemen wear shorts? What are the rules regarding interior decor in a high-security prison? Is it ever acceptable to…
send Valentine's cards to one's pets?The twenty-first century is an age of innumerable social conundrums. Around every corner lies a potential faux pas waiting to happen. But if you've ever struggled for the right response to an unwelcome gift or floundered for conversation at the dinner party from hell, fear not: help is at hand.In Rules for Modern Life, Sir David Tang, resident agony uncle at the Financial Times, delivers a satirical masterclass in navigating the social niceties of modern life. Whether you're unsure of the etiquette of doggy bags or wondering whether a massage room in your second home would be de trop, Sir David has the answer to all your social anxieties - and much more besides.The Rope and Other Plays
By Plautus. 1964
Brilliantly adapting Greek New Comedy for Roman audiences, the sublime comedies of Plautus (c. 254 -184 bc ) are the…
earliest surviving complete works of Latin literature. The four plays collected here reveal a playwright in his prime, exploring classic themes and developing standard characters that were to influence the comedies of Shakespeare, Molière and many others. In The Ghost, a dissolute son who has squandered his father's money is thrown into disarray when he returns from abroad, a theme that is explored further in the comedy of errors A Three-Dollar Day. In The Rope - regarded by many as the best of Plautus' plays - the shipwreck of a pimp and his slaves leads to the touching reunion of a father and his daughter, while Amphitryo, Plautus's only excursion into divine mythology, offers a cheerful account of how Jupiter became father to Hercules.Roots of Stone: The Story of those who Came Before
By Hugh G. Allison. 2004
Roots of Stone is a passionate tapestry, weaving the story of Scotland with the lives of ordinary and extraordinary people.…
This fascinating sweep over two thousand years of Scotland's past blends with a true family story stretching back over these same two millennia in a spellbinding fusion of history and memoir. This is an exploration of the Scottish identity through actual tales of the author's forebears - tales drawn from royal bloodline and from crofting hearth, tales of high drama and of quiet everyday satisfactions. Mackays and MacDonalds tread most heavily across these pages, but they are far from alone. Munros, MacDougalls, Murrays and dozens of other clans and families also feature.Kenneth MacAlpin, Macbeth, Robert the Bruce and Alexander 'Wolf of Badenoch' all have a place in the tapestry. The dreadful deeds of the Wicked Earls of Orkney are laid bare, but counterbalanced by the work of those famous healers, the Beatons. Stepping closer to the present day, the human tragedy of the Clearances becomes all-consuming.Poets, pipers and poachers play their part, as do dukes and drovers, their tales unfolding within evocatively described landscapes and ancient places of power. The castles and mountains are hauntingly illustrated and the tale is enhanced by the inclusion of two rare piping compositions and some words by the great Gaelic bard Rob Donn.More than anything else, Roots of Stone is the story of all the ones who came before, those who can still be felt in the blood at times when deep emotion is stirred.Romeo and Juliet
By William Shakespeare. 1967
'Shakespeare invented the human as we continue to know it' Harold BloomSet in a city torn apart by feuds and…
gang warfare, Shakespeare's immortal drama tells the story of star-crossed lovers, rival dynasties and bloody revenge. Romeo and Juliet is a hymn to youth and the thrill of forbidden love, charged with sexual passion and violence, but also a warning of death: a dazzling combination of bawdy comedy and high tragedy. Used and Recommended by the National TheatreGeneral Editor Stanley WellsEdited by T. J. B. Spencer Introduction by Adrian PooleRock My Wedding: Your Day Your Way
By Charlotte O'Shea. 2017
The definitive guide to planning your perfect wedding day, from the UK's most-loved, and multi-award-winning wedding website and podcast -…
Rock My Wedding. With friendly advice, tips, ideas and stunning photography, it's the perfect pre-wedding purchase for any couple!'The UK's most influential brand in the wedding industry'- Conclusion from an independent study carried out by Universal McCann, one of the world's leading ad networks.'Absolutely brimming with wedding inspiration' -- ***** Reader review'Every fiancé/fiancée needs this masterpiece' -- ***** Reader review'Beautiful and inspiring' -- ***** Reader review'Full of inspiration - this book is one every fiancé/fiancée should own to help them create their perfect wedding day' -- ***** Reader review******************************************************************************************************Just like you, your wedding day will be personal, one-of-a-kind, and completely unique. We're not here to tell you what you should do to make your day perfect, only that you can do it.Covering floral décor, table plans, lighting, photography, venues, outfits, food - as well as much more - this is your one-stop-shop to planning the perfect wedding for YOU.With advice and guidance on the individual aspects to consider when planning your wedding day - from where to begin and recommended questions to ask your suppliers, to plenty of alternative décor ideas - we hope that you'll find inspiration, reassurance and a little bit of escapism in these pages as you embark on planning one of the most special and joyful days of your lives.The Robbers and Wallenstein
By F. Lamport, Friedrich Schiller. 1979
Friedrich Schiller (1759-1805) was one of the most influential of all playwrights, the author of deeply moving dramas that explored…
human fears, desires and ideals. Written at the age of twenty-one, The Robbers was his first play. A passionate consideration of liberty, fraternity and deep betrayal, it quickly established his fame throughout Germany and wider Europe. Wallenstein, produced nineteen years later, is regarded as Schiller's masterpiece: a deeply moving exploration of a flawed general's struggle to bring the Thirty Years War to an end against the will of his Emperor. Depicting the deep corruption caused by constant fighting between Protestants and Catholics, it is at once a meditation on the unbounded possible strength of humanity, and a tragic recognition of what can happen when men allow themselves to be weak.Richard III
By William Shakespeare. 1968
'Now is the winter of our discontent Made glorious summer by this sun of York'Shakespeare's final drama of the Wars…
of the Roses cycle begins as the dust settles on England after bloody civil war, and the bitter hunchback Richard, brother of the king, secretly plots to seize the throne. Charming and duplicitous, powerfully eloquent and viciously cruel, he is prepared to go to any lengths to achieve his goal. Richard III shows a man who, in his skilful manipulation of events and people, is a chilling incarnation of the temptations of power in a land shocked by war.Used and Recommended by the National TheatreGeneral Editor Stanley WellsEdited by E. A. J. HonigmannIntroduction by Michael TaylorRichard II
By William Shakespeare. 1969
'Not all the water in the rough rude sea Can wash the balm off from an anointed king'Richard, a vain,…
despotic ruler, listens only to his flatterers. When his cousin Bolingbroke, previously banished, returns to seize the crown, Richard discovers that the throne given to him by God can be taken from him by men. Depicting a tortured and morally ambivalent soul wearing the 'hollow crown', whose illusions are brutally shattered, this tragic history play unravels the idea of kingship. It is also a work of epic lyricism, filled with some of Shakespeare's most intoxicating poetry. Used and Recommended by the National TheatreGeneral Editor Stanley WellsEdited by Stanley Wells Introduction by Paul EdmondsonRelations
By Jane Miller. 2003
In this remarkable book, Jane Miller writes about the experience of being a daughter and a sister, about the intensities…
of family life and the illuminations that come from the last days of parents. Relations describes a record-keeping kinship and offers portraits of her parents' long marriage, its mysteries and incompatibilities, of her grandfather, the scientist Redcliffe Salaman, and of her great-aunt Clara Collet, one of the first women civil servants. It is a story in which Karl Marx and George Gissing have parts to play.Here are the tensions of belonging and yet not belonging to an English middle-class at once hospitable to difference and internally divided. More than two hundred years of English history are present in these portraits, which show the dawning emancipation of women and the effects of empire on family life. It is the story of an evolution, of a move out of trade towards public service and the professions, and towards the dramas and family romance of recent times.Questions and Answers on Family Health: The Alternative Approach
By Jan De Vries. 1994
This is the handbook for every household and is published in direct response to public demand. In this volume Jan…
de Vries uses all of his vast wealth of experience to answer hundreds of questions which have consistently been asked of him over the years, from varicose veins to the use of vitamin E, headaches to verrucae, from air and water pollution to ME, candida and other present-day problems. The foreword to this invaluable, easy-to-use reference guide is by Dr Alfred Vogel, author of the million-selling Nature Doctor and himself mentor to Jan de Vries.Aeschylus (525–456 BC) brought a new grandeur and epic sweep to the drama of classical Athens, raising it to the…
status of high art. In Prometheus Bound the defiant Titan Prometheus is brutally punished by Zeus for daring to improve the state of wretchedness and servitude in which mankind is kept. The Suppliants tells the story of the fifty daughters of Danaus who must flee to escape enforced marriages, while Seven Against Thebes shows the inexorable downfall of the last members of the cursed family of Oedipus. And The Persians, the only Greek tragedy to deal with events from recent Athenian history, depicts the aftermath of the defeat of Persia in the battle of Salamis, with a sympathetic portrayal of its disgraced King Xerxes.Philip Vellacott’s evocative translation is accompanied by an introduction, with individual discussions of the plays, and their sources in history and mythology.The Pot of Gold and Other Plays
By Plautus. 1965
One of the supreme comic writers of the Roman world, Plautus (c.254-184 BC), skilfully adapted classic Greek comic models to…
the manners and customs of his day. This collection features a varied selection of his finest plays, from the light-hearted comedy Pseudolus, in which the lovesick Calidorus and his slave try to liberate his lover from her pimp, to the more subversive The Prisoners, which raises serious questions about the role of slavery. Also included are The Brothers Menaechmus, which formed the prototype for Shakespeare's The Comedy of Errors, and The Pot of Gold, whose old miser Euclio is a glorious study in avarice. Throughout, Plautus breathes new, brilliant life into classic comic types - including deceitful twins, scheming slaves, bitter old men and swaggering soldiers - creating an entertaining critique of Roman life and values.Popular Errors Explained
By Stewart McCartney. 2011
In 1841 John Timbs wrote a book called Popular Errors Explained. It went on - with Timbs' other great series…
'Curiosities of ...' - to become one of the great popular books of the 19th century, running into many editions and selling hundreds of thousands of copies. Some say the popularity of his one hundred and fifty volumes led him to outsell a certain Mr Dickens.Stewart McCartney, under the Timb's title of Popular Errors Explained has created a new book, capturing the zeal and enthusiasm of the original, to be 'agreeable, by way of abstract and anecdote so as to become an advantageous and amusing guest at any intellectual fireside.' The book has completely new material - around 200 or so 'popular errors' from science and literature, history, sport, popular culture and so on. Each entry will have that eyebrow raising 'I didn't know that!' or 'Surely that cannot be true!' feel. Every one will explode a commonly held misbelief.The Pocket Oracle and Art of Prudence
By Baltasar Gracián. 2011
Written over 350 years ago, The Pocket Oracle and the Art of Prudence is a charming collection of 300 witty…
and thought-provoking aphorisms. From the art of being lucky to the healthy use of caution, these elegant maxims were created as a guide to life, with further suggestions given on cultivating good taste, knowing how to refuse, the foolishness of complaining and the wisdom of controlling one's passions. Baltasar Gracian intended that these ingenious aphorisms would encourage each reader to challenge themselves both in understanding and applying each axiom.Plays Political: The Apple Cart, On the Rocks, Geneva
By Dan Laurence, George Bernard Shaw. 1931
While some of Shaw’s earlier plays are still performed, his later plays, such as the ones in this volume, are…
barely known. As the collective title indicates, the themes here are political; yet, frankly, it is doubtful how seriously we can now take Shaw as a political thinker. Despite writing in the 1930s, he has little to say of the nature of totalitarianism: although he satirises Fascist dictators in “Geneva”, the satire is disappointingly mild. Neither did Shaw appear to foresee (on the evidence of these plays, at least) the imminent collapse of the British Empire.But it is Shaw the dramatist rather than Shaw the political philosopher who still holds our attention – even in plays as explicitly political as these. He had a sharp intellect and a quirky sense of humour, and his dialogue still glints and sparkles: he couldn’t write a dull line if he tried. No matter how serious the themes he addresses, the crispness of his writing and his lightness of touch still scintillate.Shaw seems, perhaps unfairly, out of fashion nowadays. But even in these lesser-known works, he demonstrates his matchless ability, still undimmed, to provoke and to entertain.Plays Extravagant: Too True to be Good, The Simpleton of the Unexpected Isles, The Millionairess
By Dan Laurence, George Bernard Shaw. 1934
Plays and Fragments
By Menander. 1987
Menander (c. 341-291 BC) was the foremost innovator of Greek New Comedy, a dramatic style that moved away from the…
fantastical to focus upon the problems of ordinary Athenians. This collection contains the full text of 'Old Cantankerous' (Dyskolos), the only surviving complete example of New Comedy, as well as fragments from works including 'The Girl from Samos' and 'The Rape of the Locks', all of which are concerned with domestic catastrophes, the hazards of love and the trials of family life. Written in a poetic style regarded by the ancients as second only to Homer, these polished works - profoundly influential upon both Roman playwrights such as Plautus and Terence, and the wider Western tradition - may be regarded as the first true comedies of manners.Plays: The Seagull [and] The Cherry Orchard
By Anton Chekhov. 2002
At a time when the Russian theatre was dominated by formulaic melodramas and farces, Chekhov created a new sort of…
drama that laid bare the everyday lives, loves and yearnings of ordinary people. Ivanov depicts a man stifled by inactivity and lost idealism, and The Seagull contrasts a young man's selfish romanticism with the stoicism of a woman cruelly abandoned by her lover. With 'the scenes from country life' of Uncle Vanya, his first fully mature play, Chekhov developed his own unique dramatic world, neither tragedy nor comedy. In Three Sisters the Prozorov sisters endlessly dream of going to Moscow to escape the monotony of provincial life, while his comedy The Cherry Orchard portrays characters futilely clinging to the past as their land is sold from underneath them.The Pimlico Dictionary Of Classical Civilizations
By Arthur Cotterell. 1998
An original and unique work of reference which breaks new ground by treating for the first time the classical era…
of the Old World as a whole. Never before have the key peoples and events of Greece, Rome, Persia, India, and China been encompassed in a single volume, despite the fact their civilizations had much in common and laid the foundations of present-day Europe and Asia. Arthur Cotterell asserts that for too long Greece and Rome have been regarded as the classical world and its study isolated from even the major powers that confronted the Greeks and Romans in Iran and India. Today we are more aware of the complex interrelations that once existed between the Greeks and the Persians, the Macedonians and the Indians, the Romans and both the Persians and the Sasanians. The persistent isolation of China, on the other hand, cut off by mountains and deserts from India, makes the classical experience there so useful for comparison and contrast. The virtual absence of slavery in China is but one of its startling features.Comprehensive, wide-ranging and lavishly illustrated, The Pimlico Dictionary of Classical Civilizations provides a fascinating overview and a detailed analyis of the formative period of the world, making it indispensible for both students and the general reader.