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Features

Puffin authors share the best books they received for Christmas

A still from The Crown in which Princess Diana poses for the camera

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Books that answer your biggest questions about The Crown season four

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Quizzes

Can you beat Gyles Brandreth? Put your English language skills to the test

The funny, fiendish and fun-filled book of riddles!

What Goes Up White and Comes Down Yellow?

*A brand-new book of amazing, mind-boggling riddles, from the much-loved Gyles Brandreth, author of What's Black and White and Red All Over* 
 
When first I appear I seem mysterious, 
But when I am explained I am nothing serious. 
 
What am I? 
 
A RIDDLE! 
 
Was that too easy? How about what goes ninety-nine BONK (a centipede with a wooden leg)? Or which famous book was written by Charles Chickens (Great EGGspectations, of course!). 
 
In this book you'll find a whole host of amazing riddles. Some will get you head scratching, some will make you laugh, and all are a lot of fun. 
 
Plus find out some brilliant riddling facts, and top tips on how to solve the trickiest brain-teasers. 
 
Written by Master of Funny and Collector of Riddles Gyles Brandreth, this is the ultimate, riotous Book of Riddles! 
 
'Very funny and often outright silly' Guardian on Have You Eaten Grandma by Gyles Brandreth

When first I appear I seem mysterious, 
 But when I am explained I am nothing serious. 
 What am I? 
 
A RIDDLE! 
 
Was that too easy? How about: what goes ninety-nine BONK (a centipede with a wooden leg)? Or which famous book was written by Charles Chickens (Great EGGspectations, of course!)? 
 
In this book you'll find a whole host of amazing riddles. Some will get you head scratching, some will make you laugh, and all are a lot of fun. 
 
Plus find out some brilliant riddling facts, and top tips on how to solve the trickiest brain-teasers. 
 
Written by Master of Funny and Collector of Riddles Gyles Brandreth, this is the ultimate, riotous Book of Riddles!

The ‘hilarious, eye-popping, unforgettable’ Sunday Times bestseller 2021

Odd Boy Out

The compelling, witty and remarkably honest autobiography from beloved star of Just a Minute, QI, Have I Got News For You and Celebrity Gogglebox 
 
THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER 
 
'Hilarious, ribald, eye-popping, unforgettable, will make you laugh out loud' DAILY MAIL 
 
'Warm, witty, charming. A moving and very affectionate family history. An enthusiast for life' THE TIMES 
________ 
 
Enter the world of Gyles Brandreth - broadcaster, actor, writer, former politician - as he takes us on an extraordinary journey into his past. 
 
From growing up in an apparently well-to-do but strapped-for-cash middle-class English family to his adventures in swinging London, Gyles encounters princes, presidents, pop stars and prime ministers, gets involved in everything from setting up Scrabble championships to examining Danish sex shops, and thrills us with countless tales of family, friends and acquaintances, both famous and infamous. 
 
Filled with incredible and sometimes shocking stories, Odd Boy Out is the story of Gyles Brandreth's fascinating life told with his unique wit and charm. 
________ 
 
'Staggeringly brilliant, funny and touching, I loved it' JOANNA LUMLEY 
 
 'Light-hearted and dark events alike are described with his customary jaunty style, making them funny, moving an sometimes deeply shocking ' Sheila Hancock

Hilarious, ribald, eye-popping, unforgettable, will make you laugh out loud

A whirlwind of witticisms and of funny tales, both short and tall . . . 'I feel I have lived my life in a magic garden where the sun is always shining' he writes, and in Odd Boy Out he offers us yet another glimpse of that bright, shining sun

Warm, witty, charming. A moving and very affectionate family history. An enthusiast for life

A fabulous raconteur with a great many tricks up his sleeve. His infectious zest for life means he has a story for almost every well-known person you can think of

A magnificent raconteur. A witty account of a most unusual life

Brilliant pen portraits of his father and myriad friends present a framework for Gyles's contemplation of his extraordinary life. Light-hearted and dark events alike are described with his customary deceptively jaunty style, making them funny, moving, and sometimes deeply shocking

Staggeringly brilliant, funny and touching, I loved it

A hilarious and revealing account of growing up and coming of age in an apparently well-to-do but always strapped-for-cash middle-class English family

Brandreth has been an expert cheerer-upper for more than 60 years . . . Ebullient. Full of fun, famous names and sparkling facts

He's cheery, fun and has a fabulous grasp of the English language, so Gyles Brandreth's autobiography makes for a scintillating read. His hilarious - and sometimes moving - account of his life from early childhood days through to the adult world of politics and television is candid. It is also a story around his everyday family life, and about happiness, ambition and love. It offers a fascinating insight into a portrait of Britain, too

Full of fascination . . . Tantalising. Alongside his celebrity stories, his delightfully observed domestic portraits bring to life whole lost worlds

In Odd Boy Out Gyles Brandreth provides an extraordinarily revealing account of growing up and coming of age in an apparently well-to-do but always strapped-for-cash middle-class English family. 
 
By turns hilarious and moving, and chock full of unforgettable stories, Odd Boy Out is the unexpected and candid autobiography of one of the country's most unlikely personalities. Yet at root it is a powerful and passionate exploration of childhood - how our heritage, our parents and our upbringing make us who we are.

What's Black and White and Red All Over?

Laugh yourself silly in this fantastic collection of jokes and riddles! 
 
WHAT'S BLACK AND WHITE AND RED ALL OVER? 
An embarrassed Penguin 
A sunburnt elephant 
A newspaper! 
 
Did those jokes make you laugh? Make you groan? Maybe a bit of both? There's a lot more where they came from. 
 
Collected here by jokesmith Gyles Brandreth are some of the best and worst jokes ever (plus a few riddles to keep you on your toes). 
 
From 'Knock, knock' to 'Waiter waiter', with some funny elephants and giraffes thrown in for good measure, there's also a bit of expert joke advice, so you can show others just how funny you can be! 
 
'Very funny, and often outright silly' Guardian on Have You Eaten Grandma by Gyles Brandreth

WHAT'S BLACK AND WHITE AND RED ALL OVER? 
An embarrassed Penguin 
A sunburnt elephant 
A newspaper! 
 
Did those jokes make you laugh? Make you groan? Maybe a bit of both? There's a lot more where they came from. 
 
Collected here by jokesmith Gyles Brandreth are some of the best and worst jokes ever (plus a few riddles to keep you on your toes). 
 
From 'Knock, knock' to 'Waiter waiter', with some funny elephants and giraffes thrown in for good measure, this also has a bit of expert joke advice, so you can show others just how funny you can be!

Over 250 poems to read, relish and recite

Dancing By The Light of The Moon

Discover Dancing by the Light of the Moon, a collection of poetry to last you a lifetime - poems that will bring you joy, solace, celebration and love for every occasion 
 
'Gyles has discovered the secret of finding happiness' DAME JUDI DENCH 
 
Includes an updated chapter of poems to bring you hope and happiness this year 
 _______ 
 
 A POEM CAN . . . 
 Comfort · Challenge · Be a friend 
 Stretch your vocabulary 
 Help you sleep · Break the ice 
 Find you a lover · Be utter nonsense 
 Console · Make you laugh - or cry 
 
 For every moment in your life there is a poem. 
 
In Dancing by the Light of the Moon we have a remarkable collection of over 250 best-loved poems in the English-speaking world. 
 
Allow Gyles Brandreth to be your guide to not only the wonders of poetry - and there are many - but also its practical uses in everyday life. 
 
 Whether seeking some words to reflect your mood, wanting to celebrate or mark an occasion or simply looking for lines of comfort and joy in difficult times, this collection has everything for readers of poetry both young and old, novices and old hands alike, will love and return to again and again. 
_______ 
 
 'Over 400 pages of top-notch poems by everyone from Shakespeare to Simon Armitage' Daily Mail 
 
 'A collection of poems that will transform your memory and change your life' Dr Max Pemberton

To instil a love of literature, a copy of Dancing by the Light of the Moon ought to find its way into every home in the land

Gyles has discovered the secret of finding happiness through learning poetry by heart. It's wonderful and so much fun

Brandreth provides over 400 pages of top-notch poems by everyone from Shakespeare to Simon Armitage. But his mission is to get you learning the poems by heart

Gyles Brandreth has compiled a collection of 250 poems that he believes will transform your memory and change your life. I couldn't agree me

This compendium is an enthusiastic and emphatic call to appreciate all forms of poetry

A celebration of poetry packed full of wonderful verses

A passionate and rousing manifesto on the power and pleasure of learning poetry by heart

For a poem fitting for every occasion, make sure you add this book to your shopping cart ASAP

Following the recent success of the bestselling Have You Eaten Grandma? Gyles Brandreth is back with his next love-letter to language. 
 
In his last book Gyles lamented the rise of emojis, this misuse of punctuation and the younger generation's lack-lustre approach to language. In this stunning new book, Gyles celebrates the finest uses of English by handpicking the ultimate anthology of Great Britain's best-loved poems. 
 
He urges us to savour the perfect couplets, delicate words, and clever quips by learning these exquisite poems by heart. By savouring, memorising and sharing these poems we can begin to increase literacy rates, which are at an all-time low, while enriching our lives with the joy of language. 
 
Gyles writes emphatically about the beauty, diversity and ingenuity of the language used in these poems, and the way in which they can transform our lives.

Have You Eaten Grandma?

Pedantic about punctuation or scrupulous about spelling? You'll love this hilarious and definitive guide to 21st century language from grammar-guru Gyles Brandreth 
 
'Brandreth excels . . . in all his linguistic joie de vivre' Guardian 
 
Don't know if it's, like, okay to say 'like'? 
Are your apostrophe's in the wrong place? 
Want to make fewer not less grammatical mistakes? 
 
Then do not despair, Have You Eaten Grandma? is the definitive (and hilarious) guide to punctuation, spelling, and good English for the twenty-first century. 
 
Self-confessed grammar guru Gyles Brandreth pokes fun at the linguistic foibles of our time, tells us where we've been going wrong (and how to put it right), and reveals his tips and tricks to make every one of us better, more confident users (not abusers) of the English language. End of. 
 
Is 'End of' alright? Wait, is 'alright' all right? 
 
You'll find out right here . . . 
 
This hilarious companion to 21st century language is perfect for anyone pedantic about punctuation or scrupulous about spelling. 
 
'A laugh-a-lot, spanning everything . . . great book, I'm loving this' Chris Evans, BBC Radio 2

Best thing ever, laugh-a-lot, spanning everything. Great book, I'm loving this

Brilliant, clear, entertaining, very funny and often outright silly. Brandreth excels . . . in all his linguistic joie de vivre and amusing self-awareness

A witty and well-informed guide to the vagaries of English grammar. Heed his words; you won't regret it

Country & Town House, (Best Books to Go Under the Christmas Tree)

Whether you are obsessed with getting grammar right, baffled by grammar or (like us) just in love with words, you are going to love this. A hilarious and definitive guide to 21st-century language

An informal guide to punctuation, spelling and good English for the twenty-first century

This is a grammar guide that only Gyles Brandreth could write! Full of humour throughout, this is his definitive guide to punctuation, spelling and good English for the twenty-first century

The wordsmith's wordsmith guides us through the delights of the English language

Don't know if it's, like, okay to say 'like'? 
Are your apostrophe's in the wrong place? 
Should it be 'past' or 'passed'? 
Want to make fewer not less grammatical mistakes? 
 
Then do not despair, Gyles Brandreth's Have You Eaten Grandma? is the definitive (and hilarious) guide to punctuation, spelling, and good English for the twenty-first century. 
 
Sunday Times best-selling author and grammar guru, Gyles pokes fun at the linguistic foibles of our time, tells us where we've been going wrong (and how to put it right), and reveals his tips and tricks to make every one of us better, more confident users (not abusers) of the English language.

Charles & Camilla

The first substantial, authoritative biography of Charles and Camilla and their relationship

BOOK OF THE YEAR ... Riveting, gossipy and touching

Could this be the best book ever written about the Royal Family? ... A masterpiece.

Highly accomplished ... there is much here to entertain and inform

Completely fascinating - written by the man who really knows

The writer who got closest to the human truth about our long-serving senior royals

Gyles Brandreth's is a varied career, from his role as Lord Commissioner of the Treasury in John Major's government to Children's publisher with Andre Deutsch. Brandreth's Breaking the Code: Westminster Diaries has been described as 'by far the best political diary of recent years, far more perceptive and revealing than Alan Clarke's' Times. His last book, Philip and Elizabeth: Portrait of a Marriage, published by Century, was a Sunday Times bestseller. He lives with his family in London.

This is the definitive account of one of the most extraordinary stories of our time. Gyles Brandreth, acclaimed biographer of the Queen and Prince Philip, presents a unique portrait of their son, Charles, Prince of Wales, and of the one 'non-negotiable' love of his life, Camilla Shand, now Duchess of Cornwall. 
 
What are Charles and Camilla really like? What is their heritage? What has made them the way they are? This is both a revealing portrait of two unusual individuals and a family saga like no other, told with unrivalled authority and insight - and humour - by a best-selling writer who has met all the key characters in the drama: Charles, Camilla, Diana, their children, their families and their friends.

Gyles Brandreth

An intimate portrait from the writer who knew her and her family for over fifty years

This intimate biography of our beloved Queen Elizabeth II tells the story of her remarkable life, reign and times, from a perspective unlike any other. Gyles Brandreth writes the Queen's tale candidly with grace and sensitivity from the view of someone close to the monarch, her husband Philip and the wider Royal family. 
 
Told with a refreshing dose of humour and moving honesty from a totally unique viewpoint, Elizabeth: An Intimate Portrait is the must-have biography of the longest-serving monarch in English history, of a woman who has represented not only her people but stood as an emblem of fortitude and resilience worldwide.

Gyles Brandreth

Elizabeth

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