Roald Dahl was a spy, ace fighter pilot, chocolate historian and medical inventor. He was also the author of Matilda, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, The BFG and many more brilliant stories.

Roald Dahl

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Gary Stevenson

'If you were gonna rob a bank, and you saw the vault door there, left open, what would you do? Would you wait around?' 
 
Ever since he was a kid, kicking broken footballs on the streets of East London in the shadow of Canary Wharf's skyscrapers, Gary wanted something better. Something a whole lot bigger. Then he won a competition run by a bank: 'The Trading Game'. The prize: a golden ticket to a new life, as the youngest trader in the whole city. A place where you could make more money than you'd ever imagined. Where your colleagues are dysfunctional maths geniuses, overfed public schoolboys and borderline psychopaths, yet they start to feel like family. Where soon you're the bank's most profitable trader, dealing in nearly a trillion dollars. A day. Where you dream of numbers in your sleep - and then stop sleeping at all. But what happens when winning starts to feel like losing? When the easiest way to make money is to bet on millions becoming poorer and poorer - and, as the economy starts slipping off a precipice, your own sanity starts slipping with it? You want to stop, but you can't. Because nobody ever leaves. Would you stick, or quit? Even if it meant risking everything? 
 
This is an outrageous, unvarnished, white-knuckle journey to the dark heart of an intoxicating world - from someone who survived the game.

The Trading Game

A Confession

Jeff Pearce

The poor boy who made his fortune . . . not just once but twice. 
 
Little Jeff Pearce grew up in a post-war Liverpool slum. His father lived the life of an affluent gentleman whilst his mother was forced to steal bread to feed her starving children. Life was tough and from the moment Jeff could walk he learned to go door to door, begging rags from the rich, which he sold down the markets. Leaving school at the age of fourteen, he embarked on an extraordinary journey, and found himself, before the age of thirty, a millionaire. 
 
Then, after a cruel twist of fate left him penniless, he, his wife and children were forced out of their beautiful home. 
 
With nothing but holes in his pockets, Jeff had no alternative but to go back down the markets and start all over again. Did he still have what it took? Could he really get back everything he had lost? 
 
A Pocketful of Holes and Dreams is the heartwarming true story of a little boy who had nothing but gained everything and proof that, sometimes, rags can be turned into riches . . .

A Pocketful of Holes and Dreams

Mary Portas

* THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER * 
 
Young Mary Newton, born into a large Irish family in a small Watford semi, was always getting into trouble. When she wasn’t choking back fits of giggles at Holy Communion or eating Chappie dog food for a bet, she was accidentally setting fire to the local school. Mary was a trouble magnet. And, unlike her brothers, somehow she always got caught… 
 
Britain in the 1970s was a world where R White's lemonade was drunk in secret, curry came in a cardboard box marked Vesta and Beanz meant Heinz. In Mary’s family, money was scarce. Clothes were hand-me-downs, holidays a church day out to Hastings and meals were variations on the potato. But these were also good times which revolved around the force of nature that was Theresa, Mary’s mum. 
 
When tragedy unexpectedly blows this world apart, a new chapter in Mary’s life opens up. She takes to the camp and glamour of Harrods window dressing like a duck to water, and Mary, Queen of Shops is born…

Shop Girl

Ruth Dudley Edwards

They were 'Cudlipp' and 'Mr King' when they met in 1935. At 21, gregarious, extrovert and irreverent Hugh Cudlipp had many years of journalistic experience: at 34, shy, introspective and solemn Cecil Harmsworth King, haunted by the ghost of Uncle Alfred, Lord Northcliffe, the great press magnate, and bitter towards Uncle Harold, Lord Rothermere of the Daily Mail, was fighting his way up in the family business. 
 
Opposites in most respects, they were complementary in talents and had in common a deep concern for the underdog. Cudlipp, the journalistic genius, and King, the formidable intellect, were to become, in Cudlipp's words, 'the Barnum and Bailey' of Fleet Street. Together, on the foundation of the populist Daily Mirror, they created the biggest publishing empire in the world. 
 
Yet their relationship foundered sensationally in 1968, when - as King tried to topple the Prime Minister - Cudlipp toppled King. Through the story of two extraordinary men, Ruth Dudley Edwards gives us a riveting portrait of Fleet Street in its heyday.

Newspapermen

Hugh Cudlipp, Cecil Harmsworth King and the Glory Days of Fleet Street

Richard Desmond

From the age of five, when he helped his deaf father negotiate advertising contracts, Richard Desmond has always had an eye for business. In The Real Deal he offers a no-holds-barred account of an extraordinary career that has taken him from cloakroom attendant at a north London club to billionaire media owner. En route he tells of his early life as a rock and roll drummer, his first steps in the world of magazine publishing as a purveyor of leisure and top-shelf titles, and finally, after decades of paying his dues building smaller brands, his arrival in the big league with the launch of OK! magazine and the acquisition of Express Newspapers, his purchase and sale of Channel 5, and his £80 million investment in the Health Lottery, combining business innovation with help for good causes. 
 
Along the way, he imparts many of the secrets of his astounding success, as well as giving his forthright opinion (and he always has one) on such diverse subjects as politicians, religion, and the similarities between being a rock and roll drummer and running a business – as well as his views on a cast of characters ranging from Alan Sugar to Victoria Beckham and from Simon Cowell to Jennifer Aniston. 
 
Often controversial, frequently revelatory, always entertaining, The Real Deal is the brilliantly frank account of a life spent at the sharp end.

The Real Deal

The Autobiography of Britain’s Most Controversial Media Mogul

John Wilson

Bill Morris

Marcus du Sautoy

Tasmin Little

Lauren Child

Gary Rhodes

Digby Jones

Rachel Portman

Michael Portillo

Andrea Levy

Major public figures go back to their beginnings and uncover where they really started 
 
John Wilson (acclaimed arts and culture reporter and journalist, and presenter of Front Row, Newsnight Review and Pick of the Week) meets up with a variety of public figures from such diverse fields as food, mathematics, politics, writing and music, and takes them back to the influential schools, teachers, and early workplaces they may have forgotten, but which have not forgotten them. 
 
His guests include the first Black trade union leader, Lord Bill Morris; classical violinist Tasmin Little; the late restaurateur and television chef, Gary Rhodes; Lord Digby Jones, former Minister of State for Trade and Investment; the late Women's Prize and Costa Book Award winning author, Andrea Levy; veteran journalist, broadcaster and former politician Michael Portillo, and many more. The locations too are widely varied and richly formative - from car component manufacturers and specialist vocational institutions to grammar and private schools. 
 
Top of the Class is a fascinating look beneath the usual façade of a public figure, perfect for anyone wanting to see the human face behind a successful life story, as well as the teachers, mentors, best friends and rivals who helped them grow into the person they became. 
 
Episode guide 
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on the following dates: 
Bill Morris 28 July 2008 
Tasmin Little 4 August 2008 
Lauren Child 11 August 2008 
Gary Rhodes 18 August 2008 
Marcus du Sautoy 28 December 2010 
Rachel Portman 18 January 2011 
Lord Digby Jones 25 January 2011 
Michael Portillo 19 July 2011 
Andrea Levy 26 July 2011 
 
Production credits 
Presented by John Wilson 
Produced by Sarah Taylor 
 
© 2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd.

Top of the Class

The complete BBC Radio 4 series

Gavin Knight

The Penwith Peninsula in Cornwall is where the land ends. In The Swordfish and the Star Gavin Knight takes us into this huddle of grey roofs at the edge of the sea at the beginning of the twenty-first century. 
 
He catches the stories of a whole community, but especially those still working this last frontier: the Cornish fishermen. These are the dreamers and fighters who every day prepare for battle with the vast grey Atlantic. Cornwall and its seas are brought to life, mixing drinking and drugs and sea spray, moonlit beaches and shattering storms, myth and urban myth. The result is an arresting tapestry of a place we thought we knew; the precarious reality of life in Cornwall today emerges from behind our idyllic holiday snaps and picture postcards. Even the quaint fishermen’s pubs on the quay at Newlyn, including the Swordfish and its neighbour the Star, turn out to be places where squalls can blow up, and down again, in an instant. 
 
Based on immersive research and rich with the voices of a cast of remarkable characters, this is an eye-opening, dramatic, poignant account of life on Britain’s most dangerous stretch of coast. 
 
Praise for Hood Rat 
'A gripping novelistic immersion' Louis Theroux 
'A must-read' Owen Jones 
'Britain's Gomorrah' Independent

The Swordfish and the Star

Life on Cornwall's most treacherous stretch of coast

Tom Watkins

LONGLISTED FOR THE PENDERYN MUSIC PRIZE 2017 
 
The coke-fuelled mania behind pop’s greatest successes 
 
 
Tom Watkins is the famously entertaining pop Svengali with killer commercial instincts and prodigious talent for design. He propelled the Pet Shop Boys, Bros and East 17, among others, to global stardom, all whilst maintaining a savage hedonistic lifestyle and a stellar art collection. His fingerprints are all over British pop, and he’s decided the time has come for a tell-all autobiography about the business behind the stars that shaped your life in the 80s and 90s. 
 
Follow Tom’s journey from his humble boyhood in post-war South-East London, to his teenage misdeeds and the birth of Rock and Roll; his days as a design student under the tutelage of Terence Conran and Rodney Fitch, to the excesses of the 80s and 90s where he became one of the original boy band innovators – the driving force behind the pop icons plastered on the walls of teenage girls’ bedrooms. 
 
Funny, unstoppable and outspoken, a razor-sharp and greatly respected businessman, marketing visionary, designer and art collector, Tom takes us through his extraordinary and colourful life into the inner-circle of 80s pop-culture. From hobnobbing with Bruce Sprinsteen to bust-ups with Bros, Tom has seen it all. 
 
Expect a gripping, gossipy, meticulously researched memoir of the drug-addled 80s and 90s, layered on top of an insightful and intelligent portrait of a recent but very different age, from the singular perspective of a man who played a huge role in defining the era and paved the way for industry moguls like Simon Cowell and Louis Walsh.

Let's Make Lots of Money

My Life as the Biggest Man in Pop

Secrets of a Rich, Fat, Gay, Lucky Bastard

Michael Wolff

From the author of the Sunday Times Number One Bestseller Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House 
 
Rupert Murdoch is one of the greatest deal-makers alive. His companies possess extraordinary political and cultural power. Whether it is the Sun and the rise of Thatcher, BSkyB and the transformation of football, or Fox News and the war on terror, we have been living in the age of Murdoch since the late seventies. But who is he? What drives him? 
 
With unprecedented access to Murdoch and his inner circle, Michael Wolff chronicles the astonishing growth of the mogul’s giant media kingdom. Drawing upon hundreds of hours of interviews he offers us a portrait of a Machiavellian titan; overbearing, but loving, father; love-struck husband; and a cynical and brilliant newsman. The resulting book is unrivalled in its intimacy and candour and tells a tale of business that is both the story of a man’s life, and the story of our times.

The Man Who Owns the News

Inside the Secret World of Rupert Murdoch

Oliver Shah

DISCOVER THE SHOCKING TRUTH BEHIND THE BUSINESS AND LIFESTYLE OF SIR PHILIP GREEN 
 
In this jaw-dropping expose, Oliver Shah uncovers the truth behind one of Britain's biggest business scandals, following Sir Philip Green's journey to the big time, the wild excesses of his heyday and his dramatic demise. 
 
Stunning praise for the book: 
 
'A detailed and entertaining dismantling of the 'king of the high street'' Guardian 
 
'Superb' Evening Standard 
 
'From the glitzy parties to the threatening phone calls, the larger-than-life characters to the speedy downfall, this real-life tale of hubris has all the elements of a Greek tragedy' City AM 
 
'Entertaining stuff, pacily written. Filled with colourful characters - and expletives' The Times 
 
'Shah has written a hard-hitting, often funny, ultimately sobering tale of how fortunes were made and lost in late 20th and early 21st century Britain' Financial Times 
 
Sunday Times Bestseller, June 2018

Damaged Goods

The Rise and Fall of Sir Philip Green  - The Sunday Times Bestseller

Nancy Dell'Olio

Though Nancy Dell'Olio is no stranger to the front pages, her real story has never been told. Now, for the first time she talks about herself, her life and the passions which have inspired her. It's a story which millions think they know already, from the acres of purely speculative newsprint which this fascinating woman has generated. Prepare to be surprised! The real story is far more gripping than the fictional one. 
 
Born and brought up in New York City, Nancy is a true woman of the world. She has the temperament and style of an Italian, yet she lives in London and has adopted an English lifestyle. She is also a proud European, a Catholic, a Jew and a true internationalist. She is also a successful lawyer with a keen interest in politics and world affairs - a woman for all seasons. 
 
Nancy has always emerged serene from scandal that would break most people. She values her sense of humour as her saving grace. Remember that scarlet cat suit entrance to Downing Street and all those classic red carpet moments? Nancy is just as at home in combat jacket and fatigues on the streets of Ramallah as lunching at Claridges. Fashion is fun and life is too serious to be taken seriously. 
 
Nancy's book tells the whole story of her life so far. From her childhood in New York and Puglia in Italy and the accident which nearly killed her, to the successful career in in commercial law and the passions which drive her on, despite all too public crises which would be the end of most of us. This is an inspirational and entertaining glimpse into the life of a fascinating and enigmatic woman.

My Beautiful Game

Ian Gregg

When Ian Gregg was just a boy he joined his father at work selling pies from his van to miners’ wives around Newcastle. Now retired, he can look back on a business that began as a husband-and-wife team in the 1930s, and survived a world war and two major recessions to become our favourite bakery, beloved by everyone from children to office workers to soldiers overseas. 
 
Ian Gregg led the family firm as it grew, employing generations of families from around Newcastle and then becoming a public company with bakeries in Scotland and across the North, and now with shops on every high street. This is a story of extraordinary success, but it is also a triumphant tale of how doing right by your people makes for great business. Bucking every trend, Greggs have always put their customers, employees and local communities before quick profits for directors and shareholders. Their astounding record of charitable works includes hardship grants, an environment fund, sponsorship of the North East Children’s Cancer run and over £1 million raised annually for Children in Need. 
 
Ian Gregg will donate all of his royalties and Greggs plc will donate all its profits from the sale of this book to the Greggs Foundation to help fund more Breakfast Clubs for children.

Bread: The Story of Greggs

Jane Martinson

You May Never See Us Again is the definitive story of David and Frederick Barclay - commonly known as the Barclay brothers. Born poor, these enigmatic twins built one of the biggest fortunes in Britain together and spent six decades at the epicentre of British business, media and politics. Their empire, said to be worth &pound;7bn at its height, included Littlewoods, the Ritz, The Daily Telegraph and the channel island of Brecqhou. 
 
And yet despite their fortune and influence, the Barclays' desire for privacy meant that their story has remained largely unknown - until a very public family dispute pitched Barclay against Barclay in the High Court. 
 
Journalist Jane Martinson unravels the fascinating story of these once inseparable brothers. Through their lives she offers compelling insights into post-war Britain, from the conditions that enabled their way of doing business to thrive through to the tightly enmeshed webs of influence between capitalism, politics and the media that shape Britain today.

You May Never See Us Again

The Barclay Dynasty: A Story of Survival, Secrecy and Succession

Dave Roberts

All Dave Roberts ever wanted to do (apart from collect football programmes) was to work in advertising. More specifically, to work for the world's best advertising agency, Saatchi and Saatchi. There was just one problem. Even when he managed to persuade someone to employ him, Dave's copywriting assignments were mainly for second hand car dealers and double glazing companies. And Leeds, Manchester and, bizarrely, New Zealand were a long way from Charlotte Street and Madison Avenue. This was the world of the Sad Men. 
 
In his sparkling new memoir, Dave tells the story of a life shaped by his love of adverts, from seeing the PG Tips chimps at the age of three to writing infamous ads such as the Westpac Rap and having David Jason plug a family restaurant. Bursting with brilliant ideas - and some pretty daft ones - it is the cautionary tale of a quest for advertising glory... and not quite ever getting there.

Sad Men

Sir Richard Branson

This is the story of my entire life so far... It’s been a rollercoaster ride and I have no intention of getting off any time soon. 
 
Available exclusively in audio, Losing and Finding My Virginity is both of Sir Richard Branson’s multi-million-copy bestselling autobiographies in one combined edition, fully revised and updated, and read for you by the author in full for the first time. 
 
From living on a houseboat to a paradise island home, growing a small business into the global Virgin brand, turning a childhood dream of flying to space into a reality, and building a better world through business, this is an account of almost six decades of entrepreneurship, overcoming the odds and reaching for the stars. 
 
With lessons in life and in business, Losing and Finding My Virginity is a must-listen memoir and an inspiring guide from the ultimate entrepreneur. 
 
Branson has a list of achievements unmatched by any other UK businessman. For anyone burning with entrepreneurial zeal, his reminiscences are akin to a sacred text. - Mail on Sunday 
 
A remarkable story of business success against the financial odds – having created one of the world’s most admired brand names, Branson is entitled to tell it all. - Evening Standard

Losing and Finding My Virginity: The Full Story

Guy Hands

Diagnosed at the age of five as severely dyslexic, Guy Hands managed to overcome the challenges of school to start his own private equity company, and in The Dealmaker he shares the ups and downs of a tumultuous career as a serial entrepreneur. He gives blow-by-blow descriptions of the huge deals that he has done over the years, first at Nomura and then as head of his own company, Terra Firma. He explains how he approaches each opportunity, whether that involves cinema chains, pubs, aircraft leasing or green energy. And he offers a brutally honest appraisal of the deal that almost bankrupted him - the acquisition of multinational music recording and publishing company EMI in 2007, just as a global financial crash loomed on the horizon. Above all, he gives the reader a real sense of what it's like inside the secretive world of private equity, describing in frank detail the pressures and rewards involved. 
 
Insightful and page-turning, The Dealmaker will prove inspirational and essential reading for all those who want to understand how huge business negotiations are done, and what makes one of private equity's biggest players tick.

The Dealmaker

Lessons from a Life in Private Equity

Niall Ferguson

In this groundbreaking biography, based on more than 10,000 hitherto unavailable letters and diary entries, Niall Ferguson returns to his roots as a financial historian to tell the story of the extraordinary Siegmund Warburg. 
 
A refugee from Hitler's Germany, Warburg rose to become the dominant figure in the post-war City of London and one of the architects of European financial integration. Seared by events in the 1930s, when the long-established Warburg bank was first almost destroyed by the Depression and then 'Aryanized' by the Nazis, Warburg was determined that his own bank would learn from the past and contribute to the economic recovery of Britain, the unity of Western Europe and the birth of globalization. 
 
Siegmund Warburg was a complex and ambivalent man, as much a psychologist, politician and actor-manager as a banker. In High Financier Niall Ferguson reveals Warburg's idiosyncracies but above all he recaptures the meticulous business methods and strict ethical code that set Warburg apart from the mere speculators and traders who inhabit today's financial world.

High Financier

The Lives and Time of Siegmund Warburg

Charles Handy

Charles Handy is perhaps best known outside the business world as a wise and warm presenter of Radio 4's 'Thought for the Day'. Long recognised as one of the world's leading business thinkers (over a million copies of his books have been sold around the world), in Myself and Other More Important Matters he leaves the management territory he has so effectively and influentially mapped in the past to explore the wider issues and dilemmas - both moral and creative - raised by the turning points of his long and successful life.Here he investigates the big issues of how life can best be lived as they have emerged from the unfolding of his life and his unique and influential understanding of what really matters. 
 
From supplying oil by boat to an area larger than England as a bullish young Shell executive in Borneo to realising that there was a big difference between describing the development of a 'portfolio' life (made up of a variety of activities for a range of purposes and pay) in theory and actually himself leaving behind full-time employment, from helping to start up the London and Open business schools to listening and talking to people all over the world about how they want to manage their lives, Handy's telling of his experiences proves both revealing and significant.

Myself and Other More Important Matters

Tamara Mellon

'From her troubled childhood and her time as a young editor, to her partnership with Jimmy Choo and her very public relationships, Mellon offers a gripping account of the episodes that have made her. A book Jackie Collins would be proud of, with the added bonus that it is all true. A voyeuristic joy from start to finish' Harpers Bazaar 
 
'Pure Danielle Steel, with added MBA, that jets from Vogue shoots in Nepal and dates with Christian Slater, to trade fairs, boardroom takeovers and a family showdown over missing millions. Perfect for grown-up fashionistas and wannabe entrepreneurs' Sunday Times 
 
'A juicy and honest memoir from one of the most successful and self-made British businesswomen of her generation' Financial Times

In My Shoes

A Memoir

Margaret Forster

In 1831 John Dodgson Carr, son of a Quaker grocer, set off to walk from his home in Kendal to Carlisle, determined to launch a great enterprise. Within 15 years, Carr's of Carlisle had become one of the largest baking businesses in the world -and is a by-word for biscuits to this day. Following his trail to Carlisle (where she herself was born and grew up), Margaret Forster brings 19th-century daily life into vivid focus and charts the rise and rise of a middle-class family like the Carrs, ambitious, innovative yet sternly religious. This is history as it was lived by the men and women both above and below stairs - from the shop floor to the comfortable bourgeois homes of the paternalistic Carrs. We see the conflict between religion and profit, the family feuds and the changing face of a city through this compelling historical narrative, told with Margaret Forster's characteristic blend of scholarship, readability and marvellous attention to the texture of everyday life.

Rich Desserts and Captain's Thin

A Family and Their Times 1831-1931

James Naughtie

James Naughtie examines the lives and impact of the men and women who have given the second Elizabethan Age its character 
 
As the longest-lived and longest-reigning monarch of the United Kingdom, Queen Elizabeth II has presided over an era of tremendous social, political and cultural change. In 2012, to mark her Diamond Jubilee, Radio 4 looked back on the long span of her reign, and asked the public to choose high-profile public figures who have helped to define this New Elizabethan Age. Almost a thousand nominations poured in, and the final selection was decided by a panel of leading writers and historians, including Dominic Sandbrook, Bamber Gascoigne and Max Hastings. 
 
In this celebratory collection, distinguished broadcaster James Naughtie profiles 37 of these iconic individuals. They come from all walks of life - from artists and scientists like David Hockney and Francis Crick, to business legends such as Alan Sainsbury and Anita Roddick, politicians including Roy Jenkins, Tony Blair and Alex Salmond, and even a member of the Royal Family: Diana, Princess of Wales. Some are world-famous, others less well-known, and there are several surprising choices - and a few controversial ones. But all have made their mark on our nation, for good or ill. 
 
Here are fascinating portraits of mountaineer Sir Edmund Hillary, whose conquest of Everest was announced on the day of the Queen's coronation; Elizabeth David, the food writer who brought European cuisine to British tables; leading thinker on British culture, race and identity Stuart Hall; renowned English composer Benjamin Britten; the inventor of the World Wide Web, Tim Berners-Lee - and many more, whose achievements and influence will stand the test of time. Together, they shine a light on postwar Britain, illuminating how our society has evolved over the seven decades since Queen Elizabeth II's accession. 
 
Production credits 
Presented by James Naughtie 
Produced by James Cook, Sukey Firth, Clare Walker, Sarah Taylor, Alison Hughes, Poppy Goodheart and Kate Howells 
 
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on the following dates: 
 
Edmund Hilary 11 June 2012 
Elizabeth David 12 June 2012 
Graham Greene 13 June 2012 
Michael Young 14 June 2012 
Vladimir Raitz 15 June 2012 
Francis Crick 18 June 2012 
Alan Sainsbury 20 June 2012 
Benjamin Britten 25 June 2012 
Dorothy Hodgkin 26 June 2012 
Alfred Denning 4 July 2012 
Paul Foot 5 July 2012 
Francis Bacon 6 July 2012 
Peter Hall 12 July 2012 
Terence Conran 13 July 2012 
Enoch Powell 16 July 2012 
Cicely Saunders 17 July 2012 
Basil D'Oliveira 19 July 2012 
Germaine Greer 23 July 2012 
Robert Edwards 24 July 2012 
Jack Jones 26 July 2012 
Talaiasi Labalaba 31 July 2012 
Jocelyn Bell Burnell 2 August 2012 
Roy Jenkins 3 August 2012 
Vivienne Westwood 6 August 2012 
Jayaben Desai 7 August 2012 
Stuart Hall 9 August 2012 
David Hockney 14 August 2012 
Ralph Robins 16 August 2012 
Anita Roddick 21 August 2012 
Norman Foster 22 August 2012 
Charles Saatchi 23 August 2012 
Goldie 24 August 2012 
John Hume/David Trimble 27 August 2012 
Tim Berners-Lee 29 August 2012 
Diana, Princess of Wales 30 August 2012 
Alex Salmond 31 August 2012 
Tony Blair 3 September 2012 
 
© 2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd.

The New Elizabethans

A BBC history of the Queen’s reign, told through its most notable characters

Simon Kelly

Simon Kelly's involvement in property development began when, as a computer-mad child in the 1980s, he started making spreadsheets for his father, the developer Paddy Kelly. By 2008, when the Irish property market crashed, Simon and Paddy owed their creditors nearly a billion euro. In 2009, they were the first big developers to admit they were bust - and they encouraged their fellow developers to face reality in the same way. In 2010, in the pages of a national newspaper, Simon Kelly apologized for his part in the long-term damage created by the property bubble. 
 
Until now, the story of Ireland's property boom and bust has been told only by people on the outside. The bankers and the developers have kept quiet. Now, Simon Kelly breaks the silence with this vivid and unsparing account of how it all worked and why it went sour. He brings us to the muddy fields, humble cafés and grand dining rooms where the deals were made; he explains how it was that debt always begat more debt; and he takes us through the hitherto opaque portals of Anglo Irish Bank, the Kellys' main lender. 
 
In an account packed with telling and indiscreet detail, Simon Kelly makes no excuses for ending up bust. He simply shows how it happened - to him, to other developers, to the banks, and to the country. In doing so, he courageously breaks ranks with the insiders who created this disaster, and who would prefer to blame 'international forces', bad luck, or one another. Breakfast with Anglo is a landmark in our national accounting of the present crisis, an essential read for anyone who wants to know how we got into this mess and how we might begin to think about getting out of it.

Breakfast with Anglo

Neil Chenoweth

In the summer of 2000, Rupert Murdoch is weeks away from realising his life's dream. Three years ago, he set out to challenge every media group in America and he failed. Now unexpectedly the last wave of the tech stockmarket boom has given him a second chance.  Murdoch's gamble is to change the way the world communicates. His plan will establish himself as the most powerful media figure on the planet and put him in direct conflict with Bill Gates. With time running out, Murdoch must beat Gates to the Premier League television rights, then float the world's biggest satellite platform on Wall Street before the market falls over. Battling cancer, his family fraying while the empire falters, Murdoch will do whatever he must to make this final, greatest gamble work.

Virtual Murdoch

Reality Wars on the Information Highway

Magnus Walker

**THE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER** 
 
Magnus Walker is one of life’s originals. Serial entrepreneur, fashion designer, TV presenter, motivational speaker and one of the world’s most prolific Porsche collectors, the dreadlocked, tattooed hoarder of individual creativity is a very modern incarnation of success. 
 
Raised in the urban decay of Thatcher’s Britain, Sheffield-born Magnus Walker left school with just two O levels and drifted for several years before buying a one-way ticket to America. Now, 30 years and three successful businesses later, by following his instincts, rejecting convention and pursuing his passions Magnus has succeeded against all the odds. 
 
Here, for the first time, is the full story of his journey from a Northern steel town to the bright lights of Hollywood, from a boy with little hope to an anti-establishment hero. Along the way we’ll witness his potent combination of inspiration and graft, discover his motivations and his ambitions, and come to understand his philosophy and the keys to his success. 
 
Inspiring and exhilarating, URBAN OUTLAW is a compelling tale of succeeding through pure instinct and determination by a man who was brave enough to follow his own path.

Urban Outlaw

Dirt Don’t Slow You Down

Hannah Jackson

Sunday Times bestseller 
 
Lessons to live by, without getting up with the lark 
 
Hannah Jackson (aka The Red Shepherdess) grew up in the Wirral, and hadn't set foot on a farm until she was 20-years-old. But she'd always loved animals and on a visit to the Lake District, she saw a lamb being born and had a light bulb moment - a burning desire to succeed as a farmer - and never looked back. 
 
In Tales of a Shepherdess, Hannah gives us a unique insight into farm life and the values it has taught her that we can use in our everyday lives to change ourselves and our world for the better - from connection, communication and community, to leadership, patience and resilience. Hannah will show us how becoming a lambing and farming contractor in a male-dominated and traditional world taught her grit and determination; how training her loyal sheepdog Fraser taught her to trust; and how sometimes failure can teach us more about ourselves than success. Hannah's journey also teaches us how we should find what sets our hearts on fire and throw everything into it. 
 
Hannah's simple and universal wisdom, practical advice, and words of encouragement will inspire you to achieve your goals, follow your dreams and focus on what's really important in life.

Call Me Red

A shepherd’s journey

In his rich and nuanced portrait of the remarkable, elusive Rothschild family, Oxford scholar and bestselling author Niall Ferguson uncovers the secrets behind the family's phenomenal economic success. He reveals for the first time the details of the family's vast political network, which gave it access to and influence over many of the greatest statesmen of the age. And he tells a family saga, tracing the importance of unity and the profound role of Judaism in the lives of a dynasty that rose from the confines of the Frankfurt ghetto and later used its influence to assist oppressed Jews throughout Europe. A definitive work of impeccable scholarship with a thoroughly engaging narrative, &lsquo;The House of Rothschild&rsquo; is a biography of the rarest kind, in which mysterious and fascinating historical figures finally spring to life.

The House of Rothschild

Money's Prophets 1798-1848

Sebastian Mallaby

Even in a tech world crowded with visionary leaders, Demis Hassabis is recognized as a special case. Born to working class, immigrant parents in North London, a chess prodigy by five and wizard coder in his teens, he turned down a seven-figure job offer from a video-game studio to study science at Cambridge. Long before the current obsession with AI, he founded the path-breaking company DeepMind in order to pursue a single, audacious goal: the dream of artificial superintelligence, which would solve humanity’s hardest problems, change life and work as we know it, and perhaps even unlock the deepest mysteries of the Universe. For his scientific achievements, he won a Nobel Prize in 2024, and his company, now Google DeepMind, is considered the tech giant’s engine room. 
 
For the past several years, Sebastian Mallaby has had unprecedented access to Hassabis and DeepMind, conducting hundreds of hours of interviews with him and his inner circle as well as detractors and rivals at other companies. The result is a revelation-packed portrait of a singular mind and a historic reckoning with the AI revolution, a shift potentially more significant than any since the dawn of complex thought 70,000 years ago. 
 
As Mallaby chronicles, DeepMind is locked in an arms race with Silicon Valley competitors to build artificial general intelligence, and thereby become the keeper of humanity’s future. Yet this is not a Silicon Valley story. Hassabis has remained in Britain, and unlike his rivals, his aims are not wealth and power but scientific enlightenment. Like them, however, he is haunted by the memory of Robert Oppenheimer, the creator of the atom bomb. He aims to control the technology, but the technology may ultimately control him – and humanity writ large.

The Infinity Machine

Demis Hassabis, DeepMind and the Quest for Superintelligence

Robert A Caro

The Power Broker by Robert A. Caro is 'simply one of the best non-fiction books in English of the last forty years' (Dominic Sandbrook, Sunday Times): a riveting and timeless account of power, politics and the city of New York by ‘the greatest political biographer of our times’ (Sunday Times); chosen by Time magazine as one of the 100 Best Non-Fiction Books of All Time and by the Modern Library as one of the 100 Greatest Books of the Twentieth Century; Winner of the Pulitzer Prize; a Sunday Times Bestseller; 'An outright masterpiece' (Evening Standard) 
 
The Power Broker tells the story of Robert Moses, the single most powerful man in New York for almost half a century and the greatest builder America (and probably the world) has ever known. Without ever once being elected to office, he created for himself a position of supreme and untouchable authority, allowing him to utterly reshape the city of New York, turning it into the city we know today, while at the same time blighting the lives of millions and remaining accountable to no one. 
 
First published in the USA in 1974, this monumental classic was a Sunday Times bestseller when published in the UK in 2015 and is now widely acknowledged to be one of the greatest books of its kind.

The Power Broker

Robert Moses and the Fall of New York

Lance Richardson

A wildly entertaining biography of the British fashion designer who set the trends for rock royalty from the Beatles to Mick Jagger to Elton John. 
 
Tommy Nutter was a visionary tailor in the bespoke tradition who dressed everybody from Lord Montagu of Beaulieu to Twiggy, who outfitteds three of the Beatles for the cover of Abbey Road (George Harrison preferred jeans), who put Mick Jagger in a white suit for his wedding to Bianca and who dressed Elton John for years, using the singer as his muse for his signature outrageous style. Nutter was alluring for his ambiguity -- a chameleon who could rub shoulders with Princess Margaret and then dance with the drag queens at Last Resort -- and his clothes were the physical expression of a sharp, audacious wit. 
 
House of Nutter charts Tommy Nutter’s dramatic career that spanned barely 23 years, ending in 1992 with his untimely death. It is a history of London during an era of economic and cultural upheaval, a celebration of the methods and traditions of Savile Row; and an elegy for what was lost during the worst days of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. 
 
With archival access to photos, letters and interviews from Tommy Nutter's sole living relative, his brother, David, Lance Richardson takes us behind the '70s glamour to explore the public face and private life of one of Britain's most respected yet rule-breaking bespoke clothiers and the celebrities he dressed.

House of Nutter

The Rebel Tailor of Savile Row

Owen Walker

The proud owner of a sprawling £14m estate in the Cotswolds, boasting a stable of eventing horses, a fleet of supercars and neighbouring the royal family, Neil Woodford was the most celebrated and successful British investor of his generation. 
 
He spent years beating the market; betting against the dot com bubble in the 1990s and the banks before the financial crash in 2008, making blockbuster returns for his investors and earning himself a reputation of 'the man who made Middle England rich'. 
 
But, in 2019, after a stream of poorly-judged investments, Woodford's asset management company collapsed, trapping hundreds of thousands of rainy-day savers in his flagship fund and hanging £3.6bn in the balance. 
 
In Built on a Lie, Financial Times reporter Owen Walker reveals the disastrous failings of Woodford, the greed at the heart of his operation, the flaws of an industry in thrall to its star performers and the dangers of limited regulation. With exclusive access to Woodford's inner circle, Walker will reveal the full, jaw-dropping story of Europe's biggest investment scandal in a decade.

Built on a Lie

The Rise and Fall of Neil Woodford and the Fate of Middle England’s Money

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