Joseph Delaney used to be an English teacher, before becoming the best-selling author of the Spook's series, which has been published in 30 countries and sold over 4.5 million copies worldwide. The first book, The Spook's Apprentice, was adapted into a major motion picture starring Jeff Bridges and Julianne Moore.

Joseph Delaney

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Eddie Izzard

David Quantick

Eddie Izzard - action transvestite, boy racer and male tomboy - spent the 1990s conquering Britain. As the decade ended, he looked further afield. "Dressed To Kill", his stand-up tour, saw him transport his high heels and off-the-shoulder numbers to New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco, taking a natural comedian's delight in the differences separating the two sides of the Pond. In this book, he reflects on his birth in Yemen and his childhood in Northern Ireland, Wales and London, and muses on animals, male tomboys, street theatre, sex, crime, God, "The Great Escape", Bible stories starring Sean Connery and James Mason, and cats who dig for oil. He also reflects on the trials and tribulations of being an cross-dressing, surrealist comedian intent on making it in America.

Dress To Kill

Groucho Marx

'The temptation to write about yourself is irresistible, especially when you are prodded into it by a crafty publisher who has slyly baited you into doing it with a miserly advance of fifty dollars and a box of cheap cigars' - Groucho Marx 
 
Groucho Marx's autobiography is a rags-to-riches story with a difference. The most outrageous and voluble of the legendary Marx Brothers had a career that stretched from Vaudeville to gameshow, conquering Hollywood on the way. From the triumphs and disasters of a life spent in show business to his unconsummated loves, Groucho's story is told with humour and wit and in Groucho's own unique style. 
 
As TS Eliot said of him: 'The mind boggles'.

Groucho and Me

The Autobiography

Vic Reeves

Vic Reeves' vivid, enchanting, and utterly hilarious childhood memoir is a comic masterpiece. 
 
Before there was Vic Reeves, there was a boy called James Moir who was much the same as any other lad.Obsessed with owning a pet crow, a master at writing his name and terrified of his father's immense moustache. Growing up in Yorkshire and then CountyDurham, the boy who would be Reeves somehow managed to escape the attentions of 'Randy Mandy' and get a crash course in pig castration, before having encounters with Jimi Hendrix and the Yorkshire Ripper. 
 
Peopled with weird and wonderful characters, Vic Reeves' memoir is authentic, witty and inventive, and as unique as you'd expect from one of Britain's most exceptional comedy talents.

Me Moir - Volume One

Mark Clapham

Lance Parkin

Alias, the hit espionage TV series, mixes high-tech spy action, glamorous disguises, shocking plot twists and an ongoing family saga into one of the most clever and entertaining television shows in years. 
 
Secret agent Sydney Bristow thinks that the agency she works for, SD-6, is a branch of the CIA and that their aim is the safety of the country. When Sydney discovers that SD-6 is really a criminal organisation working as part of a global conspiracy, however, she becomes a double agent for the real CIA. So begins a dangerous life 
of secrets and deceptions in which Sydney is not only faced with the truth about SD-6, but with Other long-held secrets regarding her family. 
 
This essential unofficial guide to Alias covers each episode of the first two seasons in turn, exploring and evaluating them in informative and easy-to-read categories, analysing and explaining each aspect of the series' complex plotlines as well as decoding hidden clues within each episode. The motivations and actions of each character are discussed, along with the real-world context for Alias's espionage setting. Secret Identities is the completely up-to-date and indispensable guide to the world of Sydney Bristow and the secrets she uncovers.

Secret Identities - An Unofficial and Unauthorised Guide to Alias

Nicholas Knights

WARNING: This book contains laugh-out-loud jokes about fake tans, vajazzles and all fings Essex 
 
Forget the Rolex or the flash car, what you really need in your life to make your friends well jel is The Essex Joke Book. It’s packed full of bling-tastic banter, racy rib-ticklers and gob-smackingly good gags all about Essex Girls and Boys, their tans and tribulations, conquests and cock-ups, and more. 
 
How can you tell an Essex Girl has been using her iPad? 
There’s Tipp-Ex on the screen. 
 
What do you call the skeleton of an Essex Boy in a wardrobe? 
Last year’s hide-and-seek champion. 
 
What goes blonde, brunette, blonde, brunette? 
An Essex Girl doing naked cartwheels. 
 
An Essex Girl gets a job as a teacher. She notices a boy in the field standing alone, while all the other kids are running around having fun. She takes pity on him and decides to speak to him. ‘You can go and play with the other kids, you know,’ she says. 
‘It’s best I stay here,’ he says. 
‘Why?’ asks the Essex Girl. 
The boy says: ‘Because I’m the f**king goalkeeper.’

The Essex Joke Book

The English Project

With an afterword by David Crystal and contributions from Philip Pullman, Jilly Cooper, Jeremy Vine and Meera Syal, all life is here. Become part of the Kitchen Table Lingo community and write your words in now! 
 
'Seen the bloke with the bedooftey bum?' 
 
'More testiculating on Newsnight......' 
 
Does it sometimes seem like your family speaks its own language? 
 
Families up and down the UK have their own special vocabularies. Discover tinsellitis sufferers in Tunbridge Wells, elephant users in Edinburgh and chobblers in Cardiff. Whether it's a slip of the tongue that becomes a permanent part of the family vernacular or a word invented when all others fail, Kitchen Table Lingo is part of what makes our language so rich and creative. This collection of hundreds of words from English speakers around the world - complete with space and an invitation to add your own - is a wonderfully entertaining celebration of the spoken word and the people who take pleasure in it. 
 
After all, what other language has fifty-seven words for the TV remote control?

Kitchen Table Lingo

Alex Horne

Alex Horne loves words. He loves them so much, in fact, that he's decided to invent his own ... and get them into the dictionary. But, as Alex discovers, gaining entry into the official lexicon takes more than just a gentle word in the ear of the editor. Evidence is required - Alex needs proof that his words are being spoken by more people than just him and his mum. He needs what the dictionary authorities call a 'corpus' of examples, hard data showing that his new words are in widespread and long-term usage. So a corpus he resolves to create, no matter what obstacles he might meet on the way. This is the epic and ridiculous story of one man's struggle to break into the dictionary. 
From covert word-dropping on Countdown to wilfully misinforming schoolchildren, Alex tries it all in his quest for dictionary-based immortality. Does he succeed? Are you already using one of Alex's words without realising it? You won't regret spending your hard-earned honk on this hugely entertaining book.

Wordwatching

Breaking into the Dictionary: It's His Word Against Theirs

Alex Horne is not a birdwatcher. But his dad is, so with the prospect of fatherhood looming on his own horizon, Alex decided there was no better time to really get to know both his father and his father's favourite hobby. So he challenged his dad to a Big Year: from 1 January to 31 December they would each try to spot as many birds as possible; the one who spied the most species would be the victor. Along the way Alex would find out what makes his dad tick, pick up a bit of fatherly wisdom and perhaps even 'get into' birdwatching himself. 
 
Join Alex as he journeys from Barnes to Bahrain in this charming tale of obsession, manliness, fathers and sons, and the highly amusing twists and turns of a year-long bird race.

Birdwatchingwatching

One Year, Two Men, Three Rules, Ten Thousand Birds

Mark Leigh

Herewith a handful of sample entries to tickle your funny bones… 
 
In the 1824 war between Britain and Ashanti (now part of Ghana), the British Redcoats found themselves surrounded by 10,000 fierce Ashanti warriors, and running very low on ammunition. Their commander ordered Charles Brandon, the army’s stores manager, to break open the reserve ammunition he’d ordered. As the Ashanti advanced Brandon began to open the ammunition boxes – only to find he had brought the wrong supplies. They were all full of biscuits. 
 
The grandfather of film star Lana Turner owned a half share in a brand new company that had started bottling a fizzy drink. He thought the drink’s name would affect its saleability and wanted to change it – without success. In frustration and as a protest he sold his 50%. It’s a pity really because Coca-Cola became quite popular… 
 
Italian Vittoria Luise was out driving during a fierce storm in Naples. A huge gust of wind blew his car into the River Sele. The car began to sink, but the calm motorist managed to break a window and swim to safety. He dragged himself onto the riverbank – and it was here that he was hit by a falling tree and killed. 
 
The Times of 19 October 1986 carried the story of Emilio Tarra, a crewmember of the 1986 America’s Cup race, who was driving from Perth towards Adelaide during the Australian leg of the race. En route, his car sideswiped a kangaroo, leaving it sprawled across the road. 
 Tarra got out of his car and, assuming the kangaroo was dead, decided to take a novelty photograph to show his colleagues. Dressing the kangaroo up in his smart team blazer, he propped it against his car to take its photograph. As he was focusing his camera, the kangaroo, which had only been stunned, woke up and bounded back off into the bush, taking with it the jacket, which contained Tarra’s passport, $2,000 worth of cash and his credit cards.

Epic Fail

The Ultimate Book of Blunders

Cliff Goodwin

Covering Sid's early years in South Africa and life as a ladies' hairdresser, his obsession with gambling and women, his questioning by Scotland Yard in a murder case, Hancock's Half Hour and the Carry On films, and Sid's death on stage at the age of 63, Cliff Goodwin reveals the amazing truth behing the legend.

Sid James: A Biography

Grant Stoddard

Grant Stoddard left Britain for the States with the clothes on his back, a fascination with all things American, and a burning hope for something bigger. But with no steady job, no money, and no girlfriend, the starry-eyed young Englishman's excitement was shrinking fast. 
Then fate in the guise of an X-rated online contest intervened. Winning first prize -- sexual intercourse with an infamous married sex columnist -- changed everything. With a shot of much needed confidence, the sensitive lad emerged as the mascot of Nerve.com, a gonzo sex columnist who would begrudgingly try any and every lurid thing his co-workers devised. From offering himself up as man-bait at a notoriously hard-core gay bar to attending an elite orgy with a blue-blooded date, Stoddard went where few men dare and lived to tell the tale. 
With a self-deprecating style and wonderful appreciation of the absurd, Working Stiff is a unique coming-of-age story from a very funny and irreverent new writer.

Working Stiff

The Misadventures of an Accidental Sexpert

Brian Johnston

When Brian Johnston was a schoolboy, his reports were full of phrases such as 'talks too much in school' and 'apt to be a buffoon'. Later millions of radio listeners would be delighted to discover that some things never changed! Johnners brought his unique wit and personal charm to an enormous range of BBC radio and television programmes for nearly 50 years, from In Town Tonight and Down Your Way to Test Match Special. After Brian died in 1994, Christopher Martin-Jenkins wrote: 'It is hard to believe that anyone in the history of broadcasting has induced such widespread affection'. 
 
A Further Slice of Johnners covers Brian's early days, from his childhood in Hertfordshire and his schooldays at Eton and Oxford to his job in the family coffee business in the City and his service with the Grenadier Guards during the Second World War. There is also a selection of the most memorable characters and locations from his fifteen years on the Radio Four programme Down Your Way. Finally there is a collection of Brian's popular 'View From the Boundary' interviews on Test Match Special, including fascinating conversations with Eric Idle, John Major and Peter O'Toole.

A Further Slice Of Johnners

Bob Bevan

Firmly established in the world of entertainment, The Cat's route to fame has been through corporate and sporting dinners. He grew up loving sport and perservered despite having only one eye and an almost total absence of natural ability. His reputation as a figure of fun and his readiness to laugh at his own failures have reaped rich rewards. 
How many of us have played football with Bobby Moore and George Best at Wembley, or played at Lord's, or written a poem teasing the Duke of Edinburgh for never recognising us? In Nearly Famous, The Cat writes hilariously of the many famous people he has worked with - everyone from Colin Cowdrey, Bobby Robson and Terry Venables to Eric Clapton, Rod Stewart, Billy Connolly, Eric Morcambe and Brian Johnston - and the highs and lows of that most serious of businesses: making people laugh.

Nearly Famous: Adventures of an After-Dinner Speaker

Eric Sykes

Eric Sykes is one of Britain's creative comedy geniuses combining personal warmth, superbly observed written and performed comedy and a deeply intimate understanding of what a viewing audience wants. Here he has assembled a comedy hall of fame for those who have inspired, entertained and, most of all, amused him. 
 
Including tributes to comedy greats Tommy Cooper, Les Dawson, Ken Dodd, Spike Milligan, Peter Sellers and many, many more, this is a beautiful and personal testimony to the wonderful characters who have stimulated Eric's life-long love affair with laughter.

Eric Sykes' Comedy Heroes

Barry Cryer

A collection of hilarious stories and eye-popping anecdotes from the nation's best-loved comedian 
 
Barry Cryer is one of the most respected and admired writers and performers of his time. In a career spanning forty years, Barry has worked alongside the greatest producers and performers in show business: Tommy Cooper, Humphrey Lyttelton, Morecambe and Wise, Willie Rushton, Peter Cook, Kenny Everett, Rory Bremner to name but a few - this book is a veritable Who's Who of comedy. 
 
From humble beginnings at the Windmill Theatre and Expresso Bongo, to The Frost Report, Call My Bluff and I'm Sorry I haven't a Clue, Barry recalls the good, the bad, and the downright ugly in his own inimitable style. 
 
'Barry Cryer ...an anecdote jukebox whose whole life is basically one big chatshow.' 
Guardian

The Chronicles of Hernia

Billy Crystal

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER 
 
"A book with a thousand laughs entwined with unknown stories about some of the most popular movies of the past decades." --Steve Martin 
 
"This book is kick-ass funny and truly unique. A Hollywood autobiography with only one wife, no rehab, a loving family and loyal friends." --Robin Williams 
 
"Billy Crystal is a national treasure. Thank God he wrote this hilarious and emotional book because now I don't have to and I'll still have something personal to give everyone at Christmas." --Bette Midler 
 
 
 
In this book Billy Crystal, currently starring in the new TV show THE COMEDIANS as an aging comic, gives a hilarious and heartfelt account of what it's REALLY like to get older. 
 
Billy Crystal is turning 65, and he’s not happy about it. With his trademark wit and heart, he outlines the absurdities and challenges that come with growing old, from insomnia to memory loss to leaving dinners with half your meal on your shirt. 
 
He also looks back at the most powerful and memorable moments of his long and storied life, from entertaining his relatives as a kid in Long Beach, Long Island, his years doing stand-up in the Village, up through his legendary stint at Saturday Night Live, When Harry Met Sally, and his long run as host of the Academy Awards. Readers get a front-row seat to his one-day career with the New York Yankees, his love affair with Sophia Loren, and his enduring friendships with several of his idols, including Mickey Mantle and Muhammad Ali. 
 
He lends a light touch to more serious topics like religion (“the aging friends I know have turned to the Holy Trinity: Advil, bourbon, and Prozac”), grandparenting, and, of course, dentistry. As wise and poignant as they are funny, Crystal’s reflections are an unforgettable look at an extraordinary life well lived.

Still Foolin' 'Em

Where I've Been, Where I'm Going, and Where the Hell Are My Keys?

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