A. Igoni Barrett was born in Port Harcourt, Nigeria, in 1979 and lives in Lagos. He is a winner of the 2005 BBC World Service short story competition, the recipient of a Chinua Achebe Center Fellowship, a Norman Mailer Center Fellowship, and a Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Center Residency. His short story collection, Love is Power, or Something Like That, was published in 2013. In 2014 he was named on the Africa39 list of sub-Saharan African writers under 40. Blackass is his first novel.

A. Igoni Barrett

The short life of A.J.A. Symons (1900-41) was described by his biographer as an intricate and largely harmless confidence trick. His many interests included the collection of musical boxes and rare books as well as the study and practice of forgery; they left him time to edit an anthology of Edwardian verse and compose studies of H.M. Stanley and other notable figures. He is remembered for The Quest for Corvo, one of the most remarkable biographies ever written, and for co-founding the Wine and Food Society.

A. J. A. Symons

A. J. Liebling, born in Manhattan in 1904, joined the staff of the New Yorker in 1935 and contributed innumerable articles to the magazine throughout his lifetime, on subjects ranging from food to boxing and France to horse racing. As a war correspondent during the Second World War, he reported from France, England and Algeria, and participated in the Normandy landings. In later life he married the writer Jean Stafford, his third wife. He died in 1963.

A. J. Liebling

A. J. Rosen is an author of YA fantasy novels and is an ambassador for Wattpad, known as @agatharoza. Entwined is her first novel.

A. J. Rosen

A. K. Davidson

A. O. Scott has been a film critic at the New York Times since 2000. His writing has appeared in many other publications, including the New York Review of Books, Slate, the New Yorker and the Nation. A finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in criticism in 2010, Scott is currently Distinguished Professor of Film Criticism at Wesleyan University. He lives with his family in Brooklyn, New York. 
 
@aoscott

A. O. Scott

A.S. Byatt (1936-2023) was a novelist, short-story writer and critic of international renown. Her novels include Possession (winner of the Booker Prize 1990), the Frederica Quartet and The Children’s Book, which was shortlisted for the Booker Prize and won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Fiction. She was appointed CBE in 1990 and DBE in 1999, and was awarded the Erasmus Prize 2016 for her ‘inspiring contribution to life writing’ and the Pak Kyongni Prize 2017. In 2018 she received the Hans Christian Andersen Literature Award.

A. S. Byatt

A. T. Williams won the George Orwell Prize for Political Writing in 2013 for his book A Very British Killing: The Death of Baha Mousa. He lives in Warwickshire.

A. T. Williams

A. W. Chase

Dubbed ‘The new queen of spy fiction’ by the Guardian newspaper, and ‘the real thing’ by the Washington Post, A.C. 'Ava' Glass is the CWA Dagger-shortlisted author of Alias Emma (The Chase), The Traitor and The Trap. The Traitor was a 2023 Richard and Judy Bookclub pick. Alias Emma was a Barnes and Noble book of the month. A former crime reporter and communications consultant, for five years Ava worked closely with spies. Her time in that world fascinated her, and the people she met back then inspire every book she writes.

A.C. Glass

A.E. Housman

Arthur Edward Waite was the designer and co-creator of the now famous Rider Waite Tarot deck. 
 
An American-born British poet and scholarly mystic, his strong interest in all esoteric matters - divination, magic, Kabbalism, alchemy and Freemasony - led to him penning a number of books. These include the Key to the Tarot, The Book of Ceremonial Magic and A New Encyclopedia of Freemasony.

A.E. Waite

A.E. Warren is the author of the Tomorrow's Ancestors series, which consists of Subject Twenty-One, The Hidden Base, The Fourth Species and The Final Rising. 
 
After spending eight years working as a lawyer, she began to write in the evenings and early mornings as a form of escapism from life in a very small cubicle with lots of files. She self-published her first novels in her spare time, which were picked up by Del Rey UK which is the science fiction/fantasy imprint of Penguin Random House. 
 
 She is an avid reader, occasional gamer and fair-weather runner. She lives in the UK with her husband, daughter and hopefully, one day, a wise border terrier named Austen.

A.E. Warren

A.G.D. Maran

A.J. Ayer

A.J. Cronin

A K Benedict writes crime and speculative fiction in a room filled with clowns, mannequins and Doctor Who figures. Her first novel, The Beauty of Murder, was nominated for an eDunnit award and is in development for a major 8-part TV series by Company Pictures. Her second, Jonathan Dark or The Evidence of Ghosts, came out in February 2016. She's written Torchwood audio dramas for Big Finish and her short stories have featured in anthologies including Great British Horror and Best British Short Stories. She lives in St Leonards-on-Sea with her dog, Dame Margaret Rutherford.

A.K.Benedict

A. L. Kennedy has twice been selected as one of Granta’s Best of Young British Novelists and has won a host of other awards – including the Costa Book of the Year for her novel Day. She lives in Essex.

A.L. Kennedy

A.M. Ellis is a speculative fiction author and lover of everything steeped in myth and mystery. Her stories often lean into diverse voices, not only in her identity as a Black woman, but in exploring neurodivergence and mental health. A proud introvert and nostalgic gamer, she lives in Maryland, USA, with her husband and three children.

A.M. Ellis

A.N. Wilson was born in 1950 and educated at Rugby and New College, Oxford. A Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, he holds a prominent position in the world of literature and journalism. He is an award-winning biographer and a celebrated novelist, winning prizes for much of his work. He lives in North London.

A.N. Wilson

A. T. Emerald lives with her husband and baby daughter in Nottinghamshire. She discovered her love of writing in 2020 and has not shut up about enemies to lovers ever since. She loves iced matcha, torrid love confessions with knives pressed to throats (fictional, of course) and does not accept bills for any therapy her books might incur.

A.T. Emerald

A.W. Priest

A.B.C. Merriman-Labor was a barrister, writer and munitions worker born in Freetown, Sierra Leone in 1877. His published works include A Series of Lectures on the Negro Race and The Story of the African Slave in a Nutshell. He also edited two editions of the Handbook of Sierra Leone. He arrived in the UK in 1904 to study law. In 1907, he organised a centenary commemoration of the abolition of the slave trade in Westminster Abbey. He later embarked on an 'entertainment-lecture' tour called Life and Scenes in Britain, travelling across thousands of miles of West, South West and Central Africa, which he expanded on to create Britons Through Negro Spectacles.

ABC Merriman-Labor

AJ Cronin

AJ Molloy

Aabria Iyengar is an American actress and author.

Aabria Iyengar

Aaliya Jaleel is a freelance illustrator, designer, and visual development artist, currently majoring in Animation at the University of Texas at Dallas. She is also the illustrator of Under My Hijab and Muslim Girls Rise. You can visit her online at www.aaliyamj.com.

Aaliya Jaleel

Aaron Allston

After more than fifteen years of experience as a clinical psychotherapist, Dr Aaron Balick has taken the amazing insights from psychology and psychotherapy out of the consultation room and made them accessible to the wider world. 
 
He has been an ‘agony uncle’ for many years for both CBBC and BBC Radio 1, as well as on television, including BBC Worldwide, BBC 3 and BBC Learning.

Aaron Balick

Aaron Carroll

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Richard Webber

Ronnie Barker was one of our most respected and best-loved comedy actors and here, in this fascinating biography, Richard Webber delves deep in to the heart of Barker's life and career, peppering his narrative with original and incisive memories from some of Barker's closest contemporaries, including Ronnie Corbett, Michael Palin and Barry Cryer. 
 
Star of the much-adored comedy classics Porridge, The Two Ronnies - one of the most successful and long-running television comedy shows ever on British television - and Open All Hours, Ronnie Barker was universally admired by the public and industry insiders alike. From his early days writing for and performing skits on The Frost Report right up to his retirement in 1988, he lit up television screens across the country with his wonderful gift for comedy and his remarkable skill for character acting. 
 
Beyond his performances on the stage and screen, Barker was also an accomplished comedy writer, providing many of the sketches and songs for The Two Ronnies and contributing material to a number of other television and radio shows. And despite his retirement he retained pole position in the public's affection, returning to the screen in 1999 to team up with his erstwhile comedy partner and great friend Ronnie Corbett for a Two Ronnies night on BBC1, followed by a BAFTA tribute in 2004 and a final appearance on television in 2005 on The Two Ronnies Christmas Sketchbook. 
 
Effortlessly funny, universally adored and an actor and writer responsible for some of Britain's best-loved and most-respected comedy, Ronnie Barker was a true comedy legend. Here he's brought to the page in winning style as he's remembered by those who best loved and knew him.

Remembering Ronnie Barker

Simon Pegg

From a filthy flat in Tufnell Park to the starship Enterprise, it's fair to say that Simon Pegg's career didn't go quite the way he expected. 
 
Zombies in North London, death cults in the West Country, a warp engine beyond the final frontier: Simon Pegg has been ploughing some bizarre furrows in recent times. Having blasted onto the small screens with his now legendary sitcom Spaced, his rise to the status of the nation's favourite son has been mercurial, meteoric, megatronnic, but mostly just plain great. 
 
From his childhood (and subsequently adult) obsession with Star Wars, his often passionate friendship with Nick Frost, and his forays into stand-up which began with his regular Monday morning slot in front of his 12-year-old classmates, this is a joyous tale of a homegrown superstar and a local boy made good. 
 
CONTENT WARNING: This book features discussion of Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, a film which some readers may find distressing.

Nerd Do Well

Mark Kermode

In It's Only a Movie, the incomparable Mark Kermode takes us into the weird world of a life lived in widescreen. Join him as he gets lost in Russia on the trail of a low-budget horror flick, gasp as he's shot at in Hollywood while interviewing Bavarian director Werner Herzog, cheer as he gets thrown out of the Cannes film festival for heckling in very bad French, and cringe as he's handbagged by Helen Mirren at London's glitzy BAFTA Awards. Written with sardonic wit and wry good humour, this compelling cinematic memoir is genuinely 'inspired by real events'.

It's Only a Movie

Reel Life Adventures of a Film Obsessive

Paul Weller

REVISED, UPDATED AND WITH A NEW FOREWORD BY PAUL ABBOTT 
 
This edition of Suburban 100 includes new lyrics from the critically acclaimed albums, 22 Dreams and Wake Up the Nation, which has been nominated for the Mercury Music Award. 
 
Paul Weller first burst onto the national music scene with The Jam in 1977 and was quickly marked apart from his contemporaries as a brilliant lyricist. In a writing career that has now spanned three decades, his songs have been acclaimed, imitated and loved by many. 
 
Suburban 100 - the first selection of Paul Weller's lyrics - draws on songs written for The Jam, The Style Council and solo releases that, together, tell stories of life and love, rage and romance. The youthful frustrations of small-town life that fuelled Weller's early writing is palpable, as is the angry but poignant response to Thatcher's Britain. His lyrics, rooted in English suburban culture, explore the hopes, dreams and crashing disappointments of ordinary people. They also revel in the mystical beauty of the English country landscape and repeatedly revisit dreamlike childhood summers. 
 
For the first time Paul Weller shares his reflections on his lyrics, offering candid insights to his writing process and the inspiration behind some of pop music's best loved songs. Suburban 100 reveals aspects of a famously private man.

Suburban 100

Jem Roberts

'It's a great missing piece of the jigsaw - people go on endlessly about Python and Peter Cook, which is all well and good but there's basically this great corpus of work stretching for decades - and consistently good ... A major piece of work, and universally loved.' 
 
So says John Lloyd, brains behind Blackadder, QI, Spitting Image, and so much besides - all shows with a massive debt to I'm Sorry I'll Read That Again and I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue. Together they form a body of work stretching across five decades, from Cambridge in 1960 to today's world-beating Antidote to Panel Games, a laughter-bringer which has inspired unparalleled adoration in millions over fifty series. This book tells the whole story, from Footlights to Broadway to the ferret-filled madness of Radio Prune - comedy's answer to the rock &amp; roll revolution of the sixties. Offering an exhaustive guide to the comedy world that brought us Mornington Crescent, besides episode guides, glossaries and rare facsimiles, Jem Roberts will take the story right up to the present day, celebrating the lives of Willie Rushton, Sir David Hatch and of course, the irreplaceable Humphrey Lyttelton. With exclusive input from the Teams, plus Bill Oddie, Stephen Fry, Bill Bailey, Neil Innes and many more, this is the long-overdue authoritative, entertaining and, above all, very silly lasting celebration of an unsung comic legacy that both shows so richly deserve.

The Fully Authorised History of I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue

The Clue Bible from Footlights to Mornington Crescent

Michael Caine

From Alfred to Zulu, Michael Caine has been Britain's best-loved actor for half a century. 
 
Now, for the first time, he reveals the truth behind his remarkable life. From his time as an evacuee during the Blitz to his front-line military service in the Korean War, from his early days as an assistant stagehand to becoming Peter O'Toole's understudy, from walk-on parts in local theatres to blowing the bloody doors off with his legendary roles in Zulu and The Italian Job, Caine's life was never simple or easy. 
 
Discussing his little-known childhood and family alongside his hard-fought journey from London to Hollywood, Caine writes with astonishing candour about the good years and the lean years, bringing his unique charm and humour to his anecdotes and memories of a sprawling movie-making career. If you worked in Hollywood in the last few decades, you've probably worked with Michael Caine - and his accounts of his relationships with other superstars, both on and offscreen, make this autobiography essential reading for any fan not just of Michael Caine, but of film in general.

What's It All About?

Michael Jackson

The only book Michael Jackson ever wrote about his life 
 
It chronicles his humble beginnings in the Midwest, his early days with the Jackson 5, and his unprecedented solo success. Giving unrivalled insight into the King of Pop's life, it details his songwriting process for hits like Beat It, Rock With You, Billie Jean, and We Are the World; describes how he developed his signature dance style, including the Moon Walk; and opens the door to his very private personal relationships with his family, including sister Janet, and stars like Diana Ross, Berry Gordy, Marlon Brando, Quincy Jones, Paul McCartney, and Brooke Shields. 
 
At the time of its original publication in 1988, MOONWALK broke the fiercely guarded barrier of silence that surrounded Michael Jackson. Candidly and courageously, Jackson talks openly about his wholly exceptional career and the crushing isolation of his fame, as well as the unfair rumours that have surrounded it. 
 
MOONWALK is illustrated with rare photographs from Jackson family albums and Michael's personal photographic archives, as well as a drawing done by Michael exclusively for the book. It reveals and celebrates, as no other book can, the life of this exceptional and beloved musician.

Moonwalk

Rick Wakeman

What do Postman Pat, Tommy Cooper, Norman Wisdom and George Best have in common with being abandoned in a Costa Rican jungle after a severe bout of flatulence? Indeed, how are they also connected to trying to buy an Australian brewery just to get a beer, owning twenty-two cars, an American soccer team and a Swiss mail-order pornography company? 
 
The common feature is of course a certain Richard Wakeman. 
 
The Further Adventures of a Grumpy Old Rock Star takes you, the privileged reader, on a trip of absurd excess, a cultural car crash of side-splitting hilarity and an unforgettable glimpse (again) into the life of one of Britain's most legendary showmen, rock stars and all-time great raconteurs.

Further Adventures of a Grumpy Old Rock Star

Arthur Smith

'My name is Arthur Smith, unless there's anybody here from the Streatham tax office. In which case, I'm Daphne Fairfax.' This has been Arthur's opening line at hundreds of stand-up comedy performances. In fact, he is neither Daphne nor Arthur. Friends and family know him as Brian. 
 
One of the 'alternative comedians' who shook up light entertainment in the eighties and nineties, Arthur (and Brian) is also a broadcaster, an opening bat for Grumpy Old Men, a West End playwright (his plays include An Evening with Gary Lineker) and a guest on innumerable radio and TV panel shows. 
 
In My Name is Daphne Fairfax he reflects on the nature of comedy and his days as a scruffy kid on the bombsites of Bermondsey, a wild-haired undergraduate, a roadsweeper, an English teacher, a failed rock star, a boozed-up sexual adventurer and an intensive care patient who has been told never to drink again. 
 
Hilarious, scandalous and rude, his memoir incorporates a tender tribute to his parents and a vigorous account of the peculiar business of being alive.

My Name is Daphne Fairfax

A Memoir

Aled Jones

Here is Aled Jones' selection of his favourite hymns, ranked from number one through to forty. From Guide Me, O Thou Great Redeemer to Dear Lord and Father of Mankind and Shine Jesus Shine, each is accompanied by the history of its words and music. 
 
Aled brings the hymns vividly to life with his own reminiscences of performing them and thoughts on why each is such a winner, and he garners the experiences of today's great singers and composers. 
 
Written with grace, humour and real personal insight, this is a collection that will be enjoyed across the land.

Aled Jones' Forty Favourite Hymns

Donald Spoto

This biography draws on a series of unpublished interviews and offers a startling and intitmate portrait of one of the most glamourous icons of the 20th century. 
 
In just seven years (from 1950 through 1956), Grace Kelly made eleven feature films. They established her as one of the screen's iconic beauties, and as a performer of rare intelligence and wit. 
 
Donald Spoto, a personal friend of Kelly's in whom she confided, is in a unique position to tell the story of her transformation from convent girl from Philadelphia to last star of Hollywood's Golden Age to European princess. In this revelatory biography, Spoto draws on interviews with those who knew her - from James Stewart and Cary Grant to Fred Zimmerman - as well as a series of taped interviews with Kelly which have never before been published. 
 
A film of Grace Kelly's life, Grace of Monaco, starring Nicole Kidman and Tim Roth will be released in 2014.

High Society

Grace Kelly and Hollywood

Jeffrey Meyers

The Genius and the Goddess, based on Jeffrey Meyers' long friendship with Arthur Miller and extensive archival research from Washington to Los Angeles, is a portrait of a marriage. The greatest American playwright of the twentieth century and the most popular American actress both complemented and wounded one another. 
 
Marilyn Monroe was a doomed personality whose tragic end was inevitable. Miller experienced creative agony with her. Their five-year marriage, from 1956 to 1961, coincided with the creative peak of her career, yet private and public conflict caused both of them great anguish. 
 
This book explains why they married, what sustained them for five years and what destroyed them; the effect of the anti-Communist witch-hunts on their marriage; and the impact of Marilyn on Miller's life and art. The fascinating cast of characters includes Marilyn's co-stars: Sir Laurence Olivier, Yves Montand and Clark Gable; her leading directors: John Huston, Billy Wilder and George Cukor; and her literary friends: Dame Edith Sitwell, Saul Bellow and Vladimir Nabokov. 
 
Meyers offers an incisive account of the making and meaning of The Misfits, which destroyed their marriage. But Marilyn remained Miller's tragic muse and her character, exalted and tormented, lived on, for the next forty years, in his work.

The Genius and the Goddess

Robert Sellers

'I don't know what people expect when they meet me. They seem to be afraid that I'm going to piss in the potted palm and slap them on the ass.' Marlon Brando 
'I should have been dead ten times over. I believe in miracles. It's an absolute miracle that I'm still around.' Dennis Hopper 
'The best time to get married is noon. That way, if things don't work out, you haven't blown the whole day.' Warren Beatty 
'You only lie to two people in your life: your girlfriend and the police.' Jack Nicholson 
 
They're the baddest bad asses Hollywood has ever seen: Marlon Brando, Dennis Hopper, Warren Beatty and Jack Nicholson. These are men for whom rules did not apply, men for whom normal standards of behaviour were simply too wearisome to worry about. These are men who brawled, boozed, snorted and shagged their way into legend-hood - but along the way they changed acting and the way movies were made forever. 
 
Hollywood Hellraisers is a whistle-stop tour of jaw-dropping sexual activity, misbehaviour of an Olympic standard, all-out excess and genuine madness. It's a wonder Hollywood survived.

Hollywood Hellraisers

The Wild Lives and Fast Times of Marlon Brando, Dennis Hopper, Warren Beatty and Jack Nicholson

Robert Wagner

In this moving memoir, Robert J. Wagner opens his heart to share the romances, the drama and the humor of an incredible life. Under the mentorship of stars like Spencer Tracy, he became a salaried actor in Hollywood's studio system among other hot actors of the moment such as his friends Rock Hudson and Tony Curtis. Wagner began to appear in a number of films alongside the most beautiful starlets. As his career blossomed he met the woman who would change his life forever, Natalie Wood. They fell instantly and deeply in love and stayed together until the stress of their careers drove them to divorce. 
 
Trying to forget the pain, he made more movies and spent his time in Europe with the likes of Steve McQueen, Sophia Loren, Peter Sellers, Laurence Olivier, David Niven, Liz Taylor and Joan Collins. He would meet and marry the beautiful former model and actress Marion Marshall. Together they had a daughter, and made their way back to America, where he found himself at the beginning of a new era in Hollywood - the blossoming of television. 
 
Despite his new found success, his marriage to Marion fell apart. He looked no further than Natalie Wood, for whom he still pined. To the world's surprise, they fell in love all over again. Their life together was cut tragically short, though, when Wood died after falling from their yacht. For the first time, Wagner writes about that tremendously painful time. After a serious bout with depression, he finally resurfaced and eventually married Jill St. John, who helped keep his family and his fractured heart together.

Pieces of My Heart

In August 1958, the opening scenes of a low-budget black and white film flickered onto cinema screens up and down the country. No one could have foreseen what impact Carry on Sergeant would have then and in the future. Not only did it become one of the top three grossing films for that year, it also kick started the longest running and most successful comedy series of all time. 
 
Here, for the very first time, is the essential biography of this most treasured institution in the world of British cinema. Complete with exclusive interviews with cast and crew, and the debut publication of Vince Powell's script of Carry On Down Under, Fifty Years of Carry On is a must for any fan of the unique and ever hilarious spectacle that is Carry On.

Fifty Years Of Carry On

Frank Skinner

In this new volume of memoirs, Frank Skinner describes his experience of going back on the road doing stand-up again, after many years spent working mainly on television. His adventures on tour are by turns funny and moving as he meditates on growing older, the terrors and joys of trying to make a live audience laugh night after night and on the nature of comedy itself. 
 
For the first time we read a comedian's account, in his own words, of how his act is put together; his return to a world of dark little clubs and the strange encounters he has there. But what is perhaps most startling and original about Frank Skinner's writing is his honesty nbout not only the highs and lows of his career, but more intimate and personal issues - male sexuality and matters of the heart.

Frank Skinner on the Road

Love, Stand-up Comedy and The Queen Of The Night

The inspiration behind BBC2's The Girl starring Toby Jones and Sienna Miller, Spellbound by Beauty examines Hitchcock's relationship with his leading ladies including Tippi Hendren and Grace Kelly. Hitchcock is also the subject of an upcoming film, Hitchcock, starring Anthony Hopkins and Helen Mirren dues for release in 2013. 
 
Spellbound by Beauty examines Alfred Hitchcock's well known collaborations with the leading ladies of his day, and, in so doing, delves into his creative life and his uniquely curious professional and personal relationships. The result is a singular kind of life story - a book about film and film stars; business and power; sex and fantasy; romance and derailed psychology. 
 
Drawing on explosive, never-before-published material and details gleaned through his friendship with Hitchcock, along with archival material and personal collections only recently made available, Donald Spoto casts a new light on this most famous of directors. He traces Hitchcock's professional and social rise and deals frankly with his strange marriage to Alma Reville, his distance from his daughter, Patricia, and his obsessive relationships with a number of his leading ladies from Grace Kelly and Kim Novak to Tippi Hedren.

Spellbound by Beauty

Alfred Hitchcock and His Leading Ladies

Dawn French

A SUNDAY TIMES NUMBER ONE BESTSELLER 
___________________________ 
The hilarious and heartwarming memoir from one of Britain's best-loved comedians and Women's Prize longlisted author, Dawn French. 
 
Dawn French is one of the greatest comedians of our time with a career that has spanned nearly four decades. Loved for her irreverent humour, Dawn has achieved massive mainstream success while continuing to push boundaries and challenge stereotypes. Here, she describes the journey that would eventually establish her as a perhaps unlikely, but nevertheless genuine, national treasure. 
 
As part of the much loved duo French and Saunders, Dawn helped create a repertoire of brilliantly observed characters, impersonating everything from Madonna and Harry Potter to The Exorcist. Dawn's iconic role in the Vicar of Dibley showcased not only her talent but also her ability to take a controversial and topical issue and make it mainstream - and very funny. 
 
From her early years as an RAF child and her flat-sharing antics with Jennifer Saunders, to her outspoken views on sizism and her marriage to Lenny Henry, Dear Fatty chronicles the extraordinary and hilarious rise of a complex, dynamic and unstoppable woman.

Dear Fatty

Richard Attenborough

Diana Hawkins

Richard Attenborough and Diana Hawkins have been friends and colleagues for nearly 50 years.They have now teamed up to write this frank and funny account of their unlikely partnership and his extraordinary life. 
 
Together, laughing and squabbling, they have travelled the world, meeting people and making films. Among the eclectic cast of characters who appear in this two-handed memoir are Steve McQueen, Mother Teresa, Charlie Chaplin, Robert Mugabe, Edward G Robinson, Ronald Reagan, David Lean, Margaret Thatcher, John Mills, Steven Spielberg, Noel Coward, Indira Gandhi, Gordon Brown and Nelson Mandela. 
 
Prompted by his adventures in the movie business, Attenborough reflects on the highs and lows of a long life, both in and out of the public gaze. He writes revealingly of his passion for football and politics, of his avuncular relationship with Princess Diana and finally about the tsunami tragedy which engulfed his family in December 2004.

Entirely Up to You, Darling

Paul Merton

On the surface it may seem slightly surprising that a master of verbal humour should also be a devotee of silent comedy, but Paul Merton is completely passionate about the early days of Hollywood comedy and the comic geniuses who dominated it. His knowledge is awesome - as anyone who watched his BBC 4 series Silent Clowns or attended the events he has staged nationwide will agree - his enthusiasm is infectious, and these qualities are to be found in abundance in his book. 
 
Starting with the very earliest pioneering short films, he traces the evolution of silent comedy through the 1900s and considers the works of the genre's greatest exponents - Buster Keaton, Charlie Chaplin, Laurel and Hardy and Harold Lloyd - showing not only how each developed in the course of their career but also the extent to which they influenced each other. At the same time, Paul brings a comedian's insight to bear on the art of making people laugh, and explores just how the great comic ideas, routines, gags and pratfalls worked and evolved. His first book for ten years, this is destined to be a classic.

Silent Comedy

Lisa Gee

When Lisa Gee's six-year-old daughter, Dora, goes to an open audition for the West End production of The Sound of Music, it's just a fun way to occupy some time in the Easter holidays. But when Dora unexpectedly lands the role, Lisa soon learns that Dora's brush with fame has less to do with paparazzi and lucrative paydays and more to do with endless rehearsals and outsize egos. 
 
Part fairy tale, part cautionary tale, this is the hilarious, engaging account of one child's step into the limelight. From the initial try-out with over a thousand Von Trapp hopefuls to performing on the London stage with Connie Fisher and an encounter with Julie Andrews, mother and daughter navigate the minefield of rehearsals, auditions and fame. This is a heart-warming glimpse into the sometimes not-so-glamorous world of show business and the delicate balance between being proud and being pushy. Stage Mum is a story for every parent who dreams big and every child who dreams bigger.

Stage Mum

Anne Nolan

The Nolan Sisters swung with Sinatra, sang at the Royal Variety Performance and toured the world to crowds of adoring fans. 
 
They were one of the first superstar girl groups. 
 
But darkness lurked behind their glamorous, spotless public image. 
 
As the eldest Nolan sister, Anne Nolan's life appeared exciting and glamorous - a dream come true for any young singer. Surrounded by a bevy of loving sisters, two protective brothers and parents who wanted to see their children succeed, how could Anne Nolan's childhood have been anything but idyllic? 
 
And yet behind the fairytale script, behind the fame and glitz, lay hidden dark family secrets that have, until now, never been told. What drove a wedge between the sisters? 
 
Anne's story begins in Dublin and moves to the club scene of Blackpool, the scenes of a secret life - one that had to remain hidden, one of fear and pain that has cast a terrible shadow over her entire life. Finally, after decades of silence, Anne Nolan reveals the brutal truth behind the Nolans' carefully cultivated image in this startling and gripping autobiography.

Anne's Song

Alan Alda

'The message is consistent: it's not what you do in life, but how you do it. Notice everything. Always be open to new ideas, new experiences. Alda is chatty, easygoing and humble ... His words of inspiration would be a perfect gift.' 
Publishers Weekly 
 
Acclaimed actor and internationally bestselling author Alan Alda has written a shrewd and funny account of some impossible questions he's asked himself over the years: what do I value? What, exactly, is the good life? (And what does that even mean?) 
 
Here, Alda listens in on things he's heard himself saying at critical points in his life - from the turbulence of the 60s, to his first Broadway show, to the birth of his children, and to the ache of September 11. He notices that 'doorways are where the truth is told', and wonders what one thing - art, activism, family, money, fame - could lead to a 'life of meaning'. 
 
In a book that is candid, wise and as questioning as it is incisive, Alda amuses and moves us with his uniquely witty meditations on questions great and small.

Things I Overheard While Talking To Myself

Peter Falk

Peter Falk came to prominence as an actor in 1956 in the highly successful off-Broadway revival of The Iceman Cometh with Jason Robards. Although he worked continuously for the next three years, bouncing from one off-Broadway theatre to the next, a theatrical agent advised him not to expect much work in motion pictures because of his glass eye. Later, a talent scout for Columbia Pictures described Falk as a second John Garfield, but Harry Cohn, the head of Columbia Pictures, unfortunately disagreed: 'For the same price, I can get an actor with two eyes.' 
 
But in 1958, Twentieth Century Fox came to New York to make a movie - Murder Inc - and Falk landed a juicy role for which he received rave reviews and, incredibly, was nominated for an Academy Award. He was then nominated again for his second film, Pocketful of Miracles starring Bette Davis. 
Falk went on to become a favourite among filmgoers, yet it was through television that he reached his widest audience as Lt. Columbo, winning four Emmys for the role. Interestingly, Columbo's raincoat came out of Falk's bedroom closet. He bought it years before he became an actor. He's been quoted as saying, 'I wanted to wear something people would remember. Bottom line, it's the world's most famous raincoat.' 
 
Just One More Thing is pure Peter Falk, and reads as if he were sitting next to you, chuckling as he recalls his remarkable past.

Just One More Thing

Eric Clapton

Eric Clapton is far more than a rock star. 
 
Like Dylan and McCartney, he is an icon and a living legend. He has sold tens of millions of records, played sell-out concerts all over the world and been central to the significant musical developments of his era. His guitar playing has seen him hailed as 'God'. Now for the first time, Eric tells the story of his personal and professional journeys in this pungent, witty and painfully honest autobiography. 
 
These are the memoirs of a survivor, someone who has reached the pinnacle of success, who has had it all, but whose demons have never left him. Eric tells his story as it is, hiding nothing, with a directness and searing honesty that will make this book one of the most compelling memoirs of our time.

Eric Clapton: The Autobiography

In 1956, at the age of 22, Alan Bates was cast in John Osborne's controversial play, Look Back in Anger. The play changed the course of British theatre - and of Alan's life. 
 
With a sudden rush of fame, he became a member of a new circle of actors at the Royal Court: the English Stage Company. From then on, he also worked steadily in television and won international acclaim for his roles in a number of major films, from A Kind of Loving and Zorba the Greek to Women in Love. 
 
But his personal life was not always as seemingly straightforward as his career - his relationships, including that with his wife, Victoria Ward, were often turbulent. Drawing on dozens of interviews with his family, lovers, colleagues and friends - and mining a rich store of primary research - Donald Spoto chronicles Alan's achievements as a performer against the backdrop of a complicated personal life.

Otherwise Engaged

The Life of Alan Bates

Anna Massey

In 2005, Anna Massey was awarded a CBE for services to drama. 
 
Daughter of the Canadian actor, Raymond Massey (perhaps best-known for his role as Dr Gillespie in the TV series Dr Killdare), and Adrianne Allen (also a very successful stage actress), drama was in her blood. Her brother, Daniel, was a much-acclaimed actor. And even her godfather was one of the great film directors of all time - John Ford. 
 
Anna's first marriage was to Jeremy Brett, famous in his later years for his elegantly febrile performance on television as Sherlock Holmes. They had a son, David, together. But it was not a happy relationship and ended in divorce. 
 
In fact, family life was never easy or straightforward. Raymond fled the roost for the United States when Anna was very little, and married again. Adrianne was the most marvellous hostess who filled the house with an exotic mixture of guests, but, as a child, crucial emotional support was supplied by Nanny, who remained with Anna until her death. 
 
From her stage debut in The Reluctant Debutante to her performance in Michael Powell's notorious film, Peeping Tom, on through TV successes like The Pallisers and Hotel du Lac to a range of work in radio, Anna Massey has enjoyed the most remarkable career. And a whole host of extraordinary, often highly eccentric characters make their entrances and exits during its course. 
 
On and off set or stage, there are encounters with the theatrical knights, Olivier, Redgrave, Richardson and Gielgud. Noel Coward takes more than one bow. Great friendships are formed with fellow actors like Alan Rickman, Alec McCowen, Dame Judi Dench, and the playwright, David Hare. And there are inevitable difficulties with directors like Otto Preminger. Anna also has to play the part of hostess to the Duke of Edinburgh - in real life. 
 
After all the inevitable vicissitudes and upsets, Anna Massey ends her book with the story of personal happiness, achieved without make-up, lighting or script. Telling Some Tales does not kiss and tell, or tell tales out of school. It is the candid, wry, funny and emotional account of a life intensely lived.

Telling Some Tales

David Lines

When David Lines first heard This is the Modern World by The Jam, it sparked off a love affair that continues to this day. Paul Weller became the blueprint for David's life, and he followed his music and his style with the fervour of a truly devoted fan - to the bemusement of his long-suffering family. At once disarmingly candid and hilariously funny, this is the story of what it means to have a hero, its pleasures and pitfalls. Illustrating his memoir with landmark songs from The Jam and The Style Council, David maps out the occasionally bizarre events in the life of an obsessive fan and wannabe writer. 
 
From Player's Navy Cut to Gitanes, boating blazers to cashmere sweaters, The Modfather is about acquiring style, finding substance and living life with Paul Weller.

The Modfather

My Life with Paul Weller

Chantelle Houghton

From girl next door to the nation's sweetheart, this is the story of Chantelle's spectacular rise to fame and celebrity. Told in her own words, Chantelle takes us on what has been a sometimes bumpy, but a truly magical journey. 
 
As a little girl growing up in Essex, Chantelle Houghton dreamed of becoming famous and living the life of a star. But never could she have imagined just how this dream would eventually come true, transforming her into one of Britain's most loved and talked about celebrities. 
 
Here, we learn how her family played a crucial role in helping to shape her dreams and aspirations from an early age. We hear of the difficult times growing up and how Chantelle was able to overcome these obstacles, eventually launching a career in modeling. 
 
But it was to be Celebrity Big Brother that would change the course of Chantelle's life forever. She tells of the moment she first discovered she'd been picked, what really went on behind the scenes - the clashes of personalities in the house, the fallings out... and, of course, her falling in love with Preston. 
 
Winning Big Brother was a defining moment, and the madness that followed in those first few days outside of the house was to be just the beginning of Chantelle's new dream life. Learning to become accustomed to her new found fame hasn't been straightforward, but Chantelle has always kept her feet firmly on the ground. 
 
But it has been her love for Preston that has been the real fairy tale in Chantelle's extraordinary journey. She tells how their love grew away from the glare of paparazzi, and how this whirlwind romance ended up becoming the wedding of the year. 
 
In this honest and open autobiography, Chantelle shares her secret hopes and dreams for the future and looks back on the past year and reflects on just what an amazing fairy tale it's been.

Living the Dream

My Story

Boy George

From his days as a club face alongside Philip Sallon, Marilyn and Steve Strange, through the years of global pop superstardom with Culture Club, his rebirth as a world-class DJ, as a leading light of musical theatre with the award-winning Taboo, a cutting edge photographer and a confrontational and acclaimed fashion designer, one of the many things you can say about George is: he's never stood still. 
 
It's been one hell of a trip. A decade and a half ago, George was coming to terms with the fall-out from serious drug addiction, the failure of his relationship with Jon Moss and the collapse of Culture Club.For lesser men this would have been the end but for George it became the start of a period of remarkable reinvention. 
 
Told with George's trademark biting wit, brutal honesty and sparkling insight, this book reveals the whole story, reappraising his rise to stardom and all the madness that followed.He talks about his solo singing career, his initiation into the dance music scene, and his role as the driving force behind theatrical sensation Taboo.George also discusses the achievement of the apparently impossible task of reuniting the famously fractious Culture Club. 
 
It is only now, many years on from the glittering, glossy Eighties, that George makes an insightful and often hilarious assessment of the impact of that extraordinary era.

Straight

A Private Thriller

A series of children's modern classic novels by renowned 20th century children's writers. All the titles in this series have the A Puffin Book logo, contemporary-style covers, and child-friendly endnotes.

A Puffin Book

A Ripley Novel

A Slice of the Moon

A Victorian Mystery

A Walk in...

A Women’s Murder Club Thriller

A chef Paul Delamare Mystery

Aberrations

Across the Universe

Actiphons

Adelia Aguilar

Adrian Mole

Adventures in Time

Aftermath

Against War

Age of X

Agent 21

Agent Z

Detective Aidan Waits is a troubled junior detective haunted by his past. Facing an uncertain future, and disconnected from his history, DC Waits and his partner, Detective Inspector Peter 'Sutty' Sutcliffe work on Manchester's streets to uncover the city's worst criminals among the grime of the underworld.

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