5ive Guys FC

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A A Gill

Andrew Swanston read law at Cambridge, but was inspired to write by his lifelong interest in early modern history. His Thomas Hill novels – The King’s Spy, The King’s Exile and The King’s Return – are set against the backdrops of the English Civil War, Cromwell’s Commonwealth and the early Restoration respectively. He is also the author of Waterloo: The Bravest Man and Beautiful Star and Other Stories. His first historical thriller set during the reign of Elizabeth I – Incendium (published in paperback as The Incendium Plot) – introduced readers to the academic, lawyer and intelligencer Dr Christopher Radcliff, whose adventures continue in Chaos. Andrew Swanston lives in Surrey.

A D Swanston

A E Langsford

A G Hopkins

A. J. BAIME is the New York Times best-selling author of The Arsenal of Democracy: FDR, Detroit, and an Epic Quest to Arm an America at War and Go Like Hell: Ford, Ferrari, and Their Battle for Speed and Glory at Le Mans. Both books are in development for major motion pictures. Baime is a longtime regular contributor to the Wall Street Journal, and his articles have also appeared in the New York Times, Popular Science, and Men’s Journal. He lives in Granite Bay, California. Visit him at facebook.com/ajbaime and trumanbook.com.

A J Baime

A J Jacobs

A J P Taylor

Anthony James Pollard is a British medieval historian, specialising in the fifteenth century and in particular the Wars of the Roses. A leading authority in the field, he is profesor emeritus of Teesside University. His books include North-Eastern England during the Wars of the Roses, Richard III and the Princes in theTower, Imagining Robin Hood: the Late Medieval Stories in Historical Context and Warwick the kingmaker: Politics, Power and Fame.

A J Pollard

A J Rochester

A K Benjamin is a clinical neuropsychologist and the author of Let Me Not Be Mad: A Story of Unravelling Minds.

A K Benjamin

A. L. Berridge read English at Oxford, and taught for ten years before moving into television, where her production credits range from period drama and thrillers to long-running soaps. She has written two previous novels, Top Ten besteller Honour and the Sword and In the Name of the King. Into the Valley of Death is her third novel.

A L Berridge

Alison Gaylin's first job was as a reporter for a celebrity tabloid, which sparked a lifelong interest in writing about people committing despicable acts. More than a decade later, she wrote and published her Edgar-nominated first novel, HIDE YOUR EYES. 
 
She's since published nine more books, including the USA Today and international bestselling Brenna Spector suspense series, which has been nominated for the Edgar, Anthony and Thriller awards and won the Shamus award. 
 
She lives in upstate New York with her husband, daughter, cat and dog.

A L Gaylin

A Maxwell-Hyslop

A McArthur

A P Wavell

A.S. Webb is the Sunday Times bestselling author of Daughter of Chaos, the first instalment of The Dark Pantheon Trilogy. She is inspired by stories rooted in history and mythology, that push the boundaries of imagination and urge us to reflect on what it means to be human.

A S Webb

A. A. Dhand is the author of six previous novels, and has been shortlisted for the CWA Steel Dagger Award. His DI Harry Virdee novels are currently being adapted for TV by the BBC. He was raised in Bradford and spent his youth observing the city from behind the counter of a small convenience store. After qualifying as a pharmacist, he worked in London and travelled extensively before returning to Bradford to start his own business and begin writing. The history, diversity and darkness of the city have inspired all his novels. For more information about A. A. Dhand and his books, follow him on X @aadhand, and on Instagram @aa_dhand.

A. A. Dhand

A. A. Gill

A. A. Milne

A. Anatoli

A. B. Poranek grew up sharing her time between Ontario, Canada and rural Poland, and eventually completed a veterinary degree at the Warsaw University of Life Sciences. A lover of mythology and history, she enjoys exploring both in her writing. Her debut novel, Where the Dark Stands Still, an instant New York Times bestseller, is an ode to Poland's folktales, while A Treachery of Swans transports readers to a world inspired by 17th century France.

A. B. Poranek

A. Bradley

Professor A. C. Grayling is Principal of the New College of the Humanities at Northeastern University, London, and a Supernumerary Fellow of St Anne's College, Oxford. He has written and edited over thirty books on philosophy, history, science and current affairs. For several years he wrote columns for the Guardian newspaper and The Times and was the chairman of the 2014 Man Booker Prize.

A. C. Grayling

A.D. Miller is the author of Snowdrops, The Earl of Petticoat Lane and The Faithful Couple. Snowdrops was a bestseller and was shortlisted for many prizes including the Man Booker and the CWA Gold Dagger. It was translated into 25 languages. As Moscow Correspondent of The Economist A.D. Miller has travelled across the former Soviet Union and covered the Orange Revolution in Ukraine; he is now the magazine’s Culture Editor based in London. 
 
admillerbooks.com

A. D. Miller

A. E. Ellis

A. Humphreys

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

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Paul Sinha

'That night, I'd survived my life flashing before me, with my dignity intact. 
Yes, this chaotic life has always been a gamble. 
... But what a gamble.' 
 
Paul Sinha is an award-winning comedian, a quizzing mastermind and a happily-married husband. But for much of his life none of these seemed remotely imaginable. 
 
As a boy, Paul struggled to find his place in a world where he didn't quite fit. Who was he? An over-achieving schoolkid with the world's knowledge at his fingertips? A traditional Bengali son, destined for a career in medicine that he never once craved? A young gay man yearning to breathe freely? Or was he yet another flawed human being on a self-destruct mission? 
 
Amid life's mayhem, it was frequently Paul's love of facts in which he found solace, whether funding his lifestyle through quiz machines or simply trying to show off to his mates. Stumbling serendipitously into both a career in stand-up and a clandestine network of competitive quizzers introduced him to a new sense of purpose, a new identity, and, eventually, new love... 
 
A hilarious and moving coming-of-age memoir of one man's search for fulfilment, One Sinha Lifetime is an unconventional odyssey through love, family, and the joy of general knowledge.

One Sinha Lifetime

Comedy, disaster and one man’s quest for happiness

Josie da Bank

Rob da Bank

Get wild. Get messy. 'Dad dance' like no one’s watching. Nourish your body and mind. Let go of the reins and the routines. Make memories and have some serious fun. 
 
From the co-founders of the award-winning family festival, Camp Bestival at Home is the perfect handbook for parents who want to bring the magical ethos of the festival home. 
 
Packed with activities, recipes and ideas to keep the whole family inspired all year round, why not get back to nature and stargaze. For kids with endless energy, you could organise a kitchen disco or put on a show. Go foraging, learn circus skills and face painting, or make festive decorations. And relax after all the activity with a family feast, plus some yoga for the grown-ups. 
 
Written and illustrated by Camp Bestival co-founders Josie and Rob da Bank, with contributions from celebrity friends and festival regulars Fatboy Slim, Sara Cox, Sophie Ellis-Bextor, Fearne Cotton and Jo Whiley.

Camp Bestival at Home

Have a Family Festival Every Day

Fenton Bailey

'Like a superheated kernel of corn, the world has gone Pop... Drag has become mainstream. Being gay became cool. From being the criminal outsider, being queer has even become representative of the way the outsider voice is common to us all.' 
 
When he moved to New York in 1982, Fenton Bailey saw the world go Pop. Together with filmmaking partner Randy Barbato, their production company World of Wonder would pioneer the genre of Reality TV and chronicle the emerging Screen Age through their extraordinary programs and outrageous subjects - from Bible Belt televangelists and conspiracy theories to pioneering drag queens. 
 
Working with icons such as Britney Spears, Tammy Faye Bakker and RuPaul, the production company's shows tell a wider story of how television has fundamentally shifted our reality. 
 
Packed with glorious insider gossip and amazing celebrity stories, these are the riotous tales behind the shows that would make ScreenAgers of us all.

ScreenAge

How TV shaped our reality, from Tammy Faye to RuPaul’s Drag Race

Mo Gilligan

Come on my journey. Look at where man's come from. I was working in retail in 2017. 
 
You might know Mo as the critically acclaimed stand-up comedian, BAFTA-winning presenter, Masked Singer judge and social media mega star. But do you know the moments that really made him? Opening up on the turning points, the good times, the challenges and the lessons learned, this is Mo as you've never seen him before. 
 
Journeying through childhood memories in South London, Mo reminisces about school days and old-school raving, and takes us behind the scenes of his first comedy gigs, the creation of the original Geezer, selling out national tours and becoming one of TV's most in-demand stars. Share the moment that Mo decided he wanted to be a comedian, the moment he went viral, the moment he realised he was famous (and how to deal with it), the moment his Netflix special dropped, the moment he won his BAFTA and the moments he still has to come. 
 
In among the laugh-out-loud observations, life lessons and candid storytelling, there lies the bigger influences in Mo's life - the unsung heroes of the Black British comedy scene, the power of community and the feel-good legacy he wants to create. 
 
'The Funniest Man in Britain' The Times

That Moment When

Life Stories from Way Back Then

Paddy McGuinness

Get the kettle on, the biscuits out and settle in for a belting read. 
 
Let Paddy McGuinness take you back, far, far away from celebrity land, to a two-up, two-down terrace in 1970s Bolton, where he grew up. They were happy times, but money was tight. Paddy slept on a mattress he dragged in from the street, and at 17 he struggled severely with the stress of juggling a college course and two jobs to support his beloved mum. 
 
But while cash may have been short, grit and wit were in over-supply, and this is the improbable true story of the lad who went from kipping in abandoned cars in Bolton to racing supercars on Top Gear, via laying concrete floors in prisons, a lively career in a leisure centre, a showbiz intervention by school pal Peter Kay and eye-popping adventures in the world of teledom. 
 
There has been mischief and misadventure, joy and sorry, huge success and unexpected challenges. It's a lifey well lived, and an unforgettable personal memoir written from the heart.

My Lifey

Big Narstie

Mans here to help you help yourself. 
 
Real talk. One thing you've got to know about advice: there are two types. Sometimes the people who give the most advice to others are the last people you should be listening to. They just love the sound of their own voice. No matter what the problem is, they'll just say: 'Believe in yourself, you can do anything.' And then ... well, then there's the kind of advice that's just the truth. That's the sort of advice you might get from this book, and I'll warn you sometimes the truth ain't pretty. 
 
In these pages I'm gonna tell you some of my story and show you how you can change yours: how to survive school, how to get a job, how to deal with family, friends, love and PAIN. How to live your own life, not someone else's.

How to Be Narstie

Real talk on humble starts, big dreams and beating the odds

Royal Albert Hall

The most iconic concert hall in the world celebrates 150 years with a stunning review of history's finest performances and performers. 
 
Opening with a personal letter from Queen Elizabeth II, this beautiful book celebrates 150 moments that have shaped The Royal Albert Hall over the last century and a half. From The Beatles to the Suffragettes, Albert Einstein to Winston Churchill, Mohammed Ali to B.B. King, few other buildings have housed such a stunning variety of era-defining people and events. 
 
This gorgeous, illustrated guide takes you behind the scenes of one of the most well-loved concert halls in the world, offering insights into the building’s iconic architecture, as well as its lesser-known quirks such as the reinforced toilets designed for Sumo wrestlers. This book features events ranging from the world's first sci-fi convention in 1891 to the annual Cirque du Soleil, which requires the auditorium to be transformed into a gymnasium. Autographs and candid comments from incredible performers who have appeared on its stage, like Russell Howard, Eric Clapton and Katie Derham, give a unique insider’s perspective on an esteemed and beloved British institution. 
 
With never-before-seen images, insights and more, this is the ultimate celebration of a British architectural icon which continues to inspire artists and audiences from around the world.

A celebration in 150 unforgettable moments

Charlie Brooker

Annabel Jones

Jason Arnopp

‘Black Mirror is hands down the most relevant program of our time, if for no other reason than how often it can make you wonder if we’re all living in an episode of it.’ – New York Times 
 
What becomes of humanity when it’s fed into the jaws of a hungry new digital machine? Discover the world of Black Mirror in this immersive, illustrated, oral history. 
 
This first official book logs the entire Black Mirror journey, from its origins in creator Charlie Brooker’s mind to its current status as one of the biggest cult TV shows to emerge from the UK. Alongside a collection of astonishing behind-the-scenes imagery and ephemera, Brooker and producer Annabel Jones will detail the creative genesis, inspiration and thought process behind each film for the first time, while key actors, directors and other creative talents relive their own involvement. 
 
‘Brooker continues to solidify himself as one of the most creative writers in the medium. Even when the unfair creep of expectations rears up, Black Mirror and Brooker deliver.’ – The Hollywood Reporter 
 
‘Black Mirror: the future is already here, and it's terrifying’ - Telegraph

Inside Black Mirror

The Illustrated Oral History

David Ovason

The secrets of the world’s greatest illusions revealed! 
 
Learn clever tricks and daring deceptions! 
 
An indispensible guide for the home Magician! 
 
Beginning with instruction in simple sleights-of-hand, which may be mastered and performed by any amateur magician for the delight of their friends, The Book of Magic includes directions in the performance of more sophisticated illusions, and exposes the methods behind such famous feats as levitation, sawing a woman in half, or disappearing an elephant. 
 
A fascinating look into the Art of Conjuring, The Book of Magic provides practical hints, tips and inspiration for any aspiring illusionist, and is an essential addition to the library of all Magicians.

The Book of Magic

Mindy Kaling

Mindy Kaling has found herself at a turning point. So in Why Not Me?, she shares her ongoing journey to find fulfilment and adventure in her adult life, be it falling in love at work, seeking new friendships in unlikely places, or attempting to be the first person in history to lose weight without any behaviour modification whatsoever. 
 
In “How to Look Spectacular”, she reveals her tongue-in-cheek solutions for guaranteed on-camera beauty. “Player” tells the story of Mindy being seduced, then dumped, by a female friend in LA. And in “Soup Snakes,” she spills some secrets on her relationship with ex-boyfriend and close friend B. J. Novak. 
 
Mindy has put the anxieties, the glamour and the celebrations of her second coming-of-age into this book, to which anyone can relate. (And, if they can’t, they can skip to the parts where she talks about meeting Bradley Cooper.)

Why Not Me?

Ronnie Corbett

A true great of British comedy, Ronald ‘Ronnie’ Corbett, is hailed as one of the finest comedians of his generation. 
 
Son of an Edinburgh baker, Ronnie rose to fame as one half of the infamous Two Ronnies alongside Ronnie Barker. Known for his versatility, quick-wit, family-friendly dialogue, and meandering monologues, Corbett was a staple of British television for more than 50 years. In his autobiography, he tells the complete story, from his school technique of estimating the height of a girl before daring to ask her to dance, to his days as a night club barman in London, and finally, to his decades long career as a stand-up and sitcom star. Including tales of how he first met David Frost, John Cleese and Michael Palin, this book is written with all of Ronnie’s trademark warmth and wit. 
 
Celebrating his life and career, this is Ronnie’s own honest and definitive account of his truly dramatic journey.

High Hopes

My Autobiography

Ronnie Barker

With a fondness for spoonerisms and double entendres, Ronnie Barker is one of the nation’s greatest comics. Gathered together in this second ‘best of’ volume is a cocktail of his sketches and monologues from every strand of his long and brilliant career.

A Few Well-Frozen Worms

Michael Simkins

Luvvies. Tyrannical directors. Useless agents. Less job security than an England football manager. Who’d be an actor? 
 
Michael Simkins isn’t sure, even though he’s been one himself for over thirty years. Join him backstage as he examines that business called showbusiness, from am dram to Hollywood, and from Shakespeare to ads for flatulence pills. 
 
In a career that started as a plump teenager in ballet tights at RADA, Michael has appeared in countless West End plays and musicals, presented safety training workshops for sewage workers, and when resting, worked as a crate smasher at a car factory. He’s done movies, soaps, ads, and voice-overs, and worked with everyone from Meryl Streep to Kelly Osbourne. As the ultimate jobbing actor he’s flirted with triumph and oblivion without ever quite managing either. 
 
InThe Rules of Acting he shares his hard-won wisdom. Covering everything from learning your lines to tilting for Oscar success in Hollywood, surviving a flop, to why it’s advisable to read the whole script if you wish to avoid improper relations with a pig, it’s the ultimate survival guide for anyone contemplating a life in showbiz. 
 
'Throw out An Actor Prepares! Michael Simkins' book tells actors all they need to know about the realities of the acting profession; the passion, the struggle, the noble idealism and the heartache.' 
HELEN MIRREN 
 
'It is thrilling that Micahel Simkins is having such success as a writer - anything to keep him off the stage' 
IAN MCKELLEN

The Rules of Acting

Dynamo

'I immersed myself in magic. I read every book I could get my hands on and practised and practised, day after day and night after night. Magic became my world...some might say an obsession.' 
 
When you’re a kid life can seem tough; tougher for some than others. But the darkest of times can also be the most enlightening. 
 
When his late granddad showed him magic for the first time, Steven Frayne knew there was more to life than hiding from bullies. He had a destiny. A calling. In that moment Dynamo was born: the most exciting magician of the 21st century. 
 
Since then, Dynamo has shocked, thrilled and amazed men, women and children, from all walks of life, all over the world. With his mind-blowing illusions, he has catalysed a whole new era of magic. 
 
Now, in his very first book, Dynamo invites you to join him on a breathtaking journey across the globe. Be prepared to levitate Lindsay Lohan in Singapore, transform snow into diamonds in the Austrian mountains, and walk on water across the River Thames. Along the way, he reveals how to make the impossible possible, what it takes to pull off the greatest stunts man has seen, and why everyone needs magic in their lives. 
 
This is no illusion. This is Dynamo revealed.

Nothing Is Impossible

My Story

The Real-Life Adventures of a Street Magician

Miles Jupp

** Shortlisted for the William Hill Sports Book of the Year Award ** 
 
Fanatical about cricket since he was a boy, Miles Jupp would do anything to see his heroes play. But perhaps deciding to bluff his way into the press corps during England's Test series in India wasn't his best idea. 
 
By claiming to be the cricket correspondent for BBC Scotland and getting a job with the (Welsh) Western Mail, Miles lands the press pass that will surely be the ticket to his dreams. Soon, he finds himself in cricket heaven - drinking with David Gower and Beefy, sharing bar room banter with Nasser Hussain and swapping diarrhoea stories with the Test Match Special team. 
 
But struggling in the heat under the burden of his own fibs, reality soon catches up with Miles as he bumbles from one disaster to the next. A joyous, charming, yet cautionary tale, Fibber in the Heat is for anyone who's ever dreamt about doing nothing but watching cricket all day long.

Fibber in the Heat

Shane Spall

'Tim and I both understood we had done something really stupid. We had underestimated the danger involved in going out to sea. We had no radio, compass, life raft or flares. In other words, we were a couple of idiots.' 
 
This is the story of Shane and Timothy Spall and their Dutch barge The Princess Matilda. After a summer on the Thames they head out to sea with only a road atlas and a vast amount of ignorance - and it is absolutely terrifying! 
 
On their travels, memories are triggered of childhood trips to the seaside, but also of more recent times. A decade before, Tim had been diagnosed with acute leukaemia and was given only days to live. Shocked at how life can pass you by they decided that when, and if, Tim got better, they would buy a boat. 
 
As Tim and Shane explore the coast from the Medway to Cornwall, eventually they start to wonder, could they make it out of England altogether? Could Matilda make it to ... Wales?! 
 
Taking over five years, The Voyages of The Princess Matilda is a minor epic, charting a very personal, moving and uplifting story of an everyday couple's adventure around their much loved homeland. 
 
** Winner of the British Travel Press's Narrative Travel Book of the Year Award **

The Voyages of the Princess Matilda

Jason Manford

The is the tale of a cheeky little sod from Salford called Jason growing up surrounded by his properly funny and most definitely shameless family and his discovery that being funny might actually get him somewhere. Other than detention, mugged, dumped or sacked that is. 
 
It's about being part of a big, northern, working-class family forever struggling with money, but never short on laughs or misadventures, who show that when the chips are down what really matters is sticking together.

Brung Up Proper

Sue Johnston

'There was a lot that we kept from my mother. My dad would say to me as a teenager "Don't tell your mother." We couldn't face the disapproval.' 
 
Sue Johnston always seemed to be disappointing her mother. As a girl she never stayed clean and tidy like her cousins. As she grew older, she spent all her piano lesson money on drinks for her mates down the pub, and when she discovered The Cavern she was never at home. The final straw was when Sue left her steady job at a St Helen's factory to try her hand at that unsteadiest of jobs: acting. 
 
Yet when Sue was bringing up her own child alone, her mother was always there to help. And playing her much-loved characters Sheila Grant in Waking the Dead and Barbara in The Royle Family- although her mum wouldn't say she was proud as such, she certainly seemed to approve. And in her mother's final months, it was Sue she needed by her side. 
 
The relationship with your mother is perhaps the most precious and fraught of any woman's life. When she began writing, Sue set out to record 'all the big things, and all the small things. Everything I wanted to tell my mother but felt I never could'. The result is a warm, poignant and often very funny memoir by one of Britain's favourite actresses.

Things I Couldn't Tell My Mother

Lynda Bellingham

'Looking back, perhaps the single biggest problem was fear. Fear of failure, fear of other people - but mostly fear of myself. It has taken many years to discover who I really am. It's never too late to find yourself, however lost you may be ...' 
 
In Lynda Bellingham's blisteringly honest autobiography, the much-loved actress and Loose Women panellist reveals the truth about her life, including her search for her birth mother, only to lose her again to Alzheimer's, and her many years married to an abusive man while playing the 'nation's mum' in the Oxo adverts. 
 
But Lynda never lost her sense of humour, and among the darker moments she recalls hilarious anecdotes from her time on stage and screen. Lost and Found is an inspiring story of getting through the tough times with the strong spirit of a survivor, and finally finding true love.

Lost and Found

Rosemary Ackland

Joss Ackland

Rosemary Ackland began writing her diary in 1945, aged just fifteen. For the next fifty-eight years, through happiness and heartache, she continued to write. Even after the tragic onset of Motor Neurone disease, which left her mute and immobile, her diary was still an outlet - in fact, then more than ever. 
 
Her simple, heartfelt jottings were never intended for an audience. But, during her last days, as he helped her hold a pen, her husband Joss read her words for the first time. Deeply moved by her lifetime's recollections he asked her consent to publish them and she agreed. 
 
My Better Half and Me weaves together Rosemary's diaries with Joss's commentary to tell of an extraordinary love story that lasted over fifty years. Their life together was remarkably full. At first they lived on a shoestring, struggling to bring up their new family on just Joss's payas a young actor. Once his career took off their lives became a dynamic whirl of tours across the country. But they remained an extremely close-knit family, with lives shaped by their seven children, by the tragic, untimely death of their eldest son, and later, by the birth of their grandchildren. 
 
Above all, this intimate and candid story, shows how lucky they were to have each other. In turbulent times they were each other's rock. Theirs was truly and old-fashioned romance.

My Better Half and Me

Len Goodman

Better Late Than Never is the extraordinary true story of how a man born into poverty in London's East End went on to find stardom late in life when he was chosen to be head judge on BBC1's Strictly Come Dancing. Len Goodman tells all about his new-found fame, his experiences on Strictly Come Dancing, and also on the no.1 US show Dancing with the Stars and his encounters with the likes of Heather Mills-McCartney and John Sergeant. 
 
But the real story is in his East End roots. And Len's early life couldn't be more East End. The son of a Bethnal Green costermonger he spent his formative years running the fruit and veg barrow and being bathed at night in the same water Nan used to cook the beetroot. There are echoes of Billy Elliot too. Though Len was a welder in the London Docks, he dreamt of being a professional footballer, and came close to making the grade had he not broken his foot on Hackney Marshes. The doctor recommended ballroom dancing as a light aid to his recovery. And Len, it turned out, was a natural. At first his family and work mates mocked, but soon he had made the final of a national competition and the welders descended en masse to the Albert Hall to cheer him on. With his dance partner, and then wife Cheryl, Len won the British Championships in his late twenties and ballroom dancing became his life. 
 
Funny and heart-warming, Len Goodman's autobiography has all the honest East End charm of Tommy Steele, Mike Read or Roberta Taylor.

Better Late Than Never

From Barrow Boy to Ballroom

Gail Porter

Gail Porter burst on to our TV screens in the late 90s presenting The Movie Chart Show, Alive and Kicking and Top of the Pops. Bright, sparky and beautiful she soon attracted an entirely different audience, posing for a number of men's magazines and rapidly becoming the pin-up of the lad-mag generation. FHM, in a now famous stunt, even projected her naked form on to the Houses of Parliament. 
 
But beneath her cheery public façade, Gail was struggling with anorexia and bi-polar disorder. After nine years of extreme dieting, she collapsed and through sheer determination forced herself to begin eating properly again. Having been told she would never be able to conceive, her new healthier lifestyle led to a much desired pregnancy by her then husband, Toploader guitarist Dan Hipgrave. But the intense pressures of juggling motherhood with her career, led to crippling post-natal depression and precipitated the breakdown of her marriage. Overwhelmed by single motherhood, one day after dropping her daughter Honey off at nursery, she took an overdose and her world very publicly began to unravel. 
 
But Gail's ability to stay afloat as her life crumbled in the public spotlight made her an icon all over again for a new audience of ordinary women who recognised her pain. She refused to hide-away as stress-induced alopecia caused her to loose her hair, famously appearing at a charity event sporting a startling pink Mohican. Her stunning features and her unwillingness to wear a wig to hide her bald head have made her a contemporary icon. 
 
But despite all her troubles, Gail remains upbeat and positive. She has become a role model for coming through it all as a good mother and a working woman unbowed. As iconic as Jordan, smart as Billie and as wild as Kerry, Gail Porter has written her autobiography herself - a raw, honest account of her own troubled life and the world of celebrity we now live in.

Laid Bare

My story of love, fame and survival

Chris Moyles

Superman was a hero. Clark Kent was a geek. 
 
Spiderman saved lives. Peter Parker sold photographs to his local paper. 
 
Chris Moyles entertains 8 million people each week on BBC Radio 1. Then he goes home and plays Xbox on his sofa, while wearing only his underpants. 
 
Welcome to the real world of Chris Moyles. 
 
The Difficult Second Book tries to get to the bottom of the double life of this award-winning broadcaster and hapless human being. You'll find out just what he thinks of his radio show guests - some of the most famous people in the country. You'll hear about his showbiz nights out and celebrity neighbourhood. You'll also learn why he is obsessive about washing up; why he lies to the pizza delivery man; and generally what it's like being a part-time famous person and a part-time nobody. 
 
Love him or not, Chris Moyles is part of the fabric of our nation and a proven best-selling author. A refreshingly honest, caustically dry and quick-witted commentator on daily life, The Difficult Second Book is a highly-entertaining read from start to finish.

The Difficult Second Book

Keith Allen

'He'll either win the Victoria Cross or go to prison,' said Keith Allen's headmaster, 1966. 
 
Born a Navy baby, Keith Allen learnt young that when things get too settled you move on. That's the way he has lived his life ever since - always leaving a trail of destruction in his wake. 
 
He might have been a professional footballer if his criminal behaviour hadn't got in the way. He spent time in prison, went on the run, drifted through squats and festivals, survived marriages, relationships and parenthood. He has loitered with intent in the worlds of comedy, music art, theatre and film, but never long enough to ever fully conform to expectations. He's become renowned for his extrovert and contentious behaviour, his radical opinions and his acting pedigree. But at 54-years-old ... has he finally grown up? 
 
Revelatory and unapologetically honest, Grow Up takes you on a break-neck journey through the chaotic life of someone who's broken all the rules.

Grow Up

Victor Silvester

Ballroom dancing is back. In universities, town halls, bars, clubs and leisure centres across the UK there are hundreds of thousands of people learning to dance. Strictly Come Dancing attracted millions of viewers and was one of the BBC's most successful new series of recent times. This new edition of Victor Silvester's classic book Modern Ballroom Dancing comes at just the right moment to capitalise on this renaissance. Fully updated and featuring brand new photographs of some of the world's hottest dancing talent, it covers all the most popular ballroom dances, from the four classics that should form the basis of any dancer's repertoire - Waltz, Foxtrot, Quickstep and Tango to the great Latin American dances that are so popular - Rumba, Samba, Cha-Cha-Cha and Paso Doble, and Rock 'n' Roll.  The clear, comprehensive notes and diagrams on each dance are invaluable to beginners, more advanced students and teachers alike. The book also features sections on the history of dance, showing how modern dances originated and developed, and how they have been influenced by world dance. Perfect for those dancing for fun and for those aiming for competitive performance, Modern Ballroom Dancing will be indispensable to a whole new generation of dancers.

Modern Ballroom Dancing

All the steps you need to get you dancing

Rena Fruchter

Rena Fruchter was Dudley's concert piano partner, and the friend who looked after him in the final years of his life until his death at the age of 66. This is her intimate portrait of the extraordinarily brilliant, complex character that was Dudley Moore. 
 
During the last ten years of his life Dudley changed. He stepped off the podium and into real life. Physically life was difficult, professionally it was turbulent, but during his final years he blossomed, and in the midst of his illness from the debilitating effects of Progressive Supranuclear Palsy, he found peace. 
 
Rena writes beautifully of Dudley's final years but also takes us back through his life story - conveying his inimitable talent, humour and vibrancy; evoking the atmosphere of a working-class upbringing in 1940s Britain, life in 1950s London and his relationship with Peter Cook, and the excesses of 1980s LA. With style and precision she unravels his personality, looks back at his childhood and career, weaving a moving and compelling story of a unique man.

Dudley Moore

An Intimate Portrait

As a boy, Michael Simkins always wanted to be someone. While his friends were out getting laid and stoned, he was tucked up at home dreaming of his name in lights, of holding an audience rapt, of perhaps becoming a TV heart-throb, or having someone, anyone, ask for his autograph in the supermarket. This is the true story of an obsessive pursuit of acting fame. It is a life marked by occasional hard-fought successes and routine helpings of ritual humiliation: scout hut Gilbert and Sullivan, dodgy rock operas, sewage farm theatre workshop, Christmas panto hell, straight-to-video film flops, leading roles in Crimewatch reconstructions and dressing up as a chicken to advertise TV dinners. It is a hilarious tale of turgid theatre, tights, trusses and tonsil tennis with Timothy Spall.

What's My Motivation?

Craig Brown

Craig Brown (no not the Scottish football manager) is the funniest, the most revered and the most prolific humorist we have. This book collects together for the first time the best of his wit from the vast archive of his work spanning the last twenty years, teaming it with brand new material. This collection of parody, satire, whimsy and wit, includes extracts and articles from Private Eye, The Daily Telegraph, The Guardian, The Independent, Vanity Fair, The Mail on Sunday, The Spectator and many more. They capture the essence of British life - he is as funny on soaps, Posh Spice and Tony Blackburn as he is on Art and Politics.

This Is Craig Brown

Michael J. Fox

In September 1998, Michael J. Fox stunned the world by announcing that he had been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease - in fact, he had been secretly fighting it for seven years. In this candid book, with his trademark ironic sensibility and sense of the absurd, he tells his life story - from his childhood in western Canada to his meteoric rise in film and television and, most importantly, the years in which - with the unswerving support of his wife, family and friends - he has dealt with his illness. He talks about what Parkinson's has given him: the chance to appreciate a wonderful life and career, and the opportunity to help search for a cure and spread public awareness of the disease.  He feels as if he is a very lucky man indeed.

Lucky Man

A Memoir

Jim Davidson

'People will be surprised by the honesty of this book. There will be no holds barred'  Jim Davidson. Somehow the last decade saw Jim Davidson transformed from foul-mouthed stand-up comic to being the face of BBC light entertainment, Chairman of the British Forces Foundation and close friend of Prince Charles.  Close To The Edge details this remarkable change in a fresh and deeply intimate style.  Jim comes clean about himself, his actions and his motives.  From the times he spent in the rehabilitation clinic to the full story of the break up of his four marriages, he re-evaluates his life in a critical and self-aware manner - making Close to The Edge an entertaining and unusually powerful autobiography.

Close to the Edge

The year is 1Q84. This is the real world, there is no doubt about that. But in this world, there are two moons in the sky. Discover the 1Q84 Trilogy by Haruki Murakami.

1Q84

365 Days of Art

A BBC Christmas

A Black Book Thriller

A Box Full of Murders

A Cal Leandros Novel

A Christmas Mystery

The intelligent and capable police commissioner Guido Brunetti confronts crime in and around his home town of Venice.

A Commissario Brunetti Mystery

A DC Smith / Kings Lake Investigation Series

A Daisy Story

Chronicling the lives of over three hundred characters, unrivalled for its scope and humour, this is a unique evocation of life in twentieth-century England.

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