Abie Longstaff is the eldest of six children and grew up in Australia, Hong Kong and France. She knows all about squabbling, chaos and bossing younger sisters around. So she logically began her career as a barrister. She started writing when her children were born. Her favourite childhood books were Hating Alison Ashley, A Little Princess, Maura's Angel and The Black Stallion and she sneakily reads them again sometimes. Abie lives in Hove with her family.

Abie Longstaff

Abi Falase is a Black British writer and director, reimagining fundamental societal concepts in inventive new worlds. Abi has written and directed a number of plays, including The Village and Rush with the Almedia Theatre, as well as Rift for Immediate Theatre and was shortlisted for the BBC Scriptworks ‘A Thousand Stories’ scriptwriting competition in 2021.

Abi Falase

Abi Elphinstone grew up in Scotland where she spent most of her childhood running wild across the moors, hiding in tree houses and building dens in the woods. After being coaxed out of her tree house, she studied English at Bristol University and then worked as an English teacher in Africa, Berkshire and London. She is the bestselling and multi-award shortlisted author of RUMBLESTAR (first in The Unmapped Chronicles), SKY SONG &amp; THE DREAMSNATCHER TRILOGY, published by S&amp;S. When she's not writing, Abi volunteers for Beanstalk, speaks in schools and travels the world looking for her next story.

Abi Elphinstone

Abi Titmuss

Andy Day is one of the best-known stars of preschool television. Andy is the star of multiple children's programmes, most notably his Andy's Adventures, which span from dinosaurs, safari, aquatic, and global, and he is excited to be currently filming brand new adventures, which are going to be dinoriffic! Alongside this he is also the star of 'Andy and the Band' which features Andy's real-life pop band Andy and the Odd Socks, who have played hundreds of live shows, and released over three albums. Andy won a BAFTA for his performance in ‘As You Like It at Shakespeare's Globe’. Andy is also the author of the bestselling Dino Dad young fiction series, illustrated by Steven Lenton, and his first picture book, Dylan the Dino Boy Saves Christmas, illustrated by Alex Patrick, will be published in October 2025. Instagram: @andyday81 | X: @AndyDayTV

Andy Day

Andy Lane

ANDY HALL grew up in the shadow of Denali. He is the former editor and publisher of Alaska magazine. He lives in Chugiak, Alaska.

Andy Hall

Andy Webb worked as a reporter for BBC Television for more than 15 years, appearing daily as a front-of-camera reporter, first on BBC News then as a reporter and presenter on primetime shows including the BBC’sWatchdog, before embarking on a career as an award-winning director of documentary films. It was his journalism over a 15-year period which first revealed the truth behind the infamous BBC Panorama interview with Princess Diana and so exposed the greatest scandal in the history of the BBC. Since breaking the story in 2020, Andy Webb has been invited to write on the story for a range of leading publications, including the Times, Sunday Times, Daily Mail, Mail on Sunday and Sunday Telegraph, and has also been interviewed many times on television, radio and podcasts both in the UK and overseas. Andy is married, with four children, and lives in West London.

Andy Webb

Andy Watt, a graduate of Warwickshire School of Art has spent the last two decades illustrating columns, articles, and editorial pieces for The Guardian, The Times and The Independent. His work has featured in many other magazines in the U.K and USA. He has illustrated several books, worked on advertising campaigns, and created character designs animated on television. 
 
Andy has an irrational fear of restaurants, but has twice eaten in Jamie Oliver's restaurant ‘Fifteen' in Cornwall which he describes as 'very nice’. Thank you Jamie, please don't take offence at my silly drawing.

Andy Watt

Andy King is a Lecturer in History at the University of Southampton. Among his many historical interests are the studies of castles, military culture and Anglo-Scottish relations in the late medieval period.

Andy King

Andy Weir built a two-decade career as a software engineer until the success of his first published novel, The Martian, allowed him to live out his dream of writing full-time. He is a lifelong space nerd and a devoted hobbyist of such subjects as relativistic physics, orbital mechanics, and the history of manned spaceflight. He also mixes a mean cocktail. He lives in California.

Andy Weir

Andy Bull

Andy Cave

Andre Hue

Ivo Andric was born in 1892 in Travnik, Bosnia of Croat parents and grew up alongside Orthodox Christians, Moslems and Roman Catholics in Višegrad, the town on the banks of the Drina where his book is set. Until 1941 he served as a Yugoslav diplomat, then, placed under house arrest in Belgrade by the occupying Germans, Andric turned to writing. In 1961 he was awarded the Noble prize for literature. He died in 1975.

Ivo Andric

LJ Andrews is a USA Today bestselling author of fantasy romance. She mystically brings to life worlds of dark Nordic and Viking myths bound by conflicts that bring together impassioned heroes and heroines. In her non-author moments, she is courageously corralling her four children to the myriad of life activities that involves, along with spending time with her favorite hero, her husband. Add two high maintenance dogs and a sassy conure to the mix and that sums it up. She thrives spending time in the Rocky Mountains where she lives in Utah.

LJ Andrews

Andre Sólo is a researcher, and co-founder and editor-in-chief for Highly Sensitive Refuge. He has co-authored a number of scientific papers and his writing has appeared in Psychology Today, The Huffington Post and Quiet Revolution. He has been interviewed by The Telegraph, Vogue and the BBC. Andre is based in Saint Paul, Minnesota.

Andre Sólo

Andrew Fox

Andre Gide

Andy Neill

Andy Goram

Andy Sloan

Andy Riley

Andy Hixon lives in Sheffield. He works with clay, photography, digital media and animation.

Andy Hixon

From the day he was found in a carrier bag on the steps of Guy's Hospital in London, Andy McNab has led an extraordinary life. 
 
As a teenage delinquent, Andy McNab kicked against society. As a young soldier he waged war against the IRA in the streets and fields of South Armagh. As a member of 22 SAS he was at the centre of covert operations for nine years – on five continents. During the Gulf War he commanded Bravo Two Zero, a patrol that, in the words of his commanding officer, 'will remain in regimental history for ever'. Awarded both the Distinguished Conduct Medal (DCM) and Military Medal (MM) during his military career, McNab was the British Army's most highly decorated serving soldier when he finally left the SAS. 
 
Since then Andy McNab has become one of the world’s best-selling writers, drawing on his insider knowledge and experience. As well as several non-fiction bestsellers including Bravo Two Zero, the biggest selling British work of military history, he is the author of the best-selling Nick Stone and Tom Buckingham thrillers. He has also written a number of books for children. 
 
Besides his writing work, he lectures to security and intelligence agencies in both the USA and UK, works in the film industry advising Hollywood on everything from covert procedure to training civilian actors to act like soldiers. He continues to be a spokesperson and fundraiser for both military and literacy charities.

Andy McNab

André Gide

Andy Clark is a Professor of Cognitive Philosophy at the University of Sussex, and at Macquarie University, Australia. He is the author of six books including Supersizing the Mind, Natural-Born Cyborgs and Surfing Uncertainty. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and the British Academy, and is an occasional Academic Consultant for Google, UK.

Andy Clark

Veronica Park (VP) Anderson (she/they) is a neurodivergent, queer, feminist millennial writer with a resume that Victor Frankenstein would disown for being “a bit much.” V’s previous job titles include: award-winning community theater actor, professional lecturer on cruise ships, indie film producer, literary agent, and creative project manager; however, “writer” is the title that always fits. 
 
V plays competitive flat track roller derby as “Scarlet Five” #55 and prefers the pivot role, aka “surprise jamming.” Born in Alaska and raised in Oregon, she currently lives with her partner in Upstate NY and has two cats named Skeletor and Bo-Catan.

V.P. Anderson

Mark Andrew

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Andy Coogan

Andy Coogan was born in Glasgow in 1917, the oldest child of poor Irish immigrants. He was tipped for Olympic glory, but a promising running career was interrupted by war service. His capture during the fall of Singapore marked the beginning of a three-and-a-half-year nightmare of starvation, torture and disease. 
 
Andy was imprisoned in the notorious Changi camp before being transported to Taiwan, where he worked as a slave in a copper mine and was twice ordered to dig his own grave. He was later taken to Japan on a hellship voyage that nearly killed him, but Andy’s athleticism and spirit enable him to survive an ordeal in which many died. 
 
From his poverty-stricken boyhood in the slums of the Gorbals to the atomic wasteland of Nagasaki, Andy’s life story is vividly recounted in Tomorrow You Die, an epic, compassionate tale that will shock, enthral and inspire.

Tomorrow You Die

The Astonishing Survival Story of a Second World War Prisoner of the Japanese

Dr Andrew Lees

Scousers believe they live in a special place, one that has more in common with Salvador da Bahia, New Orleans or Gdansk than anywhere in England, and the city has always punched above its weight. In less than a hundred years, however, Liverpool's image has declined from a major mercantile player known as the Second City of the Empire to what some social commentators have described as a cultural backwater remembered largely as the place where the Beatles were born. 
 
In Liverpool: The Hurricane Port, Andrew Lees reveals how Liverpool's pre-eminence in the slave trade left an indelible scar on the psychogeography of the city. He also explores the roots of Liverpool's contrary nature, its rebelliousness and its hedonism, as well as some of the recent hurricanes that have battered the city, including the anger of Toxteth, the Hillsborough disaster and the murder of James Bulger. In this distinctly personal account, Lees defines the characteristics of this Celtic enclave, with her loudmouthed, big-hearted people who have created a city quite different from anywhere else in the world.

Liverpool: The Hurricane Port

Andy Ripley

Winner of the National Sporting Club's prestigious British Rugby Book of the Year Award for 2008, Ripley's World transforms and redefines the genre of the sports autobiography. In a moving and intimate memoir, Andy Ripley, England rugby icon and victorious British Lion, television Superstar and world rowing champion, reflects on a life of sporting achievement and confronts his most powerful and dangerous challenge yet - his diagnosis with prostate cancer. Told with typical candour and courage, it is an absorbing and inspirational story.

Ripley's World

The Enthralling Story of the British Lion's Most Crucial Battle

Andrew Mourant

Don Revie was the football man about whom few were neutral. The Leeds United team he created was possibly the finest in the history of English league football, one of legendary endurance, it characters strong and unyeilding. Yet is remained unpopular, for many felt its voracious pursuit of honours was hallmarked by cynicism and ruthlessness. 
 
This fascinating study of Revie, one of English football's most complex and controversial figures, examines the factors and influences that moulded him. In interviews with team-mates, the footballers he managed and others who worked alongside him, Andrew Mourant reflects on the many seemingly paradoxical aspects of Revie's nature. 
 
After depicting Revie's childhood living on the breadline in Middlesbrough, from which the game was his great escape, Mourant traces his development through playing days with five league clubs to management of Leeds United, England and beyond. He also considers the legacy Revie left Leeds: a craving for a return to the days of glory and triumph he engineered. 
 
It is a turbulent story of success and failure. The tragic nature of Revie's untimely death in 1989 through motor neurone disease served only to sharpen memories of his achievements. He continues to cast a shadow over Elland Road and remains the yardstick against whom all successors are judged. Amid the triumphs, near misses and traumas, his reign brought Leeds United an era of unparalleled prosperity and stability. 
 
The story of Revie's career is one of intense dedication, willpower and pursuit of the near impossible. For some it was an inspiration; while for others its darker elements tainted the success he brought to Elland Road and all he strove to achieve for England.

Don Revie

Portrait of a Footballing Enigma

Chris Anderson

A cult figure among loyalists, despised and feared by nationalists, Billy 'King Rat' Wright is reputed to have been involved in a number of sectarian murders before he himself was shot dead by republican gunmen inside the Maze 
Prison in 1997. 
 
Wright became involved with loyalist paramilitaries at the age of 16, and in the early 1990s he emerged as the UVF commander in the Mid-Ulster area. The Billy Boy documents Wright's role in the Drumcree dispute of 1995-96 and his split from the UVF, recounting how he ignored both a death threat and an order to leave Northern Ireland, only to remain in Portadown and form the Loyalist Volunteer Force. It covers Wright's trial and subsequent imprisonment for a crime it has been claimed was set up by the State; recounts the circumstances of his killing inside a top-security prison; and investigates the allegations of State collusion in Wright's death. 
 
Terrifically gripping and often disturbing, The Billy Boy is an exhaustive account of a notorious figure of the Troubles, whose life and death were surrounded by controversy and political debate.

The Billy Boy

The Life and Death of LVF Leader Billy Wright

Jan-Andrew Henderson

Greyfrair's Cemetery in Edinburgh has a centuries old reputation for being haunted. Its gruesome history includes use as a mass prison, headstone removal, witchcraft, bodysnatching, desecration, corpse dumping and live burial. 
 
 In 1998, something new and inexplicable began occurring in the graveyard. Visitors encountered 'cold spots', strange smells and banging noises. They found themselves overcome by nausea, or cut and bruised by something they could not see. Over the space of two years, twenty-four people were knocked unconscious. Homes next to the graveyard wall became plagued by crockery smashing, objects moving and unidentified laughter. Witnesses to these attacks ran into the hundreds. There were two exorcisms of the area. Both failed. 
 
 The section of Greyfriars where the attacks occurred is now chained shut. The entity responsible has been named the 'Mackenzie Poltergeist'. It has become one of the best-documented and most conclusive paranormal cases in history. 
 
 The Poltergeist is still growing stronger. 
 
 This is its story.

The Ghost That Haunted Itself

The Story of the Mackenzie Poltergeist - The Infamous Ghoul of Greyfriars Graveyard

Dave Hadfield

Along the way he met the people whose enthusiasm for the game has made it so durable - current and former internationals as well as others involved at all levels - as well as a few miserable old gits for balance. In this intimate account, Hadfield observes the way rugby league fits into the history and sociology of towns like Wigan and Castleford, with which it is synonymous. His record of the journey is in the great tradition of writers from Wordsworth to Laurie Lee, who found in long walks the perfect medium to explore and reflect upon their surroundings. Up and Over is the definitive book about the game and the local passions it engenders, as Hadfield seeks out the poignant and the humorous on a personal journey of discovery. For those who follow rugby league, it will give a unique perspective on the parts of the world they know intimately; for others it will be an introduction to a different world, seen via one of the elements that gives it its identity.

Up and Over

A Trek Through Rugby League Land

Herbert Breslin

Anne Midgette

In 1967, Luciano Pavarotti was an up-and-coming young tenor with a voice far more impressive than his stage technique or presence. So Decca, his record company, told him, 'Luciano, you're a real nice guy. So you need a real bastard to do your publicity.' Enter Herbert Breslin. The two of them hit it off and thus began a professional association and a friendship that lasted over 36 years. 
 
The King and I is the story of that relationship, during which Breslin guided what he calls, justifiably, 'the greatest career in classical music', moving Pavarotti out of the opera house and into the arms of the mass public. He and Pavarotti changed the landscape of opera and Breslin relates the story of their journey in a candid, witty fashion that is often hysterically frank and profane. His portrait of his friend and client is full of hilarious details that could only come from a true insider. 
 
The King and I is the ultimate backstage book about the greatest opera star of the past century - and the last word comes from none other than Luciano Pavarotti himself.

The King and I

The Uncensored Tale of Luciano Pavarotti's Rise to Fame by his Manager, Friend and Sometime Adversary

Christopher Andersen

They exploded onto the national political scene in 2004 and within four years captured the ultimate prize. In so doing, they became a First Couple like no other: he the biracial son of a free-spirited Midwesterner and her brilliant-but-troubled Kenyan husband, raised in Hawaii and Indonesia; she brought up on Chicago's hardscrabble South Side by working-class African American parents who sacrificed so she could achieve her dreams of an Ivy League education and a job at one of America's top law firms. 
 
By the time they claimed the White House in one of the most hotly contested presidential races in modern history, Barack and Michelle Obama were seen by millions around the world as the new Jack and Jackie Kennedy - brilliant, attractive, elegant, youthful and exciting. The marriage of Barack and Michelle stands as one of the great personal and political partnerships, and by the time he was sworn in, Barack and Michelle Obama were indisputably the First Couple not only of America but of the world. Yet, incredibly, the true nature of that relationship has remained a mystery. Until now. 
 
Christopher Andersen draws on those who know the Obamas best to examine in detail the unique partnership and the grace, courage and humour that defines it. An inspiring, sympathetic and compelling look at two remarkable individuals, Barack and Michelle is, above all else, a revealing and stirring love story.

Barack and Michelle

The Love Story

James Davidson

With over six thousand miles of rugged coastline, nowhere in Scotland is more than forty-five miles from tidal waters, and seven of the biggest towns and cities are seaports. No wonder then that the sea has shaped Scotland, and in turn the Scots have helped to shape maritime history, trade and communications. 
 
Scots and the Sea is a unique and compelling account of a small, sparsely populated country's relationship with the most powerful force on earth. It is a celebration of the courage and endurance of fishermen and their families, the selfless bravery of lifeboat volunteers and the individual brilliance of leaders like Admiral Cochrane, who helped establish free nations across the globe. The illicit activities of scoundrels like Captain Kidd also provide a taste of the darker side of the story. 
 
Scotland's proud maritime tradition is traced through this volume, which examines the development of trade, the founding of a Scottish merchant navy and the pressures towards Union with England. It explores ports, harbours and shipyards, and outlines the vital role Scotland has played in shipbuilding and marine engineering - from the galleys and longships of early history to clippers, steamships, ocean liners, hovercraft and oil rigs. Also recounted are the exploits and achievements of Scots in all these fields, including those of James Watt, William Symington, Henry Bell and Robert Stevenson. Finally, it takes a look into the future, where Scottish research into wave and tidal power could become vital in providing a source of sustainable energy. 
 
Over the years, many Scots have made their living and their fortune from the sea, others have lost their lives to it – Scots and the Sea is a tribute to all of them.

Scots And The Sea

A Nation's Lifeblood

Bob Mee

Sport can offer catharsis in times of crisis, but not this time. Liston was a mob fighter with a criminal past, and rumours were spreading that Clay was not just a noisy, bright-eyed boy blessed with more than his share of the craziness of youth, but a believer in a shadowy cult: the Nation of Islam. Instead of a hero and a villain, boxing had served up two bad guys. 
 
Against this backdrop of political instability, of a country at war with itself, in a time when ordinary African American people were still being maimed and killed for the smallest acts of defiance, Liston and Clay sought out their own individual destinies. 
 
Liston and Ali follows the contrasting paths these two men took, from their backgrounds in Arkansas and Kentucky through to that sixteen-month period in 1964 and 1965 when the story of the world heavyweight championship centred on them and all they stood for. Using original source material, it explores a riveting chapter in sporting history with fresh insight and in rare detail.

Liston and Ali

The Ugly Bear and the Boy Who Would Be King

Brian Bailey

'My Lord, You are aware that, at this moment, the public feeling is strongly excited against the perpetrators of the late foul and cold blooded murders that have taken place in the very centre of a populous and civilised city . . . Your Lordship is aware, that in all civilized nations, blood calls for blood . . .' 
From ' Letter to the Lord Advocate . . . By The Echo of Surgeons' Square' 
 
Early nineteenth century Edinburgh was gripped by fear of body snatchers. New graves were constantly under threat from unscrupulous ghouls keen to profit from the medical school's voracious appetite for corpses. In 1828, Burke and Hare, a pair of opportunistic low-lives, took the practice to a new extreme. They murdered at least 16 innocent victims, including a 12-year-old boy, in the name of medical science - and the freshness of the corpses they delivered for dissection earned them extra money. 
 
The names of Burke and Hare have become synonymous with body-snatching, but the true details of their crimes have been obscured by mythology and questions still surround the case. In Enlightenment Edinburgh, how were Burke and Hare able to carry on their repulsive and murderous trade undetected for so long? Why was only one of the homicidal due brought to justice? And what were the roles of Burke and Hare's common-law wives, the medical students who took delivery of the corpses and Dr Robert Knox, the distinguished teacher of anatomy whose dissecting table was the final resting place of the unfortunate victims? 
 
Bailey reveals a sordid side to a society which was famed for its intellectual and progressive thinking, yet depended on predatory criminals for the advance of medical knowledge. In this compulsive and absorbing book, the evidence is thoroughly re-examined - and startling conclusions are reached.

Burke and Hare

The Year of the Ghouls

Diane Blood

Diane Blood first hit the headlines in 1996 when she went to court to fight for the right to use her late husband's sperm to try for the child they had planned together before his sudden death from meningitis. Diane's case caused an ethical storm and was debated in the courts, in Parliament and in the media. With huge public support, yet against almost impossible odds, she won on appeal and went on to have two miraculous little boys. 
 
 The legal battles were not over, however, as the law still prevented Diane from naming the boys' father on their birth certificates. After many hurdles and stumbling blocks, she triumphed again and made constitutional history when the Human Fertilisation and Embryology (Deceased Fathers) Act finally came into force on 1 December 2003 and she was allowed to re-register her children's births. 
 
 Flesh and Blood asks many important questions and helps provide some of the answers. It shows how controversial policies are made that affect all our lives. Beyond that, it is a simple story of life, death and procreation: an incredibly vivid account written by the woman who lived through the despair and jubilation.

Flesh and Blood

The Harrowing and Moving Story of a Mother's Fight to Bear Her Late Husband's Children

Roger Hermiston

Don Revie and Brian Clough were born a brisk walk away from each other in Middlesbrough, in 1927 and 1935 respectively. They were brought up in a town ravaged by the Depression and went on to become highly successful professional footballers. Then, as young managers, they both took clubs languishing in the doldrums (Leeds United and Derby County) and moulded them into championship winners. 
 
Despite the myriad similarities, these two sons of the Tees were as different in character as Richard Nixon and John F. Kennedy. A bitter rivalry developed between them, which in turn enlivened and then blighted English football in the 1960s and '70s. 
 
In Clough and Revie, exclusive interviews with players, relatives and friends shed fresh light on these two intriguing characters. Part footballing chronicle, part social history, the book is a revelatory exploration of the rivalry between the two men. It brings a fresh perspective on their early years in the North-East, tells how they nearly became teammates and explains why the feud began and what its repercussions were.

Clough and Revie

The Rivals Who Changed the Face of English Football

Jan de Vries

MOTHER AND CHILD is the long awaited follow up to Jan's phenomenally successful Preganancy and Childbirth and the next instalment in his excellent Well Woman series. In Mother and Child Jan De Vries focuses on the first crucial years of a child's life and explores the unique relationship that develops between mother and child in these formative years. The book comprises practical advice for new mothers dealing with the stress of their first baby and gives suggestions on how to recognise and treat the many diseases to which children are prone in their early years. There is also valuable advice on child healthcare and covers everything from sleep disorders to breastfeeding. Not only is Jan De Vries a professional authority on alternative healthcare, but he is also a father of four and grandfather of ten. Jan De Vries was born in 1937 and after initially graduating in pharmacy he soon moved on to study alternative medicine. He set up his first clinic in Troon in 1970 and today has clinics in Edinburgh, London, Belfast, Dublin and Manchester. Writing extensively on the value of alternative medicine and the importance of maintaining a healthy lifestyle, he also lectures throughout the world and makes regular television and radio appearances.

Mother and Child

Chris Townsend

When Chris Townsend reached the summit of Ben Hope in Sutherland, he walked his way into the record books. After 118 days in which he had covered more than 1,700 miles and climber over 575,000 feet, he had completed the first single continuous journey of all 277 Munros and 240 Tops in the Scottish Highlands.This is the story of that remarkable walk from the start on Ben More on the Isle of Mull through to the finish, the equivalent of climbing Mount Everest 18 times. For the author, the real enjoyment of the walk was not in counting up the summits or the miles but in spending week after week in the hills and living in the wilds. In THE MUNROS AND TOPS, Chris Townsend recalls the joys of observing the birds and animals, the trees and flowers, the changing shapes of the hills and the play of light on their slopes. He writes about the complexities of route-finding and the challenge of rugged terrain and of coping with often atrocious weather conditions. Illustrated with photographs taken during the walk, this is a stirring account of a unique achievement.

Munros and Tops, The

A Record-Setting Walk in the Scottish Highlands

David Bryce

From running with the infamous Calton Tongs to running Calton Athletic, David Bryce's life story is a remarkable account of crime, violence, alcoholism and drug addiction in Glasgow's gangland. 
 
A respected 'hard man', Bryce worked his way through most of HM's prisons in Scotland before an epiphany in 1977 made him realise that he was a hopeless alcoholic who needed help. A five-year battle followed, during which he sank into the abyss of heroin addiction before finally getting clean. 
 
In 1985, in an effort to help others who were struggling against substance abuse, Bryce set up Calton Athletic, a football team and social group made up solely of recovering drug addicts. Reformed gangster Jimmy Boyle was one of the first to have faith in Bryce and Calton Athletic, but the club eventually won widespread respect. Gordon Brown, then a young MP, was so impressed that he wrote an article for The Observer which led to a TV film starring Lenny Henry and Robbie Coltrane. In the '90s, Ewan McGregor, Irvine Welsh and the Trainspotting crew sought Bryce's advice and friendship during the making of the internationally acclaimed cult film, while Robbie Williams begged to switch nationality and play for Calton Atheltic in an 'England v. Scotland' celebrity charity match. 
 
Bryce's uncompromising belief that the only way to come off drugs is to go cold turkey and stay completely clean saw him clash with government agencies over the 'harm-reduction' policy of recent years. The club's statutory funding was withdrawn in 1998, but today Calton Athletic are still providing an invaluable lifeline while the 'official' drugs policy has become increasingly discredited. 
 
Alive and Kicking is an inspirational tale of survival and success against the odds.

Alive and Kicking

A Story of Crime, Addiction and Redemption in Glasgow's Gangland

Jackie Todd

It was love at first sight: the huge pale-green eyes, the ruffled tawny hair and the cute way he held his head to one side. What really swung it, though, was his feet being way too big for his body, his ears too big for his head and that, while trying to look brave, he was obviously terrified. Charly was the first of what grew to be a large family of abandoned Spanish dogs taken in by Jackie Todd and her husband Stephen after they emigrated in 1997 to Frigiliana, a picturesque Spanish village in Andalucia. By the time Charly was four, something magical had happened: the people of the village had become close friends and the Todds' memories of their old lives were as weak as British sunshine. 
 
Fourteen years on from that first arrival they have ten dogs and eight cats of their own and regularly foster tiny strays that need bottle-feeding until they can be found homes. In 2007, 123 puppies and kittens passed through their door; in 2008, it was 119; and the tragic procession continues today. 
 
Millions of people dream of turning their summer holiday into permanent reality. Dog Days in Andalucía is the heart-warming and inspirational story of an ordinary British couple who did just that, making a mighty impression on the village, its people and its surrounding animal population along the way.

Dog Days in Andalucía

Tails from Spain

Jeff Connor

A fast-paced, fly-on-the-wall story of courage, endurance, bungling, rows and cheating in sport's greatest marathon 
 
In 1987, the Tour de France was won by Irishman Stephen Roche. It was the first time the champion had hailed from outside the Continent or the States and the first time in 20 years a British team - ANC Halfords - had competed in the world's toughest and craziest race. Jeff Connor not only stayed with the British team but also found himself an unofficial team member. 
 
In this long-awaited new edition of Wide-Eyed and Legless, now widely regarded as a classic, Connor describes what it takes to compete, survive and win during those 26 days of gruelling effort. Alongside the heroism and athleticism, he reveals the extraordinary amounts of chicanery, from pulling riders along to illicit drug use. 
 
Time has not dimmed the impact of this eye-opening and entertaining close-up look at the supreme endurance event, and Wide-Eyed and Legless is destined to be acclaimed by a new generation of cycling enthusiasts. 
 
Jeff Connor's other books include the definitive story of the Busby Babes, The Lost Babes, and Up and Down Under, an account of the 2001 British Lions tour.

Wide-Eyed and Legless

Inside the Tour de France

Ben Sharratt

Kirk Blows

From the World Cup-winning days of Bobby Moore, Geoff Hurst and Martin Peters to highly acclaimed modern-day heroes such as Joe Cole, Michael Carrick and Jermain Defoe, West Ham United supporters have always had the greatest affection for homegrown Hammers. Since the 1960s, talents such as Trevor Brooking, Tony Cottee, Paul Ince and Rio Ferdinand (who has twice hit the headlines as the world's most expensive defender following his move to Leeds and Manchester United) have been nurtured and brought through the club's ranks, ensuring the Hammers can rightly lay claim to having one of the country's most fruitful youth policies. 
 
In this revised and fully updated paperback edition, Claret and Blue Blood brings together all these characters and others for the very first time, including new chapters on Anton Ferdinand, Stephen Bywater and Kevin Horlock. Using exclusive new interviews, the authors present biographical pieces that collectively tell the story of West Ham United's evolution over the last half-century. Focusing on each player's roots, development and personal achievements, Claret and Blue Blood is a unique book that features key characters, candid conversations, successes, failures and controversies as it explores the very essence of West Ham United.

Claret and Blue Blood

Pumping Life into West Ham United

James Mackay

Andrew Carnegie (1835–1922) was a mass of contradictions: a radical Chartist who became a rabid capitalist, an idealist who was also a profound cynic, a committed pacifist who also played a crucial role in the opening part of the American Civil War, and a ladies’ man who had to wait until his fifties (after his domineering mother died) before forming a meaningful relationship with a woman. 
 
 From bobbin boy in a Pittsburgh factory he progressed to messenger boy, telegraphist and railway superintendent. His meteoric rise owed much to his boss, Thomas Scott, who also cut the young Carnegie in on his first lucrative share deal. The youth who earned thirty-five dollars a month was on the road to his first million within a year or two, and he never looked back. Speculation in rolling-stock and railways, the nascent oil industry, iron and, above all, steel made Carnegie the richest man in the world. Along the way he created fortunes for many others, but trampled on friend and foe alike in his relentless pursuit of money. 
 
 Then, the man who amassed the largest fortune in the world proceeded to give most of it away. From free libraries to world peace, the Carnegie millions were pumped into a host of worthy causes. The Peace Palace at the Hague is the lasting legacy of this global philanthropy; but Carnegie’s faith in the Kaiser to achieve world peace was shattered by the outbreak of the First World War, and it was a setback from which he never recovered. 
 
 This candid and penetrating biography follows Carnegie from his humble birthplace in Dunfermline to the squalor of Allegheny City and Pittsburgh in the 1840s, and charts his dramatic rise to fame and fortune. Set against the contrasting backdrops of radical Scotland and America during the most turbulent phase of its development, Little Boss is the definitive story of one of the world’s greatest captains of industry.

Andrew Carnegie

Little Boss

Joe Lovejoy

The FA Premier League was born 20 years ago, on 23 September 1991, and has since established itself as the most popular club competition in world football. At the start, however, there was opposition from the players' union and the Football League. Then the breakaway elite were faced with the exposure of the game's 'bungs' culture, which stained the reputations of Brian Clough and George Graham, among others. 
 
After weathering that storm, the new league was threatened again by the very real possibility of financial meltdown, which was averted only by the controversial takeover of many top clubs by predatory overseas owners. 
 
Joe Lovejoy reported on the creation of the Premier League for The Independent and revisits the story in Glory, Goals and Greed, interviewing many of the 'founding fathers'. Later, as chief football correspondent at the Sunday Times, he witnessed all the main events and has spoken again to those involved to shed new light on the best matches, best players and standout incidents of the Premier League's enthralling first 20 years.

Glory, Goals and Greed

Twenty Years of the Premier League

Alex Caine

The Hells Angels. The Bandidos. Asian triads. Russian mobsters and corrupt cops. Even the KKK. Just part of a day's work for Alex Caine, an undercover agent who has seen it all. 
 
After a tour in Vietnam and a stretch in prison on marijuana-possession charges, Caine fell into the cloak-and-dagger world of a contracted agent. Thanks to his quick-wittedness and tough but unthreatening demeanour, Caine could fit into whatever unsavoury situation he found himself. Over 25 years, his assignments ran the gamut from mean bikers to triad toughs. When a job was over, he'd slip away to a new part of the continent or world, where he would assume a new identity and then go back to work on another group of bad guys. 
 
Befriend and Betray offers an unflinching look at some familiar police operations and blows the lid off others that law enforcement would much prefer to keep hidden. It provides an unvarnished account of the toll such a life takes, one that often left Caine to wonder who he really was behind the myriad identities he had assumed and whether justice was ever truly served.

Befriend and Betray

Infiltrating the Hells Angels, Bandidos and Other Criminal Brotherhoods

Huw Richards

'The Bounce of the Century' they called it. A ball kicked across Cardiff Arms Park in the dying minutes of a match between two of international rugby's fiercest rivals. The world's two greatest wingers waited as it bounced towards them, knowing that whoever caught the ball would score and win the match for his country. 
 
Dragons and All Blacks tells what happened when Wales played New Zealand in 1953. The story is written from contemporary accounts and the memories of the men who played that day, including Bob Stuart and Bleddyn Williams, for many of whom the match was the highlight of a career. 
 
The book retells the stories of the two teams and the men who played for them, and charts the events of their lives: how they got to that meeting point in Cardiff in December 1953 and what has happened to them in the half-century since. 
 
Dragons and All Blacks examines the remarkable relationship between two countries on opposite sides of the world, brought together by a mutual passion for rugby with few parallels elsewhere. It shows how their rivalry has developed over a century - from perhaps the greatest of all rugby matches in 1905 to the single-point thriller of 2004 - and looks to its future in the aftermath of the 2005 Welsh Grand Slam and Lions tour of New Zealand.

Dragons and All Blacks

Wales v. New Zealand - 1953 and a Century of Rivalry

Mervyn Davies

David Roach

Few rugby players have matched the achievements of Welshman Mervyn Davies, the shrewd, gutsy number 8 with the heart of a lion. In what was a remarkable career, he won two Grand Slams, three Triple Crowns, earned thirty-eight consecutive Wales caps, was captain of his national team and played in two victorious Lions tours. 
 
 From the tail end of the 1960s through the first half of the glorious '70s period, 'Merv the Swerve' - with that mop of black hair and trademark headband - cut an iconic figure in the world's great rugby arenas. Teammates and opponents respected him, fans loved him and he was a natural leader of men both on and off the field.Then, in March 1976, everything changed. Mervyn was leading Swansea in a semi-final cup clash when he suffered a massive brain haemorrhage. He began that fateful Sunday preparing for just another high-profile game but ended it fighting for his life. Wales, and the watching sporting world, could do nothing but wait and hope. And just when the odds seemed stacked irreversibly against him, Mervyn did what he had always done: he beat them. 
 
 Mervyn's life story is one of what was and what might have been. From locker-room tales to the loneliness of rehabilitation, Mervyn's account is funny, moving and honest. He writes about his many highs and lows, about losing rugby but regaining his life, and shares his thoughts on the days he spent in shadow and in strength.

In Strength And Shadow

The Mervyn Davies Story

Peter Jackson

This collection of revealing profiles captures the essence of a galaxy of Welsh world-beaters from across the sporting spectrum: athletics, boxing, cricket, football, golf, horse racing, motor racing, rugby union, rugby league and tennis. 
 
 Those featured include arguably the best Welsh rugby union player of the twentieth century; the greatest bowler never to play for England; the farmer's boy who became a master golfer; the Cardiff boy from Splott who made such a name for himself in Hull that they named a thoroughfare after him; the 'Gentle Giant' from Swansea still revered in Italy some 50 years after his last match for Juventus; the only post-war Welsh jockey to win the Grand National twice; and the unsung hero from the Rhondda who became the saviour of Manchester United in the weeks after the Munich air disaster. 
 
 Their stories, based on exclusive interviews and coloured with anecdotes, will inspire future generations to believe that nothing is impossible.

Triumph and Tragedy

Welsh Sporting Legends

Sheila Tracy

In this captivating study of one of our most popular music genres, Sheila Tracy goes behind the scenes and talks to over 60 Americans who played with the most famous big bands - and who lived to tell the tale. This was no mean feat: swing music''s huge popularity brought the performers wild adulation and, for many, resorting to drugs and alcohol was the only way to keep up. These musicians relate their incredible experiences of life on the road, where the pressure to party every night was enormous.

Bands, Booze And Broads

Little did anybody anticipate that West Ham's play-off final victory against Preston in 2005 would provide the launch pad for one of their most successful seasons ever, with the club securing a top-half Premiership finish and qualifying for Europe thanks to its first FA Cup final appearance in 26 years. Indeed, the thrilling 3-3 draw with Liverpool will be remembered as one of the most dramatic finals of all time. 
 
With a keenly anticipated UEFA Cup campaign and the shock arrival of Argentina World Cup stars Carlos Tévez and Javier Mascherano, the future could hardly have seemed brighter. But storm clouds were gathering on the horizon as the Hammers embarked on what would prove to be the most turbulent and traumatic period in the club's entire history. 
 
A protracted takeover saga, the sacking of manager Alan Pardew, a Premier League inquiry that would result in a record £5.5 million fine and a season-long battle against relegation were the main issues that dominated the headlines, while an unseen presence - fuelled by ego and avarice - threatened to erode the fabric of the club from within. Yet salvation would eventually be achieved in the most sensational and controversial of fashions. 
 
Full of exclusive interview material, anecdotes and analytical comment, Hammers Heaven and Hell investigates the true reasons for two campaigns of contrast and conflict as West Ham experienced both ecstasy and agony in equal measures.

Hammers Heaven and Hell

From Take-Off to Tévez - Two Seasons of Triumph and Trauma at West Ham United

What are the causes of cancer, and is there a cure for this most devastating of diseases? Why is it that some parts of the world show a dramatic rise in the cancer rate of those under 25? Why is bowel cancer incidence substantially higher in Scotland than in the rest of Britain? And why is the UK incidence of cancer the second highest in the world? These and other vital questions are discussed in Cancer and Leukaemia: An Alternative Approach.

Cancer and Leukaemia

An Alternative Approach

Shortly after the success of his autobiography A STEP AT A TIME, many readers asked Jan de Vries for more information regarding his 45 years of experience in the practice of naturopathy.In TREATING BODY, MIND AND SOUL, Jan shares with his readers the many ways in which he treats his patients and details the more extraordinary cases that he has dealt with over the years. In doing so, he provides a clear idea of how the body really works and what physical problems can occur. He also illustrates how some unusual cases have been dealt with successfully in an unorthodox way using complementary therapies. Some of the astounding cases mentioned in his autobiography are dealt with in this book more explicitly to show the way de Vries sees the body as a whole and how, with some small adjustments, he has brought many people newfound health and happiness. Treating people with mental and emotional health problems is a major aspect of Jan's work and over the years he has developed various alternative methods that compliment orthodox treatments. This book reveals intriguingly his success in treating problems of the mind using breathing exercises, homeopathic and herbal remedies as well as cranial osteopathy and acupuncture. Jan also delves into the mystery of the soul and shares his thoughts and theories on why it is entwined so fully with the body and mind. He opines on the twenty-first century diseases that are so often misunderstood and, in many cases, go unidentified and gives tips on how to deal with them.

Treating Body, Mind and Soul

Alternative Solutions for Modern Living

Meg and Mog

Ebb and Flo

Ink and Iron

Lucy and Tom

Tuck and Tina

Topsy and Tim

Pizza and Taco

Sarah and Duck

Emma and James

And Other Lies

The Lost and Found

Jack and Millie

Chaos and Flame

George and Flora

From the bestselling novel I'm Travelling Alone, two dynamic characters are born. 
Police investigators Holger Munch and Mia Krüger work together to solve the most complex crimes in Oslo, catching serial killers before they strike again but their personal lives are not simple either. As people, they could not be more different but as they battle their own demons their unlikely pairing make Munch and Krüger the best kind of classic detective duo.

Munch and Krüger

Lizzie and Lucky

Charlie and Lola

Anders Knutas

Faith, Hope and Glory

Gods and Warriors

Wizards and Robots

Noughts and Crosses

Malorie Blackman's ground-breaking, award winning series charts the lives and loves of generations as it takes on race and equality with breathtaking drama and heart wrenching sadness. Set in an alternate reality, where the inferior Noughts live as second class citizens in a world run by Crosses, the four books explore the violent politics of a unstable world, and the ordinary lives caught up in in its terror. Beginning with Noughts and Crosses - and the romance of Seph and Callum - and ending with Double Cross, it is a gripping sequence, and an important, relevant story for our time.

Noughts And Crosses

The Knight and Her Emperor

Harry and the Dinosaurs

Key Words with Peter and Jane

Swallows And Amazons

The Snowman flies again . . . In the middle of winter, a little boy's Snowman and Snowdog come to life and take him on a breathtaking and magical adventure.

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