Christopher Winn

Christopher Winn's first book was the bestselling I Never Knew That About England. Volumes on Ireland, Scotland, Wales and London followed as well as books on the English, Scottish and Irish, alongside an illustrated edition of I Never Knew That About England and London. A freelance writer and collector of trivia for over 20 years, he has worked with Terry Wogan and Jonathan Ross and sets quiz questions for television as well as for the Daily Mail and the Daily Telegraph. He was also the Associate Producer for a TV series by ITV on Great Britain. He is married to artist Mai Osawa, who illustrates all the books in the series. His website is http://www.i-never-knew-that.com.

Alice Winn lives in Brooklyn, where she writes screenplays. She grew up in Paris and was educated in British boarding schools. She has a degree in English Literature from Oxford University. IN MEMORIAM is her debut novel.

Alice Winn

RAYNOR WINN is the internationally bestselling author of The Salt Path, The Wild Silence and Landlines. Her books have sold over 2 million copies in English and have been translated into over 25 languages. The Salt Path won the Royal Society of Literature's inaugural Christopher Bland Prize and was shortlisted for the Costa Biography Award and the Wainwright Prize for Nature Writing. The Wild Silence was also shortlisted for the Wainwright Prize. In 2024, the Sunday Times listed The Salt Path as one of the top 100 books of the past 50 years. It has now been adapted into a major film starring Gillian Anderson and Jason Isaacs and screened in cinemas in the UK and overseas. 
 
Raynor is a regular long-distance walker and writes about nature, homelessness and our relationship to the land. She lives in Cornwall with husband Moth. On Winter Hill is her fourth book.

Raynor Winn

Christopher Andrew is Professor of Modern and Contemporary History at Cambridge University, a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, in-house historian for MI5, former Visiting Professor of National Security at Harvard University, and guest lecturer at numerous universities. With Oleg Gordievsky, he published KGB – The Inside Story, the book that revealed the identity of the fifth man. He is also the author of The Defence of the Realm: The Authorized Official History of MI5. Professor Andrew is also a frequent presenter of BBC TV and radio programmes on history and world affairs.

Christopher Andrew

Christopher Andersen

Christopher Lee began this book while Quatercentenary Research Fellow at Emmanuel College Cambridge where he also edited Winston Churchill's A History of the English-speaking Peoples and where he wrote his award-winning BBC Radio 4 history of Britain, This Sceptred Isle. He lives in Kent and aboard a restored sloop which he sails from the Beaulieu River.

Christopher Lee

Paul Christopher is the pseudonym of a bestselling US novelist who lives in the Great Lakes region.

Paul Christopher

John Christopher

Christopher Hope

Christopher Hill (1912-2003) was educated at St Peter's School, York, and at Balliol College, Oxford, and in 1934 was made a fellow of All Souls College, Oxford. In 1936 he became lecturer in modern history at University College, Cardiff, and two years later fellow and tutor in modern history at Balliol. After war service, which included two years in the Russian department of the Foreign Office, he returned to Oxford in 1945. From 1958 until 1965 he was university lecturer in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century history, and from 1965 to 1978 he was Master of Balliol College. 
 
His publications include Lenin and the Russian Revolution; Puritanism and Revolution; God's Englishman: Oliver Cromwell and the English Revolution; The World Turned Upside Down; Milton and the English Revolution, which won the Royal Society of Literature Award; A Turbulent, Seditious and Factious People: John Bunyan and His Church, which won the 1989 W. H. Smith Literary Award and The English Bible and the Seventeenth-Century Revolution, which was shortlisted for the 1993 NCR Book Award.

Christopher Hill

Christopher Koch

Christopher Hale

Christopher Ling

Adam Christopher is the New York Times bestselling author of Star Wars: Shadow of the Sith and Stranger Things: Darkness on the Edge of Town. He has also written official tie-in novels for the hit CBS television show Elementary and the award-winning Dishonored video game franchise. Co-creator of the twenty-first-century incarnation of Archie Comics superhero The Shield, Adam has also written for the universes of Doctor Who and World of Warcraft, and is a contributor to the internationally bestselling Star Wars: From a Certain Point of View anniversary anthology series and the all-ages Star Wars Adventures comic. Adam’s original novels include Made to Kill and The Burning Dark, among many others, and his debut novel Empire State was both a SciFi Now and Financial Times book of the year.

Adam Christopher

Christopher Beha is the former editor of Harper’s Magazine and the author of four previous books, including The Index of Self-Destructive Acts, which was nominated for the 2020 National Book Award.

Christopher Beha

Christopher Drew

Christopher Green is an actor, comedian, writer and cabaret performer whose work is shamelessly entertaining: from the political bite of country music icon Tina C (star of four Radio 4 comedy series), and Ida Barr (star of Radio 4's Artificial Hip Hop) to commissions from the RSC, the British Library, the Tate gallery, the V&amp;A, the Science Museum and the Barbican. Among his radio dramas are Like An Angel Passing Through My Room and The Second Best Bed.

Christopher Green

Dr Christopher Green is one of Britain's best-known parenting authors. For more than 25 years he has helped parents with his advice on babies, toddlers and young children. His humorous, common sense approach has preserved the sanity of many mums and dads. A paediatrician and honorary consultant to the Children's Hospital, Sydney, Dr Green's legendary sleep technique is now used worldwide. His bestselling books include New Toddler Taming and Beyond Toddlerdom.

Christopher Reeve

Christopher Kelly

Christopher Reich

Christopher Nobes

Christopher Clark is the Regius Professor of History at the University of Cambridge. He was knighted in 2015. His previous books are The Politics of Conversion, Kaiser Wilhelm II, Iron Kingdom, The Sleepwalkers, Time and Power, Prisoners of Time and Revolutionary Spring.

Christopher Clark

Christopher Coake

Christopher Bliss

Christopher Bayly

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Bestselling author Christopher Winn takes us on a fascinating journey through the Lake District, that majestic landscape in Cumbria beloved of poets and tourists, hill walkers, seekers of scenic beauty and those who mess about in boats. 
 
Learn about the hidden places, the secrets and legends, wild characters and human stories that haunt England's most mountainous region - from England's wettest place to the country's highest point, from the birthplace of Postman Pat to the resting place of Poet Laureates.

I Never Knew That About the Lake District

In this lavishly illustrated book bestselling author Christopher Winn takes you on a captivating journey around London. Travelling through the villages and districts that made up the world's must dynamic metropolis, I Never Knew That About London unearths the hidden gems of legends, firsts, inventions, adventures and birthplaces that shape the city's sometimes turbulent past. 
 
See the Chelsea river views that inspired Turner in his final years. Explore London's finest country house in Charlton and unearth the secrets of the mother of Parliaments and discover the village that gave its name to a car and the Russian word for station. With gorgeous colour illustrations throughout, this miscellany reveals the steeple which became the model for the traditional wedding cake, the home of the sandwich, and the house which was home to Handel and Jimi Hendrix. 
 
Brimming with facts, stories and snippets, Winn provides a spellbinding insight into the history of London. This beautiful book is guaranteed to inform and amuse in equal measure.

I Never Knew That About London Illustrated

This delightful guide to England, organised county by county, is now published in lavishly illustrated format. Alongside the charming black and white drawings of the original edition now sit gorgeous colour photographs of rolling hills, famous monuments and hidden treasures, plus quirky posters from a bygone age. 
 
Crammed with interesting facts and enthralling stories, Christopher Winn once again takes us on a journey round England, celebrating the people and places that make up the country - from history, legends and firsts to birthplaces and gossip. From Oakley Court in Berkshire, which served as the headquarters of French resistance during WW2, to Burghley House in Northamptonshire which grew the first tomatoes in Britain and north to Ripon, Britain's oldest city, this book offers a spellbinding insight into England, its people and its history.

I Never Knew That About England

In this captivating book bestselling author Christopher Winn turns his attention to the Scottish people, taking us on an eye-opening journey around their homeland, discovering en route the intriguing and surprising ways the places and their history contribute to the Scottish character. As he travels through Scotland's Highlands and cities he unearths the traditions, triumphs and disasters, foibles, quirks and customs that come together to make up the Scottish people. 
 
 From the Scottish capital Edinburgh, birthplace of Henry Brougham who made the longest ever speech in the House of Commons, lasting over six hours, to Callander, birthplace of Helen Duncan, the last person in Britain to be imprisoned for witchcraft after correctly diving the sinking of HMS Hood, he accompanies us on a journey uncovering little-known facts, trivia and amusing anecdotes. Illustrated throughout with beguiling pen and ink drawings I Never Knew That About the Scottish is guaranteed to have you exclaiming: 'I never knew that!'

I Never Knew That About the Scottish

Bestselling author Christopher Winn takes us on an intriguing journey through Britain's largest county, uncovering the hidden places, legends, secrets and fascinating characters of this unique and compelling piece of England. From England's largest vale and northern Europe's largest gothic cathedral to Britain's oldest city, Yorkshire is home to some of Britain's best architecture, most ravishing scenery and is the cradle of some of our country's most influential and individual characters. 
 
You will discover the only clog factory in the world, the first English actor to win an Oscar, the world's oldest association football club and largest expanse of medievel stained glass. This gem of a book will act as a wonderfully surprising and highly entertaining guide to one of England's best loved counties.

I Never Knew That About Yorkshire

In this charming book bestselling author Christopher Winn turns his attention to the Irish people, taking us on a enthralling journey around their homeland, discovering en route the intriguing and surprising ways the places and their history contribute to the Irish character. As he travels across the Emerald Isle, he unearths the traditions, triumphs and disasters, foibles, quirks and customs that come together to make up the Irish people. 
 
From County Leitrim, the most sparsely populated county in the Republic of Ireland to County Louth, Ireland's smallest county, discover the site of the first play performed in the Irish language, sail the longest navigable inland waterway in Europe and watch the horse racing at Ireland's first all-weather racecourse. Illustrated throughout with enchanting pen and ink drawings and packed with interesting facts and entertaining stories, myths and legends, I Never Knew That About the Irish will entertain the whole family for hours on end.

I Never Knew That About the Irish

Bestselling author Christopher Winn takes us on a captivating journey out of London along the banks of the River Thames to discover the secrets and stories of England's most famous waterway. Discover the Thames's literary heritage at Pangbourne, near Reading, famous as the home of The Wind in the Willows's Kenneth Grahame, then explore Mapledurham House, the inspiration for its famous Toad Hall. Explore Henley-on-Thames, where the first Oxford and Cambridge boat races were held, then marvel at Southend Pier, the longest pleasure pier in the world. 
 
As he follows the river from source to sea, visiting its towns, villages and places of interest, Winn unearths a fascinating array of facts, folklore, landmarks and legends that are guaranteed to have you exclaiming 'I Never Knew That!'. Illustrated with line drawings this charming gem of a book is guaranteed to inform and delight in equal measure.

I Never Knew That About the River Thames

In I Never Knew That About New York Christopher Winn digs beneath the gleaming towers and mean streets of New York and discovers its secrets and its hidden treasures. Learn about the extraordinary people who built New York into one of the world's great cities in just 400 years. New York is one of the most photographed and talked about cities in the world but Winn unearths much that is unexpected and unremembered in this fast moving, ever changing metropolis where history is made on a daily basis!

I Never Knew That About New York

Bestselling author Christopher Winn takes us on a captivating journey around London to discover the unknown tales of our capital's history. Travelling through the villages and districts that make up the world's most dynamic metropolis I Never Knew That About London unearths the hidden gems of legends, firsts, inventions, adventures and birthplaces that shape the city's compelling, and at times, turbulent past. 
 
See the Chelsea river views that inspired Turner in his final years and find out where London's first nude statue is. Explore London's finest country house in Charlton and unearth the secrets of the Mother of Parliaments . Spy out the village that gave its name to a car and the Russian word for railway station. Discover which church steeple gave us the design of the traditional wedding cake, where the sandwich was invented and where in Bond Street you can see London's oldest artefact. Visit the house where Handel and Jimi Hendrix both lived. Climb the famous 311 steps of the Monument, go from East to West and back again at Greenwich and fly the world's biggest big wheel. 
 
 Brimming with facts, stories and snippets providing a spellbinding insight into the history of London, this beautifully illustrated gem of a book is guaranteed to inform and amuse in equal measure.

I Never Knew That About London

The inspiration for the primetime ITV series on Great Britain, this is the ultimate journey around Scotland from bestselling author Christopher Winn. Travelling county by county, this irresistible miscellany unearths the enthralling stories, firsts, birthplaces, legends and inventions that shape the country's rich and majestic history. To uncover the spellbinding tales that lie hidden within Scotland's wild and romantic shores, to experience what inspired the country's powerful literature and towering castles, and to tread in the footsteps of her villains and victors, is to capture the spirit of this fascinating country and bring every place you visit to life. You will discover the story of the original 'sweetheart', John Balliol, whose embalmed heart is buried beside his devoted wife Devorgilla at Sweetheart Abbey in Kirkcudbrightshire. In Aberdeen you will find the only granite cathedral in the world. And you will hear the haunting echo of the Bear Gates of Traquair House in Peeblesshire were slammed shut when Bonnie Prince Charlie left Scotland in 1746 - legend has it that they will never be re-opened until a Stuart King once more sits on the throne. This beautifully illustrated treasure trove of interesting facts about the history of Scotland is the perfect gift, and will act as an eye-opening guide to this thrilling, alluring and ever-bewitching country.

I Never Knew That About Scotland

Bestselling author and quiz master Christopher Winn is here to test your general knowledge of Britain with over 1000 quiz questions to perplex and puzzle about our glorious islands. Covering a myriad of subjects including history, cathedrals, sports, records, modern Britain, royalty, people, places, deeds, discoveries and disasters, there is something to test everyone from Britain's brainiest boffins to the quiz beginner. 
 
Featuring a range of questions from multiple choice teasers and odd ones out to picture quizzes illustrated with charming line drawings to test your knowledge of the famous faces and facades of Britain. Alongside these sit cryptic and puzzle quizzes plus special features spotlighting different regions so you can see just how well you know your local area. 
 
Perfect for all ages, this quiz book will provide hours of entertainment and education for the whole family and have you proclaiming: 'I bet you never knew that!'

I Never Knew That About Britain: The Quiz Book

Over 1000 questions and answers about our glorious isles

We all love to be beside the seaside! 
 
Be it the crunch of the sand beneath your feet, or the promise of an unexplored rock pool that draws you to the sea, prepare to be whisked away by bestselling author Christopher Winn as you delve into the charming tales of England's coastline. 
 
Divided into eighteen chapters – one for each of the coastal counties in the UK – this book will entertain and illuminate, by casting new light on the many points of intrigue to be explored along 3000 miles of spectacularly diverse and historically rich English coast. 
 
Illustrated with beautiful black-and-white line drawings, by Mai Osawa, this book makes the perfect companion for any seaside outing. You’ll find yourself exclaiming again and again – I never knew that!

I Never Knew That About Coastal England

With the royal wedding around the corner, there no better time than the present to get acquainted with Royal Britain 
 
Bestselling author Christopher Winn explores Britain's royal past, unearthing a rich legacy of castles and palaces, cathedrals and country retreats, battlefields and monuments where kings and queens lived and died. 
 
In this exploration of royal British history, discover whose heart is buried near the Tower of London; which palace was built on top of a mulberry garden; the world's oldest and largest occupied castle and the first building in Britain to have latrines. 
 
From the Palace of Scone to the Palace of Westminster, from Pembroke Castle, the birthplace of Henry VII, to Pontefract Castle, where Richard II starved to death, and from banqueting halls to beheading sites, this gem of a book is guaranteed to inform and amuse in equal measure.

I Never Knew That About Royal Britain

The inspiration for the primetime ITV series on Great Britain, this is a spellbinding journey around Wales by bestselling author Christopher Winn. Packed full of legends, firsts, birthplaces, inventions and adventures, I Never Knew That About Wales visits the thirteen traditional Welsh counties and unearths the hidden gems that they each hold. Discover where history and legends happened; where people, ideas and inventions began; where dreams took flight; where famous figures were born and now rest. A glittering pantheon of writers and artists, thinkers and inventors, heroes and villains have lived and toiled in this small country. Remarkable events, noble (and dastardly) deeds and exciting adventures have all taken place with Wales as their backdrop. This book seeks out their heritage, their monuments, their memories and their secrets. 
 
You'll be able to visit Britain's smallest city, St David's with its glorious 12th-century cathedral slumbering in a sleepy hollow near the sea. Explore Britain's greatest collection of castles from the first stone fortress at Chepstow to Britain's finest concentric castle at Beaumaris and the magnificent Caernarvon, birthplace of the first Prince of Wales. Browse through the second hand book capital of the world, Hay-on-Wye, wander the glorious Gower peninsula, Britain's first Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Take a trip to Fishguard, where the last invasion of Britain took place in 1797. Marvel at Thomas Telford's Menai Bridge, the world's first iron suspension bridge or Pontcysyllte, the longest bridged aqueduct in Britain. 
 
This irresistible compendium of interesting facts and good stories will give you a captivating insight into the people, ideas and events that have shaped the individual identity of every place you visit, and will have you exclaiming again and again: 'Well, I never knew that!'

I Never Knew That About Wales

Take the ultimate trip around Ireland 
 
Bestselling author Christopher Winn takes us on a fascinating journey around Ireland, to discover the tales buried deep in Irish history. 
 
Packed full of myths and legends, firsts, birthplaces, inventions and adventures, this fact book visits each of the four provinces - Ulster, Leinster, Munster and Connaught - and unearths the hidden gems that each county in these provinces holds. 
 
Discover where people and ideas were born, where dreams were inspired and where the unforgettable figures of Ireland's past now slumber. You'll be able to visit the holy mountain, Croagh Patrick in Country Mayo, where St Patrick is said to have driven all the snakes in Ireland into the sea. At Lismore Castle in County Waterford you will uncover the bathroom dedicated to Fred Astaire, whose sister Adele was the hugely popular Chatelaine of Lismore in the 1930s and 40s. On the winter solstice you can bathe in the sunlight that fills the burial chamber at Newgrange, County Meath - the oldest solar observatory in the world. 
 
This irresistible compendium of facts and stories will give you a captivating insight into the Irish, and the ideas and events that have shaped the individual identity of every place you visit, and will have you exclaiming again and again: 'Well, I never knew that!'

I Never Knew That About Ireland

Praise for the I Never Knew That Series 
 
'I never knew there was so much I never knew!' - GYLES BRANDRETH 
 
'Winn's touch is always light, and unfailingly interesting' - THE GUARDIAN 
 
'A marvellously entertaining and instructive read' – SIMON JENKINS 
 
'A treasure trove of amazing facts and anecdotes' – ALED JONES 
 
Discover the incredible trivia and hidden stories of one of Britain's best loved destinations, Devon and Cornwall 
 
Did you know… 
 
… The world’s first lift was installed at the Tresavean Mine in Cornwall in 1842 
… The oldest working lighthouse in England can be found in Devon 
… The first transatlantic radio signals were sent from Cornwall 
 
With more than 700 miles of coastline, two national parks and a never-ending debate over the correct way to prepare a cream tea, Devon and Cornwall are two of the best loved counties in Britain. 
 
In the latest in his bestselling I Never Knew That trivia series, Christopher Winn goes beyond the famous landmarks to root out the hidden places, legends and human stories of Devon and Cornwall. 
 
Featuring amazing facts as well as illustrations by artist Mai Osawa, this entertaining guide is the perfect holiday accompaniment to Britain’s favourite destination.

I Never Knew That About Devon and Cornwall

'What is this life if, full of care, We have no time to stand and stare.' - W.H. Davies 
 
Walking around London is one of life's great pleasures. There is a huge amount that you can only see on foot – but sometimes it is hard to know where to look. Luckily, Christopher Winn, bestselling author of I Never Knew That About London, knows where all the hidden treasures are. 
 
This book takes the reader on a series of stimulating original walks through different areas of central London, focusing on one particular period of history, the Victorian, so ubiquitous that we take it for granted, and yet so astonishing and so far reaching in its variety, imagination, ambition and detail. 
 
Discover... 
 
..the remarkable 300-foot bell tower at the Houses of Parliament you never knew was there.... 
..the extraordinary fairytale house in Kensington where the Mikado was inspired... 
..the best Victorian loos in the world near Old Street... 
..a hidden chapel in Bloomsbury described by Oscar Wilde as 'the most delightful private chapel in London'... 
..London's best preserved high class Victorian shop near Tottenham Court Road… 
...an almost complete Victorian townscape boasting the world's oldest surviving mansion block... 
 
Walk through history and discover the hidden gems of Victorian London!

Walk Through History

Discover Victorian London

This wonderful book takes an affectionate, entertaining and perceptive look at the English people. Here are their traditions, foibles, quirks, customs, humour and achievements, triumphs and failures, peccadilloes and passions. Travel through England from coast to coast and learn how every county contributes in unique and different ways to the distinct English personality. Marvel at crooked black and white halls in Cheshire and soft golden stone cottages in Midland villages. Go cheese rolling in Gloucestershire, discover the origins of cricket in Hampshire, savour a hot pot in Lancashire and a pudding in Yorkshire. Gasp at the glories of stately homes and the families that create them, upstairs and down, enjoy a pint. Listen to the memories and tales of ordinary folk from every walk of life and find out from them what it means to be English. This irresistible book is packed with fascinating trivia and amusing stories that will entertain and inform for hours on end.

I Never Knew That About the English

This charming book takes you through the counties of England, exploring Saxon churches, reflective of simple faith; Norman churches with rugged arches and powerful pillars, stamping their authority, gothic churches with their soaring arches; Decorated and Perpendicular churches made glorious with Early English style and craftsmanship; Victorian churches, resplendent with imperial pomp; eccentric Arts and Crafts churches. Every one of them has a remarkable tale to tell, that will move you to exclaim, again and again: ‘I never knew that!’.

I Never Knew That About England's Country Churches

Christopher Somerville

Walking has never been a more popular pastime and nowhere is more beautiful for walkers to explore than Ireland. In this beautifully written and superbly researched guide, Christopher Somerville draws on his very popular column for the Irish Independent, to present 50 of the very best walks in Ireland - from the Nephin Beg Mountains in Mayo to Dingle Way in Kerry. Practical instructions for the walks are married with evocative and informative passages on the history, flora and fauna, culture and topography of the land. Whether it's exploring the Burren in its floral glory or seeing the Walls of Derry, or even sitting at home in your armchair planning your next walk, this book will prove popular with ramblers, holiday makers and anyone who loves the Irish landscape.

Walking in Ireland

Andrew O'Hagan

In 2001 a group of authors including Andrew O'Hagan, Tony Hawks and Irvine Welsh were given the opportunity to visit Sudan, one of the world's most inaccessible countries. The resulting book: The Weekenders - Travels in the Heart of Africa was an award-winning triumph, combining fiction and non-fiction into a compelling travel narrative that was both entertaining and illuminating. Now the Weekenders are back, joined by some new faces and taking on one of the world's most fascinating and contradictory cities - Calcutta. It is a trip like nothing you've ever seen or heard of before.

The Weekenders

Adventures in Calcutta

Kurt Andersen

How an elite cabal rewrote the American dream for their gain – and left the rest of world behind. 
 
Evil Geniuses is the secret history of how, over the last half century, from even before Ronald Reagan through Donald Trump, America has sharply swerved away from its dream of progress for the many to a system of unfettered profit and self-interest for the few. 
 
As the social liberation of the 1960s finally ended in the chaos of Vietnam and Watergate, a cabal of rich industrialists, business chiefs, wide-eyed libertarians and right-wing economic radicals were waiting, determined to claw back everything they saw as rightfully theirs. 
 
Largely out of sight, they rapidly built and funded a new empire of think tanks and academic institutions and professional organisations, lobbying and political groups, using them to transform politics, media, finance, the legal system and US laws to reinvent and control the political economy. A throwback to the robber barons of a century earlier, they sold the remade system to the people as a nostalgic return to traditional American values. Within a decade, America’s flourishing forward-thinking vision was incarcerated by the unchecked financial accumulation and political power of the super-rich. 
 
Now, the moneymen are running the show. 
 
In this hugely entertaining and deeply researched cultural and economic exposé, New York Times bestselling author Kurt Andersen maps the rich history of intricate networks, unlikely connections and dark truths which are controlling a nation, revealing how on earth America got to where it is now – and what it might do to win its progressive future back.

Evil Geniuses

The Unmaking of America – A Recent History

You’re entitled to your own opinion but not your own facts 
 
Fantasy is the USA’s primary product. From the Pilgrim Fathers onward America has been a place where renegades and freaks came in search of freedom to create their own realities with little objectively regulated truth standing in their way. The freedom to invent and believe whatever the hell you like is, in some ways, an unwritten constitutional right. But, this do-your-own-thing freedom also is the driving credo of America's current transformation where the difference between opinion and fact is rapidly crumbling. 
 
So how did we get to this weird pseudo-reality, where science and objective facts are dismissed in favour of opinions and wild speculation, or indeed, fantasies? The post truth, fake news, free-for-all mentality isn’t exactly a new phenomenon. If you want to understand Trump's America, how the lines between reality and illusion have become dangerously blurred, you have to go back to the very beginning and take a dizzying road trip across five centuries of crackpot delusion and make-believe from Salem to Scientology. 
 
Fantasyland is a journey that connects the dots between crazed franchises of true believers – a rich freak show tapestry from Mormons to Flat-Earthers and satanic panic, new age quacks to anti-vaxxers, conspiracy theorists of every stripe, creationists to climate change deniers, UFO-obsessives to gun-toting libertarians, showmen hucksters from P T Barnum to Trump himself, all topped off with a dangerous dose of anti-government paranoia and pseudoscience. Along the way, New York Times bestselling author Kurt Andersen has created a unique and raucous history of America and a new paradigm for understanding our post-factual world.

Fantasyland

How America Went Haywire: A 500-Year History

Ruby and Custard

This book will become your go-to crochet guide for years to come. Learn all the essential stitches with clear step-by-step photography and try over 30-easy-to-follow patterns to make beautiful and stylish accessories you'll love to make. 
 
Projects include beanie hats, berets, cowls, gloves, scarves and mittens for grown ups; cute hats, scarves and mittens, play accessories and toys for children; and gorgeous rattles, mobiles, blankets and cuddlies for babies. You can also make stylish home accessories, including Christmas decorations, that make the perfect gifts - if you can bear to part with them! 
 
Once you've tried the basic pattern, have fun customising designs yourself with your favourite colours and wools - this book shows you everything you need to know to master crochet and create bespoke creations.

Ruby and Custard’s Crochet

Creative crochet projects to make, share and love

Andrew Collins

Fast approaching his fortieth birthday, Andrew is cornered at a family gathering by the nine-year-old son of his brother-in-law's sister. Having seen him as a talking head on TV, the boy asks, 'What are you?' It is a question so frank and simple that Andrew doesn't have an immediate answer to hand. 
 
So, with hilarious self-deprecation, he sets out to retrace how he got to where he is today. Seventeen precarious jobs in seventeen years: from trolley collector at Sainsbury's to high-flying film critic sipping cocktails with Will Smith and Jerry Bruckheimer on a yacht in Cannes. This is Andrew's tale of rubbing shoulders with the world's biggest stars: pissing off Christini Ricci, having his hairstyle mocked by Noel Gallagher, trying not to wake Clive James from his afternoon nap, having his apple pie eaten by Bob Geldof, and somehow stumbling into the next dream job. 
 
Along the way, he's been the world's worst gossip columnist, an almost-hip young gunslinger at the NME, a Radio 1 DJ (enduring a hellish Radio 1 roadshow in a car park in Birmingham), an ITV presenter, EastEnders scriptwriter, ghost writer for a major TV personality and much, much more. It charts a world of hedonism, mundanity, towering egos, shallow idiocy and occasional moments of mind-blowing joy. And, of course, being sent shit in a box.

That's Me in the Corner

Adventures of an ordinary boy in a celebrity world

Andrew Collins was born 37 years ago in Northampton. His parents never split up, in fact they rarely exchanged a cross word. No-one abused him. Nobody died. He got on well with his brother and sister and none of his friends drowned in a canal. He has never stayed overnight in a hospital and has no emotional scars from his upbringing, except a slight lingering resentment that Anita Barker once mocked the stabilisers on his bike. Where Did It All Go Right? is a jealous memoir written by someone who occasionally wishes life had dealt him a few more juicy marketable blows. The author delves back into his first 18 years in search of something - anything - that might have left him deeply and irreparably damaged. With tales of bikes, telly, sweets, good health, domestic harmony and happy holidays, Andrew aims to bring a little hope to all those out there living with the emotional after-effects of a really nice childhood. Andrew Collins kept a diary from the age of five, so he really can remember what he had for tea everyday and what he did at school, excerpts from his diary run throughout the book and it is this detail which makes his story so compelling.

Where Did It All Go Right?

Growing Up Normal in the 70s

Andy Baraghani

A New York Times Bestseller 
 
Define and develop your individual cooking style - and become the cook you want to be - in 120 flavour-forward everyday recipes and easy-to-understand techniques. 
 
Andy Baraghani is the talented chef behind many of Bon Appetit's viral recipes - favourites like Cauliflower Bolognese, Tahini Ranch Dressing and Ramen Noodles with Miso Pesto - he creates wow-factor flavours, delivers beautiful and satisfying meals with minimal fuss and reworks well-known dishes in utterly delicious ways. 
 
Andy's love of flavour began with the comforting dishes of his Iranian parents' immigrant household. Blending the home cooking of his upbringing and his professional training, Andy evolved into a culinary influencer by asking himself, 'What kind of cook do I want to be?'. In answering that question for himself - the cook who can balance flavours and the cook who makes a perfect salad, for example - he became known for trying new techniques, working with easy-to-find but underused ingredients and creating unexpected combinations. 
 
Among his debut cookbook's 120 recipes and 120 sumptuous photographs you'll find for new surefire hits, such as Roasted Beetroot with Mint and Sesame, Pomegranate-Glazed Chicken Legs with Buttery Almonds, plus dozens of dishes to refresh and expand your weekly repertoire. In essays throughout the book, Baraghani shares convictions and key lessons. 
 
This cookbook is a genre-breaking cookbook of transformative techniques and recipes that will guide all to become the kind of cook that they want to be.

The Cook You Want to Be

Everyday Recipes to Impress

Andrew Rosetta

In Whatever She Wants, Andrew Rosetta lifts the lid on the mysterious, sexy and little-known world of the male escort. 
 
As one of the most sought-after escorts in London, Andrew's clients are many and varied: from a gangster's wife in search of a little fun to a world-famous pop star requiring the utmost discretion, all of them are looking for different things. His personal life, meanwhile, is just as turbulent - from a girlfriend who discovers his secret to a client who turns against him and threatens to reveal all. 
 
Smart, erotic and eye-opening, Whatever She Wants reveals exactly what type of woman is willing to part with her money in search of sex, and what type of man is willing to provide it...

Whatever She Wants

True Confessions of a Male Escort

Andrew Carroll

'Quite simply, this is one of the greatest, most riveting books of war letters I have ever read.' Stephen E. Ambrose on War Letters 
 
In 2001 Andrew Carroll authored the US top ten bestseller, War Letters - a unique compilation of extraordinary correspondence from American soldiers serving in US conflicts throughout history. Following the publication of this landmark work Andrew was inundated with letters from soldiers all around the world (to date he has a staggering 75,000 letters). Inspired by these messages he embarked on a quest to discover other previously unpublished letters written during conflicts around the globe. For three years Andrew travelled the world zealously collecting letters from over 35 different countries including Great Britain. Behind the Lines is the remarkable anthology that has been put together as a result of this work. 
 
The first book of its kind, Behind the Lines will be a dramatic, intimate and unprecedented look at warfare as seen through the eyes of troops and civilians. Unparalleled in geographical and historical scope it covers all major global conflicts from World War I and II and the American Revolution, up to Afghanistan and Iraq. Featuring never-before-seen letters and emails from war zones, and including the memories and thoughts from those on both sides of the hostilities documented, Behind the Lines will be a truly emotive and poignant depiction of war assembled by a uniquely talented and driven author who always keeps the general reader and narrative in mind.

Behind The Lines

Revealing and uncensored letters from our war-torn world

'Higher education comes at exactly the right time: in the twilight of your teens, you're just starting to coagulate as a human being, to pull away from parental influence and find your own feet. What better than three years in which to explore the inner you, establish a feasible worldview, and maybe get on Blockbusters.' 
 
After an idyllic provincial 1970s childhood, the 1980s took Andrew Collins to London, art school and the classic student experience. Crimping his hair, casting aside his socks and sporting fingerless gloves, he became Andy Kollins: purveyor of awful poetry; disciple of moany music, and wannabe political activist. What follows is a universal tale of trainee hedonism, girl trouble, wasted grants and begging letters to parents. 
 
A synth-soundtracked rite of passage that's often painfully funny, it traces one teenager's metamorphosis from sheltered suburban innocent to semi-mature metropolitan male through the pretensions and confusions of trying to stand alone for the first time in your own kung fu pumps in a big bad city.

Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now

My Difficult 80s

Meg and Mog

Ebb and Flo

Lucy and Tom

Ink and Iron

Topsy and Tim

Tuck and Tina

Pizza and Taco

Sarah and Duck

And Other Lies

Emma and James

The Lost and Found

Jack and Millie

Chaos and Flame

Lizzie and Lucky

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

Anders Knutas

Charlie and Lola

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

Key Words with Peter and Jane

Harry and the Dinosaurs

Swallows And Amazons

Peter Rabbit Slide-and-Seek

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.

Showing results for: ‘Christopher Winn’

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