Michael Symmons Roberts’s fourth book of poetry, Corpus, was the winner of the 2004 Whitbread Poetry Award, and was shortlisted for the T. S. Eliot Prize, the Forward Prize, and the Griffin International Prize. His sixth collection, Drysalter, was the winner of both the Forward Prize and the Costa Poetry Prize in 2013. He collaborated with Paul Farley on Edgelands (Cape/Vintage) and will do so again in The Deaths of the Poets (Cape, 2017). He has also worked many times with the composer James MacMillan. He has published two novels, and is Professor of Poetry at Manchester Metropolitan University.

Michael Symmons Roberts

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Ben Mezrich

Thad Roberts, a fellow in a prestigious NASA programme had an idea - a romantic, albeit crazy, idea. He wanted to give his girlfriend the moon. Literally. 
 
Thad convinced his girlfriend and another female accomplice, both NASA interns, to break into an impenetrable laboratory at NASA's headquarters - past security checkpoints, and electronically locked door with cipher security codes and camera-lined hallways - and help him steal the most precious objects in the world: Apollo moon rocks from every moon landing in history. 
 
Was Thad Roberts - undeniably gifted, picked for one of the most competitive scientific posts imaginable - really what he seemed? 
 
And what does one do with an item so valuable that it's illegal even to own? 
 
Based on meticulous research into thousands of pages of court records, FBI transcripts and documents, and scores of interviews with the people involved, Mezrich - with his signature high-velocity swagger - has reconstructed the madcap story of genius, love, and duplicity all centred on a heist that reads like a Hollywood thrill ride.

Sex on the Moon

Monty Roberts

'As I left the round pen, I saw the Queen, Prince Philip, and the Queen Mother rise from their seats to come down and join me . . . With a warm smile on her face the Queen put out her hand to shake mine and said, 'That was beautiful'. She said she was amazed by what had happened and how the filly has responded, and she advised me to be proud of the work I was doing.' 
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When Monty Roberts was thirteen years old he went off alone into the deserts of Nevada to watch mustangs in the wild. What he learned about their methods of communication changed his life forever. 
 
His horse whisperer powers may seem like magic, but his amazing "horse sense" is based on a lifetime of experience and a deep love and understanding of horses. He can take a wild, high-strung horse who has never been handled before and persuade that horse to accept a bridle, saddle, and rider in thirty minutes. 
 
In this remarkable worldwide bestseller, Roberts shares his unforgettable personal story and his exceptional insight into the silent language of horses and nonverbal communication: an understanding that applies to human relationships as well. He shows that between parent and child, employee and employer, abuser and abused, there are forms of communication far stronger than the spoken word that are accessible to all who will learn to listen. 
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'For anyone who care about animals - not just horses, either - it is required reading' DAILY TELEGRAPH 
 
'The horse whisperer in action . . . more exciting than his fictional counterpart' OBSERVER 
 
'Riveting and inspirational' NEW YORK TIMES 
 
'Monty Roberts is the real thing' TATLER 
 
'Wild horses should not drag you away from finding out more about Monty Roberts' INDEPENDENT 
 
'This book contains some wonderful vignettes of his adventures' THE TIMES 
 
'Absorbing . . . Roberts' story is more fascinating and profound than any told in fiction . . . the kind of life-altering book you never want to finish.' SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE 
 
'A riveting read' HORSE AND HOUND

The Man Who Listens To Horses

The worldwide million-copy bestseller

Nick Russell-Pavier

The crime, the criminals, the victims and their families. 
And the biggest manhunt by British police... 
 
The establishment, press and public reaction, the trial, and the aftermath are all set out in compelling narrative detail. Jack Witney served twenty-five years in prison although he shot no one and was released on appeal, only to be murdered in his Bristol flat a few years later. John Duddy died in Parkhurst after fifteen years. But Harry Roberts, by his own admission the instigator of the crime and the most notorious, was released from prison after forty-eight years in 2015 making national front page news. 
 
What could possess an apparently rational and sane man, albeit an habitual criminal, to commit such a callous and ruthless act? What kind of a man is he? How can an ordinary person understand what he did? Should he be forgiven? 
 
50 years later, the full story for the first time.

The Shepherd's Bush Murders

Michael Caine

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

What's It All About?

Michael Crichton

ER has become the most succesful television series in the world since CHARLIE'S ANGELS. Michael Crichton created the series from his own experiences as a medical doctor in the emergency rooms, operating rooms and wards of Massachusetts General Hospital. FIVE PATIENTS is Michael Crichton's true account of the real life dramas so vividly portrayed in ER. A construction worker is seriously injured in a scaffold collapse: a middle-aged despatcher is brought in suffering from a fever that has reduced him to a delirious wreck; a young man nearly severs his hand in an accident; an airline traveller suffers chest pains; a mother of three is diagnosed with a life-threatening disease.

Five Patients

Robert Hardman

A brilliant portrait of the most famous woman in the world and her place in it, written by the renowned royal biographer and author of Queen of Our Times, Robert Hardman. 
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'Dazzling, poignant and full of delicious surprises; the true story of how Elizabeth II took on the world - and won. The Crown is fictional. Here is the real thing.' - Andrew Roberts 
 
'In Queen of the World Robert Hardman anatomizes from almost every conceivable angle the workings of soft power in creating the present Queen's global role ... His book is a veritable reference work and cornucopia, overflowing with significant anecdotes, people, traditions and incidents.' - Times Literary Supplement 
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On recent world history, one leader stands apart. Queen Elizabeth II saw more of the planet and its people than any other head of state, and engaged with them like no other monarch in British history. After her coronation, she visited over 130 countries across the ever-changing globe, acting as diplomat, stateswoman, pioneer and peace-broker, while also managing the responsibilities of a mother and grandmother, and her sixty-four-year marriage to the late Prince Philip. 
 
She transformed her father's old empire into the Commonwealth, her 'family of nations', and came to know its leaders better than anyone. In 2018, they would gather in her own home to endorse her eldest son, the Prince of Wales, as her successor. 
 
With extensive access to the Queen's family and staff, Hardman tells a true story full of drama, intrigue, exotic and even dangerous situations, heroes, rogues, pomp and glamour - and, at the centre of it all, the woman who genuinely won the hearts of the world for seventy glorious years. 
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'Superb' - Peter Hennessy 
 
'Hardman's book, filled with new details, will be an essential source for any historian of modern Britain. It's also a glorious read' - William Shawcross, Spectator

Queen of the World

Michaelbaden & Marion Roach

Michael Baden and Marion Roach take readers to the autopsy table in the morgue and practically place the scalpel in their hands to show how advances in forensic science are solving crimes as never before.  They visit cases both famous and ordinary to explain why the first hour at a crime scene is crucial.  They reveal, for the first time, how a key clue to the killer of Nicole Brown Simpson was lost during the transportation of her body to the morgue.  In another case, they show how something as obscure as the imprint of a button on a dead man's skin was overlooked until months later when, while reviewing the crime-scene photos, Dr Baden saw it, causing the case to take an astonishing turn. Baden and Roach invite readers to be present at the analysis of soil, plant matter, insects, blood spatters, bone, teeth, hair, weather and other crime-scene evidence to witness how the startling accuracy of science can improve the chances of a just verdict. Dead Reckoning has already been hailed, before publication, as a classic of rigorous an enlightened writing about forensic pathology, both in its principles and in its practice.

Dead Reckoning

The New Science of Catching Killers

Richard Webber

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

Remembering Ronnie Barker

Sara Dallin

Keren Woodward

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'Engaging, entertaining, brilliantly recounted' Mirror 
 
'Captivating . . . an incredible story' i paper 
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MUSIC, FAME AND A LIFELONG FRIENDSHIP 
 
Sara Dallin and Keren Woodward met in the school playground when they were four. They went on to become international stars and inspired a generation with their music, DIY-style and trailblazing attitudes. 
 
Told with humour and authenticity, and filled with never-before-seen photos, Really Saying Something takes us behind the scenes of their early days, the world tours, party games with George Michael, a close friendship with Prodigy's Keith Flint, and hanging out with Andy Warhol in New York. 
 
This is a celebration of a life-affirming friendship, with an unbeatable soundtrack. 
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'Like something from a movie' Dermot O'Leary 
 
'A brilliant autobiography' Martin Kemp 
 
'A blast' Metro 
 
'What a nostalgia-fest' Kate Thornton

Really Saying Something

Sara & Keren – Our Bananarama Story

Michael Dobbs

October 27, 1962, a day dubbed Black Saturday in the Kennedy White House. The Cuban missile crisis is at its height, and the world is drawing ever closer to nuclear apocalypse. 
 
As the opposing Cold War leaders, John F. Kennedy and Nikita Khrushchev, mobilize their forces to fight a nuclear war on land, sea and air, the world watches in terror. In Bobby Kennedy's words, 'There was a feeling that the noose was tightening on all of us, on Americans, on mankind, and that the bridges to escape were crumbling.' 
 
In One Minute to Midnight Michael Dobbs brings a fresh perspective to this crucial moment in twentieth-century history. Using a wealth of untapped archival material, he tells both the human and the political story of Black Saturday, taking the reader into the White House, the Kremlin and along the entire Cold War battlefront. 
 
Dobbs's thrilling narrative features a cast of characters - including Soviet veterans never before interviewed by a western writer - with unique stories to tell, witnesses to one of the greatest mobilizations of men and equipment since the Second World War.

One Minute To Midnight

Kennedy, Khrushchev and Castro on the Brink of Nuclear War

Will Greenwood

Known as Shaggy to his mates, Greenwood is one of rugby's and international sport's most engaging, intelligent, outspoken and witty characters. A Lancastrian to the tips of this size 12 boots, the giant centre has been an automatic choice in the England XV since his debut against Australia in 1997. 
 
A few months earlier he looked set to become only the third uncapped Englishman to play for the British Lions when he came within a whisker of losing his life after he was speared to the ground in a heavy tackle, lost consciousness and swallowed his tongue. 
 
After taking several months to recover he quickly made an impact at international level following a widespread clamour in the press for his call-up to the England side. An elegant riposte to the old jibe that England rugby players lack guile and imagination, the Harlequins' and former Leicester centre has brought a shimmering, magical quality to his team's back play, opening up defences with clever angled running, superb distribution and a gravity-defying ability to stay up in the tackle. 
 
Greenwood also featured in England's doomed Rugby World Cup campaign in 1999 before playing a central role in the team's dramatic triumph in Australia four years later. 
 
His life off the pitch has been no less eventful, he and his wife Caro having experienced extreme despair and joy in recent years with the loss of one son, Freddie, and the birth of another, Archie.

Will

The Autobiography of Will Greenwood

Michael Jackson

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

Moonwalk

Michael Calvin

'For those of you missing your football fix, anything by Michael Calvin is worth a read – the hugely respected sports journalist writes eloquently about the modern game in page turner State of Play.' 
DAILY MIRROR 
 
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LONGLISTED FOR THE 2018 WILLIAM HILL SPORTS BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARD 
 
Award-winning author of The Nowhere Men, Living on the Volcano and No Hunger in Paradise returns with his magnum opus on the state of modern football 
 
First he revealed the extraordinary lives of football scouts in The Nowhere Men. 
 
Next he unearthed the pressures on football managers in Living on the Volcano. 
 
Then he chronicled the hardships of young players striving to make it in No Hunger in Paradise. 
 
 
Now in State of Play, in what marks the pinnacle of a career investigating the human stories of football, award-winning writer Michael Calvin turns his eye to the biggest story of all - the game itself. 
 
 
From mental health to money, concussion to Champions league, fan-owners to oligarchs, women's football to world cups, Calvin gets under the skin of the beautiful game, and reveals why it is truly the game of our lives. 
 
 
Based on hundreds of hours of interviews with leading figures around the world, from Arsene Wenger to Steven Gerrard, Calvin reveals the winners, the losers, the politics, the pleasure, the hope, and the despair of the world's most popular sport.

State of Play

Under the Skin of the Modern Game

Anna Massey

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

Telling Some Tales

William Henry Searle

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'Touching and on occasion profoundly moving ... The connections and affinities that fill this book enliven, enlighten and delight.' STEPHEN FRY 
 
'Beautifully written and insightful.' RAYNOR WINN 
 
'Searle creates a powerful sense of place. You can sniff the air and touch the trees.' MICHAEL PALIN 
 
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A lyrical journey through life, love and nature 
 
Weaving together personal stories, Threads deals with the meanings of intimacy, vulnerability and our affinities with people and places, both wild and tame. It is a deep exploration of the encounters that lend quiet networks of grace to our busy lives. 
 
William Henry Searle casts an eye back to episodes spent in close and tender relationships with members of his family, childhood friends, animals and loved ones, in places that range from his father’s scrap metal yards, to the jungles of Borneo, an Oregon river and the Swiss Alps. 
 
In thoughtful, elegant prose, Searle celebrates the quiet conversations that nourish us, and the everyday patterns of connection that give meaning to our human existence. 
 
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'An exceptionally rich celebration of the natural world, by turns rapturous and melancholy, and often – in strikingly original ways – both at the same time.' SIR ANDREW MOTION

Threads

Winner of The Times British Sports Book Award 2014. 
 
A fascinating insight into the enclosed world of football scouts in the UK 
 
A teenaged boy plays football in a suburban park. His name is Raheem Sterling. The call is made: “Get down here quick. This is something special”. 
 
Another boy is 8, going on 28. His name is Jack Wilshere. The referee, an Arsenal scout, spirits him away from Luton Town. 
 
A young goalkeeper struggles on loan at Cheltenham Town in League Two. His name is Jack Butland. Within months he will be playing for England. 
 
Welcome to football’s hidden tribe. Scouts are everywhere yet nowhere, faceless and nameless, despite making the informed decisions worth millions. Award-winning sportswriter Michael Calvin opens up their hidden world, examining their disconnected lifestyles, petty betrayals and unconsidered professionalism of men who spend long, lonely hours on the road.

The Nowhere Men

Michael Buerk

'Dawn, and as the sun breaks through the piercing chill of night on the plain outside Korem it lights up a biblical famine, now, in the Twentieth Century.' 
 
Those words opened Michael Buerk's first report on the Ethiopian famine for the 6 o'clock news on October 24th 1984. His reports sent shock waves round the world. The Live Aid concert, a direct consequence of Bob Geldof watching that broadcast, was watched by half the planet. 
 
Michael Buerk has reported on some of the biggest stories in our lifetime: the Flixborough chemical plant fire, the Birmingham pub bombing, Lockerbie. He was in Buenos Aires at the start of the Falklands War; he reported the death throes of apartheid in South Africa. 
 
He was the face of the BBC flagship evening news for many years and has fronted everything from the popular BBC1 series 999 to the erudite Radio 4 programme The Moral Maze. He has won every major award and is universally admired and respected for his intelligent and honest journalism. 
Here, he also reveals the private Michael Buerk, his bigamist father, his long and happy marriage to Christine and his delight at fatherhood.

The Road Taken

Shortlisted for the British Sports Book Awards 2018 
 
“What’s your dream, son?” 
 
A six year-old boy, head bowed, mumbles the eternal answer: “Be a footballer….” Steadman Scott, football’s most unlikely talent scout, smiles indulgently, and takes him in from the street. He knows the odds. Only 180 of the 1.5 million boys who play organised youth football in England will become a Premier League pro. That’s a success rate of 0.012 per cent. 
 
How and why do the favoured few make it? What separates the good from the great? Who should they trust – the coach, the agent or their parents? 
 
Michael Calvin provides the answers on a journey from non-league grounds to hermetically sealed Premier League palaces, via gang-controlled sink estates and the England team’s inner sanctum. He interviews decision makers, behavioural specialists, football agents and leading coaches. He shares the hopes and fears of players and their parents. He exposes bullying and a black economy in which children are commodities, but remains true to the dream.

No Hunger In Paradise

The Players. The Journey. The Dream

Tim Pat Coogan

'The unofficial voice of modern Irish history' Economist 
 
When President of the Irish Republic Michael Collins signed the Anglo-Irish Treaty in December 1921, he remarked to Lord Birkenhead, 'I may have signed my actual death warrant.' In August 1922 at the height of the Irish Civil War, that prophecy came true - Collins was shot and killed by a fellow Irishman in a shocking political assassination. 
 
So ended the life of the greatest of all Irish nationalists, but his visions and legacy lived on. 
 
This authorative and comprehensive biography presents the life of a man who became a legend in his own lifetime, whose idealistic vigour and determination were matched only by his political realism and supreme organisational abilities. Coogan's biography provides a fascinating insight into a great political leader, whilst vividly portraying the political unrest in a divided Ireland, that can help to shape our understanding of Ireland's past, present and future. 
 
'There have been several other lives of Collins, but none has assembled such wealth of detail' Independent on Sunday

Michael Collins

A Biography

Ruth Reichl

Garlic and Sapphires is Ruth Reichl's riotous account of the many disguises she employs to dine undetected when she takes on the much coveted and highly prestigious job of New York Times restaurant critic. 
Reichl knows that to be a good critic she has to be anonymous - but her picture is posted in every four-star, low-star kitchen in town and so she embarks on an extraordinary - and hilarious - undercover game of disguise - keeping even her husband and son in the dark. There is her stint as Molly, a frumpy blonde in an off-beige Armani suit that Ruth takes on when reviewing Le Cirque resulting in a double review of the restaurant: first she ate there as Molly; and then as she was coddled and pampered on her visit there as Ruth, New York Times food critic. Then there is the eccentric, mysterious red head on whom her husband - both disconcertingly and reassuringly - develops a terrible crush. She becomes Brenda the earth mother, Chloe the seductress and even Miriam her own (deceased) mother. 
What is even more remarkable about Reichl's spy games is that as she takes on these various guises, she finds herself changed not just physically, but also in character revealing how one's outer appearance can very much influence one's inner character, expectations, and appetites.

Garlic And Sapphires

David Jason

Winner of the National Book Awards Autobiography of the Year 
 
The long-awaited autobiography of one of Britain's best-loved actors 
 
*As seen in David and Jay’s Touring Toolshed on BBC Two* 
 
Born the son of a Billingsgate market porter at the height of the Second World War, David Jason spent his early life dodging bombs and bullies, both with impish good timing. Giving up on an unloved career as an electrician, he turned his attention to acting and soon, through a natural talent for making people laugh, found himself working with the leading lights of British comedy in the 1960s and '70s: Eric Idle, Michael Palin, Bob Monkhouse and Ronnie Barker. Barker would become a mentor to David, leading to hugely successful stints in Porridge and Open All Hours. 
 
It wasn't until 1981, kitted out with a sheepskin jacket, a flat cap, and a clapped-out Reliant Regal, that David found the part that would capture the nation's hearts: the beloved Derek 'Del Boy' Trotter in Only Fools and Horses. Never a one-trick pony, he had an award-winning spell as TV's favourite detective Jack Frost, took a country jaunt as Pop Larkin in the Darling Buds of May, and even voiced a crime-fighting cartoon rodent in the much-loved children's show Danger Mouse. 
 
But life hasn't all been so easy: from missing out on a key role in Dad's Army to nearly drowning in a freak diving accident, David has had his fair share of ups and downs, and has lost some of his nearest and dearest along the way. 
 
David's is a touching, funny and warm-hearted story, which charts the course of his incredible five decades at the top of the entertainment business. He's been a shopkeeper and a detective inspector, a crime-fighter and a market trader, and he ain't finished yet. As Del Boy would say, it's all cushty.

David Jason: My Life

Lin Cook

An intimate and entertaining portrait of one of comedy's greatest geniuses by those who knew Peter Cook best and can write abut his rare talent. The contributors include Clive Anderson, Alan Bennett, John Cleese, Stephen Fry, William Goldman, Barry Humphries, Eric Idle, Dudley Moore and Michael Palin.

Something Like Fire

Michael Crawford

By turns hilarious, revelatory and desperately sad, here is the autobiography of the man whose TV and stage appearances such as Hello Dolly!, Some Mothers Do `Ave 'Em and The Phantom of the Opera have made him a national institution. The story of the true identity of his father, which is behind this book's title, leads into an evocative depiction of his tender childhood years. Whilst all the men were away at war, Crawford was surrounded by loving women. For him this was an idyllic wartime childhood, but the return of the men in peacetime signalled darker times to come. Crawford's infectious enjoyment of stage work illumines his account of his early struggles to make a name for himself in the theatre business, and his early failures with girls are lifted by his abiding sense of the absurd. Both in his private life and his work as a successful actor and TV comedian, he begins a lifetime's habit of pratfalls that he would later turn to good use in the character of Frank Spencer in smash hit 1970s TV comedy show Some Mothers Do`Ave 'Em. His talent for mimicry makes the great personalities in his life come alive on the page; people he has worked with, including Benjamin Britten who taught him to sing, John Lennon - with whom he shared a villa - and Oliver Reed, Michael Winner, Barbra Steisand, Gene Kelly and Frank Sinatra.

Parcel Arrived Safely

Tied with String

Ed Balls

THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER 
 
A life in and out of politics – from the despatch box to the stage on Strictly – by one of Britain’s most influential and well-loved political figures. 
 
'Full of anecdote, insight and authenticity’ Evening Standard BOOKS OF THE YEAR 
 
'Witty, reflective and engaging' Nick Robinson 
 
'Honest and revealing' Michael Palin 
 
'Fascinating, heartfelt' Kay Burley 
 
'Insightful, funny, unexpectedly moving' Jonathan Freedland 
 
On the night of 7 May 2015, Ed Balls thought there was a chance he would wake up the next morning as the new Chancellor of the Exchequer. Instead, he woke up without a job. 
 
Twenty-one years earlier he had left a promising career in journalism to work for Labour in opposition. Moving through the ranks, from adviser to Cabinet minister and on to Shadow Chancellor, he occupied a central and influential position in and out of power during a pivotal period in British history. 
 
Speaking Out is a record of a life in politics, but also much more. It is about how power can be used for good, and the lessons to be learned when things go wrong. It is about the mechanics of Westminster, and of government. It is about facing up to your fears and misgivings, and tackling your limitations – on stages public and private. 
 
It is about the mistakes made, change delivered and personalities encountered over the course of two decades at the frontline of British politics. It is a unique window into a rarely seen world. Most importantly, it sets out what politics is about, and why it matters.

Speaking Out

Lessons in Life and Politics

John Pearson

Britain's foremost writer on crime turns to the disappearance of Lord Lucan. The basis of the upcoming ITV drama, Lucan, starring Rory Kinnear and Christopher Eccleston 
 
For over thirty years, John Pearson has provided us with literary exposures of some of the most enigmatic people and underground organisations of our modern world. The Gamblers follows the fortunes of five men at the centre of the ultra-fashionable Clermont Set: the Clermont Club's eccentric founder John Aspinall; Dominic Elwes, who was to betray the Set's code of silence; the socialite owner of Annabel's, Mark Birley; the womanising, multi millionaire James Goldsmith; and the infamous Lord 'Lucky' Lucan. 
 
At the heart of the Set lay a belief that risk-takers are the people who make civilisation tick.Cruel, heartless and snobbish, they gambled with their fortunes and kept a stiff upper lip when they lost.This and a loyalty to each other that transcended everything else enabled them to rise above crises such as the long affair between Birley's wife and James Goldsmith, and the facial mutilation of the Birley's son by one of Aspinall's tigers.Pearson revels in the charisma, charm and wit of these dastardly but debonair millionaires, and reveals how their code led to one of the great unsolved mysteries of the twentieth century.

The Gamblers

Lorenzo Carcaterra

An unforgettable true story of friendship, loyalty, violence and revenge, set against the unmistakable backdrop of New York City. Now a major film starring Dustin Hoffman, Brad Pitt, Robert de Niro and Kevin Bacon. 
 
Four boys - lifelong friends who shared everything - in the confines of New York City's Hell's Kitchen, content with playing as many pranks as they can without getting caught. Until one disastrous afternoon. 
 
When a harmless scheme goes terribly wrong, the boys are left facing a year's imprisonment in the Wilkinson Home for Boys, and the beatings and abuse they find there will change their lives forever. 
 
In the years that follow, one will become a lawyer, one a reporter, and two will grow to become hitmen for-hire. But for all of them, the legacy of Wilkinson - the pain, fear and anger - still rages on within. Only revenge will erase it. 
 
One final, audacious stand against a corrupt system. If they are caught this time, the only thing to lose is their lives.

Sleepers

Rick Wakeman

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

Further Adventures of a Grumpy Old Rock Star

The true story of the Ivy League hedge fund cowboys who gambled with the dangerously high stakes of the Asian stock market. 
 
John Malcolm, high school football hero and Princeton graduate made his millions back in the early '90s, a time when dozens of elite young American graduates made their fortunes in hedge funds in the Far East, beating the Japanese at their own game, riding the crashing waves of the Asian stock markets, gambling at impossibly high stakes and winning. Failure meant not only bankruptcy and disgrace à la Nick Leeson, but potentially even death - at the hands of the Japanese Yakuza: one of the world's most notoriously violent organised crime syndicates. 
 
Ugly Americans tells Malcolm's story, and that of others like him, in a high octane book, filled with glamour, money and the dangers these incur, this true story is a cross between Mezrich's own best-selling Bringing Down the House and Michael Lewis' Liar's Poker.

Ugly Americans

Ever since the Kray twins invited John Pearson to write their 'official' biography more than forty years ago, he has been obsessed with them. After they were jailed in 1969 for thirty years for murder, Pearson's biography The Profession of Violence enjoyed a cult following among the young and was said to be the most popular book in H.M.'s prisons, after the Bible. 
 
Ron died in 1995. Reg followed him five years later, and both of their funerals drew crowds on a scale unknown for film stars, let alone for two departed murderers. Since then, far from fading with their death, public fascination with the twins has never flagged. Their clothes and memorabilia are sold at auction like religious relics. Ron's childlike prison paintings fetch more money than those of many well-known artists. And people still refer to them like popular celebrities. Why? 
 
This is the question Pearson asked himself, and over the past three years he has been re-examining their history, unearthing much previously unknown material, and has come to some fascinating conclusions. Notorious reveals new facts about the Krays' tortured relationship as identical twins; a relationship which helped predestine them to a life of crime; a relationship that made them utterly unlike any other major criminals. Pearson has discovered two new and unsuspected murders, along with fresh light on the killings of George Cornell and Jack 'the Hat' McVitie. There are facts about the twins' obsession with publicity, and how far this made them 'actor criminals' murdering for notoriety. Most riveting of all are the chapters which reveal how Ron Kray caused a major sexual scandal in which a prime minister, together with other leading politicians, condoned the most outrageous establishment cover-up in British politics since the war. 
 
Notorious contains many more surprises, but the one thing that emerges is that the Kray twins were not only stranger but also far more important than anyone ever suspected. Fascination with them will forever remain; they will never lose their role as the immortal murderers.

Notorious

The Immortal Legend of the Kray Twins

Reg Kray

_______ 
 
The shocking, gripping autobiography from one of the UK's most infamous criminals and gang leaders, and one half of the legendary Kray Twins, Reggie Kray. 
 
Reggie Kray is one of Britain's most notorious criminals. Together with his brother Ronnie, he rose through the ranks of London's East End gangland to run an evil empire of vice and villainy. But, after half a lifetime behind bars, Reg wants to set the record straight. 
 
Here, in his own words, is the true story of his life as one half of a criminal double act with his brother Ronnie, the chilling career of two street-wise kids who became standard-bearers of violence - from fire-bombings to shootings and cold-blooded murder. But here too is the inner voice of a one-time mobster who learned compassion through his own struggle to come to terms with a life sentence.

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