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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Michael McIntyre

Michael McIntyre is Britain's biggest comedy star. He has released two record-breaking DVDs, Live and Laughing and Hello Wembley; hosts his own BAFTA-nominated BBC1 series, Michael McIntyre's Comedy Roadshow; and has picked up British Comedy Awards for Best Live Stand-Up and Best Male TV Comic. Last year he became the youngest ever host of the Royal Variety Performance, and now in 2011 he takes the hot seat as a judge in the hit ITV show Britain's Got Talent. 
 
How did he get there? 
 
Michael reveals all in his remarkably honest and hilarious autobiography, Life &amp; Laughing. His showbiz roots, his appalling attempts to attract the opposite sex, his fish-out-of-water move from public to state school and his astonishing journey from selling just one ticket at the Edinburgh Festival to selling half a million tickets on his last tour. Michael's story is riveting, poignant, romantic and above all very, very funny.

Life and Laughing

The bestselling first official autobiography from Britain’s biggest comedy star

Spike Milligan

'I had not informed my parents of my return, I wanted it to be a lovely surprise; it was, for me, they were away ...' 
 
The seventh and last volume of Spike Milligan's memoirs sees our hero returning from war and Italy ... but to what? Aside from shooting large, inaccurate guns at Germans, all he has done for five long years is blow a trumpet, tell rude jokes and write and perform sketches for the entertainment of bored and murderous soldiers - who on earth is going to pay a civilian to do more of that? From the giddy heights of Hackney Empire to a Zurich Freak Show and beyond, Spike makes his way through the backwaters of showbiz, first as band musician then as one-man wild-act and eventually in the company of a group of like-minded comedians called Harry Secombe, Michael Bentine and Peter Sellers. They decide to call themselves The Goons...

Peace Work

David Walliams

Famous comedian, funniest judge on Britain's Got Talent, irresistible ladykiller and high-achieving sportsman, David Walliams is a man of many talents. Launched to fame with the record-breaking Little Britain, his characters - Lou, Florence, Emily, amongst others - became embedded in our shared popular culture. You couldn't enter a playground for a long while without hearing "eh, eh, eh" or "computer says no". 
 
Yet Walliams is a mystery. Often described as a bundle of contradictions, he is disarming and enigmatic, playing up his campness one minute and hinting about his depression the next. 
 
To read Camp David is to be truly shocked, as well as tickled pink, as Walliams bares his soul like never before and reveals a fascinating and complex mind. This searingly honest autobiography is a true roller-coaster ride of emotions, as this nation's sweetheart unlocks closely guarded secrets that until now have remained hidden in his past.

Camp David

PJ Gallagher

I grew up in a psychiatric experiment crossed with an alcoholic experiment. . . . a place run by two people who were extraordinarily drunk and guarded by a potentially vicious dog with a brain tumour. 
 
PJ Gallagher spent much of his childhood knocking back Lucozade with the local alcoholics in his parents' northside pub. But the chaos that reigned for his first ten years was nothing compared to what happened when - having lost the pub - his mum took in psychiatric patients from the local hospital to give them 'care in the community'. Now it was a household of ten - PJ, his sister, his parents and six lost souls. Worst. Idea. Ever. 
Madhouse is PJ's riotous life story. Being a kid while the adults around you are usually drunk, throwing house Masses or taking you to Camp Jesus instead of Trabolgan. Struggling at school, leaving early and discovering a talent for comedy. Making iconic TV shows like Naked Camera and The Young Offenders. Finally, finding a home in radio. 
 
Covering everything from dogs, motorbikes and the art of small talk, to the lessons of mental breakdown and finally figuring out love, this is PJ unbound. Most surprising - to PJ more than anyone - is the prospect of becoming a dad in his late forties, when he always thought of 'family' as a trap. 
 
Madhouse is the funny, insightful and moving story of someone just trying to keep his head above water - and how he is making sense of it all at last!

Madhouse

The naked truth about my chaotic childhood, losing my mind and finding a place to call home

'My namer is Maria Antonoinetta Fontana, but everyone call me Toni.''I'm Spike,' sometimes known as stop thief or hey you.'Yeser, I know.' 
 
The sixth volume of Spike Milligan's off-the-wall account of his part in World War Two sees our hero doing very little soldiering. Because it's 1946. Rather, he is now part of the Bill Hall Trio - a 'Combined Services Entertainment' inflicted on unsuspecting soldiers across Italy and Austria - and is largely preoccupied with the unbearably beautiful ballerina, Ms Toni Fontana ('Arghhhhhhhhh!). But he must enjoy it while he can before he is demobbed and sent home to Catford - so he does ...

Goodbye Soldier

Rob Brydon

Rob Brydon - star of Gavin and Stacey, Steve Coogan's partner in The Trip, and one of Britain's favourite comedians - tells the funny and frank story of his slow ascent to fame and fortune in Small Man in a Book. 
 
A multi-award-winning actor, writer, comedian and presenter known for his warmth, humour and inspired impressions, Rob Brydon has quickly become one of our very favourite entertainers. But there was a time when it looked like all we'd hear of Rob was his gifted voice. 
 
Growing up in South Wales, Rob had a passion for radio and soon the Welsh airwaves resounded to his hearty burr. However, these were followed by years of misadventure and struggle, before, in the TV series Marion and Geoff and Gavin and Stacey, Rob at last tickled the nation's funny bone. The rest, as they say, is history. Or in his case autobiography. 
 
Small Man in a Book is a funny, heartfelt, honest, sometimes sad, but mainly funny, memoir of how a young man from Wales very, very slowly became an overnight success.

Small Man in a Book

Alice Montgomery

The first, intimate biography of Jamie Dornan as he takes on one of the most iconic characters in fiction - Christian Grey. 
 
Jamie Dornan is about to become the hottest sex symbol on the planet after landing the leading role in the Fifty Shades of Grey movies. But he remains almost as enigmatic as Mr Grey himself. 
 
Jamie Dornan: Shades of Desire will reveal everything fans want to know about the mysterious Mr Dornan, from his tragic childhood to his career as a Calvin Klein model, dating Keira Knightley to finding love with his wife Amelia Warner. How does his part as a BDSM-loving billionaire sit alongside his real life role as a family man and father to a young daughter? And how will he cope with fame as the Fifty Shades of Grey films launch him into superstardom? 
 
This biography will be the first to show what Jamie Dornan is really like behind closed doors.

Jamie Dornan: Shades of Desire

Gyles Brandreth

In Odd Boy Out Gyles Brandreth provides an extraordinarily revealing account of growing up and coming of age in an apparently well-to-do but always strapped-for-cash middle-class English family. 
 
By turns hilarious and moving, and chock full of unforgettable stories, Odd Boy Out is the unexpected and candid autobiography of one of the country's most unlikely personalities. Yet at root it is a powerful and passionate exploration of childhood - how our heritage, our parents and our upbringing make us who we are.

Odd Boy Out

Brendan O'Carroll

Before he became the nation's favourite Mammy, Brendan O'Carroll was known, simply as Brendan. He's the youngest of ten children from a poor family in Dublin, he's a boy whose father died when he was just nine years old; he's someone whose hope and determination meant he never gave up. Throughout the tough moments, Brendan always had humour and a good story to tell alongside the ever-guiding inspiration of his own Mammy, a formidable figure who became Ireland's first female Labour MP, all whilst raising eleven children by herself. 
 
 Just like the show so brilliantly expresses, Brendan's first autobiography, the real story behind the man who became Mrs Brown, combines uplifting heart, warmth and hilarity.

Call Me Mrs. Brown

The hilarious autobiography from the star of Mrs. Brown’s Boys

Jennifer Saunders

Jennifer Saunders' comic creations have brought joy to millions. From Comic Strip to Comic Relief, from Bolly-swilling Edina in Ab Fab to her takes on Madonna or Mamma Mia, her characters are household names. 
 
But it's Jennifer herself who has a place in all our hearts. This is her funny, moving and frankly bonkers memoir, filled with laughter, friends and occasional heartache - but never misery. 
 
BONKERS is full of riotous adventures: accidentally enrolling on a teacher training course with a young Dawn French, bluffing her way to each BBC series, shooting Lulu, trading wild faxes with Joanna Lumley, touring India with Ruby Wax and Goldie Hawn. 
 
There's cancer, too, when she becomes 'Brave Jen'. But her biggest battle is with the bane of her life: the Laws of Procrastination. As she admits, 'There has never been a Plan. Everything has been fairly random, happened by accident or just fallen into place. I'm off now, to do some sweeping...' 
Prepare to chuckle, whoop, and go BONKERS.

Bonkers

My Life in Laughs

Meredith Trapp

She’s Texas's toughest bull rider, and he’s determined to win her heart. 
 
Dakota and Wyatt. Storm and sunshine. Growing up, they were as inseparable as a pair of cowboy boots. The best of friends – or so Dakota thought. 
 
Every summer, Wyatt would come home to his family’s flower farm in Granite Falls, Texas, and they’d stargaze in the fields together, pinkies brushing, laughter rumbling with the cicadas . . . until one summer, he never returned. 
 
Dakota hasn’t heard a peep from Wyatt in over three years, and during that time, a lot has changed. He’s the hockey world’s golden boy, and she’s developed a reputation as “The Cowboy Killer,” breaking both rodeo records and men’s hearts. The last thing Dakota needs is a distraction from her bull-riding goals, but everything changes when her old friend waltzes back into town with an adorable baby on his hip. 
 
Wyatt’s back to get the girl he’s been obsessing over for years, and he’s willing to do whatever it takes to get her back – two-stepping at the rodeo, jumping into Cibolo Creek, even rendezvousing in outdoor showers. All Dakota wants is to keep her distance and focus on training, but when she learns the truth behind why Wyatt left, she finds it hard to stay away. . . 
 
The scorching Texas sun might not be the only thing that burns them this summer.

Homebound

Ronnie Archer-Morgan

Janet Gleeson

'Ronnie has overcome a heart-breaking start in life to achieve great success and no one deserves it more. What a dude, what a life!' - Fiona Bruce 
 
'Brilliant...a mercurial memoir of a meritorious life.' - Lemn Sissay 
 
For decades, Ronnie Archer-Morgan has brought to life the fascinating, often surprising backstories behind our most cherished heirlooms and household objects on the Antiques Roadshow. Now, he tells his own unlikely story. 
 
 Born in the fifties to a Sierra Leonean mother battling mental health problems, Ronnie spent his childhood in and out of care. After difficult beginnings, marked by abuse, racism and brushes with both criminals and the police, he got into music, managing to get DJ gigs and, later, worked as a celebrity hairdresser for Vidal Sassoon and Smile in the height of seventies London. A flair for spotting antiques led him to start his own Knightsbridge gallery, ultimately becoming one of the most respected figures in the industry, culminating in a regular spot as an expert on the nation's Sunday favourite, Antiques Roadshow. 
 
 Told with rich warmth, this is an extraordinary journey from deprivation and abuse to adventure and success against the odds - with stories of the incredible objects which shaped the way. 
 
'A surprising story, like many of the objects he appraises on the Antiques Roadshow' - Kate Adie, broadcaster and bestselling author 
 
'A fascinating, rollercoaster read, very well told.' - Times

Would It Surprise You To Know…?

David Niven

The Moon's a Balloon is an account of one of the most remarkable lives Hollywood has ever seen. From early tales of school, army and wartime hi-jinx, Niven shows how, even as an unknown young man, he knew how to live the good life. But it is his astonishing stories of life in Hollywood, working and partying with the legends of the silver screen - Lawrence Oliver, Vivien Leigh, Cary Grant, Elizabeth Taylor, James Stewart, Lauren Bacall, Marlene Dietrich, Noel Coward and dozens of others, while making some of the most acclaimed films of the last century - which turn Niven's memoir into an outright masterpiece.

The Moon's a Balloon

The Classic Hollywood Memoir

Barry Humphries

Barry Humphries was loved all over the world for his alter ego Dame Edna Everage and her famous catchphrase 'Hello Possums!' 
 
But beyond his own monstrous creation, this remarkable memoir takes a nostalgic look over his life and career, and the private life that Dame Edna overshadowed. 
 
More Please, the first of several autobiographies by Humphries, won critical praise and the J.R. Ackerley prize.

More Please

Holly Stars

By day, shy accountant Joe hides behind their desk and plays by the rules. 
By night, Joe takes to the stage as Misty Divine, a star of the London drag scene. 
But when Misty's mentor, Lady Lady, is found dead in her dressing room, Misty finds herself under the spotlight for all the wrong reasons. 
Because Lady Lady was murdered - and Misty and her fellow performers quickly become prime suspects. 
Heartbroken by the loss, and frustrated by the biases of the police, Joe is determined to uncover the killer in their midst. But what can they, a mere accountant, possibly do? 
This is a case for Misty Divine...

Murder in the Dressing Room

Julie Owen Moylan

Berlin, 1926. After the death of their parents, sisters Leni and Annette only have each other. Desperate to support her younger sister, Leni finds work at a notorious cabaret: the Babylon Circus, a place where reality and fantasy merge. 
 
Leni is happiest hiding in the shadows, until she meets resident pianist, Paul, beginning a tentative love affair that will play out over the next forty years. 
 
But can a love born within the feverish walls of the Babylon Circus ever survive? And can the bond between Leni and Annette – tugged in opposite directions of their own – also endure?

Circus of Mirrors

Antony Beevor

Olga Chekhova was the niece of Anton Chekhov, a stunning Russian beauty and a famous Nazi-era film actress who Hitler counted among his friends. After fleeing Bolshevik Moscow for Berlin in 1920, she was recruited by her composer brother Lev, to work for Soviet intelligence. In return, her family were allowed to join her. 
 
The extraordinary story of how the whole family survived the Russian Revolution, the civil war, the rise of Hitler, the Stalinist Terror, and the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union is a breathtaking tale of compromise and survival in a merciless age. 
 
In Antony Beevor's spellbinding narrative, this single story paints a vivid picture of an extraordinary era.

The Mystery of Olga Chekhova

A Life Torn Apart By Revolution And War

The true story of a family torn apart by revolution and war

'It's all over, Von Arnheim has surrendered and he's very angry.''This could mean war...' 
 
The third volume of Spike Milligan's laugh-a-line account of life as a gunner in World War Two resumes on the eve of victory in North Africa. Now Britain's looniest war hero must combat some of the direst threats a soldier has ever faced - boredom ('Christ, I just thought of Catford'), a cold ('In this weather?' 'Yed.'), moving camp ('It's a sort of Brighton with camels'), relaxing on the beach ('Life was golden, and we were the assayers'), moving camp again ('We're already somewhere else'), a visit to Carthage ('It's terrible, it's like Catford') and a perilous encounter with the gloriously endowed Mademoiselle Villion ('"Help! massage," I said weakly'). Against the odds, they survive and are sent at last to Italy to be killed...

Monty

His Part in My Victory

Al Pacino

From one of the most iconic actors in the history of film, an astonishingly revelatory account of a creative life in full 
 
To the wider world, Al Pacino exploded onto the scene like a supernova. He landed his first leading role, in The Panic in Needle Park, in 1971, and by 1975, he had starred in four movies—The Godfather and The Godfather Part II, Serpico, and Dog Day Afternoon—that were not just successes but landmarks in the history of film. Those performances became legendary and changed his life forever. Not since Marlon Brando and James Dean in the late 1950s had an actor landed in the culture with such force. 
 
But Pacino was in his mid thirties by then, and had already lived several lives. A fixture of avant-garde theater in New York, he had led a bohemian existence, working odd jobs to support his craft. He was raised by a fiercely loving but mentally unwell mother and her parents after his father left them when he was young, but in a real sense he was raised by the streets of the South Bronx, and by the troop of buccaneering young friends he ran with, whose spirits never left him. After a teacher recognized his acting promise and pushed him toward New York’s fabled High School of Performing Arts, the die was cast. In good times and bad, in poverty and in wealth and in poverty again, through pain and joy, acting was his lifeline, its community his tribe. 
 
Sonny Boy is the memoir of a man who has nothing left to fear and nothing left to hide. All the great roles, the essential collaborations, and the important relationships are given their full due, as is the vexed marriage between creativity and commerce at the highest levels. The book’s golden thread, however, is the spirit of love and purpose. Love can fail you, and you can be defeated in your ambitions—the same lights that shine bright can also dim. But Al Pacino was lucky enough to fall deeply in love with a craft before he had the foggiest idea of any of its earthly rewards, and he never fell out of love. That has made all the difference. 
 
_________________________________________________________________________ 
 
Praise for Al Pacino: 
 
‘Al Pacino is magical’ Martin Scorsese 
 
‘A legend’ Francis Ford Coppola 
 
‘So unique and special’ Robert De Niro 
 
‘A singular, special talent, whose work stands the test of time’ Robin Williams 
 
‘A wicked sense of humour’ Oliver Stone 
 
‘Charming, hilarious, a nonstop talker. There is an aspect of him that is like a lost orphan, like this kind of crazy idiot savant’ Diane Keaton 
 
‘As Michael in The Godfather, Pacino was everything I wanted that character to be on screen. I couldn’t believe it. It was, in my eyes, a perfect performance, a work of art’ Mario Puzo, author of The Godfather 
 
‘Comedic, talented, and certifiably insane’ Johnny Depp 
 
‘Al is money, the man in charge, making it happen. I got to act with Al Pacino and it was worth more to me than anything’ Samuel L Jackson 
 
‘A marvellous actor and man’ Sean Connery 
 
‘The depth of Al Pacino's artistry is only more overwhelmed by the generosity of his spirit and his warmth. Al Pacino is Van Gogh. Modigliani' Andy Garcia 
 
‘The greatest actor in the world’ Jamie Foxx

Sonny Boy

A Memoir

Eddie Izzard

The stand-up comedian of his generation. Star of stage and screen. Tireless supporter of charity. Runner. Political campaigner. Fashion icon. Human. There is no one quite like Eddie Izzard. 
 
This is the story of how a boy who wanted to become a professional footballer and win the lead in Joseph and His Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat found comedy. Affecting, witty and nothing less than rousing, readers will, as Eddie himself says, 'look at my life and say, 'If that idiot transvestite can run a whole bunch of marathons, play the Hollywood Bowl, and travel across France with a French-speaking tour, then what's holding me back?''

Believe Me

A Memoir of Love, Death and Jazz Chickens

Daniel Sloss

One of this generation's hottest and boldest young comedians, Daniel Sloss presents a transgressive and hilarious analysis of all of our dysfunctional relationships, and attempts to point us in the vague direction of sanity. 
Including lovers, ex-lovers, ex-lovers who you hate, ex-lovers who hate you, with parents, with best friends (male and female), not-best friends, with children, with siblings, and even with the global pandemic and our own mortality.

Everyone You Hate is Going to Die

And Other Comforting Thoughts on Family, Friends, Sex, Love, and More Things That Ruin Your Life

'Back to those haunting days in Italy in 1944, at the foot of Mount Vesuvius, with lava running in great red rivulets down the slope towards us, and Jock taking a drag on his cigarette and saying, "I think we've got grounds for a rent rebate."' 
 
The fifth volume of Spike Milligan's unsurpassed account of life as a Bombardier in World War Two sees our hero dispatched from the front line to psychiatric hospital and from there to a rehabilitation camp. Considered loony (and 'unfit to be killed in combat by either side'), he becomes embroiled in his own private battle with melancholy. But it is music, wit and a little help from his friends - including one Gunner Harry Secombe - that help carry him through to his first stage appearances ...

Where Have All the Bullets Gone?

Mel Brooks

AVAILABLE NOW 
 
At 95, the legendary Mel Brooks continues to set the standard for comedy across television, film, and the stage. Now, for the first time, this EGOT (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, Tony) winner shares his story in his own words. 
 
'Not since the Bible have I read anything so powerful and poignant. And to boot - it's a lot funnier!' - M. Brooks 
 
For anyone who loves American comedy, the long wait is over. Here are the never-before-told, behind-the-scenes anecdotes and remembrances from a master storyteller, filmmaker, and creator of all things funny. 
 
 All About Me! charts Mel Brooks's meteoric rise from a Depression-era kid in Brooklyn to the recipient of the National Medal of Arts. Whether serving in the United States Army in World War II, or during his burgeoning career as a teenage comedian in the Catskills, Mel was always mining his experiences for material, always looking for the perfect joke. His iconic career began with Sid Caesar's Your Show of Shows, where he was part of the greatest writers' room in history, which included Carl Reiner, Neil Simon, and Larry Gelbart. After co-creating both the mega-hit 2000 Year Old Man comedy albums and the classic television series Get Smart, Brooks's stellar film career took off. He would go on to write, direct, and star in The Producers, The Twelve Chairs, Blazing Saddles, Young Frankenstein, Silent Movie, High Anxiety, and Spaceballs, as well as produce groundbreaking and eclectic films, including The Elephant Man, The Fly, and My Favorite Year. Brooks then went on to conquer Broadway with his record-breaking, Tony-winning musical, The Producers. 
 
All About Me! offers fans insight into the inspiration behind the ideas for his outstanding collection of boundary-breaking work, and offers details about the many close friendships and collaborations Brooks had, including those with Sid Caesar, Carl Reiner, Gene Wilder, Madeleine Kahn, Alfred Hitchcock, and the great love of his life, Anne Bancroft. 
 
Filled with tales of struggle, achievement, and camaraderie (and dozens of photographs), readers will gain a more personal and deeper understanding of the incredible body of work behind one of the most accomplished and beloved entertainers in history.

All About Me!

My Remarkable Life in Show Business

Ronnie Corbett

Double acts don't come any closer than the The Two Ronnies. 
 
Messrs Barker and Corbett kept a nation laughing for two decades, and yet despite the rigorous work that went into writing, rehearsing and broadcasting almost a hundred episodes to millions of viewers each week, the pair never shared a cross word. 
 
For the first time, Ronnie Corbett tells the story of the their rise from theatre, through The Frost Report and into their own legendary show, as well as how some of their greatest sketches, including Mastermind and Fork Handles, came into being. 
 
This is the story of one of the great British institutions of the last thirty years, and a hilarious and moving look inside the working lives of two of our most-beloved comedians. 
 
.

And It's Goodnight from Him . . .

The Autobiography of the Two Ronnies

Orlando Figes

The Europeans is a richly enthralling, panoramic cultural history of nineteenth-century Europe, told through the intertwined lives of three remarkable people: a great singer, Pauline Viardot, a great writer, Ivan Turgenev, and a great connoisseur, Pauline's husband Louis. Their ambitious lives and complex loves were bound up with an astonishing array of writers, composers and painters all trying to make their way through the exciting, prosperous European cultural landscape that came about as a result of huge economic and technological change. This culture - through trains, telegraphs and printing - allowed artists of all kinds to exchange ideas and make a living, as they travelled across the whole continent from the British Isles to Imperial Russia. 
 
The Europeans is Orlando Figes' masterpiece. It describes huge changes through intimate details, little-known stories and through the lens of Turgenev and the Viardots' touching, strange love triangle. Events which we now see as central to European high culture are made completely fresh, allowing the reader to revel in the sheer precariousness with which the great salons, premieres and bestsellers came into existence.

The Europeans

Three Lives and the Making of a Cosmopolitan Culture

Kevin Bridges

Aged 17, Kevin Bridges walked on stage for the first time and brought the house down. He only had a five-minute set but he discovered he really could earn a living from making people laugh. 
 
 Kevin began life as a shy, nerve-ridden school-boy. Reaching his teens, he followed his true calling as the class clown. This was a guy going somewhere - off the rails seeming most likely. 
 
 Kevin's trademark social commentary, sharp one-liners and laugh-out-loud humour blend with his reflections on his Glaswegian childhood and the journey he's taken to become one of the most-loved comedians of our time.

We Need to Talk About . . . Kevin Bridges

Jenny Holmes

'Live for the day' is the motto for the times, and our girls plan to waltz their worries away... 
 
Ever-ambitious Sylvia wants more from her life, so starts planning a Dance Weekend at the Winter Gardens – not easy in wartime when air raids could cancel an event at the last minute. What she doesn't expect is for the competition to bring the dashing Vernon into her life too! Could everything finally fall into place for Sylvia? 
 
Joy's life has entirely turned around in the last year. Newly married to her beloved Tommy and at the helm of her family's business in Manchester, she can't believe how far she's come. But will the plight of her young employee Mildred throw things off course? Or will she and Tommy still be able to perfect their waltz in time for the competition? 
 
Pearl is still longing for her darling Bernie to return from the war. Dancing is the best way to distract herself from her worries, so she throws herself into rehearsing the jive with handsome GI partner Errol. But as tongues begin to wag, will the ballroom still provide the solace she needs? 
 
As the war wears on, can the Ballroom Girls really hit the big time?

The Ballroom Girls Hit the Big Time

'At Victoria station the R.T.O. gave me a travel warrant, a white feather and a picture of Hitler marked "This is your enemy". I searched every compartment, but he wasn't on the train . . .' 
 
In this, the first of Spike Milligan's uproarious recollections of life in the army, our hero takes us from the outbreak of war in 1939 ('it must have been something we said'), through his attempts to avoid enlistment ('time for my appendicitus, I thought') and his gunner training in Bexhill ('There was one drawback. No ammunition') to the landing at Algiers in 1943 ('I closed my eyes and faced the sun. I fell down a hatchway'). 
 
Filled with bathos, pathos and gales of ribald laughter, this is a barely sane helping of military goonery and superlative Milliganese.

Adolf Hitler

My Part in his Downfall

A voice is calling across the land, "Bombardier Milligan.""Bombadier Milligan is dead," I replied in a disguised voice.The voice replied, "Then he's going to miss his breakfast." 
 
The fourth volume of Spike Milligan's legendary account of his time in the army during World War Two begins as he and his regiment land in sunny Italy in 1943 ('The ship touched the beach very gently, so gently I suspect it's not insured'). After a bout of Sandfly Fever, from which he soon recovers ('I'm ready to be killed again'), our plucky hero is piddled on by a farm dog ('Mussolini's revenge?') before forging his way inland towards the enemy and the sound of guns ('We're getting near civilisation'), where matters suddenly take a dark turn ('I was not really me any more') ...

Mussolini

His Part in My Downfall

David Robinson

David Robinson's definitive and monumental biography of Charlie Chaplin, the greatest icon in the history of cinema, who lived one of the most dramatic rags to riches stories ever told. 
 
Chaplin's life was marked by extraordinary contrasts: the child of London slums who became a multimillionaire; the on-screen clown who was a driven perfectionist behind the camera; the adulated star who publicly fell from grace after personal and political scandal. This engrossing and definitive work, written with full access to Chaplin's archives, tells the whole story of a brilliant, complex man. 
 
David Robinson is a celebrated film critic and historian who wrote for The Times and the Financial Times for several decades. His many books include World Cinema, Hollywood in the Twenties and Buster Keaton. 
 
'A marvellous book... unlikely ever to be surpassed' Spectator 
 
'I cannot imagine how anyone could write a better book on the great complex subject... movingly entertaining, awesomely thorough and profoundly respectful' Sunday Telegraph 
 
'One of the great cinema books; a labour of love and a splendid achievement' Variety 
 
'One of those addictive biographies in which you start by looking in the index for items that interest you... and as dawn breaks you're reading the book from cover to cover' Financial Times

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