Steve Roud was Local Studies Librarian for the London Borough of Croydon and served as Honorary Librarian of the Folklore Society for over fifteen years. He has been researching British folklore for over thirty years and is the joint author of the Oxford Dictionary of English Folklore, plus other books on traditional drama and folk song, and the Penguin Guide to the Superstitions of Britain and Ireland, which won the Katharine Briggs Folklore Award in 2004. His publications include London Lore (2008) and The Lore of the Playground (2010). He also compiles the Folk Song Index and the Broadside Index, two internationally acclaimed computer databases of traditional folk and popular song. He lives in Sussex.

Steve Roud

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James Hogg

Robert Sellers

Spontaneous, hilarious, irrepressible and, of course, trailblazing - Kenny Everett was revolutionary in television and radio comedy. Chris Evans, Chris Moyles, Rob Brydon and Steve Wright have all cited Kenny as a huge influence on their work - even the great Spike Milligan called him a genius. It was Kenny who developed the radio show format with which we are so familiar today: a mix of music, jingles, funny voices and sound effects. When he seamlessly made the move to television in the seventies, he created unforgettable characters such as Sid Snot, Cupid Stunt and Marcel Wave. 
 
Rarely seen without a smile on his face in public, in reality, Kenny was a deeply insecure man who suffered severe bouts of depression. He also struggled with his sexuality, only coming out to the public in 1985. Diagnosed with HIV in 1987, Kenny died in 1995. 
 
This in-depth and affectionate biography has been fully authorised by Kenny's family and contains original interviews with Kenny's sister, Kate and with his former wife, Lee, as well as entertainment figures such as Barry Cryer, Cliff Richard, Chris Tarrant and Paul Gambaccini. Packed with fabulous stories about the highs and lows of Kenny's life, his great friendships with The Beatles and Freddie Mercury, this is a book that any fan of comedy and entertainment must read.

Hello, Darlings!

The Authorized Biography of Kenny Everett

Derren Brown

Learn how Derren astounds fans with his incredible memory. He teaches you some simple, fun systems to improve your memory, transform aspects of your life and wow an audience with your amazing powers of recollection. 
 
Discover how Derren dumbfounds millions with his challenging and controversial illusions and journey into the intriguing psychology of perception and memory. 
 
Enlightening, entertaining and hilarious. Narrated by the master of magic himself. 
 
Composer: Steve Beresford 
Music Publisher: BDi Music Ltd

Memory - Tricks Of The Mind

Learn the key techniques behind successful hypnotism, including the preparation of your subject, inducing a trance and awakening your subject. Derren offers you tips on how to be safe, as well as revealing some of his own experiences on stage- good and bad! 
 
Discover how Derren dumbfounds millions with his challenging and controversial illusions and journey into the intriguing psychology of perception and memory. 
 
Elightening, entertaining and hilarious. Narrated by the master of magic himself. 
 
 
Composer: Steve Beresford 
Music Publisher: BDi Music Ltd

Hypnosis - Tricks Of The Mind

Mitchell Symons

Flotsam &amp; Jetsam is the ultimate trivia book for fans of the popular BBC Radio 4 programme Desert Island Discs, and a fascinating introduction for all those who have yet to discover its delights. 
 
Taking the reader through seven decades of wonderful entertainment, here is an absorbing range of facts, figures and miscellany – including who chose what, and why. It also reveals much about the castaways' drives and motivations, their influences and, of course, their lives. 
 
Spanning the early years with the original presenter, Roy Plomley, and the present day, the Desert Island Discs programme has brought its own unique surprises to listeners, some very personal, some humorous, such as Eric Morecambe's choice of a deckchair as his luxury and Ernie Wise's of a deckchair ticket machine. 
 
From Beethoven to the Beatles, from chessboards and chocolate to Jane Austen and Zola, Flotsam &amp; Jetsam is the perfect companion guide to the national treasure that is Desert Island Discs.

Desert Island Discs: Flotsam & Jetsam

Fascinating facts, figures and miscellany from one of BBC Radio 4’s best-loved programmes

Craig Phillips

In summer 2000 a new media phenomenon was born - Big Brother. Rivetting the viewing public and the media alike, it was watched by over 10 million people. 
 
The very first winner was Craig Phillips, the endearing Liverpudlian 'chippie with a heart of gold'. He emerged from the big Brother house with 3.7 million votes and promptly gave his entire £70,000 winnings to a friend with Downs Syndrome. 
 
Craig already had an established and successful construction business and after leaving Big Brother went on to combine this with his new-found media savvy to forge a brilliant career spanning both worlds. 
 
He went on to present and produce shows for BBC, ITV and Discovery Channel, as well as making guest appearances on some of the most popular shows on TV including The Weakest Link, Bo! Selecta, and Children in Need. 
 
Alongside this he has set up a skills centre to train young people. He gives inspirational talks to schools and universities and has raised hundreds of thousands of pounds for numerous charities. 
 
Not bad for a dyslexic working class boy from a deprived area of Liverpool. Craig's is the ultimate story of triumph over adversity. But it could have been so different...

My Story

Building Beyond Big Brother

Goldie Hawn

THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER 
In A Lotus Grows in the Mud, Goldie Hawn takes us on an inspiring odyssey and, with her trademark effervescent humour, reveals the lessons she's learned and the wisdom she's gained along the way. This is Goldie's chance to talk about everything from anger and fear, to love, compassion, friendship, and the many challenges she's faced in her career. 
 
First recalling her early days as the little girl from suburbia who longed to be a ballerina but felt like an ugly duckling, Goldie then takes us on a whirlwind tour through her go-go dancing years in 1960s New York, her phenomenal success on TV's Rowan &amp; Martin's Laugh-in, Hollywood stardom and her extraordinary experiences in films such as the Oscar-winning Cactus Flower, Swing Shift, and Private Benjamin. She also speaks about her relationship with her family - partner Kurt Russell, her children Kate Hudson, Oliver Hudson and Wyatt Russell, and her stepson Boston. 
 
Written with compassion and integrity, A Lotus Grows in the Mud is an insightful and inspiring look back at a life well lived by a woman well loved.

A Lotus Grows In The Mud

Simon Mayo

Can a crocodile spit? What does the Queen have for dinner? How do you measure a rainbow? Why is q always followed by u? 
 
Originally open for children to phone in with their homework issues, these days the ‘Homework Sucks’ segment of Simon Mayo’s award-winning Drivetime show invites listeners of all ages to send in questions they've always wanted to ask. Because the chances are a member of the very clever Radio 2 audience will have an answer. So now all you need to do is learn the contents of this book by heart. We apologize if, in the process, you become: 
 
a) smarter b) more interesting c) better at pub quizzes d) all of the above 
 
Got a question? Got a better answer? Join in! #homeworksucks

Homework Sucks!

A Drivetime Book of Really Useful Information

Dj Khaled

In The Keys, Snapchat sensation and recording artist DJ Khaled guides you through the pathway to success. Within these pages, he shares the wisdom of his life lessons, such as: 
 
- Stay away from They 
- Don’t ever play yourself 
- Respect the code 
- Win, win win, no matter what 
 
This positive, motivational book will give you the advice you need to go out there and create the life you’ve always wanted. Its upbeat, inspirational message will show you that you can achieve great things if you keep focussed, stay positive and never listen to the doubters.

The Keys

Simon Mayo first opened his confessional in 1988 on BBC Radio 1's Breakfast Show. Every day, one shamefaced listener would share their deepest, darkest secret while millions tuned in to find out whether or not Simon would grant his forgiveness. 
 
Over twenty years later, Simon presents the daily Drivetime show on BBC Radio 2, and the confessions segment is back. Now those guilty listeners who missed their chance first time round have joined a whole new generation of sinners to beg for clemency from Father Mayo and his flock. From supermarket-wrecking games of 'aisle catch' to kidnapped pensioners and clandestine pet vasectomies, this is a brand-new collection of hilarious letters and emails from Simon's ever-popular show. 
 
Join the discussion on Twitter: #drivetimeconfessions

Confessions

Tom Santopietro

In March 1965 the film of The Sound of Music was released - and the love affair between moviegoers and the classic Rodgers and Hammerstein musical began. 
 
Rarely has a film so captured the love and imagination of the public, blending history, music, Austrian location filming, heartfelt emotion and the yodelling of Julie Andrews into a monster hit. Now, Tom Santopietro has written the ultimate "Sound of Music" fan book with all the inside information - the real-life story of the Von Trapps, the behind the dramas of the casting - we all know that Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer played Maria and Captain Von Trapp, but who else had been considered? – and the many hazards of shooting the film on location. We learn how some of the iconic songs came into being and what the actors really thought of it. 
 
Tom Santopietro knows all and will tell all. The Sound of Music Story is a book for everyone who cherishes this classic musical.

The Sound of Music Story

Sean Magee

‘For seventy years now Desert Island Discs has managed that rare feat – to be both enduring and relevant. By casting away the biggest names of the day in science, business, politics, showbiz, sport and the arts, it presents a cross-sectional snapshot of the times in which we live. As the decades have passed, the programme has kept pace; never frozen in time yet always, somehow, comfortingly the same.’ Kirsty Young 
 
BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs celebrates its seventieth birthday in 2012. Since the programme’s deviser Roy Plomley interviewed comedian Vic Oliver in January 1942, nearly 3,000 distinguished people from all walks of life have been stranded on the mythical island, accompanied by only eight records, one book and a luxury. 
 
Here the story of one of BBC Radio 4’s favourite programmes is chronicled through a special selection of castaways. 
 
Roy Plomley, inventor of the programme as well as its presenter for over forty years, quizzes the young Cliff Richard about ‘these rather frenzied movements’ the 1960s pop sensation makes on the stage. Robert Maxwell tells Plomley’s successor Michael Parkinson that ‘I will have left the world a slightly better place by having lived in it.’ Diana Mosley assures Sue Lawley that Adolf Hitler was ‘extraordinarily fascinating’ and had mesmeric blue eyes. And Johnny Vegas tugs Kirsty Young’s heart-strings with his account of a childhood so impoverished that family pets were fair game: ‘My dad had always claimed that rabbits were livestock, but we’d never eaten one before.’ 
 
Desert Island Discs is much more than a radio programme. It is a unique and enduringly popular take on our lives and times – and this extensively illustrated book tells in rich detail the colourful and absorbing story of an extraordinary institution.

Desert Island Discs: 70 Years of Castaways

Hannah Fry

Adam Rutherford

'If only Adam Rutherford and Hannah Fry were on tap to all of us, all the time . . . The pair have such a gift for making life, numbers and the forces at work in the universe all the richer, stranger, funnier and more marvellous.' Stephen Fry 
 
In Rutherford and Fry's comprehensive guidebook, they tell the complete story of the universe and absolutely everything in it - skipping over some of the boring parts. 
This is a celebration of the weirdness of the cosmos, the strangeness of humans and the fact that amid all the mess, we can somehow make sense of life. 
 
Our brains have evolved to tell us all sorts of things that feel intuitively right but just aren't true: the world looks flat, the stars seem fixed in the heavenly firmament, a day is 24 hours... This book is crammed full of tales of how stuff really works. With the power of science, Rutherford and Fry show us how to bypass our monkey-brains, taking us on a journey from the origin of time and space, via planets, galaxies, evolution, the dinosaurs, all the way into our minds, and wrestling with some truly head-scratching questions that only science can answer: 
 
What is time, and where does it come from? 
Why are animals the size and shape they are? 
How horoscopes work (Spoiler: they don't, but you think they do) 
Does my dog love me? 
Why nothing is truly round? 
Do you need your eyes to see? 
 
'A wonderfully engaging blend of wit, enthusiasm, clarity and knowledge.' Bill Bryson 
'Like the universe itself, this book is multi-faceted, surprising and full of wonders. It's also funny, wise and exceedingly brainy. You really owe it to yourself to read it.' Tim Harford, author of How To Make The World Add Up

Rutherford and Fry’s Complete Guide to Absolutely Everything

Cheryl Cole

Through My Eyes is the first official book from Cheryl Cole. Featuring a series of stunning exclusive new photos plus informal shots from her own personal collection, it gives us a unique glimpse into the life of our favourite star. 
 
From the recording studio in LA as she works on her debut album to backstage in Dublin on the opening night of her tour with the Black Eyed Peas, Cheryl shares with us some of her stand-out moments as a solo artist. We also explore the other elements of her stratospherically successful career as she takes us behind the scenes at The X Factor, into the world of L'Oreal, through the music industry's top awards ceremonies and into the windswept desert in California for a spectacular shoot under freezing conditions where we see her taking time off and enjoying rare moments of anonymity. 
 
Through the pictures that mean the most to her and their stories, which are told in her own words, Through My Eyes is a revealing and intimate portrait of the world of Cheryl Cole.

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