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Behind the Sequins: My Life
Par Shirley Ballas. 2020
Leave it all on the floor...Queen of Latin Ballroom, Shirley Ballas has a spectacular dance career spanning over 40 years…
– she has Cha-Cha'd her way across the world's dance floors to become a multi-award-winning ballroom champion and one of the most renowned dancers in the world. In 1996, Shirley retired from competitive dancing to become a highly-acclaimed coach and now holds the enviable position of Head Judge on BBC One's prime time show Strictly Come Dancing.In Behind the Sequins, she leads us through her dramatic and determined life, from growing up in a rough estate on the Wirral and leaving home at 14 years old, to conquering the high-octane world of ballroom and coping with betrayal, bullying, two broken marriages and a personal tragedy that left Shirley and her family devastated. Speaking from the heart, Shirley leaves her dancing shoes at the door to tell you the story of a fiery, strong-willed grafter who could make the brat pack blush.Behind the Black Door
Par Sarah Brown. 2011
In this personal memoir about life at 10 Downing Street, Sarah Brown shares the secrets of living behind the most…
famous front door in the world.Sarah gave up a successful career in business to serve the country. A passionate campaigner for women and children, she mobilised over a million people through her early adoption of Twitter.If you've ever wondered what it's like to pack for a photo call with supermodels or pause a speech in front of hundreds when the autocue fails, it's all here - from what to do when the school play clashes with a visit to the White House to what it feels like to support the man you love as he takes tough decisions to stave off global financial meltdown...Intimate, reflective, surprising and funny, Behind the Black Door takes us backstage to reveal what it's like to be an ordinary woman, wife and mother in extraordinary circumstances.Behaving Badly: Richard Harris
Par Cliff Goodwin. 2003
Richard Harris was never an easy person to get along with. He was a difficult schoolboy (and was later disowned…
by his Limerick teachers), then he went to work in the family flour and milling business - where he organised a strike against his father.It was as a gifted and compelling actor that Richard Harris dominated stage and screen for more than four decades. He was nominated for an Oscar twice: for his earthy portrayal of a rugby player in This Sporting Life and as a dominant and bullish Irish farmer in The Field. More recently he delivered gripping screen performances in Gladiator and two Harry Potter films.But it was his violent, drunken, womanising private life that fed the public myth and made Harris, one of a new breed of rogue male actors, an international celebrity. Married and divorced twice, with three sons - two actors, one a film director - he claimed the only time he had been miscast was as a husband. His lovers included legends such as Merle Oberon, Sophia Loren, Ava Gardner and Vanessa Redgrave.A Beginner's Guide To Acting English
Par Shaparak Khorsandi. 2009
It's 1977 and life in Iran is becoming unpredictable. The Shah will be overthrown and events are about to take…
place on the world stage. But for five-year-old Shappi Khorsandi all this means is that she must flee, leaving behind a mad extended Iran clan and everything she has ever known.Shappi and her beloved brother Peyvand arrive with their parents in London - all cold weather and strange food - without a word of English. If adapting to a new culture isn't troubling enough, it soon becomes clear that the Ayatollah's henchmen are in pursuit. With the help of MI5, Shappi's family go into hiding. So apart from checking under the family car for bombs every morning, Shappi's childhood is like any other kids' - swings in the park, school plays, kiss-chase and terrorists.'An extraordinary story...really funny and warm'Graham NortonBefore I Forget
Par Fiona Phillips. 2010
Fiona Phillips is one of our best-loved television presenters. Well-known for being warm, chatty and down to earth, she attended…
her local comprehensive in Southampton before studying English in Birmingham. For over twelve years she presented GMTV, during which time she interviewed some of the most famous and influential people on the planet, from film stars to royalty, politicians to local heroes. But in August 2008 Fiona announced that she was to quit the job she loved, revealing that her father, Phil, had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's just a year after her mother had died of the same disease and that she had decided to devote more time to him and to her family. Before I Forget is a wonderfully honest account of growing up in the 1960s and 70s within a complex family. During her childhood her father could sometimes be distant and demanding which both saddened her and drove her to succeed, her mother always the devoted wife and the steady heart of the family. When Fiona lands the job at GMTV she revels in how proud they are of her achievement. When her mother and then her father succumb to Alzheimer's we share in Fiona's sadness as she movingly describes watching them fade away, one moment interviewing George Clooney the next taking a call from Pembrokeshire Social Services to say that her mother had wandered away from her care home.Before I Forget is an extraordinary book which will resonate with Fiona's millions of fans and the millions of people who day-by-day are going through, or have gone through, the same experiences.Becoming Molly-Mae
Par Molly-Mae Hague. 2022
The real Molly-Mae, in her own wordsMolly-Mae Hague is no stranger to the limelight, having found fame on TV and…
online. But behind the polished exterior there is a young girl with a unique story. It's the Molly not everyone gets to see.In Becoming Molly-Mae she unravels herself completely for the first time to open up about how she nurtured her creativity from a young age, took ownership of her body image, battle self-doubt and built a happy life. Along the way she shares the moments, relationships and life lessons that have made her who she is. From the energetic child who loved Irish dancing and pageants, to the teenager holding down a job at Boots whilst building her dreams at fashion school, her journey to Love Island and how she copes with fame today.By sharing these parts of herself, Molly-Mae gives a fresh take on finding beauty and balance in a busy world.Beauty is in the Street: Protest and Counterculture in Post-War Europe
Par Joachim C. Häberlen. 1968
'A rich and readable account of left-wing activism in the West and opposition to Soviet-style communism in the East' Katja…
Hoyer, The Spectator'A dream, perhaps, but one that still sounds worth fighting for, even beautiful' Stuart Jeffries, The Observer'An ambitious and masterly account of utopian protest in Europe ... Fast-paced, with an eye for telling detail and written with a light touch' Robert GildeaIn post-war Europe, protest was everywhere. On both sides of the Iron Curtain, from Paris to Prague, Milan to Wroclaw, ordinary people took to the streets, fighting for a better world. Their efforts came to a head most dramatically in 1968 and 1989, when mass movements swept Europe and rewrote its history.In the decades between, Joachim C. Häberlen argues, new movements emerged that transformed the nature of protesting. Activism moved beyond traditional demonstrations, from squatting to staging 'happenings' and camping out at nuclear power plants. People protested in the way they dressed, the music they listened to, the lovers they slept with, the clubs where they danced all night. New movements were born, notably anti-racism, women's liberation, gay liberation, and environmentalism. And protest turned inward, as activists experimented with new ways of living and feeling, from communes to group therapy, in their efforts to live a better life in the here and now.Some of these struggles succeeded, others failed. But successful or not, their history provides a glimpse into roads not taken, into futures that did not happen. The stories in Häberlen's book invite us to imagine different futures; to struggle, to fail, and to try again. In a time when we are told that there are no alternatives, they show us that there could be another way.Battles of Conscience: British Pacifists and the Second World War
Par Tobias Kelly. 2022
A ground-breaking new study brings us a very different picture of the Second World War, asking fundamental questions about ethical…
commitmentsAccounts of the Second World War usually involve tales of bravery in battle, or stoicism on the home front, as the British public stood together against Fascism. However, the war looks very different when seen through the eyes of the 60,000 conscientious objectors who refused to take up arms and whose stories, unlike those of the First World War, have been almost entirely forgotten.Tobias Kelly invites us to spend the war five of these individuals: Roy Ridgway, a factory clerk from Liverpool; Tom Burns, a teacher from east London; Stella St John, who trained as a vet and ended up in jail; Ronald Duncan, who set up a collective farm; and Fred Urquhart, a working-class Scottish socialist and writer. We meet many more objectors along the way -- people both determined and torn -- and travel from Finland to Syria, India to rural England, Edinburgh to Trinidad.Although conscientious objectors were often criticised and scorned, figures such as Winston Churchill and the Archbishop of Canterbury supported their right to object, at least in principle, suggesting that liberty of conscience was one of the freedoms the nation was fighting for. And their rich cultural and moral legacy -- of humanitarianism and human rights, from Amnesty International and Oxfam to the US civil rights movement -- can still be felt all around us. The personal and political struggles carefully and vividly collected in this book tell us a great deal about personal and collective freedom, conviction and faith, war and peace, and pose questions just as relevant today: Does conscience make us free? Where does it take us? And what are the costs of going there?'[An] excellent book' - DAILY TELEGRAPH'A moving tribute' - SPECTATORThe Battle for Scotland
Par Andrew Marr. 2013
'We may be about to see a new country - indeed, two new countries, - emerging on these islands. Half…
a lifetime ago, I sat down to write this book as a work of history. As it's aged, it's become current affairs.' Just twenty years ago it seemed impossible that Scotland would ever get home rule, let alone full independence. And even following a vote that did not result in Scottish independence, there are still talks of a second referendum. In The Battle for Scotland, first published in 1992, Andrew Marr provides the historical backdrop to these extraordinary events. He attempts to explain the deep sources of Scottish national feeling and the political will which brought us to this deeply uncertain time.In a substantial introduction written before 2014's referendum, Marr considers the questions every voting Scot (and every non-voting UK citizen) were asking themselves at the time.Bard of Erin: The Life of Thomas Moore
Par Ronan Kelly. 2009
Colm Tóibín has called Thomas Moore 'the most influential figure in shaping the Irish political psyche'. In Bard of Erin,…
Ronan Kelly tells the story of Moore's extraordinary life - from humble beginnings in Dublin to glittering social and literary success in London (at one point his popularity was eclipsed only by that of Sir Walter Scott and his close friend Lord Byron). Ronan Kelly's biography is a gripping and definitive account of a great romantic figure.'A stirring tale of the diminutive would-be duellist whom his friend Byron described as "Masking and humming, / Fifing and drumming, / Guitarring and strumming" in a way we'd not quite see again until the rise of Bob Dylan' Paul Muldoon, TLS Books of the Year'Thanks to Ronan Kelly's enthralling new biography, [Moore] is about to become an important part of our cultural landscape again ... There hasn't been a better biography published in Ireland for many a year' Irish Independent'Vividly absorbing ... an enthusiastic, persuasive and highly readable attempt to restore a full picture of the man ... Everything in this eloquent and intelligent life shows that Moore's achievement decisively transcended the "poetical"' Roy Foster, The Times'a major reassessment ... scholarly and comprehensive ... Kelly makes it clear what fun Moore was' Irish Daily Mail'This new biography of Thomas Moore delights in the reading. Ronan Kelly has done his groundwork well ... A substantial, highly readable examination of the life, social development and cultural significance of a figure who occupies a pivotal position in Irish history, both as an Irish writer of the Romantic period and as "Ireland's National Poet" of a pre-partition era' Sunday Business Post'Definitive ... a fascinating story' John Montague, Irish TimesBarbara Leigh Smith Bodichon: Feminist, Artist and Rebel
Par Pam Hirsch. 1998
Barbara Leigh Smith Bodichon was the most unconventional and influential leader of the Victorian women's movement. Enormously talented, energetic and…
original, she was a feminist, law-reformer, painter, journalist, the close friend of George Eliot and a cousin of Florence Nightingale. As a painter, Barbara is now recognised as a vital figure among Pre-Raphaelite women artists. As a feminist she led four great campaigns: for married women's legal status, for the right to work, the right to vote and to education. Making brilliant use of unpublished journals and letters, Pam Hirsch has written a biography that is as lively and powerful as its subject, recreating the woman in all her moods, and placing her firmly in the context of women's struggle for equality.Back From The Brink: Ireland's Road to Recovery
Par Marc Coleman. 2009
We're in the midst of a global economic crisis and a domestic economic disaster.But enough of the hand-wringing. Where did…
this all come from, where are we now and, most importantly, what's going to happen next?In a compelling and jargon-free argument, economist Marc Coleman makes sense of this mess we're in with clear, accessible analysis of Ireland's economic situation and where it might be heading.Addressing first the global dimension - how early warnings were ignored, why American monetary policy failed the world and why an unfinished revolution in globalisation left us defenceless - Coleman makes a case for a new kind of capitalism.The unravelling threads that created the Irish financial crisis are also untangled. The death of competitiveness, the mismanagement of tax revenues, issues of demographics, bad urban planning, stupid banks and an unsuccessful regulator are all examined and, combined with dysfunctional politics, are shown to be the root causes of the predicament we now find ourselves in.But all is not lost.With a positive, can-do approach to the economic crisis, Coleman creates a fix-it manual for the future, explaining how Ireland can prosper again by adopting a smart economy, reforming social partnership and curing a warped fiscal cycle with budgetary and electoral reform.Ireland's economic nightmare will end. It is a dream not destroyed, merely delayed.Audrey Hepburn: Fair Lady of the Screen
Par Ian Woodward. 1979
In this first major study of the captivating life of Audrey Hepburn, Ian Woodward uncovers the truly sensational story of…
one of Hollywood's most enduring legends. Ranked number 50 in Empire Magazine's 'Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time', her appeal as a screen icon is set to last for years to come.From her roles in such legendary films as Breakfast at Tiffany's and her Oscar-winning performance in Roman Holiday, to her lovers and the pain of losing a child, this revealing biography is essential reading for Hepburn and film fans alike.The Athenian Constitution
Par Aristotle. 2002
Probably written by a student of Aristotle, The Athenian Constitution is both a history and an analysis of Athens' political…
machinery between the seventh and fourth centuries BC, which stands as a model of democracy at a time when city-states lived under differing kinds of government. The writer recounts the major reforms of Solon, the rule of the tyrant Pisistratus and his sons, the emergence of the democracy in which power was shared by all free male citizens, and the leadership of Pericles and the demagogues who followed him. He goes on to examine the city's administration in his own time - the council, the officials and the judicial system. For its information on Athens' development and how the democracy worked, The Athenian Constitution is an invaluable source of knowledge about the Athenian city-state.At My Mother's Knee...And Other Low Joints: Tales from Paul’s mischievous young years
Par Paul O'Grady. 2018
THE MILLION COPY BESTSELLER'Warmly funny, dry and mischievous . . . Genuine and brilliant.' Daily MailPaul O'Grady is one of…
Britain's very best loved entertainers. He is known and adored by millions, whether as the creator of the acid-tongued Blonde Bombsite, Lily Savage, the presenter of the fantastically successful, award-winning Paul O'Grady Show on Channel 4 or the massive hit ITV show, For the Love of Dogs.Now, in his own unique voice, Paul O'Grady tells story of his early life in Irish Catholic Birkenhead that started him on the long and winding road from mischievous altar boy to national treasure. It is a brilliantly evoked, hilarious and often moving tale of gossip in the back yard, bragging in the corner shop and slanging matches on the front doorstep, populated by larger-than-life characters with hearts of gold and tongues as sharp as razors.At My Mother's Knee features an unforgettable cast of rogues, rascals, lovers, fighters, saints and sinners - and one iconic bus conductress. It's a book which really does have something for everyone and which reminds us that, when all's said and done, there's a bit of savage in all of us...Readers love At My Mother's Knee:'I laughed, I cried, I couldn't put it down and the characters really just jumped out of the page.' *****'Candid, heart warming and also hilarious.' *****'Wonderfully written, laugh out loud funny and poignant by turns.' *****As I Was Saying . . .: The World According to Clarkson Volume 6 (The World According to Clarkson)
Par Jeremy Clarkson. 2015
As I Was Saying... is the seventh book in Jeremy Clarkson's best-selling The World According to Clarkson series.***Crikey, the world…
according to Clarkson's been a funny old place of late . . .For a while, Jeremy could be found in his normal position as the tallest man on British television but, more recently, he appears to have been usurped by a pretend elephant.But on paper the real Jeremy remains at the helm. That's as it should be. For nearly thirty years he has been fearlessly leading the charge as one the best comic writers in the country. And in 2015, he shows no sign of slowing down. So, whether it's pondering If Jesus might have been better off being born in New Zealand Why reflexive pronoun abuse is the worst thing in the world How Pam Ayres's head trumps Gordon Gecko's underpants Or what a television presenter with time on his hands gets up toJeremy is still trying to make sense of all the big stuff.Circumstances change. Nothing's forever. But As I Was Saying provides glorious proof that Jeremy remains as funny, puzzled, excitable, outspoken, insightful and thought-provoking as ever. As if you ever doubted it . . .***Praise for Clarkson: 'Brilliant... laugh-out-loud' Daily Telegraph 'Outrageously funny... will have you in stitches' Time Out 'Very funny . . . I cracked up laughing on the tube' Evening StandardAs Good As It Gets: Life Lessons from a Reluctant Adult
Par Romesh Ranganathan. 2020
'One of the funniest people in the world. Annoyingly talented at everything he does which includes writing books. As Good…
As it Gets is hilarious.' - Rob BeckettConfronted by the realities of adulthood, Romesh Ranganathan must face an uncomfortable truth: this is not quite how he imagined it.Watching his friends descend into middle age, his waist thicken with every meal and his finances dwindle to fund his family's middle class aspirations, Romesh reflects on the demands of daily life and the challenges of adulting in the modern world.As he reluctantly concludes that he is indeed a grown man, Rom wrestles with the greater questions that threaten his being: Could I save my family in a crisis? Do I possess the skills to assemble flatpack furniture? Am I too old for streetwear? Is it alright to parent my kids through the medium of Fortnite? Is celibacy the secret to a passionate marriage?From one of the countries most beloved comedians and author of the Sunday Times bestseller STRAIGHT OUTTA CRAWLEY comes the hilarious and painfully accurate dissection of what it really means to grow up.The Art of Peace
Par Sir David Khalili. 2023
In 1967, Sir David Khalili finished his military service in Iran and travelled to study in the United States with…
$750 - his remaining royalties from a book he wrote when he was just 14. Over the course of the next five decades he single-handedly, piece by piece, assembled eight of the finest art collections in their field, ultimately becoming one of the world's greatest collectors, about whom Queen Elizabeth II once said: 'It is scary how much this gentleman knows about art.'For the first time, Sir David shares his extraordinary journey: one that has taken him through the souks of North Africa, the auction houses of Europe and the United States, the bazaars of South Asia, and far beyond. Through a riveting collection of real-life adventures, he reveals his collecting strategy, business ethics and what motivates him to continuously collect, conserve, research, publish and exhibit the treasures in his collections. Through his story, Sir David questions how the undeniable power of art can be harnessed to foster greater peace and unity worldwide. No one is better placed to enlighten us.The Armchair Diplomat on Europe: The Ultimate Slackers' Guide to Our Continental Cousins
Par Melissa Rossi. 2005
It happens all the time: you're watching the Champion's League, pondering Robert Kilroy Silk's unnatural glow, reading the latest newspaper…
debate about EU bendy banana laws, and thinking: what's really going on in Europe? Does anyone actually know what they're talking about? And where are Riga and Vilnius anyway? You needn't worry any more. With this armchair guide you'll discover the strange and fascinating world that calls itself Europe - without ever having to leave your own home. There are insights into culture (how to join the Finns beating themselves with birch twigs in the sauna); the lowdown on the people that matter (porn stars turned politicians in Italy); fascinating facts and explanations of historical rifts (and you thought the relationship between Britain and France was bad). You'll find out how to talk like Berlusconi, unravel the workings of the EU and guide yourself from the Baltics to Belgium, Portugal to Poland. The Armchair Diplomat: Europe offers the basics of euro-education for very little pain. Perfect for slackers with a passion for travel.The Anxious Triumph: A Global History of Capitalism, 1860-1914
Par Donald Sassoon. 2019
'A magnum opus, an accessible and genuinely global history ... This is a book for today and tomorrow' Financial Times…
Capitalist enterprise has existed in some form since ancient times, but the globalization and dominance of capitalism as a system began in the 1860s when, in different forms and supported by different political forces, states all over the world developed their modern political frameworks: the unifications of Italy and Germany, the establishment of a republic in France, the elimination of slavery in the American south, the Meiji Restoration in Japan, the emancipation of the serfs in Tsarist Russia. This book magnificently explores how, after the upheavals of industrialisation, a truly global capitalism followed. For the first time in the history of humanity, there was a social system able to provide a high level of consumption for the majority of those who lived within its bounds. Today, capitalism dominates the world.With wide-ranging scholarship, Donald Sassoon analyses the impact of capitalism on the histories of many different states, and how it creates winners and losers by constantly innovating. This chronic instability, he writes, 'is the foundation of its advance, not a fault in the system or an incidental by-product'. And it is this instability, this constant churn, which produces the anxious triumph of his title. To control or alleviate such anxieties it was necessary to create a national community, if necessary with colonial adventures, to develop a welfare state, to intervene in the market economy, and to protect it from foreign competition. Capitalists needed a state to discipline them, to nurture them, and to sacrifice a few to save the rest: a state overseeing the war of all against all.Vigorous, argumentative, surprising and constantly stimulating, The Anxious Triumph gives a fresh perspective on all these questions and on its era. It is a masterpiece by one of Britain's most engaging and wide-ranging historians.