Memoirs Books

Book SynopsisDoon Mackichan is best known for her comedy characters in the hugely popular Brass Eye, Smack the Pony and Toast of London - but throughout her career there are parts she's refused to take and stereotypes she's challenged to find more empowered characters.The Feisty Feminist. The Hot Lesbian. The Desperate Cougar.In My Lady Parts, Doon shares her experience on stage, screen and in real life, examining how our culture still expects women to adhere to certain stereotypes - and punishes those who don't. Doon looks at the stories we are telling and asks: what do these roles we give women tell us about their value in the society we live in? How do we hold our heads up without fear and say no to those that objectify us?The Deranged Mother. The Stupid Tart. The Hag.This is a courageous, vulnerable and empowering account of being a woman in an industry that has been exposed for its deep-rooted sexism. It is, above all, a call to reflect on - and radically rework - the implications such attitudes have for future generations.Trade ReviewDoon Mackichan's memoir savagely exposes the sexism of showbusiness by looking at the roles she has been offered. Yet Mackichan's tome is no misery memoir [ . . . ], rather the book is an inspiring tale of an actor and comedian standing by her principles * * Sunday Times * *Fierce, frank and funny, this is Doon at her very best. This book demonstrates that she is, and always has been, a trailblazer -- SANDI TOKSVIGAs we look back - and not that far - at how the misogyny was tolerated and even applauded in the 2000s, we should listen to the meticulous testimony of women like Mackichan. Because she has always called it out, but has often paid a high price * * iPaper * *A real page-turner; raw, urgent and entertaining * * Daily Mail * *A timely memoir . . . [Mackichan] has not been just an observer of change, but a driver of it. Hopefully times are changing for female comedians, but only because of the efforts of Mackichan and her generation. You can't keep a good woman doon * * Scotsman * *This is a fierce, frank and unfiltered account. [Mackichan] makes no secret of her fury at the way society treats women. But her readers will find that fury infectious * * Daily Mirror * *An articulate, whole-hearted and blazing account. Doon's been the bravest of us, someone who has consistently called out bad behaviour and unnecessary obstacles and challenged the industry to have more imagination towards women, even when doing so would cost her professionally. She's a role model to me and many others. Required reading - made me feel angrier and determined to be braver -- SALLY PHILLIPSA rip-roaring, brutally honest, brilliantly funny read. My Lady Parts is a triumph * * Buzz Magazine * *A sparkling, poetic and gloriousy witty whirl through Doon's brilliant career, with moments of deep poignancy and a bracing dose of feminist ire. Loved it! -- APRIL DE ANGELISA fierce and forthright slice of Doon's life, on and off-screen. Loud, angry and funny, it'll make you rage and cry and then cheer her on -- JENNY LANDRETH

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Book SynopsisA WATERSTONES BEST BOOK OF 2023: POPULAR SCIENCEWhat Is a Doctor? is a vital contribution to the ongoing debate about how we maintain an NHS that is both fit for purpose and free. Using stories and case studies from across his thirty-year career as a GP, Dr Phil Whitaker offers insight into the medical movements, political interference and societal changes that have transformed the role of doctor over the past three decades.Much has altered for the better but, even when based on good intentions, an equal or greater amount has been damaging and threatens the sustainability of the NHS. In examining what it means to be a doctor today, this book also answers an accompanying question 'what is a patient?' - and how we can all take a more active role in our healthcare. And, looking forward, Dr Whitaker describes what might yet be done to restore the NHS and its capacity for properly patient-centred care.Trade ReviewA powerful account of what has happened to the bedrock of the NHS, the GP system. Whitaker gives us a series of subtle and graphic stories that illustrate the complexity of the doctor-patient relationship and of modern medical practice at the ground level . . . The book is essential - and highly readable -- HENRY MARSH * * New Statesman * *If the NHS is to survive as a model of health-care for another 75 years, it needs thinkers and champions like Dr Whitaker to challenge policy and to ask how the system can reinvent itself. What is a Doctor? is a call to review, renew and revitalise the way we provide medicine, and to ensure that individualised care remains at the heart of the NHS -- KATHRYN MANNIX, author of WITH THE END IN MINDPhil Whitaker knows the business of being a doctor inside out, and his moving and thought-provoking memoir of how the job has changed is essential reading for anyone interested in the future of the NHS -- DAVID NOTT, bestselling author of WAR DOCTORWith meticulous analysis, deep vocational understanding and a palpable compassion for the human stories at the heart of all this, What Is a Doctor? is an essential intervention in the urgent conversation about the future of healthcare in this country -- POLLY MORLANDFascinating and challenging . . . The book is a page turner and makes a vital contribution to the discussion about the future of doctors and the NHS * * Health Matters * *Calm, knowledgeable, and clear, Phil Whitaker is the GP everyone would like to have, and his prescription for the health service is full of wisdom and kindness. I hope it will be read by everyone concerned about how we care for one another, now and in the future -- GAVIN FRANCIS, author of ADVENTURES IN HUMAN BEING and RECOVERYThis remarkable book shares profound insights into many of the problems facing modern medicine and offers a hopeful way forward - resuscitating the humanity that healthcare desperately needs. Simply brilliant -- SIR DAVID HASLAM, past chair of NICE and author of SIDE EFFECTSIf just one member of the government could be persuaded to read this book, there might be hope for a reinvigorated NHS and for its beleaguered professionals and its worried patients -- IONA HEATH, President of the Royal College of General Practitioners 2009-2012

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Book SynopsisJackie Kohnstamm's mother rarely talked about what had happened during the war and had kept little evidence of her early life. It was only after her uncle and aunt had died that Jackie inherited an archive of material relating to the family back in Germany. Jackie's mother had managed to get out of Berlin in 1936, following her brother and sister who had already escaped. But Jackie's grandparents had remained. One night, on a whim, Jackie Googled her grandparents' names. What she found felt like a sign: four days earlier two Stolpersteine ('stumble stones') had been laid in their names outside the house in Berlin where they had once lived. Someone had commissioned this memorial to her grandparents. Each listed their name, year of birth, date of deportation to Theresienstadt and date of their murder by the Nazis. Here, then, was the first step, and what followed was a remarkable story of loss, discovery and memory.Trade ReviewMemoirs about family experiences of the Holocaust continue to proliferate, but when they are as poignant as The Memory Keeper, they are a necessary reminder of an apparently unfathomable evil that happened not so long ago. Kohnstamm's account is unashamedly personal . . . and she proves a warm and witty guide to what turns into an anguished journey into her past * * Observer * *A moving and original real-time history of what it was like for ordinary Germans who happened to be Jewish to carry on as each new repressive law made their lives smaller and scarier until eventually, having failed to get out, they are ordered to the train station . . . Heartbreaking * * Telegraph * *Jackie Kohnstamm has created a beautifully heartbreaking book about remembering and forgetting, loving and missing, the deep impact of absences in any life and the wonderful, terrible interconnectedness of our selves. She wears her research lightly, deftly and just writes so well. Kohnstamm becomes historian for her family and, in a way, for millions of families shattered and evaporated by hatred, obsession and war. Our journey with her has great darkness, but also great tenderness, wisdom, joy -- A. L. KENNEDYOne of the most moving accounts of Holocaust family research that I have read, insightfully penned by a British Holocaust descendant who does not wish to be defined by the past * * Family Tree Magazine * *Following years of tireless research, The Memory Keeper is the powerful and thought-provoking account of Jackie's journey . . . a moving narrative * * Jewish Telegraph * *Personal and compelling . . . Readers walk alongside Kohnstamm as she travels to Germany and discovers intimate details about her family and their lives * * Who Do You Think You Are? * *

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Book SynopsisMy son''s death will never make sense to me. But it has taught me that it''s possible to find meaning, collectively and individually, in the loss of what we love. And in finding them, transform. Resilience is a seed that we all bear inside us. It germinates in emergencies. It sets down roots in astonishing and unexpected ways. And if we notice it, and tend to it, it blooms.Liz Jensen''s son, a zoologist, conservationist and ecological activist, was twenty-five when he collapsed and died unexpectedly. She fell apart. As she grieved, forest fires raged, coral reefs deteriorated, CO2 emissions rose and fossil fuels burned.Your Wild and Precious Life is the story of how a mother rebuilt herself, reoriented her life and rediscovered the enchantment of the living world. Set against the backdrop of climate and ecological catastrophe, it''s an argument for agency, legacy and the wild possibility of hope after devastation.

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Book SynopsisA deliciously funny and sage guide to midlife - an unscientific, flaws-and-all account of one woman's adventures and misadventures through the dark comedy of the wilderness years. Through her own experiences as a fifty-something woman, and those of her three sisters, her indomitable mum and rebellious auntie, Charlotte tackles the big questions every woman seeks answers to at this time of our lives - chiefly: How the hell am I going to get over being young in a world obsessed with youth? Written with warmth, wisdom and irreverence this guide to midlife is perfect for readers of Nora Ephron, Caitlin Moran and India Knight.Trade ReviewThis 'rough guide to midlife' chronicles the author's adventures and reflections as she navigates her way through the unspeakable years between 50 and 60, when women (let's be honest now) largely cease to matter. Bauer's family - her awesome mum, scandalous auntie and three sisters (one of whom is a very good friend of mine) have massive comic appeal in this book that manages to be gut-clenchingly funny, disturbingly insightful and warmly wise and uplifting at the same time. Thoroughly recommended for all women of a certain age. -- Sharon Bolton (bestselling author of THE SPLIT) * Sharon Bolton's 'Recommended Reads' Newsletter *A funny and overdue book about being a woman in your fifties in a world obsessed with twenty-something Instagram stars. From body changes to the difference in how society treats you, Bauer is trying to navigate challenges of not being young. -- Marie Moser, The Edinburgh Bookshop * The Bookseller *Table of Contentsi: Preface 1: Fifty 2: Mental! 3: Mortal! 4: Face Time 5: Hair Is Not for Sissies 6: Drugs Used to Be Fun 7: Lifestyle Choices 8: Big Swinging Chicks 9: Fashion Forward 10: The Silence of the Wolves 11: Womance 12: Old Married Couples 13: New Romantics 14: In the Family Way 15: Living the Dream 16: Sixty ii: Epiphanies iii: The Fuck-It List iv: Acknowledgements

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Book Synopsis'Freya Lewis is extraordinary' Katie Piper'A love letter to the NHS' Lorraine Kelly'An unflinching story of grief, survival and love' Daily Mail's YOU Magazine, _________The Manchester Arena attack nearly destroyed her. Love and courage saved her.Freya Lewis was just three metres away from the terrorist who detonated the bomb at the Manchester arena on the night of 22nd May 2017. Her best friend Nell was tragically killed, but Freya - thrown forwards by the blast - somehow survived. She suffered 29 separate injuries, was in a coma for five days, and wheelchair-bound for three months.Yet just 12 months later, she was on her feet, running the Junior Great Manchester Run and raising £60,000 for the hospital that saved her. From her darkest moment, she found the determination to live life to the fullest, for herself, and for those who lost their lives.This is Freya's courageous story. But it is also the story of the amazing community that surrounded her, uplifted her, and ultimately saved her life.What Makes Us Stronger is a testament to the power of hope and positivity._________'A poignant story of courage and pain but, most of all, it is a striking testament to friendship.' Daily Express'A candid account of the terrorist attack and the effect it has had on her life.' The i

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Book SynopsisGeoff Thomas's heroic battle to overcome leukaemia, and then take on the toughest sporting challenge: to ride the Tour de France'A wonderfully compelling read' INDEPENDENT'RIDING THROUGH THE STORM details movingly and eloquently how Thomas fought cancer and then took on the Tour de France to prove how alive he was ... All human life graces Thomas' outstanding book' DAILY TELEGRAPHWhen Geoff Thomas struggled to play a friendly game of tennis while on holiday in Mallorca in May 2003, he thought little of it. Recently retired as a footballer, he believed it was a sign of ageing and perhaps a pulled muscle. But when the pain wouldn't go away, his wife Julie persuaded him to go to a doctor. He was diagnosed as having leukaemia.RIDING THROUGH THE STORM focuses on his journey round the Tour de France in the summer of 2005, riding the 2,240-mile course in the 21 days it takes Lance Armstrong and all the top cyclists, despite never having cycled much before. Despite the odds against him achieving it, he rode the course and raised nearly £200,000 for charity. As he rides, he looks back on his successful career as a footballer, and the bone-marrow transplant that saved his life. This is a powerful, moving and inspirational story of extraordinary achievement.Trade ReviewA wonderfully compelling read * INDEPENDENT *RIDING THROUGH THE STORM details movingly and eloquently how Thomas fought cancer and then took on the Tour de France to prove how alive he was ... All human life graces Thomas' outstanding book * DAILY TELEGRAPH *

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Book SynopsisTraining to be a nurse in the Swinging Sixties was demanding but great fun. In this sequel to "It Won't Hurt a Bit", it's time for Jane Yeadon to move on from her basic training to her exciting new life as a midwife. It's a whole new challenge with a new set of intriguing colleagues far from home as she heads from Scotland to Belfast for a brand new adventure. When she arrives at the Royal Maternity Hospital, Jane encounters the usual glacial matron overseeing the nurses and doing her best to keep them out of too much trouble, as well as fellow nurses English Cynthia, Timid Marie and Strongminded Margaret. As they're thrown in at the deep end, Jane discovers that this is life in the medical fast lane where there are very few straightforward births and every day is a steep learning curve. And as well as their daily work, the nurses get caught up in the local issues and find out that there is also much to learn about this divided community which is rapidly being overshadowed by the gathering Troubles which will soon rip the city apart.

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Book SynopsisAn exhilarating journey into the unfathomable depths of the human mind, from the acclaimed author of Let Me Not Be Mad.What does it take to care for a stranger? Really care.The Case for Love is a reflection on a career treating patients with brain trauma - people whose thoughts and feelings are largely unknowable - and how and why those treatments failed.It is a reconstruction of three haunting cases in which the patients were tragically misunderstood - and an attempt through the power of the imagination to understand and make amends.It then describes the author's abandonment of his career and his tumultuous quest for healing and redemption.It is also a story of intimate relationships, pets, fatherhood and heartbreak, culminating in a moment of psychedelic transcendence and rebirth.It is about the overpowering need for connection - and how, increasingly, we are trapped in ourselves.It is a meditation on empathy and an act of atonement.It is a unique, hybrid work of clinical case study and pure invention that destroys the boundary between fact and fiction in order to bring us face-to-face with the shocking, liberating truth.__________Praise for Let Me Not Be Mad'Imagine a gonzo Oliver Sacks communing with Edward St Aubyn's Patrick Melrose, R.D. Laing and the spirit of Kafka's 'The Country Doctor', and you still won't quite have the flavour of this wild and strikingly original book' William Fiennes'Stunning: clever, troubling, restless, honest, dishonest; one of the best portraits of madness and clinical practice I've read' Olivia Laing'A perfectly extraordinary - not to mention extraordinarily perfect - tense Hitchcockian psychodrama. I have rarely read a more haunting and enthralling account of a descent into madness. An important, profound and fascinating book' Stephen Fry'Blackly comic, warmly compassionate, a unique take on the human mind offering uncomfortable universal truths' Stewart Lee'A slow-burn belter of a book ... terrific ... so finely described, the result has the terse force of a classic short story' Roddy Doyle'Exhilarating ... dazzling ... a miraculous feat' GuardianTrade ReviewPart memoir, part case study, part work of fiction ... exhilarating ... this is really what he means by love: one mind truly knowing another ... rich ... claustrophobic ... Benjamin is at times a virtuosic writer ... an artful book, and there are moments of sublimity ... beautiful and moving -- M M Owen * Times Literary Supplement *Benjamin writes beautifully and with exceptional insight, a tormented soul who knows the truth of the worst torments -- Andrew Anthony * Observer *A blindsiding dissection of the poetry of pain, dazzlingly scripted, with craft and integrity. Compulsive and shocking -- Iain SinclairWith clinical precision, coupled with the sensibility of a poet, A K Benjamin lets the reader imagine the inter-twined world of a neuropsychologist and his patients -- Caroline Elton, author of Also Human: The Inner Lives of DoctorsAt first I thought this an exceptionally well written book in the genre of medical story telling. The more I read the more I realised it's an exceptional book in a genre all of its own. Insightful, wonderfully well observed and beautifully written -- Suzanne O'Sullivan (on Let Me Not Be Mad)A treasure of a book. Intricately woven and deeply intimate, it reveals things that astonish, surprise and improve us -- James Rhodes (on Let Me Not Be Mad)A truly astonishing journey into and out of the mind. Not content to pin you down with the intense intimacy of his storytelling Benjamin dramatises some of the most profound and intractable issues in neuroscience and psychiatry. I've never read anything like it -- Professor Mark Lythgoe, UCL (on Let Me Not Be Mad)A mental-health memoir like no other ... a genre-defying wake-up call of a book ... compelling ... clever humane ... holding back a sly twist for the end * Observer (on Let Me Not Be Mad) *Like a meeting of Oliver Sacks and Hunter S Thompson ... this is not a simple narrative of striking cases written by a far-seeing practitioner. It's a turbo-charged race -- Lisa Appignanesi * New Statesman (on Let Me Not Be Mad) *

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Book SynopsisEngland has been at peace for as long as most people can remember - but there are still battles being waged in its towns and villages. Nearly 400 years ago Sir Jacob Astley set out for Oxford from the town of Bridgnorth with a small army raised from Wales and the West. He was the king's last hope in a disastrous civil war. But Astley did not reach the Royalist capital. His force was attacked by Parliamentarian forces near to Stow on the Wold where the survivors were locked in the local church and where blood fl owed through the streets. In today's battles there is little or no bloodshed - though blood pressure sometimes runs dangerously high. In this book, the historic Battle of Stow provides the backcloth to the battles of today - battles that are taking place in many communities across the country. These are the battles waged between residents and their politicians, between ordinary people and big business, between the locals and the incomers, between those with roots and those who are just passing through. Here the foot soldiers are more likely to wield a pen or placard versus the pike or musket of the seventeenth century.

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Book SynopsisCountless members of this valued community have been questioned, and everyone from the butcher at Taylors to the Parish Councillor have added their piece to the rich tapestry of Minchinhampton's heritage. The stories featured are as varied as the people who live in the village, from a humorous tale of one resident almost bumping into a cow on his way to work on Minchinhampton Common, to the wonderful theatrical productions of the 1970s, which attracted people from miles around. This book will be of interest to anyone who knows and loves this very special corner of the Cotswolds.

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Book SynopsisThis is a newly revised and updated paperback edition of the former Conservative Party Treasurer's personal account of his battle over unsubstantiated claims concerning his business affairs which culminated in a libel action against "The Times" newspaper. The book reveals the dirty tricks that were used to destabilise the Conservative Party, including the newspaper's alleged bribery of US government officials, and the abuse of parliamentary privileges by New Labour MPs. This is Lord Ashcroft's compelling account of the attacks on his reputation by New Labour spin-doctors out to slander the Conservative Party and journalists seeking to create a story. This new edition also sheds new light on Michael Ashcroft's private life; his childhood and love of Belize, his business career and his many and varied interests.Trade Review"A rattling good yarn... a saga of coke-snorting journalists (and) malicious leaks from the Foreign Office... a box-office thriller" New Statesman"

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Book SynopsisDavid Laws was one of the key Lib Dem MPs who negotiated the coalition deal, and the book includes his in-depth, behind the scenes, account of the talks with the Conservative and Labour teams after the General Election, as well as the debates within his own party about how the Lib Dems should respond to the challenges and threats of a hung parliament. The Liberal Democrats' and Conservatives' decision to form a Coalition government has changed the face of British politics. This book sets out the inside story of how this momentous event unfolded, and how - together - the Liberal Democrats and Conservatives have started to address the challenge of a massive government budget deficit.

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Book SynopsisPaul Dukes was sent into Russia in 1918, shortly after the Bolshevik Revolution. His role was to keep the British spy networks in place during the "Red Terror", when the Cheka secret police were killing large numbers of opponents of the communist regime. Dukes operated under a variety of covers, the most daring of which was as a member of the Cheka itself. On his return the British government publicised his role to prove their case against the Bolsheviks, knighting him publicly and awarding him the Victoria Cross.

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Book SynopsisDavid Waddington, Baron Waddington, was a Conservative MP from 1968 to 1990, before becoming a life peer. For over twenty years he was a government Chief Whip, then served in the Cabinet as Home Secretary from 1989 to 1990 and Leader of the House of Lords from 1990 to 1992. A junior minister under Margaret Thatcher, he was Parliamentary Under-Secretary at the Department of Employment, Minister of State at the Home Office and Chief Whip from 1987 until his elevation to Cabinet level, becoming Home Secretary in 1989. In 1990 he was created a life peer as Baron Waddington, of Read in the County of Lancashire. He served as Lord Privy Seal and Leader of the House of Lords until 1992. He served as Governor of Bermuda 1992 - 1997. This book contains the fascinating reflections of a man who spent his career at the heart of power.

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Book SynopsisA Journey with Margaret Thatcher is an extraordinary insider's account of British foreign policy under Margaret Thatcher by one of her key advisers. Providing a closeup view of the Iron Lady in action, former high-ranking diplomat Robin Renwick examines her diplomatic successes - including the defeat of aggression in the Falklands, what the Americans felt to be the excessive influence she exerted on Ronald Reagan, her special relationship with Mikhail Gorbachev and contribution to the ending of the Cold War, the Anglo-Irish agreement, her influence with de Klerk in South Africa and relationship with Nelson Mandela - and what she herself acknowledged as her spectacular failure in resisting German reunification. He describes at first hand her often turbulent relationship with other European leaders and her arguments with her Cabinet colleagues about European monetary union (in which regard, he contends, her arguments have stood the test of time better and are highly relevant to the crisis in the eurozone today). Finally, the book tells of her bravura performance in the run up to the Gulf War, her calls for intervention in Bosnia and the difficulties she created for her successor. While her faults were on the same scale as her virtues, Margaret Thatcher succeeded in her mission to restore Britain's standing and influence, in the process becoming a cult figure in many other parts of the world.Trade Review'A vivid and compelling first-hand account of Margaret Thatcher's diplomacy' Henry Kissinger 'An insider's account of Thatcher the stateswoman... a book she would have loved to have seen published' The Times 'Plenty of good stories... lively and enjoyable' Daily Telegraph 'Brings back many fond memories!' General Colin Powell 'Particularly interesting is the material on the Falklands War, suggesting Mrs Thatcher's attitude to war was more complex than often imagined.' Choice Magazine 'Will be read by many people with very great pleasure.' Sir John Major 'Lord Renwick [gives] ... absorbing accounts of the negotiations he himself was involved in... Renwick tell[s] the story of the Falklands in brilliantly nuanced detail - Nobody who reads these pages could ever think of Margaret Thatcher as heartless.' Ferdinand Mount, TLS 'If you want an engaging whistlestop tour of Margaret Thatcher's foreign policy, then this book hits the spot - The beauty about Renwick's book is that it gives context to Thatcher's foreign policy.' Total Politics 'Full of delicious insider detail' Financial Times 'In A Journey With Margaret Thatcher - Foreign Policy Under The Iron Lady Renwick provides an insightful first-hand account of the British prime minister's bare-knuckled approach to international diplomacy - Yet, as this illuminating memoir concludes, this opinionated, uncompromising and at times unnecessarily abrasive woman made a much greater impact on world affairs than any other post-war British prime minister.' Financial Mail '[It] sparkles with personal anecdotes.' Richard Ottoway MP

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Book SynopsisFirst World War espionage was a fascinating and dangerous affair, spawning widespread paranoia in its clandestine wake. The hysteria of the age, stoked by those within the British establishment who sought to manipulate popular panic, meant there was no shortage of suspects. Exaggerated claims were rife: some 80,000 Germans were supposedly hidden all over Britain, just waiting for an impending (and imagined) invasion. No one could be trusted - Against this backdrop, as head of Scotland Yard's Criminal Investigation Department, it was Basil Thomson's responsibility to hunt, arrest and interrogate the potential German spies identifi ed by the nascent British intelligence services. Thomson's story is an extraordinary compendium of sleuthing and secrets from a real-life Sherlock Holmes, following the trails of the many specimens he tracked, including the famous dancer, courtesan and spy, Mata Hari. Yet his activities gained him enemies, as did his criticism of British intelligence, his ambition to control MI5 and his efforts to root out left-wing revolutionaries - which would ultimately prove to be the undoing of his career. Odd People is the insightful and wittily observed account of Thomson's incomparably exciting job, offering us a rare glimpse into the dizzying world of spies and the mind of the detective charged with foiling their elaborate plots. The Dialogue Espionage Classics series began in 2010 with the purpose of bringing back classic out-of-print spy stories that should never be forgotten. From the Great War to the Cold War, from the French Resistance to the Cambridge Five, from Special Operations to Bletchley Park, this fascinating spy history series includes some of the best military, espionage and adventure stories ever told.

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Book SynopsisDelinquent presenters, controversial executive pay-offs, the Jimmy Savile scandal...The BBC is one of the most successful broadcasters in the world, but its programme triumphs are often accompanied by management crises and high-profile resignations.One of the most respected figures in the broadcasting industry, Roger Mosey has taken senior roles at the BBC for more than twenty years, including as editor of Radio 4's Today programme, head of television news and director of the London 2012 Olympic coverage.Now, in Getting Out Alive, Mosey reveals the hidden underbelly of the BBC, lifting the lid on the angry tirades from politicians and spin doctors, the swirling accusations of bias from left and right alike, and the perils of provoking Margaret Thatcher.Along the way, this remarkable memoir charts the pleasures and pitfalls of life at the top of an organisation that is variously held up as a treasured British institution and cast down as a lumbering, out-of-control behemoth.Engaging, candid and very funny, Getting Out Alive is a true insider account of how the BBC works, why it succeeds and where it falls down.Trade Review"Perceptive, revealing and honest, Getting Out Alive reveals what makes the BBC tick. It's funny, too. A delight." John Humphrys "A hugely enjoyable book. Roger Mosey was a good and unflinching companion on the road to London 2012 and witnessed the Games from a unique perspective. He is a believer in the power of sport to inspire and the importance of critical friends in enduring partnerships." Sebastian Coe

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Book SynopsisFor nearly half a century, Sir Roy Strong has enjoyed a high public profile in the arts world in Britain. Yet remarkably little is known about his life before the Swinging Sixties when he burst upon the scene as the revolutionary trendy young director of the National Portrait Gallery, aged thirty-one. In this book he recounts for the first time the story of his social origins and the roots of his life-long passion for the culture and history of England. He describes his childhood home in a suburban North London terrace, revealing himself to have been a shy solitary child of melancholy temperament, painting Elizabethan miniatures and Shakespearean set designs in his teens. It follows him through grammar school and university, where together with a generation of postwar ‘meritocrats’ like A.S. Byatt and Alan Bennett, his passion for learning was awakened and nourished. We catch glimpses of seminal experiences, such as his first outings to the theatre, opera and ballet, and his first trip abroad to Italy, which was to have a lasting influence on his sensibilities. He explores key, sometimes painful relationships with his family, his school teacher with whom he had a lifelong correspondence, and his debt to such people as C.V. Wedgwood, A.L. Rowse, Frances Yates and Cecil Beaton. In it we glimpse a vanished world dominated by class and hierarchy up which he climbed. As a backdrop we have the transformation of London from the drab, postwar world of the 1950s to the epicentre of fashion in the 1960s, and the development of Sir Roy’s distinctive sartorial style, inspired by the burgeoning shops on Carnaby Street. Richly illustrated with drawings, letters, photographs and other archival material, this is an honest and compelling portrait of a young man about to step into the limelight of the British cultural scene he helped to modernize and in which he played a leading role.

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Book SynopsisDuring a remarkable lifetime, Andrew Sinclair has bridged the worlds of university and literature, art and cinema. A child of the Second World War, he has known many of the leading figures of the past seventy years - ranging from William Golding to Ted Hughes, Harold Pinter to Francis Bacon, Robert Lowell to Graham Greene, as well as publishing such classic screenplays as 'The Blue Angel', 'The Third Man' and 'Stagecoach'. He also directed a number of films including Dylan Thomas's 'Under Milk Wood' starring Richard Burton, Elizabeth Taylor and Peter O'Toole. This unique `anti-memoires' of episodes and encounters captures new insights into many of the leading creative talents and stars of their times. In his own adventures, Andrew became involved in the revolt against the Suez invasion and overground nuclear tests, the Cuban revolution led by Fidel Castro and Che Guevara, the 1968 global student uprisings and finally in the worldwide digital revolution in education and the arts. Now in his ninth decade, this author of some 40 books, including the much-lauded The Breaking of Bumbo and Gog, Andrew Sinclair in the tradition of John Aubrey's Brief Lives looks back on a rich life and fond memories of the people he has studied and known.Table of ContentsIntroduction Birthing and Mother My Childhood, If Worth It The Wall and the Dame Summer and Bamber Public Duties Suez, Jack Gallagher and Denis Brogan Pamplona Tony Richardson What Career? John F. Kennedy Three Cultures Annihilation Blues Louis-Ferdinand Celine Albert Camus Haiti, Ho The Beats and a Continent Young Man River Francis Bacon Screenplays God and Golding In the Beginning, Dylan They Profit Count Me Out Havana Libre Endgame or Not Somehow 'Under Milk Wood' Acts and Illusions The Wonder of Children and Movies Silence or Speaking Out Sonia The Fabulous Portanovas Forgiven if not quite Forgotten Terror and Resistance Past and Play Life Lines Afterdeath and 'If ' 'Being and Seeing' The Dying Word Nothing is So

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Book SynopsisTwo remarkable doctors, Grandmother and Grand-daughter, tell their stories. The similarities are fascinating but the differences are brutal. Dr Sabrina Skopinska, the grandmother of Dr Monika Blackwell, was born in Warsaw and worked in deprived rural and urban communities. The greatest toll on the health of her patients was tuberculosis... for many, including children and young adults, a death sentence. In 1943, five years after she wrote this diary, she was to die in Warsaw, in a shootout with the Gestapo at her clandestine underground radio station. Dr Monika Blackwell grew up having read the diary as a child. She qualified in medicine in London and worked as an army doctor dealing with bullet wounds and trauma, then, like her grandmother before her, she took up general practice. In the last eighteen months she has continued treating patients during the Covid-19 pandemic. The stories are fascinating and the insights illuminating.

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Book SynopsisAmerica the beautiful? America the Great! America the promised land? But what is the soul of America, and has that dream died?In the summer of 2002, two young British brothers Jeremy and Mark T Goddard embarked on a road trip that would have elements of an odyssey and a soulful pilgrimage.They went in search of their own version of El Dorado, conjuring visions of a lost city shrouded in the mists of Central America, instead of the promise of ubiquitous gold, the prize they sought was great music. They sailed into the metaphorical unknown to explore the lands that had given birth to rock 'n' roll, soul, jazz and the blues.Trade ReviewMark's photos are candid and full of emotion, forgoing the approach of editing theimages to make the scenes more perfect. He shows us, much like adocumentarian, the beauty in the imperfect, captured with the soul of an artist.The key to artistic expression is to do something with danger and style; the photosyou see here certainly capture that.Sascha Bailey FOMA Magazine March 2023

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Book Synopsis'I said many times I would not write autobiography - partly because it might signal, either to my inner self, or to others, a ""signing off"" as a writer; and partly because I did not want to mark off areas that were fact in my life from those that might yet be invented. Fiction likes to move, disguised and without a passport, back and forth across that border, and prefers it should be unmarked and without check-points.' - C K Stead. Happily for the many readers of his novels, poems, criticism and essays, C K Stead has changed his mind. In South-West of Eden, a coming-of-age memoir by New Zealand's leading poet, novelist and critic writes of a life 'lived by history' -running wild in Cornwall Park, joining the Labour Party aged seven, discovering poetry in a third-form English class and enjoying a newly married annus mirabilis in a flat on Takapuna Beach down the road from Frank Sargeson and Janet Frame. An Aucklander to the core - 'Most things of real significance in my life and the life of my family had happened somewhere in sight from the summit of Mt Eden' - Stead here turns his home town into a land of myth and symbol: Tamaki of many lovers, portage for ancient waka, wasp-waist of the fish of Maui, site of a Pakeha-planned and never built coast-to-coast canal and of the harbour-to-harbour ghost-tram, no longer running except in the head of an elderly writer, late in the night, remembering at his laptop. In a virtuoso performance, C K Stead wonderfully illuminates 23 years of his time and his place.

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Book Synopsis`Men no longer whisper "Revolution", they shout it; and they no longer carry banners, but throw bricks' - Letter home from Harvard, 1970. Jock Phillips grew up in post-war Christchurch where history meant Ancient Greece and home was England. Over the last 50 years - through the Maori renaissance, the women's movement, the rediscovery of ANZAC and more - Phillips has lived through a revolution in New Zealanders' understanding of their identity. And from A Man's Country to Te Ara, in popular writing, exhibitions, television and the internet, he played a key role in instigating that revolution. Making History tells the story of how Jock Phillips and other New Zealanders discovered this country's past. In this memoir, Phillips turns his deep historical skills on himself. How did the son of Anglophile parents, educated among the sons of Canterbury sheep farmers at Christ's College, work out that the history of this country might have real value? From Harvard, Black Power and sexual politics in America, to challenging male culture in New Zealand in A Man's Country, to engaging with Maori in Te Papa and Te Ara, Phillips revolted against his background and became a pioneering public historian, using new ways to communicate history to a broad audience.

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Book SynopsisThey came from the stetl to a new land, to a new life. Another year in Africa, they said, another year in exile. Old bonds break as they adjust from the old world of pogroms to their new life in Africa. Six-year-old Ruth is haunted by memories of tragedy and persecution that are not even hers. Award-winning author, Rose Zwi, evokes with tenderness the 1930s and 40s with a tale of loss of innocence alongside the stirrings of Apartheid.Trade Review"A tender, richly detailed and engrossing novel." --Elaine Lindsay

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Book SynopsisAn illuminating story of motherhood, Fear of Food is Carol Bacchi's account of the first two years of her son's life. She battles his rejection of food, encounters dismissive health professionals, and struggles with sleep deprivation and the uncertainties of doing it alone.

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Book SynopsisIn Francesca Rendle-Short’s family, silence was golden. So to break ranks and tell stories about her peculiar family life and her mother’s moral crusading should send this daughter straight to hell in a ball of smoke and flame along with all those books her mother wanted to burn. Some stories are hard to tell. But like reading, writing stories changes everything. Set in 1970s Queensland and also contemporary times, Bite Your Tongue is an elegant mix of novel and memoir that is in turn harrowing and delightful. It threads together the childhood story of the fictional Glory Solider, with the thoughts and experiences of the adult author, Francesca Rendle-Short, as she looks more deeply into her mother’s activism at the time of facing her mother’s death. Can a daughter forgive her mother for making her a pawn in her conservative moral crusades? Can greater understanding reinstate love? What does a mother owe a daughter and a daughter a mother?Trade Review"Rendle-Short has created an engaging, unsettling and at times darkly funny account of her childhoodthat will be of interest to those studying literary representations of mother-daughter relationships." - Bronwen Lacken,Kings College London June 2015

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Book SynopsisThis is the true and unusual story of Lily, who has no sense of her body. She has struggled with the effects of this her whole life. Desperate to try anything to be normal, a nevertheless sceptical Lily agrees to begin work with her physiotherapist in a gymnasium. One extraordinary day, working in the gym, Lily discovers she has shoulder blades. All her life she has thought people only felt their heads, with thoughts trailing along in and behind them. Now she has shoulder blades. There is nothing easy about what is to follow. Neither Patrick (the hysiotherapist) nor Lily could have predicted it. But with help from professionals, the writer of this beautiful, moving memoir becomes her own detective, searching for clues to help her find her own body.

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Book SynopsisWriter Elspeth Sandys was born during the Second World War, the result of a brief encounter between two people who would never meet again. The first nine months of her life were spent in the Truby King Karitane Hospital in Dunedin, where she was known by her birth name, Frances Hilton James. This would change with her adoption into the Somerville family. A new birth certificate was issued and Frances James became Elspeth Sandilands Somerville. Tom and Alice Somerville, Elspeth''s new parents, lived with their son John in Dunedin''s Andersons Bay. While Elspeth was happy among the ebullient and welcoming Somerville clan, she had a difficult relationship with her adoptive mother, who was frequently hospitalised with mental health problems. Elspeth''s search for her birth parents did not begin until much later in her adult life. What she discovered after an exhaustive search provided answers that were both disturbing and, ultimately, rewarding. What Lies Beneath is a searing, amusing, and never less than gripping tale of a difficult life, beautifully told.

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Book SynopsisA proud son of Bella Coola''s Norwegian settlers, Lorne Greenaway grew up in the Okanagan in a time when kids left home after breakfast to face the day''s adventures (and misadventures) armed with only an uncomplicated faith in their own youthful immortality. When Lorne won a pony in the Red River Cereal contest, a lifelong love of animals was born. After graduating from high school, Lorne chose to pursue a career in veterinary medicine at Guelph University, where his inclination toward practical jokes helped to temper the long and gruelling studies of a veterinary student. In this intimate memoir Lorne describes the humour, tragedies and triumphs of a large-animal veterinary practice on the cattle ranches of BC''s Interior. Not long after he had established a thriving practice, circumstances conspired to take Lorne on an eclectic journey from teaching veterinary medicine, to ranching, to exporting cattle and finally into politics. Lorne''s ten years as a member of Parliament and his subsequent time in provincial politics paint a fascinating and heart-warming picture of what one lone backbencher from the boonies can -- and cannot -- do.

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Book SynopsisAs a schoolteacher in Redding, California, in the late 1940s, Doris Lee (née Pope) had a satisfying career, creature comforts, and a fashionable wardrobe. Then she fell in love with John Lee, a kind-hearted rancher who grew up on horseback and hunted for food. Doris and John were married in 1949, and two years later migrated from the world they knew in California to an isolated ranch near Big Lake in British Columbia''s Cariboo. Here, as a young bride, Doris battled loneliness, feelings of inadequacy, and the gruelling daily hardships of rudimentary backwoods living. But with sheer tenacity and determination Doris transformed herself into a highly skilled hunter, guide, trapper and shepherdess. In this compelling memoir, Doris Lee leads us through stunning mountain passes on horseback, comes eye to eye with grizzlies and cougars, and provides deep insight into rearing and protecting two young boys in the remote wilderness. She becomes captivated by the magic of evenings spent around the comfort of a campfire and finds spiritual connection in the mysterious beauty of the aurora borealis. The brutal winters of the Cariboo and the never-ending demands of raising livestock shape her soul and challenge her to become stronger than she ever thought she could.

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Book SynopsisThis is a remarkable and deeply wise reflection on land, farming, a sense of place, connecting with nature and what it means to live on this earth. As a third-generation farmer, the author''s roots go deep into the land but her work also captures her thoughts on such current issues as the environment, environmental identity, and animal ethics. Her writing is poetic, lyrical, and engaging. Part farmer, part poet, part activist, Armstrong engages her readers through her fascination and close involvement with both the natural and the human worlds.

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Book SynopsisIn her best-selling first book, Home: Tales of a Heritage Farm (2005), Anny Scoones introduced readers to historic Glamorgan Farm. In Home and Away, Anny presents more stories about the joys and sorrows, excitements and mishaps and also takes readers farther afield, sharing with them her travels to other parts of Canada, to New York and to such places as Malaysia and Belarus. Her travel tales offer not only her keen observations on what she sees and experiences while away, but also her perspective from afar on the importance of having a place to return to that truly is home. Anny has owned Glamorgan Farm since 2000. Located in North Saanich, B.C., it''s one of the original farms and homesteads on Vancouver Island, established in 1870 by Richard John. She is restoring the historic structures and raising heritage breeds of livestock. The front meadows are gardened by an herb gardener and a group of mentally challenged adults who grow organic, heirloom varieties of flowers and produce. Anny writes candidly and colourfully about real things, from visits with her family-she is the daughter of internationally acclaimed artists Molly Lamb Bobak and Bruno Bobak-to simple pleasures like arranging bowls of pears and hearing the owls in the woods at dusk. She writes about making bonfires, sitting with a dying horse, playing with a 700-pound sow and visiting the SPCA. Some of her tales are told with humour, some in sadness, but all tell the truth about living, observing and creating, whether at home or away.

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Book SynopsisDodging down back-alleys in bomb-torn Beirut. Wheeling past God and traffic in Mombassa, Kenya. Slipping around the edges of Alzheimer's disease, the Gulf War, and the eternity of CNN. Set somewhere between here and the heat-death of the universe, Jim Oaten's debut collection serves up random samples of literal and literary truth scooped up at top speed. Whether peeking out from the backseat of Mom and Dad's car or surveying the grimy wings of mental wards, 'Accelerated Paces' hurdlesthat uneasy terrain between creative fact and honest fiction. These short stories and pieces ignore borders as they jaunt thorough external trips and internal voyages. This is both creative non-fiction and creative fiction, which follows the idea of crossing boundaries and blurring borders. This collection is an explicit demonstration of how the two genres interplay, of how a non-fiction event can inspire a fictional piece, and, interestingly enough, the reverse as well. Stamp your passport, andstep on the edge. Buy a ticket, and take the ride. "Whether it is a description of role-playing a cat in a mental health centre, careering through the streets of Mombasa in a taxi, or even attedning a Robert McKee story seminar, Oaten's writing constantly teeters on the blissed-out edge of chaos." - Quill & Quire

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Book SynopsisRoadtripping documents a decade of road trips through the fiefdom of Alberta. The men and women who make up the Buffalo Gals first set out in July 1999 to experience the unusual and charming roadside attractions of south-central Alberta. Never dreaming that this one-off adventure would turn into an annual event, it''s ten years later and they continue their escapades. Each year a new destination is chosen and the weekend-long travel begins. Traditions have evolved including elaborate scrapbooking, eating in gourmet dining rooms (when available) and excessive snacking (without fail). Beyond the joys and challenges of being on the road and a deepening bond of friendship, this book is a love poem to Alberta, a province often misunderstood and mislabelled as being the right-wing cowboy haunt of Canada. With trip route maps, hilarious photos, and appendices including checklists and recipes, Roadtripping explores the bizarre and wonderful attractions of wild rose country, stuffed gophers, political fanaticism, mad cows and more.

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Book SynopsisHilarious true story of Knightsbridge vet Michael Morton and the animals and owners in his care.

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Book SynopsisMany of us who participate in adventure sports have wondered: "What if the worst really happened? What if everything I have held so dear were to be taken away in the blink of an eye: my way of living, my job, my social life ... everything!?" An inspiring tale of a remarkable recovery from a hugely challenging, life-threatening accident. In 2013 he was caught in an avalanche which swept him over a cliff. Despite falling 140 metres and suffering serious brain injuries he survived. His prognosis was that in time he might be able to communicate by blinking. Nine years later he has made a remarkable recovery and though sheer determination recovered his fitness levels. Pete does have speech problems and an odd gait but he has gone on to find new challenges. He has recently cycled the equivalent distance to once around the equator and continues to live life to the full.

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