Search results for ""Gibson Square Books Ltd""

Diana Mitford, the most glamorous of the Mitfords, rivetingly narrates her life populated with key characters of 20th century history. Evelyn Waugh and Oswald Mosley fell in love with her, while not only Winston Churchill but also Adolf Hitler adored her. She lived in the grandest houses as well as in Holloway Prison. Later the Duke and Duchess of Windsor entered her life, followed by Nelson Mandela... Meanwhile her mordant Mitford wit developed later into an elegant arch writing style as journalist and (auto)biographer.

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When General Eisenhower assumed the US presidency in 1953 the world entered the nuclear age and certainly Winston Churchill thought that Eisenhower would soon lead the US into another war. Based on declassified archive material, Ike's Bluff tells for the first time the real story. In fact, the opposite happened to Churchill's fears. Eisenhower realised the devastating consequences of a nuclear conflict well ahead of the other world powers. His broad smile hid a brilliant, ruthless tactician. He guided a fractious world through a period when the full consequences of the Bomb were only slowly realised. Harold Macmillan, with whom he had a close friendship, ruefully remarked that Britain would be wiped off the map with only 8 bombs. Facing the Soviet Union, China, and his own generals, some of whom believed a first strike was the only means of survival, Eisenhower would make his boldest and riskiest bet yet, one of such enormity that there could be but two outcomes: the survival of the world, or its end. This is the story of how he won.

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How does globalisation affect our economy and how did it cause the financial melt-down? In this unique book twelve global thinkers and business people, including global entrepreneur Richard Branson ("Losing My Viriginity"), give their compelling views on the threats and opportunities that lie ahead. Included among the contributors are Jim O'Neill head of Goldman Sachs research who coined the phrase BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, China) countries; Peter Jones of BBC Draggon's Den; and, Minister for Business Lord Mandelson, Clare Short, alternative globalisation expert and eco-feminist Vandana Shiva (Earth Democracy), and 2006 Nobel Prize Winner Muhammad Yunus (Banker to the Poor).

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Ghislaine Maxwell's life of privilege was unimaginable. Her jetset world was not only made up of Presidents, top billionaires, Hollywood stars, Kennedys and Rockefellers, but also of princes, princesses, dukes and duchesses, all as regular friends - including university friend Prince Andrew, the favorite son of the Queen of England. Yet she still wanted more. Ghislaine met shadowy billionaire Jeffrey Epstein and amassed a fortune of almost $30 million over the course of their friendship. Her arrest by the FBI in July 2020 - almost a year to the day of Epstein's second arrest on sex charges - proved a stinging fall from grace as $30 million bail was refused. GHISLAINE MAXWELL leaves no stone unturned and is the first investigation based on all new sources available. An explosive true story, GHISLAINE MAXWELL is a riveting tale of wealth, power and the almost impervious Teflon power surrounding America's richest citizens.

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Imagine a world where Wellington boots come with a 24-page instruction manual, or council carers who are prohibited from making tea for OAPs in case they scald themselves on the job. Welcome to Britain in the 21st century, where the Jobsworths now lords it large, issuing edicts of mind-boggling stupidity that ruin the quality of people's lives all in the name of 'elf n safety'. Journalist Alan Pearce has compiled the most outrageous and hilarious (and unfortunately all true) examples. They will make you cringe whilst crying with laughter. Read about the author who was banned from selling his book in case it caused paper cuts; the swings removed from a playground in case children were blinded by the sun while playing on them; an international cycle race banned after worries about urinating cyclists; the risk assessment needed before a local village hall could sell mince pies. You couldn't make it up!

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Cooking humour for the inner chef.

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The autobiography Nancy Mitford intended to write herself

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In this bittersweet collection of daily moments of pleasure, conflict and disappointment, Liz delves into everything from an agonisingly slow shopper, to falling in and out of love. Her wry wit and honest observations cast a poignant light on all the big and small things that make up everyday life.Endlessly entertaining and approachable, We All Have Our Moments is a book for those who love verse, and for those who normally wouldn't.

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Wittgenstein said that if people never did silly things, nothing intelligent would ever happen. In this compelling A-Z of modern ignorance, Stephen Bayley gathers silly, curious and sometimes shocking facts on everything that makes our world tick. Why does Judeo-Christianity love mountains? Why was fear of drinking from skulls the original reason for cremation? And where does the word f*** come from (hint: think berets)? You'll be surprised how much you never knew!

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The first book on the tabloid news machine and its phone-hacking scandals in the mould of bestselling Flat Earth News.

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Meet Arshile Grekov. A Russian oligarch, he lives in Holland Park, London, as a recluse in exceptional opulence after successfully extricating his gigantic fortune from Russia. He is deeply worried. His doctors are confounded by his slowly failing health and then there is his beloved son, a loud, druggy, dissolute Etonian secretly involved with a white-Russian princess. As a former spy in Russia's elite military secret service, he knows he will always remain of intense interest to the paranoid Russian government. When Grekov's private security force is infiltrated by a potential spy, he turns to former MI5 agent Tony Underwood to prevent further mischief...

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Your first child will change your life. But what if you have three at the same time! Eleven years ago, Ian Mucklejohn had triplet sons as a single father and was outnumbered three to one from the very beginning. Ian had to do it all by himself: juggle, organise, cook, keep sane, stay calm, and handle every obstacle. There was always one hand short, one child who felt left out or needed an extra hug. Ian has gathered the best stories of his sons over the years: the hilarious moments, the fights and crocodile tears, the tough questions to which there is no right answer. You may well recognise yourself - just multiply by three and deduct one parent! Lars, Piers and Ian Mucklejohn live in Newbury with their single father Ian. After studying English, Ian's first job was as a postman, after which he became a teacher.

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In Spoilt Rotten, social commentator Theodore Dalrymple (Our Culture or What is Left of It, 2009) grinds his axe at our sentimentality-centric culture where feelings have become the yardstick of everything we do: safe driving, education, taking of responsibility (none), sentimentality (everywhere). In this forensic polemic of maudlin popular culture from X-factor to Super Nannies, Dalrymple wields his scalpel at all our modern sacred cows. Children will be speechless, for once, parents will hang their heads in shame!

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Dim and dimmer? You decide! Spares Prince Harry and Prince Andrew have rarely been out of the news since 2019. They both have proved to have a rare knack for creating a royal soap opera and turning their humdrum lives into a major embarrassment to their family. Royal author Nigel Cawthorne unravels their princely lives in this dual portrait and asks. Join this frank and hilarious celebration of this royal double act. Covering all the stations of the cross for royal pain from wives, money, relatives, having to scrounge for millions, being turfed out of the HRH club.

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A short, hilarious primer to modern France. Dental hygienists are illegal, yet the French exchange a staggering 184 billion kisses every year and many more crazy little French quirks.

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The very best outrage from the Tunbridge Wells Advertiser, the newspaper that coined the phrase 'Disgusted from Tunbridge Wells' for grumpy complaints.

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Far from becoming classless, Britain's elite is increasingly formed by a select group of professional egalitarians. Rather than aim to raise popular aspirations, they exploit mass taste, mass gullibility, mass spending power for their personal advancement.

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Like many people Carla McKay thought that yoga sounded a bit too good to be true, and a bit to happy, and to bit too much for skinny yummie mummies. Things changed, however, when a friend persuaded her to give it try for a laugh after she separated from her husband.

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Kenneth Murphy's brother was one of the last US soldiers to be killed during the Vietnam. Travelling through Vietnam, he captures its ancient culture and what remains after French and US imperialism and the onslaught of the 21st century finance; and gradually falls in love with the country where his brother is burried.

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John Fleming and Hugh Honour were giants of the art world. To Susanna Johnston, however, they were simply John and Hugh, an inseparable couple and two of her closest friends. They had met in the 1950s at Gli Scafari, the opulent villa on the Italian Riviera of the blind writer Percy Lubbock - one of Henry James' inamoratos and Iris Origo's step father - when she was twenty one, on holiday and penniless. Originally part of the Anglo-Italian world orbiting Bernard Berenson's I Tatti and Harold Acton's La Pietra in Tuscany, John Fleming and Hugh Honour were bemused by being lionised themselves by the super-rich who beat a path to their Villa Marchio. This candid memoir, full of private anecdotes, illuminates these two celebrated, passionate, and very English geniuses, through a close-up of a well-seasoned friendship of over 60 years.

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Throughout her life, until her untimely death in 1997, Diana frequently gave interviews and shared her thoughts with many people. In this fresh portrait over almost 20 years, Nigel Cawthorne gathers her most salient words - some known, some forgotten. They show a remarkable woman who is still able to inspire us two decades on.

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Delightful peeves from Victorian Britain to the Second World War, gathered together as an alternative history of Britain through moans and grumbles.

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The must-have Brando biography by Brando's closest friend.

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Light-hearted and moving story of the beautiful friendship between John Fleming and Hugh Honour, the last great British eccentrics, and Susanna Johnston, centring around the Villa Marchio in Tuscany where they had made their life

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For a balanced life, everyone needs a place where they can be happy in their own skin. However, modern pressures often get in the way of having a home that serves as a stable haven for all who live there. Based on two years of research and interviews, Angela Neustatter looks at ways people in very different circumstances are improving the balance of their lives through their homes. Her search for answers ranges widely, from her own family life to council estates in Manchester and London, to the Australian home of Elisabeth Murdoch; from a lesbian houseshare in small-town Texas to an eco-village in Wales. A Home for the Heart provides eleven ways in which people are balancing the demands of the modern world with the demands of their homes, showing how a nurturing home can once again become of root of happiness.

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First paperback edition of the acclaimed Hardback.

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Russia's February 24 invasion of Ukraine came from nowhere...? Felshtinsky and Stanchev's gripping history of Putin's attempts to take Ukraine reveals his first deadly attack came as early as 1999. As early as 2015 the authors predicted that the Russian invasion was a matter the Russian army's 6-year planning cycle and would happen in 2021 (not knowing the pandemic would happen). They argue how Putin must be resisted in order to avoid a potential nuclear conflict that could drag the world into a global war. An authoritative must-read to understand the causes of the crisis and what to do when.

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