Search results for ""author andrew marr""

Sunday Times Top 10 Bestseller, fully revised and updated with a new chapter.'Absorbing . . . particularly acute on the political aspects of constitutional monarchy, but he also writes perceptively about individual members of the Royal Family.' Daily TelegraphWith the flair for narrative and the meticulous research that readers have come to expect, in The Diamond Queen Andrew Marr turns his attention to the monarch, chronicling the Queen’s pivotal role at the centre of the state, which is largely hidden from the public gaze, and making a strong case for the institution itself.Arranged thematically, rather than chronologically, Marr dissects the Queen’s political relationships, crucially those with her Prime Ministers; he examines her role as Head of the Commonwealth, and her deep commitment to that Commonwealth of nations; he looks at the drastic changes in the media since her accession in 1952 and how the monarchy has had to change and adapt as a result. Under her watchful eye, it has been thoroughly modernized but what does the future hold for the House of Windsor? This edition, fully revised and updated, features a new introduction and a new chapter that sets out to answer that crucial question. In it, Marr covers the Queen’s reign from the Diamond Jubilee to the run-up to the Platinum Jubilee in 2022, taking in the death of the Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Charles’s plans for the future of the monarchy and examines what Elizabeth II’s lasting legacy might be.

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In A Short Book About Painting, writer and broadcaster Andrew Marr tackles the subjects of inspiration, creativity, politics, beauty and form. How does the artist make good work? What constitutes “good”? How important is technique – and the imagination? Following a serious stroke in 2013 that left him partially paralysed, Marr struggled with the physical rigours of painting using oils. This led to his wrestling with some of the very fundamental questions about painting as an art form in itself ­ and to interrogate himself daily about brushstrokes, colour balance, line and texture. Using his own work in progress as examples of failures, and examples of techniques from classical artists right up to the present day, Marr examines how the painter can improve and learn from his or her mistakes. Marr’s provocative, political and instructive book is not just an essential resource for all amateur painters, it is a must-read for anyone fascinated by the creative process and the limits of human artistic achievement.

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The Sunday Times bestseller THE STORY OF BRITAIN during the long reign of Queen Elizabeth II. Find out how Britain changed in this entrancing, lively portrait of Britain’s Elizabethan Age by bestselling writer and broadcaster Andrew Marr Britain changed fundamentally during the Queen’s long, distinguished reign. So who made modern Britain the country it is today? How do we sum up the kind of people we are? What did it mean to be the new Elizabethans? In this wonderfully told history, spanning back to when Queen Elizabeth became queen in 1953, Andrew Marr traces the people who have made Britain the country it is today. From the activists to the artists, the sports heroes to the innovators, these people pushed us forward, changed the conversation, encouraged us to eat better, to sing, think and to protest. They got things done. How will our generation be remembered in a hundred years’ time? And when you look back at Britain’s toughest moments in the past seventy years, what do you learn about its people and its values? In brilliantly entertaining style and with unexpected insights into some of our sung and unsung heroes, this is our story as Elizabethans – the story of how 1950s Britain evolved into the diverse country we live in today. In short, it is the history of modern Britain. FEATURING: David Attenborough. Marcus Rashford. Jan Morris. Diana Dors. Bob Geldof. David Olusoga. Elizabeth David. Zaha Hadid. Frank Crichlow. Quentin Crisp. Dusty Springfield. Captain Tom – and many others.

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A History of Modern Britain by Andrew Marr confronts head-on the victory of shopping over politics. This edition also includes an extra chapter charting the course from Blair to Brexit.It tells the story of how the great political visions of New Jerusalem or a second Elizabethan Age, rival idealisms, came to be defeated by a culture of consumerism, celebrity and self-gratification. In each decade, political leaders think they know what they are doing, but find themselves confounded. Every time, the British people turn out to be stroppier and harder to herd than predicted. Throughout, Britain is a country on the edge – first of invasion, then of bankruptcy, then on the vulnerable front line of the Cold War and later in the forefront of the great opening up of capital and migration now reshaping the world. This history follows all the political and economic stories, but deals too with comedy, cars, the war against homosexuals, Sixties anarchists, oil-men and punks, Margaret Thatcher's wonderful good luck, political lies and the true heroes of British theatre.

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Andrew Marr was born in Glasgow. He graduated from Cambridge University and has enjoyed a long career in political journalism, working for the Scotsman, the Independent, the Economist, the Express, and the Observer before being appointed as the BBC's political editor in May 2000. He is also the presenter of Start the Week. Andrew Marr's broadcasting includes series on contemporary thinkers for BBC 2 and Radio 4, and political documentaries for Channel 4 and BBC Panorama. He has had major prizes from the British Press Awards, the Royal Television Society and Bafta, among others. He has written several books, including A History of 20th Century Britain and A History of Modern Britain. He lives in London.

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In The Making of Modern Britain, Andrew Marr paints a fascinating portrait of life in Britain during the first half of the twentieth century as the country recovered from the grand wreckage of the British Empire. Between the death of Queen Victoria and the end of the Second World War, the nation was shaken by war and peace. The two wars were the worst we had ever known and the episodes of peace among the most turbulent and surprising. As the political forum moved from Edwardian smoking rooms to an increasingly democratic Westminster, the people of Britain experimented with extreme ideas as they struggled to answer the question ‘How should we live?’ Socialism? Fascism? Feminism? Meanwhile, fads such as eugenics, vegetarianism and nudism were gripping the nation, while the popularity of the music hall soared. It was also a time that witnessed the birth of the media as we know it today and the beginnings of the welfare state. Beyond trenches, flappers and Spitfires, this is a story of strange cults and economic madness, of revolutionaries and heroic inventors, sexual experiments and raucous stage heroines. From organic food to drugs, nightclubs and celebrities to package holidays, crooked bankers to sleazy politicians, the echoes of today's Britain ring from almost every page.

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The Sunday Times Bestseller From the award-winning writer of The Times Magazine's 'Spinal Column': a deeply moving, darkly funny, inspirational memoir ‘It’s beautiful – full of love and light – and an exploration into not only how, but why we survive, despite everything’ Christie Watson, author of The Language of Kindness On Good Friday, 2010 Melanie Reid fell from her horse, breaking her neck and fracturing her lower back. She was 52. Paralysed from the top of her chest down, she was to spend almost a full year in hospital, determinedly working towards gaining as much movement in her limbs as possible, and learning to navigate her way through a world that had previously been invisible to her. As a journalist Melanie had always turned to words and now, on a spinal ward peopled by an extraordinary array of individuals who were similarly at sea, she decided that writing would be her life-line. The World I Fell Out Of is an account of that year, and of those that followed. It is the untold ‘back story’ behind Melanie’s award-winning ‘Spinal Column’ in The Times Magazine and a testament to ‘the art of getting on with it’. Unflinchingly honest and beautifully observed, this is a wise and inspiring memoir about risk and dilemma, heroism and love . Above all, The World I Fell Out Of is a reminder that at any moment the life we know can be turned upside down – and a plea to start appreciating what we have while we have it.

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Fresh, exciting and vividly readable, this is popular history at its very best.Our understanding of world history is changing, as new discoveries are made on all the continents and old prejudices are being challenged. In this truly global journey, political journalist Andrew Marr revisits some of the traditional epic stories, from classical Greece and Rome to the rise of Napoleon, but surrounds them with less familiar material, from Peru to the Ukraine, China to the Caribbean. He looks at cultures that have failed and vanished, as well as the origins of today’s superpowers, and finds surprising echoes and parallels across vast distances and epochs. A History of the World is a book about the great change-makers of history and their times, people such as Cleopatra, Genghis Khan, Galileo and Mao, but it is also a book about us. For ‘the better we understand how rulers lose touch with reality, or why revolutions produce dictators more often than they produce happiness, or why some parts of the world are richer than others, the easier it is to understand our own times.’

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MARR IS BACK… AND BETTER THAN EVER The Prime Minister’s days are numbered. The Master, a shadowy figure from his party’s past, plans to replace him with someone he can manipulate to his own ends. But who will he choose? Two candidates stand out: David Petrie, a handsome, self-made Scot with a troubled personal history; and Caroline Phillips, a high-flying Londoner whose unconventional private life could make or break her. Against a backdrop of intrigue and betrayal at Westminster, these two must play the Master at his own game if they are to seize the greatest political prize of all.

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If the Paintings Could Talk reveals the hidden histories of paintings in the National Gallery, London. With a treasury of fascinating facts, discoveries, and tales, this book describes the flight a work took down a mountainside and the portrait that appeared in a James Bond film, among many other entertaining events and stories. An engaging, accessible, and highly original gallery guide that cross-references entries throughout, the book provides a unique tour of this remarkable collection.Published by National Gallery Company/Distributed by Yale University Press

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A classic memoir by one of the great British journalists of the twentieth century, a man who earned universal respect not only for his courage in reporting from dangerous places, but for his candour and independence. Point of Departure features Cameron's eyewitness accounts of the atom bomb tests at Bikini atoll, the Chinese invasion of Tibet and the war in Korea, and vivid evocations of his encounters with Mao Tse-tung and Winston Churchill.

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Thirteen-year-old Tom Curdie, the product of a Glasgow slum, is on probation for theft. His teachers admit that he is clever, but only one, Charlie Forbes, sees something in Tom and his seemingly insolent smile. So, Forbes decides to take Tom on holiday with his own family, with tragic consequences.From one of Scotland's greatest writers, The Changeling explores how goodness and innocence is compromised when faced with the pressures of growing up and becoming part of society.

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