A. J. Liebling, born in Manhattan in 1904, joined the staff of the New Yorker in 1935 and contributed innumerable articles to the magazine throughout his lifetime, on subjects ranging from food to boxing and France to horse racing. As a war correspondent during the Second World War, he reported from France, England and Algeria, and participated in the Normandy landings. In later life he married the writer Jean Stafford, his third wife. He died in 1963.

A. J. Liebling

A. J. Rosen is an author of YA fantasy and is known as @agatharoza on Wattpad.

A. J. Rosen

A. K. Davidson

A. O. Scott has been a film critic at the New York Times since 2000. His writing has appeared in many other publications, including the New York Review of Books, Slate, the New Yorker and the Nation. A finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in criticism in 2010, Scott is currently Distinguished Professor of Film Criticism at Wesleyan University. He lives with his family in Brooklyn, New York. 
 
@aoscott

A. O. Scott

A.S. Byatt (1936-2023) was a novelist, short-story writer and critic of international renown. Her novels include Possession (winner of the Booker Prize 1990), the Frederica Quartet and The Children’s Book, which was shortlisted for the Booker Prize and won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Fiction. She was appointed CBE in 1990 and DBE in 1999, and was awarded the Erasmus Prize 2016 for her ‘inspiring contribution to life writing’ and the Pak Kyongni Prize 2017. In 2018 she received the Hans Christian Andersen Literature Award.

A. S. Byatt

A. T. Williams won the George Orwell Prize for Political Writing in 2013 for his book A Very British Killing: The Death of Baha Mousa. He lives in Warwickshire.

A. T. Williams

A. W. Chase

Dubbed ‘The new queen of spy fiction’ by the Guardian newspaper, and ‘the real thing’ by the Washington Post, A.C. 'Ava' Glass is the CWA Dagger-shortlisted author of Alias Emma (The Chase), The Traitor and The Trap. The Traitor was a 2023 Richard and Judy Bookclub pick. Alias Emma was a Barnes and Noble book of the month. A former crime reporter and communications consultant, for five years Ava worked closely with spies. Her time in that world fascinated her, and the people she met back then inspire every book she writes.

A.C. Glass

A.E. Housman

Arthur Edward Waite was the designer and co-creator of the now famous Rider Waite Tarot deck. 
 
An American-born British poet and scholarly mystic, his strong interest in all esoteric matters - divination, magic, Kabbalism, alchemy and Freemasony - led to him penning a number of books. These include the Key to the Tarot, The Book of Ceremonial Magic and A New Encyclopedia of Freemasony.

A.E. Waite

A.E. Warren is the author of the Tomorrow's Ancestors series, which consists of Subject Twenty-One, The Hidden Base, The Fourth Species and The Final Rising. 
 
After spending eight years working as a lawyer, she began to write in the evenings and early mornings as a form of escapism from life in a very small cubicle with lots of files. She self-published her first novels in her spare time, which were picked up by Del Rey UK which is the science fiction/fantasy imprint of Penguin Random House. 
 
 She is an avid reader, occasional gamer and fair-weather runner. She lives in the UK with her husband, daughter and hopefully, one day, a wise border terrier named Austen.

A.E. Warren

A.G.D. Maran

A.J. Ayer

A.J. Cronin

A K Benedict writes crime and speculative fiction in a room filled with clowns, mannequins and Doctor Who figures. Her first novel, The Beauty of Murder, was nominated for an eDunnit award and is in development for a major 8-part TV series by Company Pictures. Her second, Jonathan Dark or The Evidence of Ghosts, came out in February 2016. She's written Torchwood audio dramas for Big Finish and her short stories have featured in anthologies including Great British Horror and Best British Short Stories. She lives in St Leonards-on-Sea with her dog, Dame Margaret Rutherford.

A.K.Benedict

A. L. Kennedy has twice been selected as one of Granta’s Best of Young British Novelists and has won a host of other awards – including the Costa Book of the Year for her novel Day. She lives in Essex.

A.L. Kennedy

A.M. Ellis is a speculative fiction author and lover of everything steeped in myth and mystery. Her stories often lean into diverse voices, not only in her identity as a Black woman, but in exploring neurodivergence and mental health. A proud introvert and nostalgic gamer, she lives in Maryland, USA, with her husband and three children. Angelica is also the author of Hunt A Killer, a PERFECT SCORE novel, under the pen name A.M. Ellis, which she wrote as an IP for Scholastic in the US.

A.M. Ellis

A.N. Wilson was born in 1950 and educated at Rugby and New College, Oxford. A Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, he holds a prominent position in the world of literature and journalism. He is an award-winning biographer and a celebrated novelist, winning prizes for much of his work. He lives in North London.

A.N. Wilson

A.T. Emerald

A.W. Priest

A.B.C. Merriman-Labor was a barrister, writer and munitions worker born in Freetown, Sierra Leone in 1877. His published works include A Series of Lectures on the Negro Race and The Story of the African Slave in a Nutshell. He also edited two editions of the Handbook of Sierra Leone. He arrived in the UK in 1904 to study law. In 1907, he organised a centenary commemoration of the abolition of the slave trade in Westminster Abbey. He later embarked on an 'entertainment-lecture' tour called Life and Scenes in Britain, travelling across thousands of miles of West, South West and Central Africa, which he expanded on to create Britons Through Negro Spectacles.

ABC Merriman-Labor

AJ Cronin

AJ Molloy

Aabria Iyengar is an American actress and author.

Aabria Iyengar

Aaliya Jaleel is a freelance illustrator, designer, and visual development artist, currently majoring in Animation at the University of Texas at Dallas. She is also the illustrator of Under My Hijab and Muslim Girls Rise. You can visit her online at www.aaliyamj.com.

Aaliya Jaleel

Aaron Allston

After more than fifteen years of experience as a clinical psychotherapist, Dr Aaron Balick has taken the amazing insights from psychology and psychotherapy out of the consultation room and made them accessible to the wider world. 
 
He has been an ‘agony uncle’ for many years for both CBBC and BBC Radio 1, as well as on television, including BBC Worldwide, BBC 3 and BBC Learning.

Aaron Balick

Aaron Carroll

Aaron Dignan is the founder of The Ready--a global organizational transformation and coaching practice--that helps companies large and small adopt new forms of self-organization and dynamic teaming. Clients include Johnson &amp; Johnson, Microsoft, Lloyds Bank, Citibank, Boeing, Mailchimp, Airbnb, Dropbox, and charity: water. 
 
He is also the founder of Murmur--a SaaS startup that helps teams scale culture through the magic of working agreements. The Murmur platform will allow every team on the planet to define and share their ways of working. 
 
Dignan is the author of Brave New Work (2019) and Game Frame (2011), co-host of the Brave New Work podcast, and a friend to misfit toys.

Aaron Dignan

Aaron Edwards is a senior lecturer in defence and international affairs at the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst, specialising in terrorism and counter-insurgency. He is the author and editor of several books, including Defending the Realm: The Politics of Britain’s Small Wars Since 1945, and has lectured all over the world on aspects of national and international security. He is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society.

Aaron Edwards

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Dawn French

When I was younger I wanted to be an interesting, sophisticated, semi-heroic, multi-layered person. 
 
BUT. That kind of perfect is impossible. Being an actual twat is much more the real me. Sorry to boast, but I am a champion twat. 
 
In The Twat Files I will tell you about all the times I've been a total and utter twat. The moments where I've misunderstood stuff and messed up. My hope is that these stories might fire up yer engines to remind you of just what a massive twat you also are. 
 
Let's celebrate and revel in this most delightful of traits together. That would be perfectly twatty.

The Twat Files

Martin Hayes

Martin Hayes spent his childhood on a farm in County Clare, in a household steeped in musical tradition. After a free-spirited youth, he headed to the United States where he built a career that led to a life of musical performance on stages all over the world. Shared Notes traces this remarkable journey. 
 
Picking up his first fiddle at the age of seven, Hayes learned that music must express feeling. No amount of technical prowess can compensate for an absence of soulfulness. His interpretations of traditional Irish music are recognized the world over for their exquisite musicality and irresistible rhythm. 
 
Hayes has toured and recorded with guitarist Dennis Cahill for over twenty years, founded the Irish-American band The Gloaming, The Martin Hayes Quartet and The Common Ground Ensemble, and here, for the first time, tells his story of getting to the heart of the music.

Shared Notes

A Musical Journey

Patrick Barkham

Roger Deakin, author of the immortal Waterlog and Wildwood, was a man of many parts: maverick ad-man, cider-maker, teacher, environmentalist, music promoter and filmmaker. But, above all, he was the restorer of ancient Walnut Tree Farm in Suffolk, the heartland where he wrote about all natural life – with rare attention, intimacy, precision and poetry. 
 
Roger Deakin was unique, and so too is this joyful work of creative biography, told primarily in the words of the subject himself, with support from a chorus of friends, family, colleagues and lovers. Delving deep into Deakin’s library of words, Patrick Barkham draws from notebooks, diaries, letters and recordings to conjure his voice back to glorious life in these pages.

The Swimmer

The Wild Life of Roger Deakin

Sam Neill

‘Just wonderful, so funny and charming. Sam Neill's lively, lovely book made me laugh out loud’ MERYL STREEP 
Dead Calm The Hunt for Red October The Piano Jurassic Park 
For over forty years, Sam Neill’s name has been a hallmark of quality. From enduring blockbusters to arthouse and cult classics, his work has taken him all over the world, working with Hollywood’s greats. 
In Did I Ever Tell You This? he invites us in, sharing stories from an extraordinary life with heaps of charm, honesty and a good-humoured appreciation for the absurd. 
‘Sam Neill is a legend, and in this magnificent book he shares his stories of family, friends and film’ LAURA DERN 
‘Charming. A transparently lovely man, with a life hectically well lived’ Mail on Sunday 
‘A fabulously entertaining, insanely readable memoir’ STEPHEN FRY 
‘Really, really, really funny. There are some cracking stories’ LORRAINE KELLY 
‘I love this book. A real treat. Fantastic’ GRAHAM NORTON

Did I Ever Tell You This?

Will Gompertz

Artists have learnt to pay attention. The rest of us spend most of our time on auto-pilot, rushing from place to place, our overfamiliarity blinding us to the marvellous, life-affirming phenomena of our world. But that doesn't have to be the case. 
 
In his typical engaging style, Will Gompertz takes us into the minds of artists - from contemporary stars to old masters, the well-known to the lesser-so, and from around the world - to show us how to look and experience the world with their heightened awareness. 
 
In See What You're Missing we learn, for example, how Hasegawa Tohaku can help us to see beauty, how David Hockney helps us to see colour, and how Frida Kahlo can help us see pain. In doing so we come to know the exhilarating feeling of being truly alive.

See What You're Missing

31 Ways Artists Notice the World – and How You Can Too

Jon Snow

It is rare in history that so many nations in the developed world are in crisis at the same time. There has been a disintegration of trust in political leaders and in the media that holds them to account. For all the progress humankind has made, for all the inventions and new technologies, our society is being undermined by inequality. We should care not simply because of its impact on productivity and growth, but because it's wrong. It's wrong that some don't have enough money to eat whilst others fly wagyu beef halfway across the planet for a couple of amusing mouthfuls. It's wrong that there are council residents unable to safely escape their homes if they catch fire. To fix it, we must begin by seeking out the truth about our world. 
 
In The State of Us, Jon Snow traces how the life of the nation has changed across his five-decade career, from getting thrown out of university for protesting apartheid to interviewing every prime minister since Margaret Thatcher. In doing so, he shows how the greatest problems at home and abroad so often come down to inequality and an unwillingness to confront it. But that is not our fate. Despite the challenges, Snow has witnessed profound social progress. In this passionate rallying cry, he argues that at its best, journalism reflects not just who we are now, but who we can be. We've had enough of division; the future is for us.

The State of Us

The good news and the bad news about our society

Hayley Morris

Brain: No one's going to buy your book 
Me: But it's good! My editor says so! 
Brain: Well she would, wouldn't she... Btw, didn't you leave your hair straighteners on? 
Me: I can't get into this now, I've got a book description to write 
 
Hello! Hayley Morris here. You might have seen me on your feed dressed up as a vagina. People seem to find me quite funny. I'm on a mission to prove once and for all that You. Are. Not. A. Weirdo... Or, maybe, We. Are. All. Weirdos. Yes, you're not the only one whose body does that gross thing you've never even told your mum about. And yes, we're all walking around saying embarrassing things constantly and waking up in a cold sweat at 3am thinking about them. So we might as well have a laugh about it, right? 
 
In this book, I've overthought absolutely everything so that you don't have to. I'm going to be talking about everything from dating to discharge, mental health to menstrual cups. I might not be able to banish your anxiety or make you feel 100% comfortable in your skin but I hope I can at least give you a break from the constant brain chatter and we can have a giggle about it together.

Me vs Brain

An Overthinker’s Guide to Life

Alice Vinten

SHORTLISTED FOR THE BOOK OF THE YEAR, TRUE CRIME AWARDS 
 
Alice Vinten, a former Met Police Constable with over 10 years of service on the force, shares the stories of brave and dedicated policewomen who have been involved in real-life cases in the UK, based on a series of interviews with these women who have spent their entire careers at the sharp end of crime-fighting. 
 
The Real Happy Valley reveals what life on the beat is really like. From dealing with domestic abuse cases to facing personal assaults, gang crime and murder, these courageous women stop at nothing to bring criminals to justice, never failing to put others' safety before their own. 
 
Gripping and inspiring, The Real Happy Valley is a celebration of our finest policewomen's extraordinary courage, and their peerless commitment to protect and serve.

The Real Happy Valley

True stories of crime and heroism from Yorkshire’s front line policewomen

Will Smith

Mark Manson

The Instant Sunday Times Bestseller 
The Instant #1 New York Times Bestseller 
 
PRAISE FOR WILL 
'The best memoir I ever read' Oprah Winfrey 
'If you read one book this year, make it this one' Jay Shetty 
'Incredible' Idris Elba 
'The book is awesome. So candid and considered...fascinating' Chris Evans 
'A triumph...really inspiring, so well written, vulnerable and deep. I highly recommend it' Mindy Kaling 
'It's fantastic...very moving' Zoe Ball 
'Incredibly honest...inspiring' Greg James 
'A wild ride' New York Times 
'Raw, comedic, inspirational' GQ 
 
One of the most dynamic and globally recognized entertainment forces of our time opens up fully about his life, in a brave and inspiring book that traces his learning curve to a place where outer success, inner happiness, and human connection are aligned. Along the way, Will tells the story in full of one of the most amazing rides through the worlds of music and film that anyone has ever had. 
 
Will Smith's transformation from a fearful child in a tense West Philadelphia home to one of the biggest rap stars of his era and then one of the biggest movie stars in Hollywood history, with a string of box office successes that will likely never be broken, is an epic tale of inner transformation and outer triumph, and Will tells it astonishingly well. But it's only half the story. 
 
Will Smith thought, with good reason, that he had won at life: not only was his own success unparalleled, his whole family was at the pinnacle of the entertainment world. Only they didn't see it that way: they felt more like star performers in his circus, a seven-days-a-week job they hadn't signed up for. It turned out Will Smith's education wasn't nearly over. 
 
This memoir is the product of a profound journey of self-knowledge, a reckoning with all that your will can get you and all that it can leave behind. Written with the help of Mark Manson, author of the multi-million-copy bestseller The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck, Will is the story of how one exceptional man mastered his own emotions, written in a way that can help everyone else do the same. Few of us will know the pressure of performing on the world's biggest stages for the highest of stakes, but we can all understand that the fuel that works for one stage of our journey might have to be changed if we want to make it all the way home. The combination of genuine wisdom of universal value and a life story that is preposterously entertaining, even astonishing, puts Will the book, like its author, in a category by itself. 
 
'The Hollywood star's autobiography is full of indiscretions, drug-fuelled escapades and terrible parenting. Who could ask for more?' Telegraph 
'Candid ... digs into the life events which fine-tuned Smith's weapons-grade charisma and steely determination' Observer 
'I absolutely loved it...no holds barred...I felt as if Will Smith was talking to me. It's a testament to him and to his family' Lorraine Kelly

Will

The Sunday Times Bestselling Autobiography

Brendan O'Carroll

Before he became the nation's favourite Mammy, Brendan O'Carroll was known, simply as Brendan. He's the youngest of ten children from a poor family in Dublin, he's a boy whose father died when he was just nine years old; he's someone whose hope and determination meant he never gave up. Throughout the tough moments, Brendan always had humour and a good story to tell alongside the ever-guiding inspiration of his own Mammy, a formidable figure who became Ireland's first female Labour MP, all whilst raising eleven children by herself. 
 
 Just like the show so brilliantly expresses, Brendan's first autobiography, the real story behind the man who became Mrs Brown, combines uplifting heart, warmth and hilarity.

Call Me Mrs. Brown

The hilarious autobiography from the star of Mrs. Brown’s Boys

Paul McCartney

'More often than I can count, I've been asked if I would write an autobiography, but the time has never been right. The one thing I've always managed to do, whether at home or on the road, is to write new songs. I know that some people, when they get to a certain age, like to go to a diary to recall day-to-day events from the past, but I have no such notebooks. What I do have are my songs, hundreds of them, which I've learned serve much the same purpose. And these songs span my entire life.' 
 
In this extraordinary book, with unparalleled candour, Paul McCartney recounts his life and art through the prism of 161 songs from all stages of his career - from his earliest boyhood compositions through the legendary decade of The Beatles, to Wings and his solo albums to the present. Arranged alphabetically to provide a kaleidoscopic rather than chronological account, it establishes definitive texts of the songs' lyrics for the first time and describes the circumstances in which they were written, the people and places that inspired them, and what he thinks of them now. Presented with this is a treasure trove of material from McCartney's personal archive - drafts, letters, photographs - never seen before, which make this also a unique visual record of one of the greatest songwriters of all time. 
 
We learn intimately about the man, the creative process, the working out of melodies, the moments of inspiration. The voice and personality of Paul McCartney sings off every page. There has never been a book about a great musician like it.

The Lyrics

1956 to the Present

Nick Hornby

What could possibly connect Prince, the great twentieth century singer songwriter, and Charles Dickens, the great writer of classics usually stuffed into the hands of adolescents too early? What could these two geniuses, one born in 1812 in England, and the other in 1950s Minneapolis, have in common? 
 
For Nick Hornby, Dickens and Prince are two artists that compare to no others. At the young age of 24, they both had their breakthroughs, Prince with '1999' and Dickens with The Pickwick Papers. At 26, Prince released 'Purple Rain' and Dickens' Oliver Twist was published, and, by 30, both artists were huge stars. 
 
No one else had such a relentless work ethic and produced such a staggeringly original and enormous body of work. Where did their magic come from? How did they use it? And, in the end, did it kill them? 
 
Tracing their lives, from the early years to their relationships with women, their finances to their inability to stop working, Dickens and Prince is a brilliantly surprising and joyous uncovering of the essence of a very particular and unique type of genius.

Dickens and Prince

A Particular Kind of Genius

Paul Newman

The raw, candid, unvarnished memoir of an American icon. 
 
In 2008, Paul Newman tasked his best friend with interviewing the people who had shaped his life, in order to create an oral history of it. After hearing and reading what they had to say, Newman dictated his own version. Now, this long-lost memoir will be published. Full of wonderful stories and recollections by his family, friends, and such luminaries as Elia Kazan, Tom Cruise, George Roy Hill and Martin Ritt, this book will surprise and shock readers as it reveals Newman's previously unknown sides. 
 
In this extraordinary memoir, Newman details his fascinating story: from troubled beginnings, marked by fraught relationships with both his mother and father, to the iconic film roles (both good and bad) that cemented his status as a Hollywood icon and heartthrob, and the complicated relationships that were formed along the way.

The Extraordinary Life of an Ordinary Man

A Memoir

David Jason

"What a brilliant Christmas gift" Chris Moyles 
 
"Like sitting down by the fire with [Sir David] and hearing your stories ... Full of surprises" Lorraine Kelly 
 
Think of this memoir as a Christmas special in book form, from someone who has been involved in a few of those and understands a bit about the concept. But a Christmas special very much like Only Fools and Horses, in the sense that the stories will be always heading outwards, ranging far and wide and well beyond the traditional festive gags involving giblets left in turkeys. 
 
As I sift through various festive-related episodes in my career, loosening the ribbons, parting the wrapping paper, I'll be doing my best to reach any relevant conclusions about life, work and the meaning of it all that I can usefully pass on to you - baubles of wisdom if you like. Or certainly baubles. You'll learn why I have the perfect face to play Scrooge. And if you're lucky I'll also share what it's like to fly in a helicopter with my old mucker Tom Cruise. Merry Christmas, you plonkers.

The Twelve Dels of Christmas

My Festive Tales from Life and Only Fools

Lionel Barber

Lunch with the FT has been a permanent fixture in the Financial Times for almost 30 years, featuring presidents, film stars, musical icons and business leaders from around the world. 
 
The column is now a well-established institution, which has reinvigorated the art of conversation in the convivial, intimate environment of a long and boozy lunch. 
 
This new and updated edition includes lunches with: 
Elon Musk 
Donald Trump 
Hilary Mantel 
Richard Branson 
Zadie Smith 
Nigel Farage 
Russell Brand 
David Guetta 
Yanis Varoufakis 
Jean-Claude Juncker 
Gwyneth Paltrow 
Rebecca Solnit 
Jordan Peterson 
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie 
And more...

Lunch with the FT

A Second Helping

Sebastian Faulks

THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER 
 
'Compelling and stunningly written' THE TIMES 
'Wildly exciting . . . a classic' SPECTATOR 
'Flawless . . . poetic . . . superbly portrayed' DAILY TELEGRAPH 
 
Three men. Three short, glittering lives. 
 
Young English painter Christopher Wood arrives in Paris in 1921 set on becoming the next great master. By day he studies; by night he attends parties with Picasso and Cocteau before paying too high a price for success. Richard Hilary, a confident if unprincipled Spitfire pilot, is suffering from terrible burns after being shot down. But the operations to restore him haven't deterred him from returning to action. And Jeremy Wolfenden, the cleverest of his set at All Souls College, leaves it all behind to report on the Cold War. But his louche private life makes him a plaything for the intelligent services, taking him on a fateful journey between East and West. 
 
The Fatal Englishman is a stunning tale of three short lives that burned brightly from a master storyteller.

The Fatal Englishman

Three Short Lives

Giles Smith

'In the Spring of 1989, shortly after my twenty-seventh birthday, as I stood in the sleet at a bus stop in Colchester, it dawned on me that I had probably, all things considered, failed in my mission to become Sting. At least, for the time being.' 
 
Lost in Music is about growing up with pop music - about hearing it, buying it, loving it, and attempting to play it in public for money. A brilliant combination of the confessional and the unapologetic, this is a book for anyone who has ever treasured vinyl, or sung into a roll-on deodorant in front of the bedroom mirror and dreamed of playing Wembley. 
 
Praise for Lost in Music 
 
'Very, very funny . . . Giles Smith is a wonderful writer' Nick Hornby 
 
'A wonderfully funny pop-music memoir . . . You don't have to know who Nik Kershaw is to laugh out loud at the chapter about him' Sebastian Faulks, Spectator 
 
'One of the best books about music that you will ever read . . . It is impossible to read Lost in Music without laughing out loud' Daily Telegraph

Lost in Music

The classic laugh-out-loud memoir

Brian Johnson

'It wasn't me. I didn't do it. And I'll never do it again!' says Brian Johnson of The Lives of Brian. That AC/DC's legendary front man got to do it all is one of the most cheering and entertaining stories in rock 'n'roll history. 
 
 The son of a British army sergeant-major and Italian mother, Brian grew up in Dunston, Tyne and Wear, as it emerged from the shadow of the Second World War. Then he saw Little Richard on the BBC and it changed the course of his life. 
 
 The choirboy and cub scout was going to be singer. 
 
 For over a decade he tried to make his mark with a succession of bands. He appeared on to Top of the Pops, toured Australia and yet the big time looked out of reach. Then he was invited to London for an audition for one of the world's biggest rock acts. AC/DC were a band in crisis following the tragic death of their lead singer, Bon Scott, but with Brian on board they would record their masterpiece: Back in Black. It became the biggest selling rock album of all time. The tour that followed played to packed out arenas. Quickly embraced by the band's fans, the new boy had earned his spurs. But there was to be a twist in the tale. In 2016, Brian was forced to quit the band after being diagnosed with hearing loss, only to make a triumphant return to the band he loved with the release of 2020's smash hit album Power Up. 
 It's been a rollercoaster of a life, throughout which Brian's kept his feet firmly on the ground, never losing touch with his roots. 
 
 Warm, vivid, evocative, life-affirming and often laugh-out-loud funny, The Lives of Brian tells the story of one of our most well-loved performers in his own inimitable voice

The Lives of Brian

The Sunday Times bestselling autobiography from legendary AC/DC frontman Brian Johnson

Jeremy Clarkson

THE NO. 1 SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER 
 
Head back down to Clarkson Farm with the bestseller from our favourite welly-wearing wannabe farmer, Jeremy Clarkson 
___________ 
 
Enthusiastic trainee farmer Jeremy Clarkson made just £144 in his first year at Diddly Squat Farm. This year he's determined to do better. Not because he now knows what he's doing. But because he's fed up of getting stick from Kaleb. 
 
Yet farming continues to be a challenge. 
 
For instance . . . 
· Loading a grain trailer was more demanding than flying an Apache gunship? 
· Cows were more dangerous than motor-racing? 
· It's easier to get planning permission to build a nuclear plant than to turn a barn into a restaurant? 
 
Jeremy's always got a plan. Loads of them. Often cunning. 
 
Not always greeted with wild enthusiasm by Kaleb and Cheerful Charlie, however . . . 
___________ 
 
PRAISE FOR DIDDLY SQUAT 
 
'Clarkson has done more for farmers in one series than Countryfile achieved in 30 years' James Rebanks, author of A Shepherd's Life 
 
'Clarkson has showcased the passion, humour and personalities of the people who work throughout the year to grow the nation's food . . . and brought an understanding of many of the issues faced by farmers to the British public' National Farmers Union 
 
'A deserving Farming Champion of the Year' Farmers Weekly 
 
'I don't know anything about farming. It's like David Attenborough doing jet-skiing, or Nicholas Witchell saying, "I'm going to be a cage fighter'" Jeremy Clarkson 
 
Number 1 Sunday Times bestseller, October 2022

Diddly Squat: ‘Til The Cows Come Home

David Hepworth

With a foreword by Paul McCartney 
 
'It's semi-devotional -- a really special place' Florence Welch 
'There are certain things that are mythical. Abbey Road is mythical' Nile Rodgers 
 
Many people will recognise the famous zebra crossing. Some visitors may have graffitied their name on its hallowed outer walls. Others might even have managed to penetrate the iron gates. But what draws in these thousands of fans here, year after year? What is it that really happens behind the doors of the most celebrated recording studio in the world? 
 
It may have begun life as an affluent suburban house, but it soon became a creative hub renowned around the world as a place where great music, ground-breaking sounds and unforgettable tunes were forged - nothing less than a witness to, and a key participant in, the history of popular music itself. 
 
What has been going on there for over ninety years has called for skills that are musical, creative, technical, mechanical, interpersonal, logistical, managerial, chemical and, romantics might be tempted add, close to magic. 
 
This is for the people who believe in the magic.

Abbey Road

The Inside Story of the World’s Most Famous Recording Studio (with a foreword by Paul McCartney)

Ronnie Archer-Morgan

Janet Gleeson

'Ronnie has overcome a heart-breaking start in life to achieve great success and no one deserves it more. What a dude, what a life!' - Fiona Bruce 
 
'Brilliant...a mercurial memoir of a meritorious life.' - Lemn Sissay 
 
For decades, Ronnie Archer-Morgan has brought to life the fascinating, often surprising backstories behind our most cherished heirlooms and household objects on the Antiques Roadshow. Now, he tells his own unlikely story. 
 
 Born in the fifties to a Sierra Leonean mother battling mental health problems, Ronnie spent his childhood in and out of care. After difficult beginnings, marked by abuse, racism and brushes with both criminals and the police, he got into music, managing to get DJ gigs and, later, worked as a celebrity hairdresser for Vidal Sassoon and Smile in the height of seventies London. A flair for spotting antiques led him to start his own Knightsbridge gallery, ultimately becoming one of the most respected figures in the industry, culminating in a regular spot as an expert on the nation's Sunday favourite, Antiques Roadshow. 
 
 Told with rich warmth, this is an extraordinary journey from deprivation and abuse to adventure and success against the odds - with stories of the incredible objects which shaped the way. 
 
'A surprising story, like many of the objects he appraises on the Antiques Roadshow' - Kate Adie, broadcaster and bestselling author 
 
'A fascinating, rollercoaster read, very well told.' - Times

Would It Surprise You To Know…?

Tina Brown

'Impeccable sources, historical heft and canny insights served up with a zingy wit. There are many royal biographers, but few as good as this. She turns gossip into the first draft of history.' TELEGRAPH 
_________________________________ 
'Never again', became Queen Elizabeth II's mantra shortly after Diana's death. More specifically, there could never be 'another Diana' - a member of the family whose global popularity upstaged, outshone, and posed an existential threat to the British monarchy. The Palace Papers reveals how the royal family reinvented itself after the traumatic years when Diana's blazing celebrity ripped through the House of Windsor like a comet. 
 
Tina Brown shows the Queen's stoic resolve as she coped with the passing of Princess Margaret, the Queen Mother and her partner for seven decades, Prince Philip, and triumphed in her Jubilee years even as the family dramas raged around her. She explores Prince Charles's determination to make Camilla his queen, the tension between William and Harry, the ascendance of Kate Middleton, the disgraced Prince Andrew, and Harry and Meghan's stunning decision to 'step back' as senior royals. Despite the fragile monarchy's best efforts, 'never again' seems fast approaching. 
 
Praise for The Palace Papers: 
'Clever, well-informed and disgustingly entertaining' THE TIMES 
'Eye-poppingly revealing' TELEGRAPH 
'Her prose has the swoosh of an enjoyably OTT ballgown' FINANCIAL TIMES 
'The most explosive royal book of the year' THE SUN 
'Scholarly and scandalous' INDEPENDENT

The Palace Papers

Inside the House of Windsor - the Truth and the Turmoil

Daisy May Cooper

When things were really bad, Mum would always say to me: 
 
'Don't worry, it will be a good read for your memoir one day.' 
 
I suppose that's a weird way of coping, isn't it? Trying to turn the bleakest situation into a positive. 
 
Life hasn't always been straightforward for Daisy May Cooper: growing up in rural poverty in Gloucestershire with her brother Chaz, she had to work a myriad of low-paid, unrewarding jobs just to make ends meet. Don't Laugh, It'll Only Encourage Her is the endearingly honest and hilarious memoir from the creator and star of award-winning BBC comedy This Country.

Don't Laugh, It'll Only Encourage Her

The No 1 Sunday Times Bestseller

Nora Ephron

A NEW, REVISED EDITION OF THE ULTIMATE NORA EPHRON COLLECTION, PACKED WITH WIT, WISDOM AND COMFORT, WITH AN INTRODUCTION FROM CANDICE CARTY-WILLIAMS 
 
'The perfect introduction to the iconic writer' STYLIST 
 
INCLUDING: 
 
* Nora's much-loved essays on everything from friendship to feminism to journalism 
 
* Extracts from her bestselling novel Heartburn 
 
* Scenes from her hilarious screenplay for When Harry Met Sally 
 
* Unparalleled advice about friends, lovers, divorces, desserts and black turtleneck sweaters 
 
 
'It's got a little bit of everything, from witty essays on feminism, beauty, and ageing to profiles of empowering female figures' ELLE 
 
 
*PRAISE FOR NORA EPHRON* 
 
'So bold and so vulnerable at the same time. I don't know how she did it' PHOEBE WALLER-BRIDGE 
 
'Nora's exacting, precise, didactic, tried-and-tested, sophisticated-woman-wearing-all-black wisdom is a comfort and a relief' DOLLY ALDERTON 
 
'Nora Ephron is the funniest, cleverest, wisest friend you could have' NIGELLA LAWSON 
 
'I am only the one of millions of women who will miss Nora's voice' LENA DUNHAM

The Most of Nora Ephron

The ultimate anthology of essays, articles and extracts from her greatest work, with a foreword by Candice Carty-Williams

The ultimate anthology

Lawrence Chaney

'It's no mystery or secret how much I enjoy Lawrence Chaney.' - RuPaul 
 
'Tackles everything from gender identity, the thrill of a wig and why Scottish talent is often overlooked.' - i News 
 
Lawrence Chaney has wowed audiences across the globe as the winner of RuPaul's Drag Race UK. In Lawrence (Drag) Queen of Scots, Lawrence shares heartfelt and candid moments from their past. From being bullied as a child to what it's like to date as a drag queen, they give us an insight to their journey towards acceptance and better mental health. 
 
The loch ness legend themself takes us through the struggles faced to get to where they are now. From their childhood, growing up as a queer kid in Glasgow, feeling self-conscious and turning to humour to avoid being bullied, Lawrence shares their painfully relatable coming out story, and how finding drag was a vehicle towards confidence and self-love. 
__________ 
 
'Gorgeous, hugely talented, funny, charismatic, adorable, Chaney is a goddess and brings us joy.' - Lorraine 
 
'Lawrence shares some of [their] most intricate and personal stories...such as concocting a drag name, mental health and dating.' - Gay Times 
 
'Lawrence Chaney is the funniest queen by a country mile. She has delivered the laughs a locked down nation needed in abundance. But there's much more to Chaney than her quick wit. Her vulnerability is also part of her natural gift.' - Vogue

(Drag) Queen of Scots

The hilarious and heartwarming memoir from the UK’s favourite drag queen

Gary Barlow

'I just wanted to share my personal journey through the last five decades - the highs and lows, the ups and downs. So in A Different Stage, this is me opening the curtains and sharing moments nobody has heard or seen before...' 
 
In this warm, intimate and humorous book, rich with nostalgia and unexpected intimate detail, Gary Barlow unpacks the people, music, places, things and cultural phenomena that have made him the man that he is. From the working men's club where it all began through to the sold out stadium tours, this is the story of Gary's life told through music. 
 
Filled with a mixture of brand new photography from Gary's current one-man show and incredibly personal unseen personal photos and notebooks, A Different Stage is a beautiful and sumptuous book.

A Different Stage

The remarkable and intimate life story of Gary Barlow told through music

John Illsley

Dire Straits filled giant stadiums around the world and sold hundreds of millions of records. Throughout the eighties, they were one of the biggest bands on the planet. Their classic songs - 'Sultans of Swing', 'Money for Nothing', 'Brothers In Arms' - formed the soundtrack of a generation and live on today. In his memoir, John Illsley - founding member and bassist - evokes the spirit of the times and tells the story of one of the great live acts of rock history. Starting with his own unlikely beginnings, he recounts the band's rise from humble origins in London's spit-and-sawdust pubs to the best-known venues in the world, the working man's clubs to Madison Square Garden and the Live Aid stage at Wembley. Until, ultimately, the demands of touring and living in the spotlight took their inevitable toll. John's story is also a tribute to his great friend Mark Knopfler, the band's lead singer, songwriter and gifted guitarist - the only band members to stay the fifteen-year distance. Told with honesty, soulful reflection and wry humour, this is the first and only account of that incredible story.

My Life in Dire Straits

The Inside Story of One of the Biggest Bands in Rock History

Bear Grylls

'Grylls takes you behind the scenes on his most thrilling adventures. Riveting.' - Daily Mail 
 
'A rocket-fuelled adventure.' - Tim Peake 
 
'His passion for adventure is truly infectious.' - Gareth Southgate 
 
------------------------------------ 
 
Bear Grylls has always sought out adventure. From childhood escapades to would-record-breaking expeditions, to his infamous survival challenges, Bear has spent a lifetime in the wild. 
 
In his autobiography, the global adventurer, Chief Scout and TV presenter reflects on the extraordinary adventures that have shaped his life. Sharing personal stories from his toughest expeditions and capturing the exhilarating reality behind some of the hairiest survival missions, Bear takes readers up mountains and across oceans, through jungles and deserts. Immersing us in the behind-the-scenes action on his celebrated television shows, and with a rare insight into his family life, Bear recounts his most death-defying and life-defining moments. 
 
Packed with deeply personal and wildly entertaining tales, Never Give Up is a testament to the value of adventure. It celebrates the power of the wild and what it can teach us, and highlights the importance of courage, kindness and a resilient attitude - a 'never give up spirit' - to navigate the great adventure of life. 
 
'Bear is someone who truly grabs life with both hands.' - Jonny Wilkinson 
'So many positive messages wrapped up in Bear's many incredible adventures.' - Roger Federer

Never Give Up

A Life of Adventure, The Autobiography

Gyles Brandreth

In Odd Boy Out Gyles Brandreth provides an extraordinarily revealing account of growing up and coming of age in an apparently well-to-do but always strapped-for-cash middle-class English family. 
 
By turns hilarious and moving, and chock full of unforgettable stories, Odd Boy Out is the unexpected and candid autobiography of one of the country's most unlikely personalities. Yet at root it is a powerful and passionate exploration of childhood - how our heritage, our parents and our upbringing make us who we are.

Odd Boy Out

Mel Brooks

AVAILABLE NOW 
 
At 95, the legendary Mel Brooks continues to set the standard for comedy across television, film, and the stage. Now, for the first time, this EGOT (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, Tony) winner shares his story in his own words. 
 
'Not since the Bible have I read anything so powerful and poignant. And to boot - it's a lot funnier!' - M. Brooks 
 
For anyone who loves American comedy, the long wait is over. Here are the never-before-told, behind-the-scenes anecdotes and remembrances from a master storyteller, filmmaker, and creator of all things funny. 
 
 All About Me! charts Mel Brooks's meteoric rise from a Depression-era kid in Brooklyn to the recipient of the National Medal of Arts. Whether serving in the United States Army in World War II, or during his burgeoning career as a teenage comedian in the Catskills, Mel was always mining his experiences for material, always looking for the perfect joke. His iconic career began with Sid Caesar's Your Show of Shows, where he was part of the greatest writers' room in history, which included Carl Reiner, Neil Simon, and Larry Gelbart. After co-creating both the mega-hit 2000 Year Old Man comedy albums and the classic television series Get Smart, Brooks's stellar film career took off. He would go on to write, direct, and star in The Producers, The Twelve Chairs, Blazing Saddles, Young Frankenstein, Silent Movie, High Anxiety, and Spaceballs, as well as produce groundbreaking and eclectic films, including The Elephant Man, The Fly, and My Favorite Year. Brooks then went on to conquer Broadway with his record-breaking, Tony-winning musical, The Producers. 
 
All About Me! offers fans insight into the inspiration behind the ideas for his outstanding collection of boundary-breaking work, and offers details about the many close friendships and collaborations Brooks had, including those with Sid Caesar, Carl Reiner, Gene Wilder, Madeleine Kahn, Alfred Hitchcock, and the great love of his life, Anne Bancroft. 
 
Filled with tales of struggle, achievement, and camaraderie (and dozens of photographs), readers will gain a more personal and deeper understanding of the incredible body of work behind one of the most accomplished and beloved entertainers in history.

All About Me!

My Remarkable Life in Show Business

A Private Thriller

A series of children's modern classic novels by renowned 20th century children's writers. All the titles in this series have the A Puffin Book logo, contemporary-style covers, and child-friendly endnotes.

A Puffin Book

A Ripley Novel

A Slice of the Moon

A Victorian Mystery

A Walk in...

A Women’s Murder Club Thriller

A chef Paul Delamare Mystery

Aberrations

Across the Universe

Actiphons

Adelia Aguilar

Adrian Mole

Adventures in Time

Aftermath

Against War

Age of X

Agent 21

Agent Z

Detective Aidan Waits is a troubled junior detective haunted by his past. Facing an uncertain future, and disconnected from his history, DC Waits and his partner, Detective Inspector Peter 'Sutty' Sutcliffe work on Manchester's streets to uncover the city's worst criminals among the grime of the underworld.

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