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Dan Carter: The Autobiography of an All Blacks Legend
Dan Carter’s last game as an All Black culminated with him declared Man of the Match following the 2015 Rugby World Cup final at Twickenham – an unforgettable ending to the career of the greatest fly-half of all time.
But along with the triumphs of his signature World Cup win, his performance against the Lions in 2005, and an unprecedented run of Bledisloe Cup successes, there was also the pain and doubt he felt during a prolonged period of injury and rehab following the 2011 World Cup.
He watched that victory from the sidelines, as he had the All Blacks’ defeats in two previous tournaments. Indeed, heading into the 2015 World Cup he had never finished the competition on his own terms.
His autobiography tells of that redemption, and gets you up close and personal with one of the most celebrated sportsmen of our time.
Threaded throughout the book is an intimate diary of his final year as a Crusader and All Black, during which he worked tirelessly to make one last run at that elusive goal: a World Cup victory achieved on the field.
Dan Carter’s autobiography is essential reading for all sports fans.
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Boom: The Life of Viscount Trenchard, Father of the Royal Air Force
Hugh ‘Boom’ Trenchard was embarrassed by being described as ‘The Father of the Royal Air Force’ – he thought others were more deserving. But the reality was that no man did more to establish the world’s first independent air force and ensure its survival in the teeth of fierce opposition from both the Admiralty and the War Office.
Born in Taunton in 1873, Trenchard struggled at school, not helped by the shame of his solicitor father’s bankruptcy when he was sixteen. He failed entrance examinations to both the Royal Navy and the Army several times, eventually obtaining a commission through the ‘back door’ of the militia. After service in India, South Africa – where he was seriously wounded – and Nigeria, he found his destiny when he joined the fledgling Royal Flying Corps in 1912, where he was soon known as ‘Boom’ thanks to his stentorian voice.
Quick to recognise the huge potential aircraft offered in future conflicts, he rose rapidly to command the RFC in France during the First World War despite handicaps that would have blighted conventional military careers: he was obstinate, tactless, inarticulate and chronically unable to remember names – yet he was able to inspire unflagging loyalty among all ranks.
Despite his conspicuous distrust of politicians, he served as a successful Chief of the Air Staff for a decade after the war and then, at the personal request of the King, took over as Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, which he reorganised and reformed. He never wavered in his belief that mastery of the air could only be achieved by relentless offensive action, or in his determined advocacy of strategic bombing. His most enduring legacy was the creation of the finest air force in the world, engendered with the spirit that won the Battle of Britain.
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Charles Darwin’s on the Origin of Species: Big Ideas for Curious Minds (Arcturus Genius Ideas)
Every once in a while, an idea comes along that is so radical, so surprising, that it completely transforms the way that we look at the world.
This beautifully illustrated book brings to life Charles Darwin’s extraordinary notion-evolution by natural selection – for a new generation of inquisitive readers.
Bright young things will quickly level up their understanding of biology thanks to the way that complex ideas are cleverly unpacked in clear, easy-to-follow language.
. Explore Darwin’s life story, his voyages of discovery, and the series of revelations that led to his great discovery.
. Take a tour through the great scientist’s theories as they’re set out in an accessible and entertaining way.
. Uncover the world in which Darwin lived, how his ideas were received, and how they influenced later thinkers.Readers aged 8+ will be drawn in by the lavish illustrations of Juanita Londoño-Gaviria, featured throughout.
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Irish Rugby Top 50 Players
We talked to leading rugby journalists, we talked to ex-players, we talked to fans and we looked at the playing records of all the stand-out internationals to have played rugby for Ireland before compiling a list of the 50 greatest Irish rugby players in the sport s history.
Many players were impossible to leave out such as Rory Best, Mike Gibson, Jamie Heaslip, Jack Kyle, Paul O’Connell, Brian O Driscoll, Ronan O’Gara, Jonnie Sexton and Keith Wood. While Lions’ legends such as Willie John McBride, Tom Kiernan, Syd Millar and Tony O’Reilly were also a shoo-in.
There is also a hefty selection of modern-day players including Keith Earls, Tadhg Furlong, Cian Healy, Rob Kearney, Conor Murray, Peter O’Mahoney and the new whizkid winger Jacob Stockdale. While there is also space for the great characters of the game, none more so than Peter ‘The Claw’ Clohessy, Willie Duggan and Moss Keane, who didn’t win the most caps but were fans’ favourites because of the spirit in which they played.
With a foreword by Ollie Campbell, the Ireland and British and Irish Lions flyhalf, each entry lists the key facts, statistics and achievements that help show why the selected players are part of the game s elite.
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£10.80£12.30Irish Rugby Top 50 Players
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Surviving NICU…Twice
Two parents eager to start a family resulting in in vitro fertilisation (IVF)
. . . two extreme premature births, twenty-six weeks and twenty-four weeks . . . two lengthy stays in neonatal intensive care, where infants struggle daily to overcome unimaginable obstacles . . . how could one possibly know what this is like if you haven’t lived it? You can’t. This memoir gives the reader an up-close-and-personal, poignant, and heartwarming idea of what it is like to live that very reality.
Through endless hospital stays, renewed and then dashed hopes of finally going home, a seemingly never-ending onslaught of infections and complications and conditions, an unfathomable number of medications administered over . . . the author never stops fighting and advocating for her two sons and never hesitates to push back on Health care professionals who don’t seem to understand that “by the book” isn’t always best. It’s an inspiring story about love, sacrifice, and real-life miracles that awe even the most seasoned medical professionals.
This story will undoubtedly serve as a comfort to other parents navigating their own NICU journey, as well as an inspiration for anyone who believes that every child deserves a fighting chance. The book has 166 pages.
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£10.90Surviving NICU…Twice
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Genie: A Scientific Tragedy
“A tragic tale of obsession, exploitation, and lost souls. And the questions Rymer poses about human experience and experiments on humans make the story both intellectually absorbing and emotionally disturbing. Genie is a wondrous feat of storytelling and investigative journalism, compulsively readable while forcing us to think hard about our own humanity.” –Amy Tan, New York Times bestselling author of The Joy Luck Club
The compelling story of a young woman’s emergence into the world after spending her first 13 years strapped to a chair in a closed room, and her rescue and exploitation by scientists hoping to gain new insight into language acquisition.
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£10.90Genie: A Scientific Tragedy
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Cliff Richard 2024 Calendar, Month To View A3 Wall Calendar, Official Product: Original Danilo-Kalender [Mehrsprachig] [Kalender]
2024 Cliff Richard A3 Calendar. A firm favourite, this official wall calendar features recent imagery of music icon Sir Cliff Richard. This wall calendar also includes monthly date panels that have plenty of room for all of your 2024 plans.
Product Dimensions: 420 X 297 MM
Danilo is the leading publisher of officially licensed calendars, diaries, greeting cards, gift wrap and gift bags in the UK. We are a family run company that’s been operating for more than 40 years. Our licenses range from baby to adult. All the paper we use is responsibly sourced and we only work with suppliers and manufacturers that meet our stringent ethical requirements.
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Great-Uncle Harry: A Tale of War and Empire
From the time, many years ago, when Michael Palin first heard that his grandfather had a brother, Harry, who died in tragic circumstances, he was determined to find out more about him.
The quest that followed involved hundreds of hours of painstaking detective work. Michael dug out every bit of family gossip and correspondence he could. He studied every relevant official document. He tracked down what remained of his great-uncle Harry’s diaries and letters, and pored over photographs of First World War battle scenes to see whether Harry appeared in any of them. He walked the route Harry took on that fatal, final day of his life amid the mud of northern France. And as he did so, a life that had previously existed in the shadows was revealed to him.
Great-Uncle Harry is an utterly compelling account of an ordinary man who led an extraordinary life. A blend of biography, history, travelogue and personal memoir this is Michael Palin at his very finest.
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PRAISE FOR EREBUS:
‘Beyond terrific. I didn’t want it to end.’ BILL BRYSON
‘Magisterial . . . Palin brings energy, wit and humanity to a story that has never ceased to tantalise people.’ THE TIMES
‘Everybody’s talking about it . . . A brilliant book.’ CHRIS EVANS
‘I absolutely loved it: I had to read it at one sitting.’ LORRAINE KELLYRead more
£11.00£22.00Great-Uncle Harry: A Tale of War and Empire
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The Chateau – Forever Home: The instant Sunday Times Bestseller, as seen on the hit Channel 4 TV Series Escape to the Chateau
Take a journey to Château-de-la-Motte Husson in the spellbinding memoir from Sunday Times bestselling authors, Dick and Angel Strawbridge.
Dick and Angel recount the newest and biggest challenges they faced on the journey to transforming their once derelict and abandoned château in France’s Pays de la Loire into a thriving family home and sustainable business.
When the Covid-19 pandemic engulfs the world, the château faces a new challenge and the Strawbridges must find ways to adapt in order to keep their dream life in France alive. From the cancellation of the wedding season to finding new ways to complete renovations, living in an isolated bubble whilst continuing to film their TV series through to life after the pandemic, this is Dick and Angel at their most honest and heartfelt, revealing many details never seen on TV.
As entertaining, warm and irresistible as ever, Join Dick and Angel on their remarkable journey to find their family’s forever home.
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Endgame: 2023’s new biography from the bestselling author telling the true story of the royal family and looking to the future for King Charles III after the death of Elizabeth II
The explosive new book from longtime royal journalist Omid Scobie and author of the international blockbuster Finding Freedom, Endgame a penetrating investigation into the current state of the British monarchy.
An unpopular king, a power-hungry heir to the throne, a queen willing to go to great lengths to preserve her image, and a prince forced to start a new life after being betrayed by his own family.
Queen Elizabeth II’s death ruptured the already-fractured foundations of the House of Windsor – and dismantled the protective shield around it. With an institution long plagued by incidents involving antiquated ideas around race, class and money, the monarchy and those who prop it up are now exposed and at odds with a rapidly modernizing world.
Relying on his vast experience as a royal reporter and over a decade of conversations and interviews with current and former Palace staff, trusted friends of the royals and even the family members themselves, Scobie pulls back the curtain on an institution in turmoil to show what the monarchy must change in order to survive.
This is the monarchy’s endgame. Do they have what it takes to save it?
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Believe: An empowering and honest memoir from Leigh-Anne Pinnock, member of one of the world’s biggest girl bands, Little Mix.
‘I found my power when I realized it was within me, within my skin and within my soul.
It just needed to be set free.’Leigh-Anne Pinnock’s life changed overnight when she became part of the first ever girl band to win the X-Factor. The multi-platinum selling supergroup Little Mix, went on to become one of the biggest girl bands of all time.
Launched into chart-topping global fame, Leigh-Anne was living her childhood dream of becoming a popstar. But behind the scenes, as a Black woman within an industry and team with little diversity, Leigh-Anne was struggling with her identity and felt completely lost.
In her highly anticipated memoir, Leigh-Anne shares her journey from growing up in a mixed-race family in Britain to taking the pop world by storm. Honest and direct, she reveals the challenges and prejudices that stood in her path and how she overcame them by embracing her own power. Sharing the experiences and lessons that have shaped Leigh-Anne, this book will empower us all to challenge the status quo, stand up for what we believe in and go after our dreams.Read more
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Newport Rugby Greats
Newport RFC played their first game in 1876, and quickly established themselves as one of the leading clubs in the country. They played a dominant role in Welsh and British rugby, providing the national team with some of its greatest stars. The ‘Black and Ambers’ are one of a select group of teams in world rugby to have beaten the All Blacks, Wallabies and the Springboks. Formed in 2003 as a result of the regionalisation of Welsh rugby, Newport Gwent Dragons started life with a third place finish in the 2003/04 Celtic League. Some notable club highlights include reaching the semi-finals of the European Challenge Cup in 2007 and 2015, and reaching the final of the Anglo-Welsh Cup in 2011. Like Newport RFC, they play at Rodney Parade, one of Welsh Rugby’s spiritual homes. Peter Jones documents Newport’s most iconic players and managers from the team’s early beginnings to the present day. With unprecedented access to the club’s archives, Newport Rugby Greats provides a history of some of the club’s heroes, complete with facts and figures, along with their most memorable games.Read more
£11.00£16.10Newport Rugby Greats
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The Royal Puzzle Book: 300 Challenges and Teasers from Alfred the Great to Charles III
Test your knowledge of kings and queens by attempting to answer some 300 questions across 25 topics, from early kingdoms to the realms of England, Scotland and Wales and the British Royal Family of the modern era.
The topics range from Coronations to Sports and Pastimes – from the first English queen crowned in her own right to the only royal to have won an Olympic Medal. Do you know which country’s national anthem uses the same music as ‘God Save the King’? Whose corpse is said to have exploded in its coffin? What was Queen Victoria’s first name? These hundreds of puzzles are accompanied by a wealth of illustrations from the collections of the British Library. Accept the challenge and see how much more you can learn.
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Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing: ‘Funny, fascinating and compelling’ The Times
‘There’s never been a more honest or raw memoir … and it may just save lives’ Daily Mail
‘Funny, fascinating, compelling … also a wonderful read for fans of Friends’ The Times
The beloved star of Friends takes us behind the scenes of the hit sitcom and his struggles with addiction in this candid, funny, and revelatory memoir that delivers a powerful message of hope and persistence.
Here is the riveting story of acclaimed actor Matthew Perry, who takes us along on his journey from childhood ambition to fame to addiction and recovery in the aftermath of a life-threatening health scare. Before the frequent hospital visits and stints in rehab, there was five-year-old Matthew, who travelled from Montreal to Los Angeles, shuffling between his separated parents; fourteen-year-old Matthew, who was a nationally ranked tennis star in Canada; twenty-four-year-old Matthew, who nabbed a coveted role as a lead cast member on the talked-about pilot then called Friends Like Us. . . and so much more.
In an extraordinary story that only he could tell – and in the heartfelt, hilarious, and warmly familiar way only he could tell it – Matthew Perry lays bare the fractured family that raised him (and also left him to his own devices), the desire for recognition that drove him to fame, and the void inside him that could not be filled even by his greatest dreams coming true. But he also details the peace he’s found in sobriety and how he feels about the ubiquity of Friends, sharing stories about his castmates and other stars he met along the way. Frank, self-aware, and with his trademark humour, Perry vividly depicts his lifelong battle with addiction and what fuelled it despite seemingly having it all.
Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing is an unforgettable memoir that is both intimate and eye-opening – as well as a hand extended to anyone struggling with sobriety. Unflinchingly honest, moving, and uproariously funny, this is the book fans have been waiting for.
‘An unflinching and often harrowing must-read for 90s pop culture fans’ Guardian
‘Written with Chandler’s trademark sarcasm and self-deprecation’ Telegraph
‘A hopeful read … I started to think of [it] not as a celebrity memoir about addiction, but as an addiction memoir written by a man who understands his own history through the prism of showbiz’ Independent
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Get It On: How the ’70s Rocked Football
SHORTLISTED FOR BEST SPORTS WRITING AT THE SPORTS BOOK AWARDS 2023
“Sheer joy” – Patrick Barclay
“Exhilarating” – When Saturday Comes
“Perfect” – Josh Widdicombe
“★★★★★” – FourFourTwo
Four years after the crowning glory of 1966, and a decade after the abolition of the maximum wage, a brash new era dawned in English football. As the 1970s took hold, a new generation of larger-than-life players and managers emerged, appearing on television sets in vivid technicolour for the first time.
Set against a backdrop of strikes, political unrest, freezing winters and glam rock, Get It On tells the inside story of how commercialism, innovation, racism and hooliganism rocked the national game in the 1970s.
Packed with interviews with the legends of the day, this footballing fiesta charts the emergence of Brian Clough, Bob Paisley and Kevin Keegan and the fall of George Best, Alf Ramsey and Don Revie, presenting a vibrant portrait of the most groundbreaking decade in English football history.
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£11.20£12.30Get It On: How the ’70s Rocked Football
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My Life, My Football
Ballon d’Or winner. Champions League winner. Serie A winner. Captain of Ukraine at their first-ever World Cup. Andriy Shevchenko conquered the football world. His career featured some of the sport’s greatest characters – from Valerij Lobanovsky, who shaped his early years at Dynamo Kyiv, to Carlo Ancelotti, Paolo Maldini, Andrea Pirlo and Kaka as part of a world-class Milan team. But Shevchenko’s story transcends football. Growing up 150km from the Chernobyl disaster, witnessing the decline of the Soviet Union and its descent into lawlessness, the struggles of his beloved Ukraine to gain independence in 1991 – and then the agony of the Russian invasion of his homeland in 2022. This is a football and human story like no other.Read more
£11.20£12.30My Life, My Football
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The Woman in Me: Britney Spears
The Woman in Me is a brave and astonishingly moving story about freedom, fame, motherhood, survival, faith, and hope.In June 2021, the whole world was listening as Britney Spears spoke in open court. The impact of sharing her voice—her truth—was undeniable, and it changed the course of her life and the lives of countless others. The Woman in Me reveals for the first time her incredible journey—and the strength at the core of one of the greatest performers in pop music history.
Written with remarkable candour and humour, Spears’s ground-breaking book illuminates the enduring power of music and love—and the importance of a woman telling her own story, on her own terms, at last.
____________________________________‘The sharpness of her perspective is a miracle… May her truth pose a legitimate threat to the system that exploited her’ – Guardian
‘Britney Spears holds nothing back in her short, bittersweet and extremely powerful memoir… That it hasn’t turned into a complete tragedy is a testament to Spears’s essential fortitude of spirit – something that burns off these pages’ – Telegraph
‘Spears’s prose contains more compassion and perspective than bitterness or self-pity’ – The Times
‘It’s nearly impossible to come out of it without empathy for and real outrage on behalf of Spears, whose admitted bitterness over the dire circumstances of the last decade-plus of her life is tempered by an enduring, insistent optimism’ – New York Times
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£11.40£23.80The Woman in Me: Britney Spears
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The Twat Files: A hilarious sort-of memoir of mistakes, mishaps and mess-ups
GET EXTRA TWATTY THIS CHRISTMAS WITH THE PERFECT STOCKING FILLER AND DIVE BEHIND THE SCENES OF A LEGEND IN BRITISH COMEDY!
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. In my life these have been key because:
Mistakes tell us about ourselves.
Mistakes tell us about others.
Mistakes are hilarious.
Mistakes expose our flaws.
Mistakes show us ourselves honestly.
Mistakes are gloriously human.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.
‘This woman is a national treasure’ Mail on Sunday
‘Dawn French is a wonderful writer’ Daily Mail
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Kaputt (New York Review Books Classics)
Curzio Malaparte was a disaffected supporter of Mussolini with a taste for danger and high living. Sent by an Italian paper during World War II to cover the fighting on the Eastern Front, Malaparte secretly wrote this terrifying report from the abyss, which became an international bestseller when it was published after the war. Telling of the siege of Leningrad, of glittering dinner parties with Nazi leaders, and of trains disgorging bodies in war-devastated Romania, Malaparte paints a picture of humanity at its most depraved.Kaputt is an insider’s dispatch from the world of the enemy that is as hypnotically fascinating as it is disturbing.
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£11.40£12.30Kaputt (New York Review Books Classics)
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Life Lessons: Wisdom and Wit from Life’s Ups and Downs
Life is not a problem to be solved, but a reality to be experienced.
Let Jay Blades’ words of wisdom – gleaned from his own triumphs over adversity – help you to find your best path through life. Filled with characteristic warmth and humour, Jay talks about the life lessons that have helped him to find positivity and growth, no matter what he’s found himself facing.
Jay shares not only his adventures and escapades but also the way they have shaped his outlook and helped him to live life to the fullest. His insight and advice give you everything you need to be able to reframe your own circumstances and make the best of them.
It’s very easy to be passive in life and just do what you know. But, believe me, you’ll be a lot more excited every day if you shape your own future.
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A Cook’s Tour: In Search of the Perfect Meal
‘It works extremely well. In large part because Bourdain is a very funny writer; sharp, honest and with a beguiling mix of belligerence and sensitivity’ Sunday Telegraph
‘Brilliantly written up in a raw, stylish gonzo prose, with pitch-black humour and a devilish turn of phrase’ Evening Standard
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Anthony Bourdain, life-long line cook and bestselling author of Kitchen Confidential, sets off to eat his way around the world.But being Anthony Bourdain, this was never going to be a conventional culinary tour. Bourdain heads out to Saigon where he eats the still-beating heart of a live cobra, and travels deep into landmined Khmer Rouge territory to find the rumoured Wild West of Cambodia (Pailin).
Other stops include dining with gangsters in Russia, a medieval pig slaughter and feast in northern Portugal, the Basque All Male Gastronomique Society in Saint Sebastian, rural Mexico with his Mexican sous-chef, a pilgrimage to the French Laundry in the Napa Valley and a return to his roots in the tiny fishing village of La Teste, where he first ate an oyster as a child.
Written with the inimitable machismo and humour that has made Tony Bourdain such a sensation, A Cook’s Tour is an adventure story sure to give you indigestion.
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£11.40£12.30A Cook’s Tour: In Search of the Perfect Meal
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Charles Dickens: A Life
Charles Dickens is the acclaimed definitive biography by bestselling author Claire Tomalin
Charles Dickens was a phenomenon: a demonicly hardworking journalist, the father of ten children, a tireless walker and traveller, a supporter of liberal social causes, but most of all a great novelist – the creator of characters who live immortally in the English imagination: the Artful Dodger, Mr Pickwick, Pip, David Copperfield, Little Nell, Lady Dedlock, and many more.
At the age of twelve he was sent to work in a blacking factory by his affectionate but feckless parents. From these unpromising beginnings, he rose to scale all the social and literary heights, entirely through his own efforts. When he died, the world mourned, and he was buried – against his wishes – in Westminster Abbey.Yet the brilliance concealed a divided character: a republican, he disliked America; sentimental about the family in his writings, he took up passionately with a young actress; usually generous, he cut off his impecunious children.
From the award-winning author of Samuel Pepys, Charles Dickens: A Life paints an unforgettable portrait of Dickens, capturing brilliantly the complex character of this great genius. If you loved Great Expectations, Oliver Twist and A Christmas Carol, this book is invaluable reading.
‘By far the most humane and imaginatively sympathetic account yet for the general reader’ Amanda Craig, New Statesman
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£11.40£12.30Charles Dickens: A Life
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I love rugby! But I don’t understand the rules…
The rules of rugby explained in simple terms. At last, a book that everyone can read to learn and understand the sometimes complicated rules of rugby. From offside to scrum and tackling, everything you need to know about rugby is explained in this book in a simple and understandable way. Dive into the world of rugby and become unbeatable about the rules.
All explanations are backed by diagrams and illustrations.Read more
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The Jersey: The All Blacks: The Secrets Behind the World’s Most Successful Team
The phenomenal international number one bestseller with exclusive interviews with Richie McCaw, Steve Hansen, Beauden Barrett and Dan Carter, The Jersey is the definitive story behind the greatest sports team on the planet.
‘Extremely well written. Compelling, accurate, insightful and brilliant in the way it captures the New Zealand way’ – John Hart, former All Blacks coach.
With a better winning record than any other sports team in history, they stand head and shoulders above their nearest rugby rivals. How did a country of just 4.8 million people conquer the world?
Peter Bills, who has reported on international rugby for more than forty years, was given exclusive access to all the key figures in New Zealand rugby as he set out to understand the secrets behind the All Blacks success. Peter talked at length with ninety people, both in New Zealand and around the world, with intimate knowledge of what makes the All Blacks tick.
The Jersey goes to the heart of the All Blacks success. It is also an epic story of not just a rugby team but a nation, whose identities are inextricably linked.
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Fringes: Life on the Edge of Professional Rugby
Updated edition of the #1 Amazon Bestseller
LONGLISTED FOR THE WILLIAM HILL SPORTS BOOK OF THE YEAR PRIZE 2020Sports books tend to detail extraordinary achievements, triumphs against the odds or commemorate World Cup winning captains.
This book does not do that.
For many, playing professional sport is the Dream Job. Few manage it, very few make it to the top and for the rest, life is very different. This is their story.
In Fringes, Ben Mercer invites you to witness life at the outer edges of professional rugby. This is a first hand account of what life is like as a journeyman professional athlete. You play, but to the wider public you don’t exist. You earn but you don’t drive a flash car. You sometimes pack out a stadium but sometimes, you play in a deserted park. This is the story for the majority of sports professionals. Only the minority taste the top, only one person gets to lift the cup or win the medal, only 15 get to play for England at any one time. For the rest, that’s not the case.
Ben Mercer is a former professional rugby player who after becoming disillusioned and uninspired plying his trade in the English Second Division, accepted an offer out of the blue to go to France and do something different – help an amateur team turn professional. This is a first hand account of what life is like in the lower reaches of professional sport – where your employment status is as precarious as your health and barely anyone will know your name.
It’s about how it feels to live year to year, with teammates constantly on the move. It’s about how professionalism irreversibly changes the French club Stade Rouennais as they move up the divisions, about the tension between progress and identity in a rugby team. It’s also about how it feels to actually be out there on the field, how it feels to occasionally do something extraordinary and how it feels when this is no longer enough for you to make the sacrifices that you need to make to keep playing.
There’s no ghostwriting, it’s an unmitigated meditation on how it feels and what it means to play rugby for a living, to dedicate yourself to an uncompromising but occasionally beautiful game.
If you’ve wanted to know what life is really like as a professional athlete, on the Fringes, away from the glitz and glamour of the international game then look no further.
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Jason Leonard: Full Time the Autobiography of a Rugby Legend
Leonard’s story starts as rugby started – in the amateur days, when the Cockney Carpenter began playing for Barking and Saracens in the days before multi-million pound business owners and sponsorship deals. His big break came when he was invited to join the England squad for their tour to Argentina in 1990 and has been capped 100 times.
It was a tour that precipitated one of the greatest periods in the history of the British game, and Leonard provides a compelling insight into life behind the international scenes with England and the Lions, as well as the domestic game through his time at Saracens and Harlequins.
Once told that he would never walk again after undergoing life-saving surgery on his neck, Leonard describes the torment he went through during this period – both physical and financial – and how he fought against all the odds to re-establish himself on the international stage. With 100 Test caps won to date, and a career in rugby union spanning two decades, there is no more experienced player in the modern game.
Leonard has plenty to tell about the people he has met during his career – Rob Andrew, Will Carling, Lawrence Dallaglio, Brian Moore, Dick Best and Clive Woodward all feature – and with nicknames like ‘The Fun Bus’ and ‘The Scourge of the Barking Barmaids’ the stories are as colourful and controversial as the man himself.
All is revealed in this fascinating portrait of an English rugby legend who also reflects upon England’s 2002 Six Nations campaign, his hopes for his international future and a tough year for Quins.
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Black Victorians: Hidden in History
A landmark history exploring and celebrating the lives of Black Victorians.
Beyond the patrician vision of Victorian Britain traditionally advanced in our textbooks, there always existed another, more diverse Britain, populated by people of colour marking achievements both ordinary and extraordinary.
In this deeply researched and dynamic history, Woolf and Abraham reach into the archives to recentre our attention on marginalised Black Victorians, from leading medic George Rice to political agitator William Cuffay to abolitionists Henry ‘Box’ Brown and Sarah Parker Remond; from pre-Raphaelite muse Fanny Eaton to renowned composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor. While acknowledging the paradoxes of Victorian views of race, Black Victorians demonstrates, with storytelling verve and a liberatory impulse, how Black people were visible and influential, firmly rooted in British life.
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£11.40£12.30Black Victorians: Hidden in History
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The Woman in Me: Britney Spears
The Woman in Me is a brave and astonishingly moving story about freedom, fame, motherhood, survival, faith, and hope.In June 2021, the whole world was listening as Britney Spears spoke in open court. The impact of sharing her voice—her truth—was undeniable, and it changed the course of her life and the lives of countless others. The Woman in Me reveals for the first time her incredible journey—and the strength at the core of one of the greatest performers in pop music history.
Written with remarkable candour and humour, Spears’s ground-breaking book illuminates the enduring power of music and love—and the importance of a woman telling her own story, on her own terms, at last.
____________________________________‘The sharpness of her perspective is a miracle… May her truth pose a legitimate threat to the system that exploited her’ – Guardian
‘Britney Spears holds nothing back in her short, bittersweet and extremely powerful memoir… That it hasn’t turned into a complete tragedy is a testament to Spears’s essential fortitude of spirit – something that burns off these pages’ – Telegraph
‘Spears’s prose contains more compassion and perspective than bitterness or self-pity’ – The Times
‘It’s nearly impossible to come out of it without empathy for and real outrage on behalf of Spears, whose admitted bitterness over the dire circumstances of the last decade-plus of her life is tempered by an enduring, insistent optimism’ – New York Times
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£11.40£23.80The Woman in Me: Britney Spears
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Rambling Man: My Life on the Road
THE NUMBER ONE BESTSELLING HILARIOUS NEW BOOK FROM THE NATION’S FAVOURITE COMEDIAN, BILLY CONNOLLY
Being a Rambling Man was what I always wanted to be, to live the way I damn well pleased. I’ve met the weirdest and most wonderful people who walk the Earth, seen the most bizarre and the most fantastic sights – and I’ve rarely come across something I couldn’t get a laugh at. I don’t think I’ve ever had a bad trip. Well, apart from in the 1970s, but that’s a whole other story . . .
When Billy set out from Glasgow as a young man he never looked back. He played his banjo on boats and trains, under trees, and on top of famous monuments. He danced naked in snow, wind and fire. He slept in bus stations, under bridges and on strangers’ floors. He travelled by foot, bike, ship, plane, sleigh – even piggy-backed – to get to his next destination.
Billy has wandered to every corner of the earth and believes that being a Rambling Man is about more than just travelling – it’s a state of mind. Rambling Men and Women are free spirits who live on their wits, are interested in people and endlessly curious about the world. They love to play music, make art or tell stories along the way but, above all, they have a longing in their heart for the open road.
In his joyful new book, Billy explores this philosophy and how it has shaped him, and he shares hilarious new stories from his lifetime on the road. From riding his trike down America’s famous Route 66, building an igloo on an iceberg in the Arctic, playing elephant polo (badly) in Nepal and crashing his motorbike (more than once), to eating witchetty grubs in Australia, being serenaded by a penguin in New Zealand, and swapping secrets in a traditional Sweat Lodge ritual in Canada, Rambling Man is a truly global adventure with the greatest possible travel companion.
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£11.40£23.80Rambling Man: My Life on the Road
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The Princess Royal: From Princess Mary to Princess Anne (The Royal House of Windsor)
An engrossing account of the life of Princess Anne and how her role was shaped by the six women who served as Princess Royal before her.Ideal for readers of Gyles Brandreth, Ingrid Seward and Hugo Vickers.
To understand what it is to be a Princess Royal, the ‘doyenne of royal biographers’ Helen Cathcart skilfully portrays the lives of the foremost royal daughters from the days when princesses were ‘ladyes’ and the King’s eldest son was styled Prince Royal, through to our present Princess Royal.
There have been seven Princess Royals throughout British history, the inaugural of whom was Princess Mary, the eldest daughter of King Charles I and Queen Henrietta Maria, followed by Princess Anne (daughter of King George II), Princess Charlotte (daughter of King George III), Princess Victoria (daughter of Queen Victoria), Princess Louise (daughter of King Edward VII), and Princess Mary (daughter of King George V). The current holder of the title, Princess Anne, emerges from this background, clearly demonstrating how the role or Princess Royal has evolved over the generations into one of duty and personal achievement.
Drawing on royal letters, journals and associated material, the author’s fascinating pen captures the first four decades of Princess Anne’s life, from playful child and stylish teenager to champion rider and tireless campaigner for good causes. Along the way are royal engagements and regimental dinners, a love affair with a Dragoon and a terrifying kidnap attempt.
The Princess Royal is the definitive account of what it means to be the first and most royal of royal daughters and how Princess Anne is truly a Princess Royal for our times.
‘Wide acclaim as a royal biographer … objective, uninhibited and penetrating’ – Sunday Express
‘Helen Cathcart writes about royalty as if she were one of them’– The Daily Mail
‘The doyenne ofroyal biographers’ –The Daily Telegraph
‘A tireless chronicler of royalty’–The Guardian
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Iron Spy: The True Story of the Greatest Double Agent in World War II
Known as Fritz to his German spy-handlers and Zig-Zag to the British secret service, Eddie Chapman was a man of many faces. While his early life was rife with petty crime, gang activity and a dishonourable discharge from the British military, Chapman’s unique skills were eventually sought out by Nazi Germany, and after convincing them he could use his criminal contacts to sabotage the English forces, he was quickly recruited.But Chapman’s loyalty to his country knew no limits. A talented, handsome, and reckless Englishman, Chapman was a traitor on the surface but a fearless patriot on the inside. After cracking Germany’s military code, the British sought Chapman for their own affairs, and Chapman was happy to oblige.
Eventually being awarded the prestigious Nazi Iron Cross for services to Germany while acting as a double agent for Britain, Chapman’s espionage efforts involved masterful deceit and feats which few men alive could ever boast of.
Eddie Chapman’s life story is an unbelievable journey of crime, jail-breaks, treachery, and love. He was responsible for saving countless lives during his career, cementing himself as the ultimate double agent during World War II.
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The Death of You: Life After Elite Sport
Arguably the greatest Olympian of all time, Michael Phelps, with twenty-eight Olympic medals to his name, was asked if he would like his children to follow in his footsteps. His answer, ‘Honestly, in a perfect world, I’d say no. Just because I don’t want them to live in my footsteps. And I also know everything about it – I know the ins and the outs, the good, the bad, and the ugly. So, you know, as a parent, it just – it frightens me.’ The truth is that the vast majority of the public don’t understand this alarming answer from Phelps. The question as to why so many elite sportspeople fall off the edge of a cliff in life when they retire is often answered in either a too complicated or too simplistic way to give people a meaningful answer. This book changes that. Using brutally honest interviews with sport stars Matthew Hoggard, Paul Walsh, Gail Emms, Tom May, Johnny Nelson and Clare Shine, Luke Sutton breaks down why this happens for a reader in a way that hasn’t been done yet. Anyone fascinated by sport or elite performance in general will be enthralled by this book. There is so much to take from it.Read more
£11.60£14.20The Death of You: Life After Elite Sport
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Executioner: The Chronicles of a Victorian Hangman
James Berry, a dour and somewhat pious ex-policeman who hailed from Yorkshire, was Britain’s hangman from 1884 to 1892 and was responsible for carrying out 200 executions. As an amateur criminologist he built his own black museum and kept scrapbooks relating to his activities. He was also something of a showman, and not averse to publicity, whose press coverage caused the government acute embarrassment. Capable of cold, even callous detachment, Berry’s sensitivity meant that he was often too upset before and after one of his 200 executions to be able to speak.There were also a few horrific incidents on the gallows and his job evidently had its effect on him as, in retirement, Berry became so depressed that he took steps to commit suicide. In this biography, Stewart Evans here takes the reader on a fascinating journey into the world of Victorian crime and punishment. Evans is a leading crime historian, widely considered one of the Victorian era. His previous books include Jack the Ripper, Letters From Hell and Jack the Ripper and the Whitechapel Murders. He lives in Cambridgeshire.Read more
£11.60£17.10Executioner: The Chronicles of a Victorian Hangman
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Billington: Victorian Executioner
‘An insightful and gripping account that will take you into the dark but fascinating world of a Victorian executioner.’ – Stewart P. Evans
Between 1884 and 1905 James Billington and his three sons, Thomas, William and John, were responsible for 235 executions in Victorian Great Britain and Ireland. They hanged many notorious murderers, but equally fascinating is the story of the family. Did James really feel he served society and justice, or did this position satisfy something more personal?
Billington: Victorian Executioner provides a complete account of the stories behind James Billington’s executions, as well as the real man behind the rope – a man whose business was death. This enthralling biography is an exciting addition to any true crime bookshelf.Read more
£11.60£12.30Billington: Victorian Executioner
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Royal Witches: From Joan of Navarre to Elizabeth Woodville
‘An important and timely book.’ – Philippa Gregory
Joan of Navarre was the richest woman in the land, at a time when war-torn England was penniless.Eleanor Cobham was the wife of a weak king’s uncle – and her husband was about to fall from grace.
Jacquetta Woodville was a personal enemy of Warwick the Kingmaker, who was about to take his revenge.
Elizabeth Woodville was the widowed mother of a child king, fighting Richard III for her children’s lives.
In Royal Witches, Gemma Hollman explores the lives of these four unique women, looking at how rumours of witchcraft brought them to their knees in a time when superstition and suspicion was rife.
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Rough Seas: The Life Of A Deep-Sea Trawlerman
A trawlerman’s life was hard, often up against bad weather, rough seas and black frosts, although on calm days it was a pleasure to be at sea. In this eventful memoir, deep-sea trawlerman James Greene relates his life at sea, from his childhood when his father would take him out in some of the worst gales and hurricanes imaginable (and he loved every minute of it!), to his early careers as a deckhand learner, obtaining his skipper’s ticket, and the many experiences – both disastrous and otherwise – to occur throughout his time at sea. During his career he was involved in ship collisions and fires, arrested for poaching, fired upon by Icelandic gunboats, in countless storms and even swept overboard in icy conditions off the Russian coast. The British trawling industry is now a by-gone age and people are beginning to forget the adventures and hardships that characterised this profession. This book seeks to keep the memories of a once great industry alive.Read more
£11.70£14.20Rough Seas: The Life Of A Deep-Sea Trawlerman
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Confessions of a Rugby Mercenary
John Daniell is a rubgy mercenary. A brutal word for an often brutal game.
In 1996, when Rugby Union turned professional, John emigrated to France where he played for a decade in top competitions. His team ricocheted between fear and ecstasy, as they battled to save the club from relegation and their careers from the scrap heap.
Now he lifts the lid on the dark world of the journeyman player, where losing a home game is considered a crime, coaches and club owners will do anything to win, and agents ruthlessly manipulate players.
His compelling confessions are both shocking and funny, taking you behind the scenes, onto the field and into the very heart of the scrum.
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£11.80£15.20Confessions of a Rugby Mercenary
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Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing: ‘Funny, fascinating and compelling’ The Times
‘There’s never been a more honest or raw memoir … and it may just save lives’ Daily Mail
‘Funny, fascinating, compelling … also a wonderful read for fans of Friends’ The Times
The beloved star of Friends takes us behind the scenes of the hit sitcom and his struggles with addiction in this candid, funny, and revelatory memoir that delivers a powerful message of hope and persistence.
Here is the riveting story of acclaimed actor Matthew Perry, who takes us along on his journey from childhood ambition to fame to addiction and recovery in the aftermath of a life-threatening health scare. Before the frequent hospital visits and stints in rehab, there was five-year-old Matthew, who travelled from Montreal to Los Angeles, shuffling between his separated parents; fourteen-year-old Matthew, who was a nationally ranked tennis star in Canada; twenty-four-year-old Matthew, who nabbed a coveted role as a lead cast member on the talked-about pilot then called Friends Like Us. . . and so much more.
In an extraordinary story that only he could tell – and in the heartfelt, hilarious, and warmly familiar way only he could tell it – Matthew Perry lays bare the fractured family that raised him (and also left him to his own devices), the desire for recognition that drove him to fame, and the void inside him that could not be filled even by his greatest dreams coming true. But he also details the peace he’s found in sobriety and how he feels about the ubiquity of Friends, sharing stories about his castmates and other stars he met along the way. Frank, self-aware, and with his trademark humour, Perry vividly depicts his lifelong battle with addiction and what fuelled it despite seemingly having it all.
Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing is an unforgettable memoir that is both intimate and eye-opening – as well as a hand extended to anyone struggling with sobriety. Unflinchingly honest, moving, and uproariously funny, this is the book fans have been waiting for.
‘An unflinching and often harrowing must-read for 90s pop culture fans’ Guardian
‘Written with Chandler’s trademark sarcasm and self-deprecation’ Telegraph
‘A hopeful read … I started to think of [it] not as a celebrity memoir about addiction, but as an addiction memoir written by a man who understands his own history through the prism of showbiz’ Independent
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Rivals in the Ring: 15 Greatest Boxing Rivalries of All Time (Greatest Sporting Rivalries)
In no sport can individual rivalries be so intense as in boxing. There is something almost primeval about standing in the ring together, with the ultimate aim of either knocking out or stopping their opponent, often with a crowd baying for blood.Unraveling the True Drama: Some of the boxing rivalries have spilled over outside the ring. While there can be an element of circus attached to professional boxing, there was no element of pantomime when it came to Jack Britton’s dislike towards Ted Lewis, for example, or the real hurt that some of the taunts of Muhammad Ali caused Joe Frazier.
The Dark Side of Glory: It should never be forgotten that boxing can also be a profoundly dangerous sport. Benny Paret lost his life in the ring after one fight, whilst two bit-players in the Chris Eubanks – Nigel Benn story were left with life-changing injuries.
And that is without mentioning the later impact on individual health of a career spent being hit for a living. Ali, Frazier, Floyd Patterson, and Ingemar Johansson would all fall victim to forms of dementia in their old age.
The Changing Face of Boxing: With advancements in medical science, today’s fighters are better protected, ensuring they would not engage in the frequency of battles like Sam Langford and Harry Wills did. As boxing evolves, so too does the understanding of its effects on the human body.
The Noble and the Controversial: It may be the Sport of Kings – and increasingly of Queens – but that does not always make it noble and true. This boxing book on the history of boxing over the last 120 years delves into the noble moments of the sport alongside the darker aspects that challenge its integrity.
Ultimately, any compendium of boxing rivalries is left with the difficult choice of what to include and what to leave out; those that follow in this boxing book for men can be regarded as an exemplar of many more.
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Unruly: The Number One Bestseller ‘Horrible Histories for grownups’ The Times
Discover who we are and how we got here this holiday season in comedian David Mitchell’s UNRULY: A History of England’s Kings and Queens – a thoughtful, funny exploration of the entitled and enthroned.
‘JUST FANTASTIC. DELIGHTFULLY CONTRARY AND HILARIOUSLY CANTANKEROUS. VERY, VERY FUNNY’ JESSE ARMSTRONG, CREATOR OF SUCCESSION AND PEEP SHOW
‘CLEVER, AMUSING, GLORIOUSLY BIZARRE AND RAZOR SHARP. MITCHELL – A FUNNY MAN AND A SKILLED HISTORIAN – TELLS STORIES THAT ARE INTERESTING AND FUN. HERE IS HORRIBLE HISTORIES FOR GROWNUPS’ GERARD DEGROOT, THE TIMES
‘CLEVER, FUNNY, MAKES YOU THINK QUITE DIFFERENTLY ABOUT HISTORY’ DAN SNOW, HISTORIAN AND BROADCASTER
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Think you know your kings and queens? Think again.
In UNRULY, David Mitchell explores how England’s monarchs, while acting as feared rulers firmly guiding their subjects’ destinies, were in reality a bunch of lucky sods who were mostly as silly and weird in real life as they appear today in their portraits.
Taking us right back to King Arthur (spoiler: he didn’t exist), David tells the founding story of post-Roman England right up to the reign of Elizabeth I (spoiler: she dies). It’s a tale of narcissists, inadequate self-control, excessive beheadings, middle-management insurrection, uncivil wars, and at least one total Cnut, as the population evolved from having their crops nicked by the thug with the largest armed gang to bowing and paying taxes to a divinely anointed king.
How this happened, who it happened to and why it matters in modern Britain are all questions David answers with brilliance, wit and the full erudition of a man who once studied history – and won’t let it off the hook for the mess it’s made.
A funny book about a serious subject, UNRULY is for anyone who has ever wondered how we got here – and who is to blame.
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‘Mitchell clearly knows his history, with a book that owes as much to Monty Python as it does to Simon Schama’ ANDREW MARR, BROADCASTER
‘I don’t think anyone other than David Mitchell could have written this book. It’s clever, funny and makes you think quite differently about history we thought we knew’ DAN SNOW, HISTORIAN AND BROADCASTER
‘Who knew a history of England’s rulers could be this hilarious? A brilliantly entertaining romp through monarchs’ i
‘By turns fascinating and funny – there is a jewel of an insight or a refreshing blast of clarifying wit on every page. David brings a delightfully contrary and hilariously cantankerous eye to the history of the English Monarchy. Informative, illuminating and very very funny’ JESSE ARMSTRONG, CREATOR OF SUCCESSION AND PEEP SHOW
‘I can’t recommend this book enough. Very funny and interesting, it is above all a proper work of history’ CHARLIE HIGSON
*The Times Number One Bestseller October 2023*
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