Biography & True Accounts

The definitive book on the influence of LGBT performers on modern music: a Duckworth contemporary classic, beautifully repackaged for our 125th anniversary

From Sia to Elton John, Dusty Springfield to Little Richard, LGBT voices have changed the course of modern music. But in a world before they gained understanding and a place in the mainstream, how did the queer musicians of yesteryear fight to build foundations for those who came after?

Pulling back the curtain on the colourful world that shaped our musical and cultural landscape, Darryl W. Bullock reveals the inspiring and often heartbreaking stories of internationally renowned stars, as well as lesser-known names, who have led the revolution from all corners of the globe. David Bowie Made Me Gay is a treasure trove of moving and provocative stories that emphasise the right to be heard and the need to keep up the fight for equality in the spotlight.

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A major source for the BBC drama The Reckoning

Winner of the 2015 Gordon Burn Prize and the 2015 CWA Non-Fiction Dagger

Shortlisted for the Orwell Prize and the James Tait Black Prize

Dan Davies has spent more than a decade on a quest to find the real Jimmy Savile, and interviewed him extensively over a period of seven years before his death. In the course of his quest, he spent days and nights at a time quizzing Savile at his homes in Leeds and Scarborough, lunched with him at venues ranging from humble transport cafes to the Athenaeum club in London and, most memorably, joined him for a short cruise aboard the QE2. Dan thought his quest had come to an end in October 2011 when Savile’s golden coffin was lowered into a grave dug at a 45-degree angle in a Scarborough cemetery. He was wrong. In the last two and a half years, Dan has been interviewing scores of people, many of them unobtainable while Jimmy was alive. What he has discovered was that his instincts were right all along and behind the mask lay a hideous truth. Jimmy Savile was not only complex, damaged and controlling, but cynical, calculating and predatory. He revelled in his status as a Pied Piper of youth and used his power to abuse the vulnerable and underage, all the while covering his tracks by moving into the innermost circles of the establishment.

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‘A glimpse to the person behind the glamour and drama . . . you get a real sense of the beating soul of Megan Fox’ – Glamour

Megan Fox showcases her wicked humor throughout a heartbreaking and dark collection of poetry. Over the course of more than 80 poems, Fox chronicles all the ways in which we fit ourselves into the shape of the ones we love, even if it means losing ourselves in the process.

“These poems were written in an attempt to excise the illness that had taken root in me because of my silence. I’ve spent my entire life keeping the secrets of men, my body aches from carrying the weight of their sins. My freedom lives in these pages, and I hope that my words can inspire others to take back their happiness and their identity by using their voice to illuminate what’s been buried, but not forgotten, in the darkness,” says Fox.

Pretty Boys Are Poisonous marks the powerful debut from one of the most well-known women of our time. Turn the page, bite the apple, and sink your teeth into the most deliciously compelling and addictive book you’ll read all year.

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In celebration of Keith Richards’ 80th birthday, this edition features a new introduction from the author.

‘A highly readable portrait of the irresistible millionaire minstrel.’ Independent

‘Highly entertaining . . . Of this latest crop of Stones books, Sandford’s affectionate, warts-and-all portrait of Keith is undoubtedly the best read.’ Charles Spencer, Sunday Telegraph

‘A pungent, air-guitar twanging celebration of one of rock’s true wild men.’ The Times

He’s the shy, half-educated boy from Dartford . . . the ‘elegantly wasted’ junkie who wrote and played the Rolling Stones’ best-known songs . . . the artist formerly known as Wormwood Scrubs’ prisoner 7855 . . . the original Human Riff . . . and, today, the contented family man who continues to be rock’s most indomitable living practitioner.

But who is the real Keith behind the kohl-eyed image? Christopher Sandford’s penetrating and entertaining biography is a hard, fast, sometimes shocking saga of sex, drugs and rock ’n’ roll — and of a flawed but wildly creative life.

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THE MILLION COPY BESTSELLER

‘Warmly funny, dry and mischievous . . . Genuine and brilliant.’ Daily Mail

Paul O’Grady is one of Britain’s very best loved entertainers. He is known and adored by millions, whether as the creator of the acid-tongued Blonde Bombsite, Lily Savage, the presenter of the fantastically successful, award-winning Paul O’Grady Show on Channel 4 or the massive hit ITV show, For the Love of Dogs.

Now, in his own unique voice, Paul O’Grady tells story of his early life in Irish Catholic Birkenhead that started him on the long and winding road from mischievous altar boy to national treasure. It is a brilliantly evoked, hilarious and often moving tale of gossip in the back yard, bragging in the corner shop and slanging matches on the front doorstep, populated by larger-than-life characters with hearts of gold and tongues as sharp as razors.

At My Mother’s Knee features an unforgettable cast of rogues, rascals, lovers, fighters, saints and sinners – and one iconic bus conductress. It’s a book which really does have something for everyone and which reminds us that, when all’s said and done, there’s a bit of savage in all of us…

Readers love At My Mother’s Knee:

‘I laughed, I cried, I couldn’t put it down and the characters really just jumped out of the page.’ *****
‘Candid, heart warming and also hilarious.’ *****
‘Wonderfully written, laugh out loud funny and poignant by turns.’ *****

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‘This is the most glorious of books. I am besotted by the life I never knew he had.’ -Elton John

‘Orgasmic. Every page of Scattershot is a delight, a joy, a name-dropper fan’s delight. Divine. I couldn’t put it down.’ -Pete Townshend

‘In Bernie Taupin’s miraculous memoir Scattershot you’ll meet legends, cowboys, geniuses, unforgettable faces in the night, shady purveyors of outrageous fortune, warriors of the heart, and most of all, Taupin himself. Hilarious and so emotionally true, Scattershot is like a letter from a cherished friend. You’ll want to keep it close, so you can read it again and again.’ -Cameron Crowe

‘Touching. Charming. Humble. Witty. And exquisitely written. Taupin’s words need no musical accompaniment. They sing with a poets voice.’ -Gary Oldman

‘Eloquent and inspiring, Scattershot is a freewheeling memoir that is as warm and evocative as Bernie Taupin’s most memorable lyrics. A born storyteller, Taupin gives us the life of an artist whose outlook was shaped by a rare but fascinating blend of lifelong innocence and endless intellectual curiosity.’ -Robert Hilburn, author of Johnny Cash: The Life

This is the memoir music fans have been waiting for. Half of one of the greatest creative partnerships in popular music, Bernie Taupin is the man who wrote the lyrics for Elton John, who conceived the ideas that spawned countless hits, and sold millions and millions of records. Together, they were a duo, a unit, an immovable object. Their extraordinary, half-century-and-counting creative relationship has been chronicled in biopics (like 2019’s Rocketman) and even John’s own autobiography, Me. But Taupin, a famously private person, has kept his own account of their adventures close to his chest, until now.

Written with honesty and candour, Scatterhot allows the reader to witness events unfolding from Taupin’s singular perspective, sometimes front and center, sometimes from the edge, yet always described vibrantly, with an infectious energy that only a vivid songwriter’s prose could offer. From his childhood in the East Midlands of England whose imagination was sparked and forever informed by the distinctly American mythopoetics of country music and cowboys, to the glittering, star-studded fishbowl of ’70s and ’80s Beverly Hills, Scattershot is simultaneously a Tom Jones­-like picaresque journey across a landscape of unforgettable characters, as well as a striking, first-hand account of a creative era like no other and one man’s experience at the core of it.

An exciting, multi-decade whirlwind, Scattershot whizzes around the world as we ride shotgun with Bernie on his extraordinary life. We visit New York with him and Elton on the cusp of global fame. We spend time with him in Australia almost in residency at an infamous rock ‘n’ roll hotel in an endless blizzard of drugs. And we spend late, late night hours with John Lennon, with Bob Marley, and hanging with Frank Sinatra. And beyond the world of popular music, we witness memorable encounters with writers like Graham Greene, painters like Andy Warhol and Salvador Dali, and scores of notable misfits, miscreants, eccentrics, and geniuses, known and unknown. Even if they’re not famous in their own right, they are stars on the page, and we discover how they inspired the indelible lyrics to songs such as “Tiny Dancer,” “Candle in the Wind,” “Bennie and The Jets,” and so many more.

Unique and utterly compelling, Scattershot will transport the reader across the decades and around the globe, along the way meeting some of the greatest creative minds of the 20th century, and into the vivid imaginings of one of music’s most legendary lyricists.

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“A lively memoir . . . a first-hand work of cinema history . . . the testament of a pivotal figure in American moviemaking.” —Martin Scorsese

The list of films Irwin Winkler has produced in his more-than-fifty-year career is extraordinary: Rocky, Goodfellas, Raging Bull, De-Lovely, The Right Stuff, Creed, and The Irishman. His films have been nominated for fifty-two Academy Awards, including five movies for Best Picture, and have won twelve.

In A Life in Movies, his charming and insightful memoir, Winkler tells the stories of his career through his many films as a producer and then as a writer and director, charting the changes in Hollywood over the past decades. Winkler started in the famous William Morris mailroom and made his first film—starring Elvis—in the last days of the old studio system. Beginning in the late 1960s, and then for decades to come, he produced a string of provocative and influential films, making him one of the most critically lauded, prolific, and commercially successful producers of his era.

This is an engrossing and candid book, a beguiling exploration of what it means to be a producer, including purchasing rights, developing scripts, casting actors, managing directors, editing film, and winning awards. Filled with tales of legendary and beloved films, as well as some not-so-legendary and forgotten ones, A Life in Movies takes readers behind the scenes and into the history of Hollywood.

“Charming and anecdote packed . . . popcorn for movie nerds.” —Newsweek

“A deftly written recollection of an eventful and happy life in a precarious and, frankly, insane business; a remarkably clear-eyed look behind the scenes of moviemaking.” —Kevin Kline

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Discover the remarkable life of Sean Connery…
Free BONUS Inside!

Sean Connery is still well remembered for his role in the epic James Bond series. Although we often picture him as a smooth, daring, and debonair agent, surviving all manner of incredible stunts, Sean Connery was more than just James Bond. His films were indeed action-packed, but so was his personal life.

Connery was a man who was always on the move. Since his earliest days growing up in Scotland, he sought to make the most of everything he had. Whether he was involved in theater, film, or worthy causes in his ancestral homeland, he gave it his all. This book explores the life and legend of Sean Connery in full.

Discover a plethora of topics such as

• Early Days in Edinburgh
• Connery, the Bodybuilder and Casket Polisher
• Becoming James Bond
• Work with Hitchcock
• Sci-Fi Era
• Late Life and Death
• And much more!

So if you want a concise and informative book on Sean Connery, simply scroll up and click the “Buy now” button for instant access!

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‘The heartwarming story of the collaboration and friendship between English football’s oddest couple, Elton John and Graham Taylor’ The Times

‘An ever-entertaining telling of a remarkable sporting fairy-tale’ Daily Telegraph
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An unforgettable British underdog story from one of our greatest narrative nonfiction writers, John Preston, and the international musical icon and bestselling author, Sir Elton John.

Britain in the 1970s was beset by unrest and unemployment, as inflation soared, fuel was scarce, and hooliganism was on the rise. And for Watford FC, the outlook was even gloomier. Rundown and rat-infested, Watford were an ailing side with holes in their kit and barely enough fans to fill a stand. Of the 92 clubs in the Football League, spread across four divisions, Watford were in 92nd place.

Meanwhile, Elton John was the most successful rockstar in the world. With six-inch platforms, spangled jumpsuits, and peroxide hair, he was glamorous, gay, and seemingly a world away from the semi-detached house in Pinner where he had supported Watford FC as a child. Many assumed he would move to America. Instead, he bought the football club.

Watford Forever is the remarkable story of Elton John’s ownership of Watford FC and its transformational journey to the top of the First Division under iconic manager Graham Taylor. Perhaps most remarkably, four of the same players who had been written off as has-beens went with them all the way from the bottom to the top. Inspiring and infectiously funny, this is a tribute to football’s unlikeliest friendship as Elton John and Taylor, a straight-talking former fullback with a love of Vera Lynn, beat the odds and their personal demons to save a club and a community.

Immersed in the grime and glamour of ’70s Britain, Watford Forever is one of sport’s great underdog stories and a love letter to the beautiful game.

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‘You hold in your hand a miracle. A book about a passion, and the hipsters, oddballs and old heads who share it, written by one of their number, albeit a ludicrously erudite one’ – Danny Kelly
A revival of interest in vinyl music has taken place in recent years – but for many of those from the ‘baby boomer’ generation, it never went away.
Graham Sharpe’s vinyl love affair began in the 1960s and since then he has amassed over 3000 LPs and spent countless hours visiting record shops worldwide along with record fairs, car boot sales, online and real life auctions.Vinyl Countdownfollows his journey to over a hundred shops across the globe – from New York to New Zealand, Walsall to Warsaw, Oslo to Ozstralia, (old) Jersey to New Jersey – and describes the many characters he has encountered and the adventures he accrued along the way.
Vinyl Countdown seeks to reawaken the often dormant desire which first promoted the gathering of records, and to confirm the belief of those who still indulge in it, that they happily belong to, and should celebrate the undervalued, misunderstood significant group of music-obsessed vinylholics, who always want – need – to buy… just one more record.
A mesmerising blend of memoir, travel, music and social history, Vinyl Countdown will appeal to anyone who vividly recalls the first LP they bought and any music fan who derives pleasure from the capacity that records have for transporting you back in time.
‘Graham Sharpe’s journey around the second-hand record shops of the UK is full of laugh out loud anecdotes and wonderful observations. A great read not just for vinyl fans, but for anybody who has ever visited a record shop’ – Graham Jones, author of Last Shop Standing (Whatever Happened to Record Shops), Strange Requests and Comic Tales From Record Shopsand The Vinyl Revival and the Shops That Made it Happen

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The release of Carry On Sergeant in 1958 saw the beginning of one of the most successful film series in cinema history. The ensuing thirty Carry On films and numerous television specials spanned two decades and featured some of the finest comedy actors ever to appear on our screens. Watched by generations of comedy fans the Carry On series and its unforgettable cast members have become a global phenomenon.

Carry On Actors brings together every actor from the beloved series for the very first time in one book.

With comprehensive biographies on all of the main stars of the series, including comedy greats such as Kenneth Williams, Sid James, Joan Sims and Barbara Windsor, along with over 500 individual entries featuring little-known facts about the supporting actors who featured in the films, Carry On Actors is the ultimate guide for fans of the series. The book also reveals those celebrities whose appearances in the classic series did not make it into the final films and brings the Carry On story up to date with details of recent reunions and celebrations.

Fully revised and updated for 2015 Carry On Actors features more than 100 unique quotes from the Carry On actors and their contemporaries along with exclusive memories from the series producer, the late Peter Rogers.

Featuring a truly astonishing array of well-known names this is the essential reference for Carry On fans and British comedy enthusiasts alike.

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