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At Home in the Land of Oz: Autism, My Sister, and Me Second Edition (PDF)
by Anne BarnhillAnne's sister Becky was born in 1958, long before most people had even heard of autism. Diagnosed with 'emotional disturbance,' Becky was subjected for much of her childhood to well-meaning but futile efforts at 'rehabilitation' or 'cure,' as well as prolonged spells in institutions away from her family. Painting a vivid picture of growing up in small-town America during the Sixties, Anne describes her sister's and her own painful childhood experiences with compassion and honesty. Struggling with the separation from her sister and the emotional and financial hardships the family experienced as a result of Becky's condition, Anne nevertheless found that her sister had something that 'normal' people were unable to offer. Today she is accepting of her sister's autism and the impact, both painful and positive, it has had on both their lives. This bittersweet memoir will resonate with families affected by autism and other developmental disorders and will appeal to everyone interested in the condition.
The Autobiography: The Autobiography
by Richard HillThe long-awaited autobiography of Richard Hill, World Cup winner and the rugby fan's most admired player.Nicknamed 'the Silent Assassin', Richard Hill is often most noticed when he isn't playing, as somehow his teams never perform as well without him as they do when he's around. This was shown both in the Lions tour of Australia in 2001 and in England's 2003 World Cup campaign. In his autobiography, he looks back across his hugely successful career as one of the last players in the game who has known both the amateur and professional eras. He provides revealing portraits of his team-mates and opponents, as well as explaining the keys to England's triumphs. He also discusses his frustration at the injuries that have blighted his career over the last two years. Hugely admired by rugby fans for his no-nonsense attitude to the game, only Martin Johnson in the recent era has earned such respect from fans and opponents alike.
The Autobiography
by Marie HelvinThe candid and revealing autobiography of supermodel Marie HelvinOne of the original supermodels and international fashion icons, Marie Helvin has been an iconic image in every decade since the 1970s. She was a Hawaiian hippie child in the 60s, a magazine cover star in the 70s, a society supermodel in the 80s, a pioneer detox guru in the 90s and a reluctant reality TV contestant in 2006.In each decade she found herself in the company of the brightest and the best. Still at the forefront of the fashion industry, she is as much in demand as ever, most recently modelling for her seventh British Vogue cover.Marie's autobiography candidly tells the story of friendships with the rich and famous. She reveals the dark side of her own personality as she explains how, gradually, she came to believe in her own beauty and found fulfilment as an independent woman.Illustrated with photographs from many of the greats, including Bailey, Helmut Newton and Nick Knight, Marie Helvin's memoir is a remarkable story of our times.
The Autobiography of the Queen
by Emma TennantThe Queen goes AWOL. No one can find her: where is she going and why ?In Emma Tennant's hilarious 'autobiography' of Queen Elizabeth, the monarch moves to the Caribbean island of St Lucia, where, after more than half a century on the throne, she can recall the years of her reign in peace and tranquillity.But the house is no more than a hole in the ground, her servants are gone and no one knows that 'Mrs Gloria Smith' is the Queen of England. The Queen quickly realizes she has a lot to learn about living life as a commoner.The story of the sovereign's new life in St Lucia is a funny and touching account of the friendship, sometimes contentious and on occasion baffling, between Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth and a young St Lucian, Austin Ford. How the Queen reacts to her new life- and how she changes as a result- make The Autobiography of the Queen a hilarious and moving tale, in which her need for her subjects is a marked as their dependence on her staying on the throne."A quiet, quirky charm" - The Times
Autumn Journal: Poem (Faber Poetry Ser.)
by Louis MacNeiceWritten between August and December 1938, Autumn Journal is still considered one of the most valuable and moving testaments of living through the thirties by a young writer. It is a record of the author's emotional and intellectual experience during those months, the trivia of everyday living set against the events of the world outside, the settlement in Munich and slow defeat in Spain.
Backstage Stories
by Barbara BakerGaining a view behind the scenes into the jobs and personalities of people who work in the theatre is a privilege afforded to few. This book grants that privilege to all its readers. Twenty-one highly respected backstage professionals are interviewed, from artistic director to wig maker, working in all kinds of theatres in Britain and the United States. Their stories inform and entertain as they describe what they do and how they got to do it. Their anecdotes and observations intrigue and amuse as they reminisce about working with people such as Alan Bennett, Judi Dench, Placido Domingo, Ian McKellen and Andrew Lloyd Webber, to name just a few. Whether you enjoy watching theatrical performances and want to know more about them, or you would like to work in the theatre, Backstage Stories is the book for you.
Bad Blood: A Memoir (text Only) (Perennial Non-fiction Promotion Ser. #Vol. 9)
by Lorna SageFrom a childhood of gothic proportions in a vicarage on the Welsh borders, through adolescence, leaving herself teetering on the brink of the 1960's, Lorna Sage vividly and wittily brings to life a vanished time and place and illuminates the lives of three generations of women.
Barry: The Story of Motorcycling Legend, Barry Sheene
by Nick Harris Steve ParrishThis is the remarkable story of Barry Sheene, the cheeky cockney boy who grew up to become a sporting legend. He won the British motorcycling 125cc championship aged just twenty and twice became World Champion in the 500cc class, despite two life-threatening crashes. In an era when sport and its personalities rarely made it off the back pages, Barry Sheene crossed the bridge between sport and celebrity in a style that only George Best had achieved previously.Barry is an intimate and revealing account told by three people who knew him better than most. Steve Parrish, fellow bike racer and now BBC commentator, Nick Harris, who wrote and broadcast on all Barry's major successes, and Barry's widow, Stephanie. Frank and fascinating, Barry is an exclusive look into the extraordinary life of a charming and complex man.
Battersea Girl: Tracing a London Life (Soundings Ser.)
by Martin KnightA couple of years ago, Martin Knight began a quest to delve into his family history. He had a head start on many amateur genealogists, as 30 years earlier he had produced a school project on the very subject. The project was based on the papers and oral history of his then elderly grandmother, Ellen Tregent. Martin dusted this off and began to assemble the chain of events that shaped his grandmother's life. He even made contact with several living relatives who had known Ellen or some of the people and events she described.Ellen Tregent was born in 1888 and died in 1988 - her lifetime encompassing an unprecedented century of social change and world upheaval. She was born into a poor working-class family in Battersea, London. Her grandfather had arrived from Ireland 40 years earlier to escape almost certain death as potato famine ravaged his country. In Battersea Girl, Martin Knight charts Ellen's long and eventful life and the lives of her siblings. They encounter abject poverty, disease, suicide, murder, war and inevitably death, but, equally, the spirit of stoical people who were determined to make the most of their lives shines through in this enchanting book.
Becoming Jane Austen
by Jon SpenceJon Spence's fascinating biography of Jane Austen paints an intimate portrait of the much-loved novelist. Spence's meticulous research has, perhaps most notably, uncovered evidence that Austen and the charming young Irishman Tom Lefroy fell in love at the age of twenty and that the relationship inspired Pride and Prejudice, one of the most celebrated works of fiction ever written. Becoming Jane Austen gives the fullest account we have of the romance, which was more serious and more enduring than previously believed. Seeing this love story in the context of Jane Austen's whole life enables us to appreciate the profound effect the relationship had on her art and on subsequent choices that she made in her life.Full of insight and with an attentive eye for detail, Spence explores Jane Austen's emotional attachments and the personal influences that shaped her as a novelist. His elegant narrative provides a point of entry into Jane Austen's world as she herself perceived and experienced it. It is a world familiar to us from her novels, but in Becoming Jane Austen, Austen herself is the heroine.
Before the Manifesto: The Life Writings of Mary Lois Walker Morris (Life Writings Frontier Women #1)
by MilewskiMary Lois Walker Morris was a Mormon woman who challenged both American ideas about marriage and the U.S. legal system. Before the Manifesto provides a glimpse into her world as the polygamous wife of a prominent Salt Lake City businessman, during a time of great transition in Utah. This account of her life as a convert, milliner, active community member, mother, and wife begins in England, where her family joined the Mormon church, details her journey across the plains, and describes life in Utah in the 1880s. Her experiences were unusual as, following her first husband's deathbed request, she married his brother, as a plural wife, in the Old Testament tradition of levirate marriage. Mary Morris's memoir frames her 1879 to 1887 diary with both reflections on earlier years and passages that parallel entries in the day book, giving readers a better understanding of how she retrospectively saw her life. The thoroughly annotated diary offers the daily experience of a woman who kept a largely self-sufficient household, had a wide social network, ran her own business, wrote poetry, and was intellectually curious. The years of "the Raid" (federal prosecution of polygamists) led Mary and Elias Morris to hide their marriage on "the underground," and her to perjury in court during Elias's trial for unlawful cohabitation. The book ends with Mary Lois's arrival at the Salt Lake Depot after three years in exile in Mexico with a polygamist colony.
Bellies and Bullseyes: The Outrageous True Story of Darts
by Sid WaddellBellies and Bullseyes is simply the greatest account there will ever be about the sport of darts - as told by one of its most legendary characters - Sid Waddell. It mixes Sid's own personal journey from the coalfields of the North East with the entire history of the sport. What is revealed is a hilarious yet epic Darts Babylon, covering every significant event and every character to walk the oche from Eric 'The Crafty Cockney' Bristow to Phil 'The Power' Taylor.In words as ripe as his commentaries, Sid brings an authentic whiff of fags, hard drink, hot tungsten and moist polyester to the whole cabaret. Sid has been friend and confidante to most of darts' stars over the years as well as being instrumental in the game's progress himself. Nobody is equipped to tell the story quite like he is. From the early days of hustling in bars and the 1960s money-race pub competitions that spawned the likes of John Lowe and Leighton Rees, to ITV's brilliantly daft The Indoor League and the glory days of BBC's coverage; from the bling of Bobby George and the belly of Jocky Wilson to the awesome professionalism of Phil Taylor; from smoky Northern working men's clubs to the Houses of Parliament; this is the complete, incredible story of darts.
Bermondsey Boy: Memories of a Forgotten World
by Tommy SteeleThirties Bermondsey was a thriving place, and it was in this bustling London borough that Thomas Hicks was born. Later, this Bermondsey boy would become known as Tommy Steele …In this engaging memoir Tommy recalls his childhood years growing up in Bermondsey. He relives with great fondness Saturdays as a young boy, spent gazing at the colourful posters for the Palladium and days spent wandering up Tower Bridge Road to Joyce’s Pie Shop for pie and mash. But he also brings to life with extraordinary vividness what it was like to live through the devastation of the Blitz.Yet it was once he joined the merchant navy and began singing and performing for his fellow seamen that his natural ability as an entertainer marked him out as a favourite. And it was while ashore in America that he became hooked on rock’n’roll and a legend was born …From Tommy’s humble beginning to life at sea and finally as a performer, Bermondsey Boy is a colourful, charming and deeply engaging memoir from a much-loved entertainer.
Best and Edwards
by Gordon Burn'The hero is the creature other people would like to be. Edwards was such a man, and he enabled people to respect themselves more.' By the mid-fifties Manchester United had caught the imagination of the country. Duncan Edwards played his first game for the club at the age of fifteen years and eight months in 1953. Two years later he won his first England cap and Walter Winterbottom, then England manager, referred to him as 'the spirit of British football'. On £15-a-week and living at Mrs Watson's boarding house at 5 Birch Avenue in Manchester, Edwards was the most prized of the Busby Babes. Then in February 1958 came Munich.Half a decade later George Best represented United reborn. 'Georgie' of the boutiques and dolly birds; 'El Beatle' of the European Cup in '68 and European Player of the Year; in the opinion of Pele, the most naturally talented footballer that ever lived. Retired at 27 and reduced to the role of Chelsea barfly and tabloid perennial; George, where did it all go wrong? An investigation into a club, two personalities and an England that has all but disappeared, Best & Edwards plots the course and trajectory of two careers unmoored in wildly different ways.
Best of British: Hendo's Sporting Heroes
by Jon HendersonBest of British is a celebration of the nation's greatest 100 sporting heroes, from Henry VIII to Red Rum, Roy of the Rovers to Torvill and Dean. Jon Henderson has combed through the annals of our glorious and not so glorious past to bring us the geniuses and the eccentrics, the national treasures and the villains who together have shaped our present.Trueman and W. G., Best and Edwards, racing drivers, jockeys, rowers - just what does it take to make a sporting superhero? Hendo's 100 reveals all. Opinionated and provocative, his witty character studies - accompanied by stylish illustrations - capture the essence of his subjects' greatness, re-evaluating the famous and rescuing the forgotten. But when there's a cast of thousands to choose from, and hundreds of years of history to explore, who will make the cut for the most heroic of the heroic? Find out, in Best of British.
Between Empire and Revolution: A Life of Sidney Bunting, 1873-1936 (Empires in Perspective)
by Allison DrewSidney Bunting's life offers a unique perspective on the British Empire, illustrating the complex social networks and values that were carried across the world in the name of empire. Drawing on archival material, including the Bunting family papers and records of Bunting's Oxford years, this work presents his biography.
Between Empire and Revolution: A Life of Sidney Bunting, 1873-1936 (Empires in Perspective #1)
by Allison DrewSidney Bunting's life offers a unique perspective on the British Empire, illustrating the complex social networks and values that were carried across the world in the name of empire. Drawing on archival material, including the Bunting family papers and records of Bunting's Oxford years, this work presents his biography.
Between the Yeshiva World and Modern Orthodoxy: The Life and Works of Rabbi Jehiel Jacob Weinberg, 1884-1966 (The Littman Library of Jewish Civilization)
by Marc B. ShapiroThe span of Rabbi Jehiel Jacob Weinberg's life (1884-1966) illuminates the religious and intellectual dilemmas that traditional Jewry has faced over the past century. Rabbi Weinberg became a central ideologue of modern Orthodoxy because of his positive attitude to secular studies and Zionism and his willingness to respond to social change in interpreting the halakhah, despite his traditional training in a Lithuanian yeshiva. But Weinberg was an unusual man: even at a time when he was defending the traditional yeshiva against all attempts at reform, he always maintained an interest in the wider world. He left Lithuania for Germany at the beginning of the First World War, attended the University of Giessen, and increasingly identified with the Berlin school of German Orthodoxy. Although initially an apologist for the Nazi regime, he was soon recognized as German Orthodoxy's most eminent halakhic authority in its efforts to maintain religious tradition in the face of Nazi persecution. His approach, then and in his later halakhic writings, including the famous Seridei esh, derived from the conviction that the attempt to shore up Orthodoxy by increased religious stringency would only reduce its popular appeal. Using a great deal of unpublished material, including private correspondence, Marc Shapiro discusses many aspects of Weinberg's life. In doing so he elucidates many institutional and intellectual phenomena of the Jewish world, a number of which have so far received little scholarly attention: the yeshivas of Lithuania; the state of the Lithuanian rabbinate; the musar movement; the Jews of eastern Europe in Weimar Germany; the Torah im Derekh Eretz movement and its variants; Orthodox Jewish attitudes towards Wissenschaft des Judentums; and the special problems of Orthodox Jews in Nazi Germany. Throughout, he shows the complex nature of Weinberg's character and the inner struggles of a man being pulled in different directions. Compellingly and authoritatively written, his fascinating conclusions are quite different from those presented in earlier historical treatments of the period.
Beyond Ugly
by Constance BriscoeFrom the Number One Bestselling author of Ugly: Despite her mother’s constant physical and psychological abuse, Constance Briscoe has gained a place at Newcastle University to study law – a long-held ambition. She finances her studies by several jobs at weekends and during the holidays, including working with the terminally ill in a hospice. She also finds the money to pay for several cosmetic surgery treatments in an attempt to transform the face that her mother has convinced her is ugly, ugly, ugly. With the degree achieved, Constance takes up Michael Mansfield’s invitation to become a pupil in his prestigious chambers. But she didn’t find the support and encouragement she expected.
Bible John's Secret Daughter: Murder, Drugs and a Mother's Secret Heartbreak
by David LeslieThere was one partner the pretty young women who danced away the 1960s in Glasgow's Barrowlands were desperate to avoid: Bible John, so named because he quoted scripture to his victims. He was being hunted for three brutal unsolved sex murders, and each of his victims had been picked up after a night at the famous dance hall. Police were still investigating the first terrifying murder when Hannah Martin was raped on her way home from the Barrowlands. When Bible John struck twice more, Hannah confided to friends that his description matched that of her own attacker. The next shock came when Hannah discovered she was pregnant. Her distraught father banished her from the family home and forced her to give her child up for adoption. She would never see her daughter again, but in a bizarre twist three decades later, an investigation into the infamous World's End murder would result in Hannah's daughter discovering the identity of the mother she never knew. Tragically, the news came too late for them to be reunited, but it set her on a course to uncover the shocking secrets of her mother's life. Did Hannah know Bible John? What did Hannah Martin reveal of her baby's father? How did she then become a member of a multimillion-pound drug-smuggling gang? Why, after expecting a huge bounty, did she die in poverty? The answers are all here in Bible John's Secret Daughter.
Big Brother: The completely unauthorised, unofficial TRUTH behind the reality as told by those who lived it
by Narinder KaurNever before have we had a candid account of what it's really like to be part of the cultural phenomenon that is Big Brother. Now entering its seventh year, Big Brother is an annual event on British TV. It generates a huge amount of press and shines a spotlight on the state of Britain today. But what do the producers really do? Have they got a hidden agenda? Do they edit to create characters? How do the media manipulate our opinions? Can they really make or break a star? And what do the contestants think? Do they feel used or do they relish the opportunity? What is life after the show like for them? Would they recommend it to others? Narinder Kaur, a former Big Brother contestant, has travelled the country speaking with past contestants from all series as well as with TV producers and the media. Now, for the first time, we hear their thoughts, in their own words. This is the truth behind the reality.
Bigger Deal: A Year on the 'New' Poker Circuit
by Anthony HoldenFifteen years on from Anthony Holden's undisputed classic BIG DEAL, the poker world has changed beyond recognition. When Holden played in the 1988 World Series of Poker there were 167 entrants competing for a prize of $270,000. At the 2006 WSOP, where this book climaxes, there were 8773 players and a first prize of some $12 million - the richest in any sport. What happened in the years between BIG DEAL and BIGGER DEAL is simple: thanks to the Internet and television there has been a worldwide explosion in the popularity of poker. The game even has a new respectable image, much to the disgust of die-hard players. Gone are the seedy, smoky rooms of the Horseshoe, and celebrities now crowd the tables at huge Las Vegas tournaments: Martin Sheen, Matt Damon and Ben Affleck are all dedicated players. In the UK, LATE NIGHT POKER draws some 2 million viewers (Holden was banned from the last series for doing too well). In BIGGER DEAL, Holden is your guide - and the only guide you'll need - to the world of new poker as he prepares to enter the WSOP once again. Will he win the title? Place your bets ...
Bill Clinton: An American Journey
by Nigel HamiltonNigel Hamilton brings all the magisterial authority he brought to his Whitbread-winning biography of Monty, and all the talent for tracking down and verifying hidden, controversial material that he showed in JFK: Reckless Youth, which topped the American bestseller charts for months, in this new biography of Bill Clinton. Born into a 'white trash' family in backwoods, racially segregated Arkansas, he suffered under an alcoholic, violent stepfather, on one occasion having to fight him physically in order to protect his mother. As a youth he would become inspired by the civil rights movement, particularly Martin Luther King, and as a student became a long-haired hippy musician, involved in radical politics and also discovering free love. Hamilton tells the story of how Clinton's sexual and political career developed hand in hand. This is a book about sexual politics on many levels, showing how Clinton's life was formed by changing attitudes. Here is a man who, far from being a sexual predator or exploiter of his position - like JFK - was swept to power because women adored him, whether Democratic party helpers, the women of the American electorate - or indeed Hilary Clinton, whose powerfully manipulative personality is shown to have been vital to his success,. Clinton has been polygamous throughout his adult life, and Hamilton's fascinating portrait of a marriage examines Hilary's relationship with his quite astonishing number of girlfriends. The book also covers his time at Oxford as a Rhodes scholar, his political apprenticeship and his rise to power, culminating in his election as President in '92.
Bill Clinton: Mastering the Presidency
by Nigel HamiltonNigel Hamilton's account of Bill Clinton's early life and career - Bill Clinton: An American Journey - drew widespread praise. Now, in Bill Clinton: Mastering the Presidency, Nigel Hamilton charts the experience of the 42nd President as he took presidential oath of office- and how he fared therafter in the piranha pool of Washington D.C.Hamilton charts what was possibly the greatest disaster and re-reinvention of a president in office in modern times. How Bill Clinton faced up to his failures, and refashioned himself in the White House is an epic story. With a thriving U.S. economy and hard-won wisdom in international affairs and in combating the rise of terrorism, Clinton would begin his second term as the undisputed, immensely popular leader of the Western world - aware, however, that terrors ant treason within America loomed as large as dangers abroad.Insightful, balanced, prodigiously researched and a joy to read, Bill Clinton: Mastering the Presidency is set to become, alongside its prequel, the classic story of Clinton's extraordinary effort to be a modern president, in a modern world-and a chronicle one of the most extraordinary reversals of fortune in modern American politics.
Billy Bragg: Still Suitable for Miners
by Andrew Collins'Love me or hate me. It's a great read’ - Billy Bragg He was a punk. He was a soldier. He was a flag-waver for the Labour Party and the miners. He is Billy Bragg, passionate protest folk singer and tireless promoter of political and humanitarian causes around the world. His life encapsulates so much about his generation: born in the late ’50s, passions forged by punk, politics shaped by Thatcherism, career inspired by engagement, hope provided by the end of the Cold War and ideology galvanised by what he sees as a ‘post-ideological’ twenty-first century. He adapts to survive: serious about compassion and accountability, he likes a laugh too, and has never forgotten where he comes from.Still Suitable for Miners is the official Billy Bragg story, tracing his life, family and career at close range from Barking to the present day. This 20th anniversary edition has been updated to include the rise of Corbyn, the unfolding of Brexit, Billy’s reclamation of skiffle and his overtures into Americana.