12 Biography / Autobiography
BIOGRAPHY / AUTOBIOGRAPHY
He had the look of one who had drunk the cup of life and found a dead beetle at the bottom.
- P. G. Wodehouse
74683 JOHN BETJEMAN by Greg Morse
In the early 1960s, John Betjeman had gained recognition as a bestselling poet, writer and broadcaster with a cause. ‘When you look ‘at’ things instead of just looking through them, life starts absolutely crackling with interest and excitement.’ He did much to help us appreciate beauty in the landscape, architecture, churches
and on the coast, and in particular on the railways. Greg Morse here explores the life and work of this great man explaining how he came to be seen somewhat unfairly as ‘a teddy bear to the nation’. Lyrical, humorous, nostalgic and unsentimental and above all distinctively English, Betjeman is in the first rank of poets and became the most popular Poet Laureate since Tennyson. A Shire paperback, 56pp, colour and other illus. £6.99 NOW £4.50
74882 A BOY’S OWN DALE by Terry Wilson
Growing up in rural Yorkshire in the 1950s, the author spent his schooldays hunting down Just William books, cutting up apples to help with fractions, and staring out of the window dreaming up new schemes. ‘Tickling trout could only be done on summer days, standing knee deep in the
pools...the odd trout was quickly slipped inside my shirt, but mostly I let them go...’ It
was on the Dales themselves that Terry came into his own, whether he was out fishing with his homemade rod, grouse-beating the lady of the manor or growing his own prize caulis. His inventive mind was matched only by his love of nature. A charming tale of a long-lost world. 221pp in paperback with line art. £6.99 NOW £3.50
75169 ANN LESLIE: Killing My Own Snakes by Ann Leslie
In war zones, tyrannies and democracies, Ann Leslie has always asked the right questions and has set the benchmark for modern journalism. She is extraordinarily courageous, tenacious, endlessly surprising and of course a peerless writer armed with just a notebook, handbag and infinite charm. Always self-deprecating, exciting
and witty, in her award-winning career, Dame Ann Leslie has reported from over 70 countries. She has sauntered confidently through wars and civil disorders, clad in full makeup wielding a massive handbag and seeing off war criminals, would-be rapists and libidinous Hollywood stars. She was shot at by Bosnian snipers,
74728 THE QUEEN MOTHER: The Untold Story of Elizabeth Bowes Lyon Who Became Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother
by Lady Colin Campbell With unparalleled sources - including aristocrats, and friends and close relatives of Elizabeth - this mesmerising account is packed with
intimate, previously unpublished revelations that take readers inside the private world of the Royal Family. In a stunningly frank book, the author demonstrates that the untold life of the Queen Mother is far more complicated and interesting than the official version. Born as The Honourable Elizabeth Bowes Lyon, she was a sparkling debutante who was so wary of royal life that she was initially reluctant to accept the proposal of the Duke of York, who became George VI after his brother abdicated to marry Wallis Simpson. Portrayed in all previous biographies as a selfless wife, a devoted mother and smiling granny, she was a benevolent and beloved force in British life. However, in contrast to her smooth, unruffled image, her life, according to this biographer, was filled with controversy and left many unanswered questions, beginning with the mysterious circumstances of her birth. Was her marriage to George VI the great love match it is usually reported to be? What really happened at the time of the abdication? What kind of mother was she? What role did she play in their marriages and in that of her grandson, Prince Charles to Lady Diana Spencer? What did Princess Diana herself tell the author about her relationship with the Queen Mother? The answers to these and other burning
questions will shock and
intrigue readers. First edition. 500 pages with b/w archive photos and genealogical tables.
$29.99 NOW £8
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was at the scene of the night the Berlin Wall came down, was taught to play poker by Count Basie and organised nude photo shoots for Playboy magazine. Her dazzling, incident-filled book evokes her life from her childhood as a Daughter of the Raj in India where she witnessed her first massacre, to becoming a Fleet Street columnist at aged 22. 454pp in paperback with photos.
£7.99 NOW £6
74820 A FIELD FULL OF BUTTERFLIES
by Rosemary Penfold Subtitled ‘Memories of a Romany Childhood’, Rosemary Penfold was born in 1938 in a traditional Gypsy wagon and grew up in the fields of the English countryside. In her beautiful memoir she recounts life within a loving extended family in a small but close-knit community. From early memories of her father bringing home oranges during the
war to the simple beauty of a field full of butterflies on a hot summer’s day, her stunningly elegant narrative captures the love and losses, hopes and struggles, traditions and prejudices that bound her to her family and help her adapt to a fast-changing world. 291pp in paperback with short glossary of Romany words. £6.99 NOW £3.50
75069 BOBBY ON THE BEAT: Memoirs of a London Policeman in the 1960s by Bob Dixon
Bob Dixon joined the Metropolitan Police in 1961 and served for 15 years in uniform, plain clothes and CID. For ten of those years his beat was London’s East End, a tough area at the best of times, but particularly tricky at that time with the docks still active and the rise of organised criminal gangs based in
the area. Bob’s first arrest, a lady of the night as well known for her drinking as her profession, provided him a rude awakening with a well-aimed knee to his unmentionables. Chinese waiters would chase non- paying customers through Limehouse with machetes, a 5am stop-and-search of Ronnie Kray and numerous shocking murders are all part of this candid and hugely enjoyable memoir. 255pp paperback. £7.99 NOW £4
72893 BOX OF BEANS: Book and Two CDs
by Clarissa Dickson-Wright The One Fat Lady reads her autobiography Spilling the Beans on two audio CDs. Determined and clever, Clarissa at the age of 21 was the youngest ever woman to be called to the Bar. Then her adored mother suddenly died and there followed a mind-numbing decade of wild drinking. Rich from
her inheritance, in the end Clarissa had drained her entire fortune. Includes the bestselling paperback, 328pp with colour photos. Audio book on two CDs runs to two hours.
£22.98 NOW £4.50
74237 DIARY OF A YOUNG WIFE 1953 by Hazel Wheeler
Hazel Wheeler is a feisty young woman who passed her 11 plus to attend Greenhead Girls High School in Huddersfield. She chronicles in her daily diary the first shaky steps of marriage. She and her husband Granville are flat broke and burdened by a cold, carpet-less house with a dark cellar which simply will not sell. No one is safe from neighbours’ prying eyes and escape comes in the form of a trip down to town and a coffee at Sylvio’s. Studded with the author’s own photos. There is much local colour, nostalgia and recollections like the funeral of Queen Mary. 128pp in large softback, illus. £12.99 NOW £3
74569 WAINWRIGHT LETTERS edited by Hunter Davies
This selection from the letters of Alfred Wainwright presents a vivid picture of one of the great but eccentric creative geniuses of the 20th century. He was a legendary fell walker, author of the unique Pictorial Guides to the Lakeland Fells, and latterly TV star, but above all he was a fluent, eloquent and diligent correspondent. The editor has estimated that AW must have written up to 10,000 in his life so, all you Wainwright fans, there is still hope that you may one day own one. They range from his early years in Blackburn to his established position as Borough Treasurer in Kendal, and cover all aspects of his professional and personal life, as well as the voluminous correspondence that was a consequence of his writing and publishing the Pictorial Guides. Many depict a dedicated public servant whose personal life had been deeply unhappy until, late in life, he found unexpected love and happiness. In fact, his letters to his second wife, Betty, display a much warmer, more sensitive and emotional character than his gruff popular image would suggest. Maps.
£20 NOW £7
73174 THE TREASURES OF QUEEN ELIZABETH by Tim Ewart
With luxury padded cover and 10½” square slipcase featuring a 1953 Coronation image of the Queen. Among the 15 items reproduced in facsimile in the document wallets inserted in the book are a design for the Queen’s dresses by Sir Hardy Amies, an invitation to one of the garden parties held at Buckingham Palace, a menu for a White House dinner, extracts from programmes, the White House Oath of Allegiance she signed on 2nd June 1953, and throughout the text pictures such as intimate home life, presidential balls and other royal duties, meeting sports people, travelling to the Commonwealth, out riding, public perceptions, the good years and bad. £30 NOW £11
Joni, Jimi, John & Arthur Hellraisers and Musical Talents
74687 WILL YOU TAKE ME AS I AM? Joni Mitchell’s Blue
Period by Michelle Mercer Joni Mitchell is one of the most celebrated artists of the last 50 years, and her landmark 1971 album, Blue, is one of her most beloved and revered works. Generations of fans have come of age listening to the album, inspired by the way it clarified difficult
emotions, and critics and musicians admire the idiosyncratic virtuosity of its compositions. Acclaimed musical biographer Michelle Mercer calls Mitchell’s early to mid-1970s career - which also encompasses the much- loved and largely autobiographical albums For the Roses, Court and Spark and Hejira - her “Blue Period”. In extensive interviews with Mitchell she learned first hand about her subject’s internal and external journeys during this time. A book which is much more than the “making of an album” genre, Will You Take Me as I Am? incorporates biography, memoir, reportage, criticism and interviews into what is effectively a new form of music writing. Mitchell’s fans will delight in the previously unpublished photos and the coda of her unedited commentary on the places, books, music, pastimes and philosophies she holds dear. She also offers some striking new perspectives on the art of songwriting. 240pp paperback, b/w photos.
£15.99 NOW £7
74709 JIMI HENDRIX: A BROTHER’S STORY by Leon Hendrix
Leon Hendrix was in a cell at Monroe reformatory when he heard of his elder brother Jimi’s death and this memoir is a record of the close relationship between the two boys as they grew up in difficult circumstances. Their parents split up after a drunken drive in which Hendrix senior nearly killed his
family, and after that they never saw their mum and dad together, being shunted between them and placed in a succession of foster homes. Leon recounts how his dad lost his job at Bethlehem Steel, and soon the electricity and water were turned off at home, with his dad making do by recycling every plastic or metal container he could find to sell for what little money he could make. Jimi ‘Buster’ was an honest lad, but even he was driven to steal from the supermarket. Leon was finally fostered by the Wheelers, a couple with degrees and good standing at the community, and meanwhile Buster found a beat-up ukulele in the garbage dump. He was soon trying out different sounds, and when the ukulele had exhausted all the possibilities, he experimented with strings, wires and rubber bands. The boys’ dad refused to buy an old Sears, Roebuck, Kay acoustic guitar for five dollars, but when Aunt Ernestine stood up to him he caved in. Finally the lucky break came: a friend of a neighbour was Little Richard’s aunt, and they met him in the neighbourhood and started jamming with other players. A great career was at last on its way, dogged by tragedy at every turn but ensuring a place in the hall of fame. 276pp, photos. £25.99 NOW £7
74710 JOHN LENNON: The
Life by Philip Norman Drawing on previously untapped sources, with unprecedented access to all the major characters, here is the most comprehensive and revealing portrait of John Lennon that is ever likely to be published. Written by an award-winning novelist and biographer, it showcases honestly and unflinchingly the whole man in his
endless contradictions - tough and cynical, hilariously funny but also naïve, vulnerable and insecure - and talks frankly about the mother who gave her toddler away and how this haunted Lennon’s mind and music for the rest of his days. This masterly biography takes a fresh
74553 FIRST MAN: The Life of Neil Armstrong by James Hansen
Neil Armstrong was always the reluctant American hero, the Navy fighter pilot, test pilot and astronaut who found success back home in his native Ohio in business and academia and became a community leader. In July 1969, as a 38 year old astronaut, he became the first person ever to walk on the Moon.
Perhaps no words in recent history became better known than those few he uttered at that historic moment. Upon his return to Earth, Armstrong was honoured and celebrated for his achievement. His biographer recreates Armstrong’s life and career in flying to the dear personal price he and his family has paid for his dedication to his vocation. At the same time it is a penetrating exploration of our hero-worship of astronauts and a cipher for decoding the State Age and its cultural legacy. Paperback, 769pp, photos.
£9.99 NOW £4.50 72141 INSTEAD OF A BOOK: Letters to a
Friend by Diana Athill and Edward Field The irrepressible Diana Athill was, until she retired, a well-known and much respected editor. For over 30 years, she has corresponded with the American poet Edward Field, freely exchanging jokes, pleasures and pains with an old friend. This sparkling, witty volume incorporates gossip about mutual friends, sharp pen portraits and uninhibited accounts of her relationships. 328 pages.
£20 NOW £2.75
and penetrating look at every aspect of Lennon’s much-chronicled life, including the songs that have turned him, posthumously, into a near secular saint. It contains an extraordinary amount of information about even the best-known episodes of Lennon folklore: his upbringing by his strict Aunt Mimi, his allegedly wasted school and student days, the evolution of his partnership with Paul McCartney, his Beatle-busting love affair with a Japanese performance artist, his forays into painting and literature, his experiments with Transcendental Meditation, primal scream therapy and drugs. The book’s numerous informants and interviewees include Sir Paul McCartney, Sir George Martin and Yoko Ono, who speaks with sometimes shocking candour about the inner workings of her marriage to John. 851 paperback pages. $19.99 NOW £7
74621 GOD OF HELLFIRE: The Crazy Life and Times of
Arthur Brown by Polly Marshall As a student, Arthur Brown bought a bass guitar and turned up at a jazz band rehearsal saying “I’m your new bassist, tell me how to play”. By the end of his degree he was married and regretfully decided to jack the music in, but a chance encounter
with agent Philip Woods sent him to Paris with a newly formed band which tangled with the mafia and had to make a hasty exit. Back in the U.K., Brown adopted an increasingly psychedelic persona and when his band, The Crazy World of Arthur Brown, penned the song ‘Fire’, influenced by Bosch and Blake, they tapped into the volatile zeitgeist of 1968. Black now adopted the full Gothic persona, and according to Albert Goldman: “the magus makes his appearance sitting cross-legged on a peacock-feathered palanquin, borne by four sturdy, bearded, half-naked slaves”. Brown sang falsetto, performed archaic wobble dances and peeled off layer after layer to reveal ever more bizarre costumes. His patter included references to Jesus, Kennedy and Marilyn Monroe. Following an American tour Brown made world headlines by stripping off onstage in Palermo, though the judge had the sense to let him off with a caution. Crazy World was soon to be broken up by rivalry between band members Vincent and Drachen, but as with many stars of the rock era, underneath Brown’s showmanship was a man who really could sing and dance. Polly Marshall’s biography is a star-studded read. 255pp, photos.
£20 NOW £7
74716 MAMMOTH BOOK OF SEX, DRUGS AND ROCK
N’ROLL by Jim Driver “If you don’t do sex and drugs, your rock ‘n’ roll better be awfully good” remarked the 1960s hellraiser Abbie Hoffmann, and since the rock explosion of the sixties - maybe even since the expression was invented in 1934 - the three things have gone together. This deceptively lightweight book brings you just
under 600 pages on this inexhaustible topic. Over 50 contributions include Paul Morley getting into the head of Jim Kerr, Peter Paphides on cocaine, Mike Gee on the death of Michael Hutchence and gnomic utterances by Allen Ginsburg. Tony Parsons asks whether Mick Jagger destroyed Marianne Faithfull and reveals why Bianca came within a whisker of calling the whole thing off on their wedding day. Nat Hentoff describes Dylan’s jealousy when Baez stole the audience’s attention by doing the Charleston, but Joanie stayed loyal to the Kid’s genius. Back in the more recent past, Nat Fuller has some sharp observations on the madcap partnership of Winehouse and Fielder-Civil. The final section of the book is a gazetteer of all the things you wanted to know and could never get round to googling: how many Stones turned up at Brian Jones’s funeral? How did Keith Moon come to bite his neighbour Steve McQueen’s dog? What was Elvis’s sole reading at Graceland? (no surprises here). 592pp, paperback.
$13.95 NOW £5
72363 THE TEMPTRESS: The Scandalous Life of Alice de Janzé and the Mysterious Death of Lord Erroll by Paul Spicer
The scandalous life of Alice, Countess de Janzé, here is passion and murder in Kenya’s Happy Valley. No one paid too much attention to the privileged and decadent colonial set until on a January morning in 1941, Josslyn Hay, Earl of Erroll, was shot dead at the wheel of his Buick. Some say the good-looking womaniser had it coming. Cuckolded husband Jock Delves Broughton stood trial for Erroll’s murder but was acquitted and the mystery remained unsolved, until now. American heiress Alice de Janzé had been conducting a clandestine affair with Joss for years. 262pp with photos. Remainder mark.
$25.99 NOW £5
73606 CARAVANS AND WEDDING BANDS: Memories of a Romany Life by Eva Petulengro
Vividly capturing a time when life was changing for ever for the Romanies, the author reveals how, despite the changes, the Romany spirit endured. She has had to get used to living with a gorger - or non-Romany - but at the same time records fascinating glimpses into the lives of her family, telling tales of their whirlwind romances and travelling adventures. She also describes becoming a famous clairvoyant, with celebrity clients lining up to have their palms read, and discloses the secrets of many of the colourful characters she met. 373 paperback pages, photos in colour. £6.99 NOW £3
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