I was a child who was a cuckoo in the nest Grayson says. In his bedroom not a scrap of wallpaper showed: every inch was covered with pictures of aeroplanes & every surface with models. Fantasy took over his life in a world of battles ruled by his teddy bear Alan Measles. He grew up. & in 2003 an acclaimed ceramic artist he accepted the Turner Prize as his alter-ego Clare wearing his best dress with a bow in his hair: another dream made real. Now he tells his own story his voice beautifully caught by his friend the writer Wendy Jones. Early childhood in Chelmsford Essex is a rural Eden that ends abruptly with the arrival of the violent milkman who becomes his stepfather leading to constant swerving between his parents houses & between boys clothes & womens clothes. But as Grayson enters art college & tries awkwardly to fit in
- I used to go to the Taboo nightclub in a black suit with skin-tight Lycra trousers & a jacket two sizes too small
- he starts to find himself & at last in his early twenties he steps out as a potter & transvestite. Direct & down to earth stuffed with insights imagination & wit & with illustrations of Graysons own work Portrait of the Artist as a Young Girl" is both a mesmerising read & a lifeline for all young boys who hug their dreams to themselves."

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In this first major monograph on Grayson Perry" now updated & expanded writer & art historian Jacky Klein explores the artists work through a discussion of his major themes & subjects. Kleins text is complemented by intimate & insightful commentaries on individual pieces by the artist himself giving unique access to his imaginative world & creative processes. Over 175 of Perrys works are illustrated as well as a rich selection of the visual material that has inspired him from Afghan war rugs Sumatran batiks & medieval altarpieces to the paintings of Pieter Bruegel & the American Outsider artist Henry Darger. With a fully up-to-date biography bibliography & exhibition history this continues to be the definitive book on one of the most popular & important artists of our time." ...

The extraordinary story of the young entertainers sent out to war to dance & sing. Once the Second World War had broken out it soon became clear that morale would be crucial in the military effectiveness of our armed forces. & so was born the Entertainment National Services Association or ENSA
- to send the nation's best singers dancers musicians & comedians from Noel Coward to Gracie Fields to entertain the troops however far away they might be. Over the course of the war ENSA gave their first break to such postwar stars as Tommy Cooper & Frankie Howerd as well as enshrining the young Vera Lynn forever as the forces' sweetheart. When Allied troops landed in Normandy in 1944 George Formby followed close behind while a distinguished troupe under Laurence Olivier was performing Shakespeare to British soldiers in Hamburg within weeks of the German surrender. Now Andrew Merriman has talked to surviving ENSA veterans from Vera Lynn to Dame Beryl Grey to piece together the extraordinary adventures of the ordinary men & women sent out across the world
- even to inhospitable dangerous Burma
- whose contribution to the war effort was song dance & laughter.


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Roy Ashton was one of the cinemas greatest make-up designers. He designed most of Hammers most famous monsters. Inside Greasepaint & Gore you will enter Ashtons own private world featuring: never-before-seen original drawings & test photographs; Ashton speaking in his own words plus interviews with key actors & crew -- many speaking for the first time about a man the press dubbed The King of Horror! Greasepaint & Gore is a behind-the-scenes insight into the creative processes of the golden years of Hammer Films through the eyes of the people who made the Horrors possible! ...

Adventures of a Lifetime Ancient tracks Underwater chasms. Ice-clad peaks. This showcase of the world s most thrilling adventures takes you by boot pedal or paddle to awe-inspiring natural spectacles & on adrenalin-charged endeavours. You don t have to be intrepid but you will need to embrace the spirit of adventure! ...

Its 1895 & after the death of her mother 16-year-old Gemma Doyle is shipped off from the life she knows in India to Spence a proper boarding school in Engl&. Lonely guilt-ridden & prone to visions of the future that have an uncomfortable habit of coming true Gemmas reception there is a chilly one. To make things worse shes being followed by a mysterious young Indian man a man sent to watch her. But why? What is her destiny? & what will her entanglement with Spences most powerful girls
- & their foray into the spiritual world
- lead to?

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This is the first major biography for a generation of a truly formidable king. Edward I is familiar to millions as Longshanks conqueror of Scotland & nemesis of Sir William Wallace (Braveheart). Edward was born to rule England but believed that it was his right to rule all of Britain. His reign was one of the most dramatic of the entire Middle Ages leading to war & conquest on an unprecedented scale & leaving a legacy of division that has lasted from his day to our own. In his astonishingly action-packed life Edward defeated & killed the famous Simon de Montfort in battle; travelled across Europe to the Holy Land on crusade; conquered Wales extinguishing forever its native rulers & constructed
- at Conwy Harlech Beaumaris & Caernarfon
- the most magnificent chain of castles ever created. After the death of his first wife he erected the Eleanor Crosses
- the grandest funeral monuments ever fashioned for an English monarch.


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In The Great & the Good Irelands leading football pundit & legend of the game John Giles looks back on more than fifty years of football at developments in the game from the post-War period to the present day the great players who drove it forward the visionary managers & their teams & the age-old question of what makes a player good & what makes one great. From his earliest days John Giles can recall pondering the subject. Youd hear about certain great" players such as Stanley Matthews but no one would ever explain why they were great. & its a thing that has always frustrated me: trying to define what makes a player great & what separates the great from the good. Now the man himself brings us the answers & celebrates the great ones from Stanley Matthews Tom Finney Dave Mackay John Charles Johnny Haynes & Jimmy Greaves to Pele Franz Beckenbauer John Robertson Diego Maradona Marco van Basten Lionel Messi Paul Scholes & many more. It will include a section on Irish players including detailed analysis of such greats as Roy Keane Liam Brady & Paul Mc Grath. & finally Giles names the player he considers the greatest of them all." ...

Two brilliant stories about Anna her brother Tom & their neighbours Suzanne & Joe-down-the-road as they investigate two mysterious pet problems... Anna & her brother Tom have pestered Mum so much for a pet that she finally gives in & buys them a pair of hamsters. But their happiness soon turns to horror when they discover the hamsters slaughtered in their cage. Can they solve the case of the Great Hamster Massacre? Joe has gone to live with his Dad leaving behind his beloved pet rabbit. When the rabbit becomes ill Anna & Suzanne are convinced it's because it's missing Joe. Now Joe is sick too. Can Anna Tom & Suzanne pull off the Great Rabbit Rescue in time? ...

Bernie Krause is the worlds leading expert in natural sound. He has spent the last 40 years recording ecological soundscapes & has archived the sounds of over 15 000 species
- half of the wild soundscapes he has on tape dont exist anymore because of human actions. Krause divides natural sound into three categories. Biophony is the sound made by animals & plants like the shrimp that makes noises underwater equivalent to 165 decibels; geophony is natural sound like wind water & rain which led different tribes to have different musical scales; & anthrophony is human-generated sound which affects animals as it changes for example causing disoriented whales to become beached. In The Great Animal Orchestra he invites us to listen through his ears to all three as he showcases singing trees contrasting coasts & the roar of the modern world. Just as streetlights engulf the stars Krause argues that human noise is drowning out the sounds of nature but that our focus on the visual today is blinding us to this. The Great Animal Orchestra shows why it is critical to preserve what remaining soundscapes we have & will make you hear the world entirely differently.
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