‘London is a giant kaleidoscope, which is forever turning. Take your eye off it for more than a moment and you’re lost.’Robert Elms has seen his beloved city change beyond all imagining. London in his lifetime has morphed from a piratical, bomb-scarred playground, to a swish cosmopolitan metropolis. Motorways driven through lost communities, accents changing, skyscrapers appearing. Yet still it remains to him the greatest place on earth.Elms takes us back through t...

'Elms is one of the greatest chroniclers of our age. He was born to write this book.' Dylan Jones'Fantastic! It is like time travel . . . [to] the most exciting, innovative, outrageous, wildest, most creative club ever.' Steve Dagger'Elms was not only in the room where it happened, he was at the very heart of it.' Gary Kemp'The perfect witness and commentator: open-minded, outward looking, and an expert and shr...

London’s Industrial Past gives the reader an opportunity to read about a selection of factories that were once scattered across the city. While older generations may look back at the names that have gone with great affection, for the younger reader it may come as a surprise that so many ‘things’ were once manufactured in Britain’s capital city. The sheer wealth and breadth of products that were made is staggering, from the mundanity of biscuits to the hightech of aircraft production. This ...

"A wild ride of a life... Oakenfold's story is extraordinary" - The TimesFollow Paul Oakenfold – world-renowned DJ and dance music pioneer – as he tells his incredible story of a phenomenal career at the beating heart of dance.Paul's journey takes him from a musical baptism in 1980s New York and underground club nights in London to running a seminal dance record label and a legendary trip to Ibiza that introduced him to trance and changed the face ...

'Elms is one of the greatest chroniclers of our age. He was born to write this book.' Dylan Jones'Fantastic! It is like time travel . . . [to] the most exciting, innovative, outrageous, wildest, most creative club ever.' Steve Dagger'Elms was not only in the room where it happened, he was at the very heart of it.' Gary Kemp'The perfect witness and commentator: open-minded, outward looking, and an expert and shr...

'London is a giant kaleidoscope, which is forever turning. Take your eye off it for more than a moment and you’re lost.’Robert Elms has seen his beloved city change beyond all imagining. London in his lifetime has morphed from a piratical, still bomb-scarred playground, to a swish cosmopolitan metropolis. Motorways driven through lost communities, murder miles becoming estate agents' dreams, accents changing, towers appearing. Yet still it remains to him the greatest place...

First came the Teds, then the Mods, Rockers, Hippies, Skinheads, Suedeheads and Punks. But by the late Seventies, a new youth fashion had appeared in Britain. Its adherents were often linked to violent football gangs, wore designer sportswear and made the bootboys of previous years look like the dinosaurs they were.They were known as scallies, Perry Boys, trendies and dressers. But the name that stuck was Casuals. And this grassroots phenomenon, largely ignored by the media, was to...

Approaching 50, Mark Radcliffe decided to write about his life, most importantly, his time in music. But crucially, he only wanted to write about the most interesting days and not the dull ones in between. With predictable good taste, Mark takes his title from the Kinks' song and has written an entertaining, funny book worthy of such a pedigree.Mark's family life is covered by 'The Day My Mother Hit Me With a Golf Club' , his school life by 'The Day I Ruined a Perfectly Good Suit' ...

The first hilarious volume of comedy writer, journalist, radio DJ and screenwriter Danny Baker's memoir, and now the inspiration for the major BBC series CRADLE TO GRAVE, starring Peter Kay.'And what was our life like in this noisy, dangerous and polluted industrial pock-mark wedged into one of the capital's toughest neighbourhoods? It was, of course, utterly magnificent and I'd give anything to climb inside it again for just one day.'...

Nostalgia, identity, eccentricity, gin drinking and occasional violence... these are just some of the themes that stand-up comedian Dara O Briain explores in Tickling the English.O Briain moved to England many years ago, but when he takes his show on tour around the country - from deserted seaside towns and remote off-shore islands, to sprawling industrial cities and sleepy suburbs - it's clear to him that his adopted home is still a bit of an enigma.Why do the Eng...

Would you cheer if they sent you to Coventry? Could you stick up for Stoke or big-up Bracknell?Can you handle the thrill of Rhyl, the heaven of Hull or the mirth of Tydfil?In You are Awful, Tim Moore drives his Austin Maestro round all the places on our beloved island that nobody wants to go to - our most miserable towns, shonkiest hotels, scariest pubs, and silliest sea zoos...But as the soggy, decrepit quest unfolds he finds himself oddly smitten...

Robert Plant is one of the few genuine living rock legends.Frontman of Led Zeppelin, musical innovator and seller of millions of records, Plant has had a profound influence on music for over four decades. But the full account of his life has barely been told … until now.Robert Plant: A Life is the first complete and comprehensive telling of Plant’s story. From his earliest performances in folk clubs in the early 1960s, to the world’s biggest stages as Led Zeppelin’s self-st...