'It is all rather irresistible . . . the book ripples with warmth'The Times'Poignant and lyrical'Spectator'Another World attractively maps out the stage in his odyssey between humble pub and broadcasting glory'Daily Telegraph'A poignan...

'An impressive achievement' Mail on Sunday'Fascinating' Irish Times'Penetrating and entertaining ... This book is probably as close as we shall get to him [Burton]' LA TimesRichard Burton: star. The roaring boy from the Welsh coal valleys who came to sport on the banks of the old Nile, playing great Antony to Elizabeth Taylor's Cleopatra.From the West End to Hollywood, from Camelot...

THE FIRST NOVEL IN 'ONE OF THE MOST DISTINGUISHED LITERARY SERIES IN RECENT TIMES' (SUNDAY TELEGRAPH)'His masterpiece'Sunday Times'Outstandingly good'Scotsman'A great achievement'ObserverWhen Sam Richardson returns in 1946 from the 'Forgotten War' in Burma to Wigton in Cumbria, he finds the town little changed. But the war has changed ...

LONGLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZETHE SECOND NOVEL IN 'ONE OF THE MOST DISTINGUISHED LITERARY SERIES IN RECENT TIMES' (SUNDAY TELEGRAPH)'A novel of remarkable power and grace . . . astounding'The Times'Deeply humane and acutely truthful'Sunday Times'Full of a simple poetry . . . a true portrayal of the rhythms of everyday working-class life'

'Bragg gives short shrift to pretension of any kind, while remaining stalwart in his search for knowledge. His methodology in In Our Time is... not unlike that of a man throwing a stick at a dog: he chucks his questions ahead, and if the chosen academic fails to bring it right back, he chides them. He retains enough of his bluff Cumbrian origins not to be taken in by gambolling and tweedy high spirits.' - Will Self, from a February 2010 issue of *...

'Superb'Spectator'C****onsistently entertaining'Independent'Impressive and sage'New Statesman'Bragg's affection for his subject is infectious'ObserverEnglish is the collective work of millions of people throughout the ages. It is democratic, ever-changing and ingenious in its assimilation of other cultures. English runs through ...

Melvyn Bragg's first ever memoir - an elegiac, intimate account of growing up in post-war Cumbria, which lyrically evokes a vanished world. 'The best thing he's ever written . . . I loved it' Observer 'A memoir bursting with affection' Sunday TimesIn this elegiac and heartfelt memoir, Melvyn Bragg recreates his youth in the Cumbrian market town of Wigton: a working-class boy who expected to leave school at...

BOOK TWO IN THE CUMBRIAN TRILOGY'Masterly'Daily Telegraph'A graceful and confident writer'Observer*'*Joseph Tallantire has hope and ambition - like his father before him he is determined to make something of himself and improve his lot. But life is not easy for an uneducated young man in Cumberland before and during World War II, and Joseph's struggle against the odds is the subject o...

'Brilliant'Daily Telegraph'The book is exciting . . . a pleasure to be remembered'Financial TimesAt once a love story and a portrayal of innocence brutally curtailed, Josh Lawton charts the rites of passage of a young Cumbrian farm worker and keen fell runner - an exceptionally good man whose very integrity proves his undoing.'With this novel, Melvyn Bragg has established his...

THE FINAL NOVEL IN 'ONE OF THE MOST DISTINGUISHED LITERARY SERIES IN RECENT TIMES' (SUNDAY TELEGRAPH)'Eclipses anything Bragg has written before'Daily Mirror'Utterly absorbing'Scotsman'A terrific book'Daily Mail'A powerful novel that communicates difficult emotional truths'The TimesA passionate ...

Melvyn Bragg's In Our Time series regularly enlightens and entertains substantial audiences on BBC Radio 4. For this book he has selected episodes which reflect the diversity of the radio programmes, and takes us on an amazing tour through the history of ideas, from philosophy, physics and history to religion, literature and biology.We can discover the reasons for the fall of the Byzantine empire, and why women were persecuted as witches in the seventeenth century. What ha...

When we think of great events in the history of the world, we tend to think of war, revolution, political upheaval or natural catastrophe. But throughout history there have been moments of vital importance that have taken place not on the battlefield, or in the palaces of power, or even in the violence of nature, but between the pages of a book.In our digitised age of instant information it is easy to underestimate the power of the printed word. In his fascinating book, Melvyn Brag...