A Unique Heroine. An Intriguing MysteryIs it a TURNER ORIGINAL people are dying for?Family orientated Susan Macken buys a painting because it awakens memories of her childhood.She is unaware it may be a TURNER MASTERPIECE.Susan begins to have disturbing flashbacks.In pursuit of the truth she enters an unfamiliar world of extreme danger, deception and secrecy.Much is revealed to her about herself, her identity.A beautiful young man with a le...

This is the definitive, the official, the most lavish, the completely-different-to-anything-done-before Pythons' autobiography, reissued to coincide with the eagerly-anticipated live shows.Over forty years ago, a group of five Englishmen - and one wayward American - rewrote the rules of comedy. MONTY PYTHON'S FLYING CIRCUS, an unheralded, previously unseen half-hour show of sketches, hilarities, inanities and animations, first appeared on the BBC late one night in ...

When Laura Anne Robinson offered £10,000 for Addie Jeffries' youngest son Ian, Addie thought she was joking. After all, they were on their second bottle of Chablis, and Ian was, as they say, a street angel and a house devil. Why would this wealthy woman with her perfect figure, flawless make-up and beautiful home part with so much money to secure a summer playmate for her own son?For the Jeffries family, life in 1960s suburban Ireland is a constant battle with leaky roof, school fe...

The authoritative book to help you make sense of the world - as written by a former British diplomat.'A must-read to understand the often bewildering world we now live in, written as a scholarly book in an accessible tone' - READER REVIEW ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐Iran. Greenland. Ukraine. Global politics as we know it has been challenged beyond measure in recent times.Westlessness by former UK diplomat Dr Samir Puri is here to help m...

The third volume of Michael Palin's celebrated diaries.TRAVELLING TO WORK is a roller-coaster ride driven by the Palin hallmarks of curiosity and sense of adventure. Michael was not the BBC's first choice for the travel series AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS, but after its success, the public naturally wanted more.Palin, however, had other plans. There was his film AMERICAN FRIENDS, a role in Alan Bleasdale's award-winning drama GBH, the staging of his West End...

Best known, of course, for his appearances in the recent AA commercials, it will no doubt come as a surprise to many that John Cleese was previously involved in comedy within a little-known troupe of comedians known as Monty Python, and also wrote and starred in a completely unknown sitcom named Fawlty Towers.Having now reached the dizzy heights of television advertising, Cleese has become a face recognisable across the world and a much-quoted, often controversial figure within the...

“Elegantly written and magisterially researched” (Robert Service, author of A History of Modern Russia), the definitive story behind the self-destruction of the autocratic Romanov dynasty, by the world’s foremost expertWhen Tsar Nicholas II fell from power in 1917, Imperial Russia faced a series of overlapping crises, from war to social unrest. Though Nicholas’s life is often described as tragic, it was not fate that doomed the Romanovs—it was poor leaders...

"One of the finest and most accurate records of the making of the film that I have ever read. I just wished I could remember what actually went on then." —Terry JonesIn 1978, Kim "Howard" Johnson ran away to join the circus—Monty Python's Flying Circus, that is. The Pythons converged on Tunisia to film their timeless classic, Life of Brian, and Howard found himself in the thick of it, doubling for nearly all the Pythons, playing more roles in the film than...

THE MUST-READ GUIDE TO THE TRADE WAR**'A smart, vivid and humane account of the way the world really works' TIM HARFORD'This is the book to read if you want to understand what might be about to hit the world economy' EVAN DAVIS**The dangerous race for self-sufficiency has begun. Be warned.Nations are turning away from each other. Faith in globalisation has been fatally undermined by the pandemic, the energy crisis, surging t...

**A timely, enthralling history of Europe unlike any other: perfect for fans of A History of the World in 47 Borders and Prisoners of Geography.'One of the most engaging and fascinating histories of Europe I've read for years.' DOMINIC SANDBROOK, co-host of The Rest Is History podcast**Europe's internal borders have rarely been 'natural'; they have more often been created by accident or force.In Borderlines, political historian Le...

'Michael Sheridan is one of the best informed and wisest writers on China' - Chris Patten, last governor of Hong KongThe Red Emperor presents an eye-opening portrait of Xi Jinping, the man who presides over 1.4 billion people and the second largest economy on earth. Born a 'princeling' to one of Communist China's ruling families, the young Xi was exiled to the countryside during the Cultural Revolution. He fought his way back to the top by stealth, privile...

From the international bestselling author and notable journalist Aldo Cazzullo comes a brilliantly researched and extremely accessible journey through the history and legacy of the Roman Empire.“The only way to narrate over a thousand years of history is to understand what it has left us. To tell the reasons, the things and the stories, thanks to which Roman civilization is alive”.From its mythical foundations and epic construction to its enduring ...