TOWER BLOCKS. FLYOVERS. STREETS IN THE SKY. ONCE, THIS WAS THE FUTURE. Was Britain's postwar rebuilding the height of midcentury chic or the concrete embodiment of Crap Towns? John Grindrod decided to find out how blitzed, slum-ridden and crumbling 'austerity Britain' became, in a few short years, a space-age world of concrete, steel and glass. On his journey he visits the sleepy Norfolk birthplace of Brutalism, the once-Blitzed city centre of Plymouth, the futuristic New Town of Cumbernau...

Secretly gay school bullies. Punks with make-up tips. Heroic hairdressers. Queer parents. Suburban pride marches. Police hassle.With nods of recognition and unexpected flirtations, chosen families and desperate escapes, this is a new way of seeing suburbia: a place where things aren't always as straightforward - or straight - as they seem.**'Breaks new ground' - David Kynaston'Grindrod is one of the best c...

A captivating exploration of Britain's most iconic contemporary buildings, from the Barratt home to the Millennium Dome.***TIMES BOOK OF THE WEEK*** 'A punchy polemic ... Highly readable.''A love letter to contemporary buildings and a fantastic account of recent British history, rich in humour.' NINA STIBBE'Brilliant, encyclopaedic, funny and often cutting.' DANNY DORLING'An...

A passionate and personal book about the writer's own love for a controversial architectural style.Whether you love or hate brutalist buildings, this book will explain what it is about them that elicits such strong feeling. You will understand the true power of concrete and of mammoth-sized buildings, but also some of the more subtle aspects of brutalist buildings that you may not have known or considered.Brutalist architecture, which flourished in the 1950...

'Evocative and intelligent' GuardianDiscover the secret history of our green belts.The first book to tell the story of Britain's green belts, Outskirts is at once a fascinating social history, a stirring evocation of the natural world, and a poignant tale of growing up in a place, and within a family, like no other.'Illuminating and enjoyable' David Kynaston, SpectatorGreen belts are part ...

A host of comedians, writers and viewers, including Rebecca Front, Andrew Collins, Kevin Eldon, Emma Kennedy, Richard Herring, Jim Shelley and David Quantick share funny and heartfelt rants and raves on everything from soaps to sitcoms, sci-fi to reality shows, HBO to QVC.All of TV is here: the age-old rift between BBC and ITV that tore families apart; the secret shame of crying at adverts; and those significant moments in life when television has made for an unforgettable backdrop...

Forgotten edgelands, furious battles, suburban mysteries - discover the secret history of our green belts.Green belts are part of the landscape and psyche of post-war Britain, but have led to conflicts at every level of society - between conservationists and developers, town and country, politicians and people, nimbys and the forces of progress.Growing up on 'the last road in London' on an estate at the edge of the woods, John Grindrod had a childhood that mirrored these te...

Secretly gay school bullies. Punks with make-up tips. Heroic hairdressers. Queer parents. Suburban pride marches. Police hassle.With nods of recognition and unexpected flirtations, chosen families and desperate escapes, this is a new way of seeing suburbia: a place where things aren't always as straightforward - or straight - as they seem.**'Breaks new ground' - David Kynaston'Grindrod is one of the best c...

A captivating exploration of Britain's most iconic contemporary buildings, from the Barratt home to the Millennium Dome.***TIMES BOOK OF THE WEEK*** 'A punchy polemic ... Highly readable.''A love letter to contemporary buildings and a fantastic account of recent British history, rich in humour.' NINA STIBBE'Brilliant, encyclopaedic, funny and often cutting.' DANNY DORLING'...

Possibly the only drawback about the bestselling How To Be A Woman was that its author, Caitlin Moran, was limited to pretty much one subject: being a woman.In MORANTHOLOGY Caitlin 'gets quite chatty’ about many subjects, including cultural, social and political issues which are usually left to hot-shot wonks and not a woman who sometimes keeps a falafel in her handbag. These other subjects include...Caffeine | Ghostbusters | Being Poor | Twitter | Caravan...

Graham Norton, whose impish charm and quick wit has earned him a place in our hearts, looks back at his life so far. In his own words, SO ME is 'a real romp through a journey from living in a cockroach-infested council flat in Hackney to buying Claudia Schiffer's townhouse in Manhattan, from my mother dragging me to school to me dragging her to Sharon Stone's house for New Year's brunch'.From a not-so miserable Irish childhood to dropping out of Cork University and joining a commun...

THE NUMBER ONE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLERRobert Webb tried to follow the rules for being a man:Don’t cryDrink beerPlay roughDon’t talk about feelingsLooking back over his life he asks whether these rules are actually any use. To anyone.