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Eddie Mair is, by his own account, one of Britain's most beloved broadcasters. Born in Dundee, Scotland, he has worked in radio all his adult life. From the foothills of commercial radio in his hometown, through the sunlit uplands of the BBC in Scotland, he has reached the peaks of his profession with BBC network radio in London. And he's never afraid to work a metaphor beyond endurance.
One of the most successful and distinguished artists of our time, Andrew Lloyd Webber has reigned over the musical theatre world for nearly five decades. The winner of numerous awards, including multiple Tonys and an Oscar, Lloyd Webber has enchanted millions worldwide with his music and numerous hit shows, including Jesus Christ Superstar, Evita, Cats, The Phantom of the Opera - Broadway's longest running show - and, most recently, School of Rock.
Wallis in Love brings a fascinating new perspective on the 20th century's most controversial royal scandal. Andrew Morton's impeccable research and unerring skill for riveting storytelling combine to present a strong case for a new and startling reveal: that the woman who rocked the world with her uncompromising passion for the Prince of Wales may have fooled everyone by keeping the object of her true passion hidden away....
Shaun Bythell owns The Bookshop, Wigtown - Scotland's largest second-hand bookshop. In these wry and hilarious diaries, Shaun provides an inside look at the trials and tribulations of life in the book trade, from struggles with eccentric customers to wrangles with his own staff. He takes us with him on buying trips to old estates and auction houses, recommends books and evokes the rhythms and charms of small-town life, always with a sharp and sympathetic eye.
A moving, thought-provoking and surprisingly humorous book which is both a description of a journey to death and a celebration of the act of living. Based on Clare Wise's blog, which she started when she was first diagnosed with cancer in 2013, Not That Kind of Love charts the highs and lows of the last three years of Clare's life. The end result is not a book that fills you with despair and anguish. On the contrary, Not That Kind of Love should be listened to by everybody for its candour and for its warmth and spirit.
From our funniest writer, a portrait of our most talked-about royal. She made John Lennon blush and Marlon Brando clam up. She cold-shouldered Princess Diana and humiliated Elizabeth Taylor. Andy Warhol photographed her. Jack Nicholson offered her cocaine. Gore Vidal revered her. John Fowles hoped to keep her as his sex slave. Dudley Moore propositioned her. Francis Bacon heckled her. Peter Sellers was in love with her. For Pablo Picasso, she was the object of sexual fantasy.
Eddie Mair is, by his own account, one of Britain's most beloved broadcasters. Born in Dundee, Scotland, he has worked in radio all his adult life. From the foothills of commercial radio in his hometown, through the sunlit uplands of the BBC in Scotland, he has reached the peaks of his profession with BBC network radio in London. And he's never afraid to work a metaphor beyond endurance.
One of the most successful and distinguished artists of our time, Andrew Lloyd Webber has reigned over the musical theatre world for nearly five decades. The winner of numerous awards, including multiple Tonys and an Oscar, Lloyd Webber has enchanted millions worldwide with his music and numerous hit shows, including Jesus Christ Superstar, Evita, Cats, The Phantom of the Opera - Broadway's longest running show - and, most recently, School of Rock.
Wallis in Love brings a fascinating new perspective on the 20th century's most controversial royal scandal. Andrew Morton's impeccable research and unerring skill for riveting storytelling combine to present a strong case for a new and startling reveal: that the woman who rocked the world with her uncompromising passion for the Prince of Wales may have fooled everyone by keeping the object of her true passion hidden away....
Shaun Bythell owns The Bookshop, Wigtown - Scotland's largest second-hand bookshop. In these wry and hilarious diaries, Shaun provides an inside look at the trials and tribulations of life in the book trade, from struggles with eccentric customers to wrangles with his own staff. He takes us with him on buying trips to old estates and auction houses, recommends books and evokes the rhythms and charms of small-town life, always with a sharp and sympathetic eye.
A moving, thought-provoking and surprisingly humorous book which is both a description of a journey to death and a celebration of the act of living. Based on Clare Wise's blog, which she started when she was first diagnosed with cancer in 2013, Not That Kind of Love charts the highs and lows of the last three years of Clare's life. The end result is not a book that fills you with despair and anguish. On the contrary, Not That Kind of Love should be listened to by everybody for its candour and for its warmth and spirit.
From our funniest writer, a portrait of our most talked-about royal. She made John Lennon blush and Marlon Brando clam up. She cold-shouldered Princess Diana and humiliated Elizabeth Taylor. Andy Warhol photographed her. Jack Nicholson offered her cocaine. Gore Vidal revered her. John Fowles hoped to keep her as his sex slave. Dudley Moore propositioned her. Francis Bacon heckled her. Peter Sellers was in love with her. For Pablo Picasso, she was the object of sexual fantasy.
Hello there. Welcome to my autobiography. Throughout this audiobook I talk about my life and work, including Little Britain, Come Fly with Me, Bridesmaids, Les Miserables, Alice in Wonderland and, of course, Shooting Stars. The thing is, this is a bit different to most memoirs you may have listened to, because it comes in the form of an A-Z. Anyway, I hope you buy it at least twice. Thank you.
Peter Davison became a national treasure for having his arm up a cow in his role as Tristan Farnon in All Creatures Great and Small. Then, in 1981, he secured his place in science fiction history by becoming the fifth Doctor Who. The Time Lord connection continued with the marriage of his daughter Georgia to Dr Who number ten, David Tennant. Davison has starred in countless television series over the last 42 years....
In his first book, David Jason told us about himself from his early years training as an electrician through to making it as one of Britain's actors. This autumn, in a follow-up autobiography, he tells us about the many other lives he has lived - his characters. From Del Boy to Granville, Pop Larkin to Frost, he takes us behind the scenes and under the skins of some of the best loved acts of his career. And in the process he reflects on how those characters changed his life, too.
People say 'like father, like son', and the story of my life has mirrored my father's to a quite uncanny degree. Right from when I was a little boy, he was my rock, my mentor, my hero. It is no exaggeration to say that he taught me virtually everything I know about both country life and television. Without him I certainly would not be doing what I am today.
As former Prime Minister and our longest-serving Chancellor, Gordon Brown has been a guiding force for Britain and the world over three decades. This is his candid, poignant and deeply relevant story. In describing his upbringing in Scotland as the son of a minister, the near loss of his eyesight as a student and the death of his daughter within days of her birth, he shares the passionately held principles that have shaped and driven him, reminding us that politics can and should be a calling to serve.
Danny Baker's first volume of autobiography, Going to Sea in a Sieve, was a Sunday Times best seller, acclaimed for its nonstop humour and anecdotal flourish. It told the exploits of Danny's extraordinary childhood and the wild living of his teenage years. Now he is 25, and it is 1982, and he embarks on an accidental and anxiety-induced career in television - going off alarming.
To a young girl, the life of a student nurse sounds exciting, but with long hours and short shrift it's never easy. So when Maggie Groff embarks as a student nurse at London's King's College Hospital, she must quickly get to grips with the demands of her chosen career. It's sink or swim. In a delightful romp through time, played out against the march of feminism and the fashion, music and movies of almost half a century ago, we follow Maggie's highs and lows as, with trial and much error, she becomes a highly skilled nurse and sets sail for a new life in Australia.
Amanda Owen has been seen by millions on ITV's The Dales, living a life that has almost gone in today's modern world, a life ruled by the seasons and her animals. She is a farmer's wife and shepherdess, living alongside her husband, Clive, and seven children at Ravenseat, a 2,000 acre sheep hill farm at the head of Swaledale in North Yorkshire. It's a challenging life but one she loves.
How does it feel to orbit the Earth 10 times faster than a speeding bullet? What's it like to eat, sleep and go to the toilet in space? And where to next - the moon, Mars or beyond? Ask an Astronaut is Tim's personal guide to life in space, based on his historic Principia mission and the thousands of questions he has been asked since his return to Earth.
An emotionally rich, moving and nuanced memoir from the Yorkshire and England wicketkeeper. As a young boy of eight, Jonny Bairstow was dealt a cruel blow. His father David 'Bluey' Bairstow, the combative and very popular wicketkeeper and captain of Yorkshire, took his own life at the age of 47. David left behind Jonny; Jonny's sister, Becky, and half brother, Andy; and his wife, Janet, who had recently been diagnosed with cancer at the time of his death.
Danny Baker is a national treasure with a well-documented and colourful life. For over a quarter of a century, he has amused and entertained audiences on both radio and television. Beginning his career at the age of 15 in a small record shop in London's West End, Danny went on to become an acclaimed music journalist and started his radio career on BBC GLR in 1989. With a unique take on life and a lot to say, Danny's latest book is full of his trademark warmth, wit and insight.
Summer 1939: After touring an unsettled Europe to promote her latest book, Romily Temple returns home to Island House and the love of her life, Jack Devereux. But when Jack falls ill, his estranged family are called to his bedside. With war now declared, each member of the family is reluctantly forced to accept their new stepmother and confront their own shortcomings. But can Romily cope with the life that has been so unexpectedly thrust upon her?
Timothy Bentinck has played the part of David Archer in BBC Radio 4's The Archers since 1982. He is also the Earl of Portland and the voice of 'Mind the Gap' on the Piccadilly Line. Aimed primarily at the five million regular Archers listeners, Timothy takes the listener behind the scenes of the longest running drama series in the world, a British institution with a theme tune that Billy Connolly wants to be the National Anthem.
But that's not all. With wry, self-deprecating humour, Timothy recounts his enormously varied life - a successful actor in TV, film and theatre, he is a voice specialist working in every vocal medium. He's also been an HGV truck driver, a US tour guide, a computer programmer and website designer, an inventor with UK and US patents, a farm worker and a house renovator, and he even sat as a crossbencher in the House of Lords for three years. Unlike many acting memoirs, this isn't a succession of thespian tales of freezing digs, forgotten lines and name dropping. This is an articulate, funny and thoughtful account of how to survive an insecure life.
Let's get the archers out of the way to begin with. Yes Lord Timothy Bentinck (12th Earl of Portland) is most famous for playing david Archer in the longest running soap in the world and that part of his life is a thread which weaves it's way through the entire memoir. As an Archers fan I would have enjoyed it for that alone. The Archers has been a thread in my life for over 27 years and has seen me through both great joy and sadness. David feels like an old friend whose life I've been earwigging on for a long time. But, fear not if you are not an Archers fan there's still a lot to find entertaining and interesting in this collection of memories.
I am of the view that normally authors should not be allowed to read their own works, usually they tend to kill their characters stone dead. I remember hearing JK Rowling reading from one of her Harry Potter books and thinking that I was glad I could go back to Stephen Fry's excellent narration. Bentinck turns in an outstanding narration, hardly surprising I suppose given that his work is, well, er, acting. Nonetheless if you listen to this, you will perhaps be as surprised as I was at the depth of talent that lies behind the character of david Archer, who not wishing to be rude, is a little bland and perhaps not that challenging to play. I was amazed and delighted to hear wonderful mimmickery and a diverse range of axxents. Perhaps it takes all the more talent to bring to life an ordinary human being and make them genuinely believable after all we all know someone like David Archer.
The book contains all the usual things you would expect from a memoir, ancestry, childhood, career and family all of which are told with self-deprecation and a wonderful sense of humour. I found myself laughing throughout listening to this title. I also found myself moved in a way I had not expected.
If you are a fan of the Archers you will enjoy this book. If you like reading memoirs, are interested in the acting proffession or are just a little bit nosy, you will enjoy it as well.
I shall now be looking for other books narrated by Bentinck as listening to him read is a true delight.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful
I won’t lie, David Archer is my favourite character in The Archers so I was always going to listen to this book rather than read it and I wasn’t disappointed. Great stories, that voice.. and even a bit of singing!
1 of 1 people found this review helpful
Being both a jobbing actor, albeit one who plays a well - known actor in the world's longest running radio drama series, and a peer of the realm, makes for a fascinating read/listen. Who knew that Timothy Bentinck had such a varied acting career as well as all the other opportunities he has grasped in a fascinating life which he seems to have embraced fully. Thoroughly enjoyable!
Thanks Tim, same age as you and grew up with you (in the Archers) loved the book. Listened to it all in one go... 👍 being public school, and a Norfolk Boy I particularly enjoyed your Norfolk accent.
This book should be called “almost there” Poor Tim how many times have you just got to the cusp of properly stable success for it to dwindle to nothing. You’re a funny kind man so keep it up
1 of 2 people found this review helpful
This book would not download onto my I pod. As there is no contact telephone number for you I am unable to get this information to you or get help. Please co tat me on 07939081358 or send me an email saying how to rectify the situation. It shows as downloaded but has NO volume
0 of 4 people found this review helpful