Showing results by publisher "Headline" in Comedy & Humour

With her characteristic outspokenness and irrepressible sense of humour, Carol Vorderman here reveals the intricate web of influence responsible for our nation's unravelling. Part diary, part political manifesto, this is the story of how an old bird with an iPhone exposed the incompetence and lies of the Tory establishment, and inspired countless others to find their voice and stand up for what they believe in.

In Yardsticks for Failure, Ivo attempts to defy the dark (well, beige) forces of inertia with the pride of self-actualisation and fulfilment. It's a journey down the sink hole of Ivo's brilliant brain as he attempts to get his life together, achieve his goals, and somehow write a book about achieving his goals, all while battling the distractions of the modern world. This is a book about those aspirations we all have - both big and small, that are slipping away as we battle the day-to-day literal and metaphorical inbox that's never getting to zero.

James Acaster has been nominated for the Edinburgh Comedy Award five times and has appeared on prime-time TV shows like Mock the Week, Live at the Apollo and Russell Howard's Stand Up Central. But behind the fame and critical acclaim is a man perpetually getting into trouble. Whether it's disappointing a skydiving instructor midflight or hiding from thugs in a bush wearing a bright red dress, James is always finding new ways to embarrass himself.

This is a self help-book like no other. Because you are not helping yourself, James Acaster is helping you. When James quit all forms of social media in 2019 he felt like he'd been born anew, but he was worried he'd suffer withdrawal and get lured back online to compete in a never ending popularity contest with only one possible winner (f--king Zuckerberg). He knew that in order to stay clean he'd have to replace everything social media used to give him with three-dimensional real-life activities.

'I have just had one of those absolutely mad mornings when you go out to have a browse at tagines and end up coming home with a brand-new gas ring expander. I think I was probably as surprised as anybody. Sometimes life is just like that, isn't it?' Award-winning food writer Damien Trench takes you on a journey through his childhood and his early inspirations - culinary and otherwise - with occasional diversions to the present.

As a 17-year-old virgin working...for Virgin, Joel Dommett has grand ambitions. Firstly, he is going to swap suburbia for the bright lights of showbiz. Secondly, he is going to find 'the one' - and sets himself the very achievable target of finding her in the first 50 people he's definitely going to sleep with. What follows is a series of disastrous romantic encounters, including carpets mistaken for toilets, futile grand gestures and the catfishing to end all catfishing.

Football management is like being a potato—you're never too far from the sack and everyone is constantly chipping away at you. It's not for the faint-hearted and unless you've got skin as thick as rhino and a wicked sense of humour, you've no chance of surviving. Ian Holloway—aka 'Ollie'—has all the above and more besides. He's been there, seen it and done it in his 40 years as player and manager. In the joyful How to Be a Football Manager, Holloway weaves a fantastically rich tapestry of hilarious anecdotes to reveal what being the boss is really like. 

Finlay and Vero need a girls' weekend away... Some peace and quiet to negotiate with a dangerous loan shark, save Vero's childhood crush Javi, and find a stolen car. But Finlay's mother and ex-husband Steven are dead set on catching a ride to Atlantic City. At their casino hotel, the trip takes a nosedive. Javi's kidnapper, Marco, won't negotiate, demanding to know the whereabouts of his missing nephew, Ike. Then Marco turns up dead - leaving Finlay and Vero as main suspects in his murder.

Wrecking Ball is a captivating and humorous memoir by Billy Vunipola, one of the stars of England's recent rugby renaissance, and will be enjoyed by those who have read the recent autobiographies by Jonny Wilkinson, Brian O'Driscoll, Dan Carter and Paul O'Connell. Standing at 6 feet 2 inches and weighing almost 20 stone, Billy is a rampaging and unmissable presence on the rugby pitch, for both club and country. 

The history of heavy metal brings us extraordinary stories of larger-than-life characters living to excess, from the household names of Ozzy Osbourne, Lemmy, Iron Maiden and Metallica to the brutal notoriety of the underground Norwegian black metal scene and the New Wave of British heavy metal. It is the story of a worldwide network of rabid fans escaping everyday mundanity through music, of cutthroat corporate arseholes ripping off those fans and the bands they worship to line their pockets.

Let's be clear: Mamadou Ndiaye knows a whole lot of animals that can and will end you, but he has no plans to let these strange and horrifying creatures cash in his life insurance policy. Now the TikTok star is turning his engaging, entertaining and informative takes on animal biology and behaviour into this hilarious guide to the world's most deadly creatures. 

James Acaster wakes up heartbroken and alone in New York, his relationship over, a day of disastrous meetings leading him to wonder if comedy is really what he wants to be doing anymore. A constant comfort in James' life has been music, but he's not listened to anything new for a very long time. Idly browsing 'best of the year' lists, it dawns on him that 2016 may have been a grim year for a lot of reasons, but that it seemed to be an iconic year for music. And so begins a life-changing musical odyssey, as James finds himself desperately seeking solace in the music of 2016....

Clive Hapgood is feeling stuck. The private school he teaches at is consuming his life, no thanks to wretched headteacher Julian Crouch. The gentle country life Clive envisaged has stifled him and left his marriage on the brink. What he needs is a holiday - something to remind him and Helen what life used to be like. But when things don't go to plan, and an incident at school begins to weigh heavy on his head, Clive's life starts to unravel in front of him. Has he got it in him to turn things around, whatever the cost? After all, it's his own time he's wasting.... 

A joyful collection of the most popular, provocative and unforgettable essays from the New York Times 'Modern Love' column. A young woman goes through the five stages of ghosting grief. A man's promising fourth date ends in the emergency room. A female lawyer with bipolar disorder experiences the highs and lows of dating. A widower hesitates about introducing his children to his new girlfriend. A divorcée in her 70s looks back at the beauty and rubble of past relationships. 

This is the book Rick Reilly has been writing in the back of his head since he fell in love with the game of golf at 11 years old. He unpacks and explores all of the wonderful, maddening, heart-melting, heart-breaking, cool and captivating things about golf that make the game so utterly addictive. This is Reilly's valentine to golf, a cornucopia of stories that no golfer will want to be without.

Dr Matt Winning is a stand-up comedian and environmental economist with a PhD in climate change policy, which means he's the sort of doctor who will rush to your side if you fall ill on a plane, but only to berate you for flying. We are currently facing a global climate emergency. You've probably noticed. But why does the end of the world need to be so depressing? Hot Mess aims to both lighten the mood and enlighten listeners on climate change. This is an audiobook for people who care about climate change but aren't doing much about it.

Lauren, Saskia, Dominica, Farah and Tansy have been friends since nursery. They wonder if that was the last time they all actually liked each other. Reunited as bridesmaids at Tansy's spiritual hen party in the woods, it doesn't take long before old grudges begin to surface. Not to mention the secret they've been hiding for twenty years. But what starts as a weekend of macramé and penis straws ends in murder when Tansy chokes to death on a poisoned cacao. And as the body count keeps climbing, the friends realise that one of their group must be the killer - and they need to watch their backs.

As educators go, Claudia Stitchwell makes Miss Hannigan look like Miss Honey. But when the reviled headteacher drops dead in the school hall, a group of sceptical parents suspect the nut allergy explanation doesn't add up - they believe someone wanted to teach Miss Stitchwell a lesson. Only four people could have killed Stitchwell: Hattie, the adored school cook; Kiera, the hard-working teaching assistant; Clive, the loathed school bursar and Ben, the popular deputy head. All of them are liars... but only one is the murderer.

Adam Andrusier spent his childhood in pursuit of autographs. After writing to every famous person he could think of, from Frank Sinatra to Colonel Gaddafi, he soon jostled with the paparazzi at stage doors and came face-to-face with the most famous people on the planet. For young Adam, autographs were a backstage pass to a world beyond his chaotic family home in Pinner and his Holocaust-obsessed father. They provided a special connection to a world of glamour and significance lying just beyond his reach.