Selvbiografier

Legendary British comic actor John Inman broke down many boundaries by playing the camp Mr Humphries in BBC's long-running sitcom Are You Being Served? The show ran for 13 years, had a spin-off movie and regularly attracted 22 million viewers in the UK. Inman's character, whose innuendos were adored by viewers, invariably got the biggest laughs - and this at a time when being homosexual was largely frowned upon. At one point, there was a protest from the Campaign for Homosexual Equality that Inman's effeminate portrayal of the character was not helping their cause - but Inman disagreed, feeling it was more beneficial to make the nation laugh and break down barriers his way. In 1976, he was voted the BBC Personality of the Year and TV Times' Funniest Man on TV. Away from television, he soon became one of the most in-demand pantomime actors, making a small fortune over several decades. Though he yearned for a career in the theatre, he initially took jobs at a gentleman's outfitters and specialised in window dressing for a London department store. He eventually joined an acting group in Crewe to earn his Equity Card, and soon began working in theatre as he followed his true vocation. After a few television roles, he was offered the part of Mr Humphries in the 1972 pilot of Are You Being Served? It was inspired casting, and Inman's impeccable comic timing and delivery would make him a household name. He was the only cast member to retain his part in the Australian version of the series and he became a cult gay icon in the USA, where he was considered the biggest UK export since Benny Hill. He returned to the role in the spin-off Grace & Favour, which ran for two series in 1992 and 1993. Though he would regularly appear on television and the stage after the series ended, it was as Mr Humphries that he was best loved and why he was regarded as a national treasure. Inman was secretive about his sexuality until he married his long-term partner Ron Lynch in a civil ceremony in London in 2005. He died two years later following a long battle with hepatitis. Are You Being Served? is regularly repeated, and Inman's catchphrase 'I'm free!' is perhaps one of the most famous on British television. Author David Clayton reveals the full story of a man who was adored by millions and who broke down barriers by just being himself.

A thoroughly researched biography of the influential and bestselling author of King Solomon's Mines, shining light on his formative years in South Africa.

A hundred-year history of the challenges and triumphs of contemporary Taiwan, through the inspiring true story of one man who lived through it all.

A masterful new biography of North Korea's despotic founding father and his enduring impact on his country today.

Football, Freedom and Paradise! is the fascinating and inspirational autobiography of former footballer Rudi Vata, a man who overcame state oppression to attain the most basic of human requirements - his freedom. After playing for Albania, he defected and forged a career in football, including a successful spell at Celtic FC.

A tribute to one of Wales''s greatest figures: the presenter, singer and farmer, Dai Jones, by the people who knew him best. The book''s editor, Beti Griffiths, was a close friend of Dai''s and she and Olwen, his widow, have worked closely to compile a list of contributors including well-known names such as Nia Roberts, Lyn Ebenezer and Margaret...

This text offers an insight into the workings of the criminal mind through interviews conducted by the author with some of the world's most evil serial killers. The text reproduces, verbatim, their very words as they describe their crimes and discuss their remorse - or lack of it.

Autobiography of a journalist based in Yorkshire, heavy sport bias.

"Citizen Cowboy is a probing biography of one of America's most influential cultural figures. Will Rogers was a youth from the Cherokee Indian Territory of Oklahoma who rose to conquer nearly every form of media and entertainment in the early twentieth century's rapidly expanding consumer society. Through vaudeville, the Ziegfeld Follies and Broadway, syndicated newspaper and magazine writing, the lecture circuit, radio, and Hollywood movies, Rogers built his reputation as a folksy humorist whose wit made him a national symbol of common sense, common decency, and common people. Though a friend of presidents, movie stars and industrial leaders, it was his bond with ordinary people that endeared him to mass audiences. Making his fellow Americans laugh and think while honoring the past and embracing the future, Rogers helped ease them into the modern world and they loved him for it"--

The unmissable account of Brexit, from political insider and bestselling author of All Out War, Tim Shipman.

After witnessing first-hand the Spanish golfer's famous Open Championship win at St Andrews in 1984, Seve Ballesteros was the only golfer who mattered to Kenny Reid. Uniquely centred around Seve's greatest victory, Touch of Class brings to life his journey from gifted boy golfer to dominant major champion in original, brilliant detail.

Harry Lockett was first secretary of the Football League. This is the story of his remarkable life, from humble beginnings in Derby, where football was illegal, to writing the laws of the game and holding a position of power until temptation caused his downfall.

In July 1927, at just thirty five years old, Kevin O' Higgins was assassinated on his way to mass in Booterstown. A memorial plaque in his honour unveiled at the site in 2012 was removed after just two weeks due to persistent vandalism. In this compelling biography, Arthur Matthews examines the enduring hatred of O' Higgins through the lens of his close friends and many enemies. Appointed Minister for Home Affairs in 1922, O' Higgins resorted to draconian measures to fight the lawlessness that swelled in the wake of the Anglo-Irish Treaty. In an act that would seal his fate, he signed off on the execution of seventy seven anti-Treaty prisoners, including Rory O' Connor, who had been best man at his wedding the year before. As the hostility between former comrades intensified, O' Higgins was now a prime target for the incensed ' irregulars' . Holed up in government buildings in the years preceding his assassination, he described himself as being ' walled in by hate' . The complex legacy of Kevin O' Higgins encapsulates the bitter divisions of the Irish Civil War, and he remains one of the most compelling characters to emerge from the conflict.

Told with her trademark humility and honesty, this memoir/self-help guide reveals how social media sensation Ami Charlize has navigated the struggles and successes of young adulthood. Ami Charlize has been sharing snippets of her life with her followers since she was 10 years old, capturing millions of hearts with her authenticity, confidence and bravery. But her rise to social media stardom hasn't been without its hurdles. Providing all the answers to the thousands of questions she's received online, in this book Ami invites us deeper into her world than ever before. She reveals how she has navigated fake friendships, bad relationships and difficult lessons to become the person she is today, and takes us behind the scenes to describe how she has carved her own path forwards against all odds. Through sharing her own story, she equips us with useful insight and tips about how we can all become more confident, and forge our own identities in this world.

Belfast's Carl 'The Jackal' Frampton MBE is no ordinary boxer. One of only three fighters from the British Isles to be named the Ring Magazine Fighter of the Year, he has headlined multiple sell-out world championship bouts on both sides of the Atlantic, winning multiple world titles in the process. His dedicated army of fans have traversed the globe to be ringside throughout it all. But Frampton's popularity far exceeds the traditional adulation for a sporting icon; he is regarded as a symbol of hope and unity by both sides of the sectarian divide in Northern Ireland. In this captivating autobiography, Frampton reveals the most personal aspects of being a fighter; of fears and doubts, of exhilaration and devastation, of friendship and animosity. He also recounts for the first time his high-profile, acrimonious split with Barry McGuigan, in devastating and revealing detail. Frampton speaks openly and passionately, not only about boxing, but about his country, how far it has come and the problems it faces. This is a uniquely intimate account of a true modern-day sporting great and a local hero like no other.

In Insatiable, Shobhaa reminds us of the many delights and disappointments that the banquet of life offers, even as she examines the shared emotional hunger for happiness and love that binds us all.

Over 13,000 Americans have been murdered in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries because of their sexual orientation and gender presentation. In Unfinished Lives: Reviving the Memory of LGBTQ Hate Crimes Victims, Stephen Sprinkle puts a human face on the outrage and loss suffered when people die from anti-gay hatred. Beginning with new developments in the story of Matthew Shepard's murder in Laramie, Wyoming, Sprinkle tells the stories of fourteen representative LGBTQ victims whose lives were savagely cut short due to homophobia and transphobia. These are stories about people who could be your neighbor, classmate, co-worker, or friend-real, everyday people whose love was foreclosed, relationships brutally terminated, and future contributions stolen from us by outrageous, irrational hatred. Told lovingly yet unflinchingly, Unfinished Lives lifts the stories of these LGBTQ victims from undeserved obscurity, allowing their memory to live again. Relying on personal interviews and visits to the locations where these people lived, loved, and died, Sprinkle records the raw emotions, powerful movements for social change, and unexpectedly hopeful communities that arise from the ruins of those people whose only ""offense"" was to live as they were born to be. Part portraiture, part crime narrative, and part ethnography, Unfinished Lives is poised to change the conversation on hate crimes in the United States.

With an eye for peculiar detail and meticulous research, John Lazenby takes us on an evocative visit to the Britain of the 1960s, when, aged nine, he saw the Beatles play live in London before he could even hope to read, or write down, the lyrics from their iconic songbook.

Dr Maurice Odle''s professional life as an academic and senior national, regional and international civil servant intersected with the clash of two powerful economic forces, namely the economic nationalism of the underdeveloped world and the profit maximising operations of foreign transnational corporations. While developing countries, in recent decades, have significantly increased their capacity for dealing with foreign investment issues and the nexus areas of international trade, finance and transfer of technology, the West has frustrated them in their efforts to bring about fundamental change in international economic relations and in the neo-liberal rules of the game. For example, the United Nations initiative(s) of the developing countries with respect to a New International Economic Order (relating mainly to trade) fell apart by the end of the 1970s; intensive negotiations on a Code of Conduct on Transnational Corporations were abandoned in the early1990s; and negotiations with

The last member of Operation Valkyrie - the daring 1944 plot to assassinate Hitler - tells his remarkable story. 'Astonishing' Daily Telegraph

The story of Billy Childish, the most famous artist you have never heard of, by legendary music journalist Ted Kessler