Биографии и Мемуары - скачать книги или читать онлайн. Страница 274

‘If I had to lose my record to anyone, I couldn’t be happier that it was Jonathan. Family connections aside, there is nobody more talented, more determined or more deserving.’ – Carl FogartyWithin the staggeringly dangerous and high-pressure sport of professional motorcycling, Jonathan Rea’s achievements are unprecedented. A legendary World Superbike Champion withmore race wins than any rider in history, Rea’s trailblazing success shows no sign of slowing down.Now, for the first time, this remarkable sportsman tracks his life and career. Seemingly destined for the racing world, Jonathan grew up in the paddocks – his grandfather was the first sponsor of five-times World Champion Joey Dunlop and his dad was a former Isle of Man TT winner. He owned his first bike before his hands were big enough to reach the brakes.But while racing may be in his blood, it is through sheer determination and relentless perseverance that Rea has gained huge victories in this ultra-competitive world. Topping several of the most prestigious motorcycling championships, he rules the sport – so much so that regulations are being introduced to curb his dominance. The fact that Rea has endured several potentially career-ending scrapes – including smashing his femur at the age of seventeen and being told that he would never race again – makes his achievements even more incredible.‘Dream. Believe. Achieve,’ is Rea’s mantra and in this gripping autobiography, we go behind the visor and into the mind of a man who has risen to the top of one of the most skilled and dangerous sports in the world.

A classic reissue of Richard Holmes’s brilliant book on Samuel Johnson’s friendship with the poet Richard Savage, which won the James Tait Black Prize for Biography.Dr Johnson & Mr Savage is the story of a mysterious eighteenth-century friendship. Richard Savage was a poet, playwright and convicted murderer who roamed through the brothels and society salons of Augustan England creating a legend of poetic injustice. Strangest of all his achievements was the friendship he inspired in Samuel Johnson, then a young, unknown schoolmaster just arrived in London to seek his literary fortune. This puzzling intimacy helped to form Johnson’s experience of the world and human passions, and led to his masterpiece The Life of Richard Savage, which revolutionized the art of biography and virtually invented the idea of the poet as a romantic, outcast figure.Richard Holmes gradually reconstructs this alliance, throwing suprising new light on the character of Dr Johnson. This extraordinary book also questions the very nature of life-writing and exposes the conflicts between friendship, truth and advocacy which the modern form has inherited.

Packed with anecdotes, sparkling insights into the changing nature of show business and the turbulent world of the BBC, and boasting a glittering cast-list, Double Bill is a fascinating read, unashamedly nostalgic and often hilarious.Double Bill is the revealing story of the legendary band leader, Billy Cotton and his namesake son, Bill Cotton Jnr who became Managing Director of BBC Television. One, a star performer who for decades was a national institution, the other, a talent spotter, TV producer and impresario who introduced to television many of Britain’s biggest stars and best loved shows.In his hugely entertaining autobiography, Bill Cotton not only looks back on these golden years, but on the loving relationship with another Bill – his father, the enormously popular and much loved band leader Billy Cotton. For it was during his childhood that Bill Jnr first experienced the thrill of showbiz, and encountered, in the heyday of variety, such stars as Will Hay, Max Miller, Tommy Trinder and Laurel and Hardy. And it was the charismatic Bill Sr who introduced his son to Tin Pan Alley and the music business, starting him out on a career that would later see him producing hit TV shows Six Five Special and Juke Box Jury and creating Top of the Pops. A high point of his producing career was being responsible for the Billy Cotton Band Show, he even took over the band for theatrical appearances when his father fell ill – despite not being able to read a note of music.

An inspiring and heart-warming short story of canine devotion and bravery.When Corporal Jenny Chester was matched with Arms and Explosives search dog Bonnie it felt like the best Christmas present ever.Friends from day one, partners beyond doubt, through service in Bosnia and Iraq they shared food on the run, sleeping in bags in the cold and shade of the same tree. A bond made in wartime that created a partnership for life.Extracted from the bestselling title The Dog That Saved My Life.

Love history? Know your stuff with History in an Hour.Charles Dickens remains – 200 years after his birth – arguably Britain’s most successful writer. Works such as Great Expectations and Oliver Twist have amused and inspired readers in all languages since their original publication in the nineteenth century, and have been adapted countless times for the stage and screen.Dickens: History in an Hour covers all the major facts and events surrounding Dickens’s life; the poverty of his childhood, his experience in Warren’s Blacking Factory, the evolution of his novels, his tours around America and Europe and his sometimes scandalous private life. Dickens: History in an Hour tells you everything you need to know about Charles Dickens in just one hour.Know your stuff: read about Dickens in just one hour.

‘My future mother-in-law burst into tears when she heard her son was to marry an actress. There’s still something disturbing, I grant you, about the word “actress”. If an MP or some other outstanding person plays fast and loose with an actress the world is unsurprised. She is certainly no better than she should be, and probably French…’As well as being a mother (to the actresses Sophie and Emma Thompson) and a devoted carer to her own mother and mother-in-law, Phyllida Law is also a distinguished actress, and Dead Now Of Course is the tale of her early acting career.As a young member of a travelling company, Phyllida learned to cope with whatever was thrown at her, from making her own false eyelashes to battling flammable costumes and rogue cockroaches. We find her in Mrs Miller’s digs, which were shared with a boozy monkey bought from Harrods, an Afghan hound known as the ‘the flying duster’, several hens and various children.Filled with funny, charming anecdotes, Dead Now Of Course paints a fascinating picture of life in the theatre – and at the heart of the story is an enchanting account of Phyllida’s courtship with her future husband, the actor and writer Eric Thompson.

David Gower was the most brilliant and gifted of English Test batsmen in recent times. Yet, despite his unimpeachable Test record, his career was not without controversy.In his frank and outspoken autobiography, Gower responds forthrightly to those critics who questioned his ‘laid back’ approach, and makes some incisive comments about the management of the England side. He recounts the triumphs and reverses of his captaincy of England and of Leicestershire, and compares his man-management with that of Illingworth, Brearley, Willis, Gatting and Gooch.On a lighter note, Gower writes about his nights on the tiles with Botham and Lamb, his Cresta Run, and his ‘fly over’ during a state game in Australia.

David Beckham is one of the world's foremost media icons, his popularity transcending sport and cultural divides. This is his own in-depth account of his career to date, for Manchester United and England, and of his childhood, family and personal life.This is Beckham's fascinating life story in his own words. His rise through the ranks at the biggest club side in the world. His complex relationship with United boss Alex Ferguson. The England story, from being vilified by the nation before returning as the prodigal son to eventually captaining his country. His acrimonious falling-out with his manager and departure from Old Trafford in June 2003. And starting a new chapter of his life on foreign soil in the glare of the world’s press.Now from Beckham himself, we gain a vivid and eye-opening insight into the family man behind the famous footballer, the international model and fashion leader. He describes how he first met and then married ex-Spice girl Victoria Adams, and the upbringing of their two children Brooklyn and Romeo. How his family's every step is monitored by a posse of newshounds and paparazzi. Also, the influence of his parents, growing up as a shy youngster in the family home, and how their subsequent split affected him.Intimate and soul-searching, this is the real David Beckham like we have never seen before.

The Du Mauriers – three beautiful, successful and rebellious sisters, whose lives were bound in a family drama that inspired Angela and Daphne’s best novels. Much has been written about Daphne but here the hidden lives of the sisters are revealed in a riveting group biography.The middle sister in a celebrated artistic dynasty, Daphne du Maurier is one of the master storytellers of our time, author of ‘Rebecca’, ‘Jamaica Inn’ and ‘My Cousin Rachel’. Her success and fame were enhanced by films of her novels and horrifying short stories, ‘Don’t Look Now’ and the unforgettable ‘The Birds’ among them. But this fame overshadowed her sisters Angela and Jeanne, a writer and an artist of talent, living quiet lives even more unconventional than Daphne’s own.In this group biography they are considered side by side, as they were in life, three sisters brought up in the hothouse of a theatrical family with a peculiar and powerful father. This family dynamic reveals the hidden lives of Piffy, Bird & Bing, full of social non-conformity, creative energy and compulsive make-believe, their lives as psychologically complex as a Daphne du Maurier plotline.

Internationally bestselling author and foster carer Cathy Glass tells the story of one of the first children that she fostered.Little Beth, aged 7, had been brought up by her father after her mother left when she was a toddler. But when he’s suddenly admitted to hospital with psychiatric problems Beth is taken into care.Beth is a sweet-natured child who appears to have been well looked after. But it isn’t long before Cathy begins to have concerns that the relationship between Beth and her father is not as it should be. They clearly love each other very much and Derek spoils his daughter, treating her like a princess, but there is something bothering Cathy, something she can’t quite put her finger on.But, despite Cathy flagging her concerns to the social worker Jessie, no action is taken. Until Jessie accompanies Beth to the hospital to see her father… Then, suddenly, everything changes. All contact is stopped and Cathy is left to help pick up the pieces as poor Beth struggles to understand what her daddy has done wrong.