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Still Got It, Never Lost It! tells the story of Louie Spence, star of Pineapple Dance Studios and ruthless judge on Dancing on Ice.‘I did everything my sisters did, that’s how my dancing days started – they went dancing, I went dancing and I just kept on dancing.’ – Louie SpenceFrom a very early age Louie was a little boy who loved to dance and had high ambitions. He attended every disco dance class he could and excelled each time, with the constant support of his Mum and Dad. Before long Louie’s blue leotard had become a mainstay of the family home, and soon enough he was accepted into the Italia Conti School of Theatre Arts. And he never looked back.From dancing on the Spice Girls World Tour to becoming BFFs with Emma Bunton and hanging out with Take That (not to mention his performances in Cats and Miss Saigon), Louie lived out his dreams. Now a TV personality in his own right, a judge on Dancing on Ice, the star of Pineapple Dance Studios and his own series Showbusiness, he has become a much-loved household name.This hilarious, warm and compellingly-written autobiography takes us back to Louie’s early days in Essex, with a cast of characters that includes Nanny Lock (who lived down the Enfield lock), Nanny Twinkle and Nanny Downer (with whom Louie, as a kid, would swipe cans of Special Brew). Still Got It, Never Lost It! is the story of the real-life Billy Elliot – a tale that proves nothing can stop you when you think big and hold on to your dreams.

The harrowing true story of the young boy who captured the heart of the nation when he testified in court, to find justice against those responsible for his brother’s death.Terry O’Neill was just ten years old when he stood up in court to testify against his brutal foster parents, accused of the manslaughter of his twelve-year-old brother, Dennis.Terry and his brother had been taken into care and moved through many foster homes until they came to live on the Shropshire farm owned by Reginald and Esther Gough in 1945. There they were to suffer brutal beatings and little care or love – they survived as best they could, looking out for each other, until the terrible morning when Terry couldn’t wake Dennis.In a time when the country was united by war and struggle, the case shocked the nation and made headlines around the world. Terry, a small figure in the courtroom, captured the hearts of mothers and families everywhere, and the public outcry against the foster services led to the instigation of the first provisions to protect other vulnerable children from neglect and cruelty.

From the author of Sunday Times bestsellers One Child and Ghost Girl comes a heartbreaking story of a boy trapped in silence and the teacher who rescued him.When special education teacher Torey Hayden first met fifteen-year-old Kevin, he was barricaded under a table. Desperately afraid of the world around him, he hadn’t spoken a word in eight years. He was considered hopeless, incurable.But Hayden refused to believe it, though she realised it might well take a miracle to break through the walls he had built around himself. With unwavering devotion and gentle, patient love, she set out to free him – and slowly uncovered a shocking violent history and a terrible secret that an unfeeling bureaucracy had simply filed away and forgotten.Torey refused to give up on this tragic “lost case.” For a trapped and frightened boy desperately needed her help – and she knew in her heart she could not rest easy until she had rescued him from the darkness.

‘Never for me the lowered banner, never the last endeavour’ SIR ERNEST SHACKLETONAPRIL 1916:After his ship Endurance was crushed by Antarctic ice and now trapped on a small inhospitable island, cut off from all hope of help, with winter approaching, Sir Ernest Shackleton made the fateful decision to attempt a risky, almost foolhardy voyage across the wild Southern Ocean to South Georgia with five of his men. From there, he would attempt to trek over unmapped and treacherous glaciers to reach safety. Neither journey had ever been attempted before. Showing the courage and leadership which would become synonymous with his name, Shackleton prevailed, and returned to rescue the entire crew of his ill-fated ship. His feat was dubbed the greatest survival journey of all time.JANUARY 2013:Using the same equipment as Shackleton, eating the same food, sailing a replica of the small, keel-less boat, author, explorer and environmental scientist Tim Jarvis led a six-man crew in an attempt to recreate Shackleton’s epic journey for the first time. A veteran of Antarctica’s frozen wastes, Tim found himself facing his greatest challenge yet – a never ending struggle against conditions which fought him all the way.Shackleton’s Epic tells the stories of these two expeditions, separated by nearly one hundred years, but unified by the struggle to survive the timeless savagery of the Southern Hemisphere.

Burdened with a face only a mother could love, Stan Cattermole determined to find a woman. Lugging his man-boobs along for the ride, Stan shows Bridget Jones how it's done in this hilarious, heart-wrenching and often outrageous account of his quest for love.This is no misery memoir, but a tell-it-like-it-is account of Stan's trials, tribulations and small triumphs, in and out of the bedroom. One part love story, one part family saga, eight parts outrageous, laugh-out-loud tragicomedy – and then, just for luck, another part love story – The Intimate Adventures of an Ugly Man wrenches at the heart strings and the funny bone, and will drag you screaming with laughter through the whole gamut of human emotions.CHORTLE! as Stan pops his cyber-cherry with the aid of a light sabre, a bowling ball and a large knob of butter.GASP! as Stan is blindfolded, tied to a bed and abused with an IKEA spatula.DESPAIR! as the pretty nose of yet another potential love interest wrinkles in utter, utter disgust.The story of one man overcoming his hurdles and making something wonderful of a miserable life, this ever-hopeful tale will resonate with anyone who's suffered pain and rejection, anyone who's vowed to transform their life and anyone who's ever learned to laugh in the face of adversity.http://betedejour.blogspot.com/

In the tradition of Dava Sobel's ‘Longitude’ comes sailing expert David Barrie's compelling and dramatic tale of invention and discovery – an eloquent elegy to one of the most important navigational instruments ever created, and the daring mariners who used it to explore, conquer, and map the world.This book is an eloquent elegy to the sextant – the odd-looking instrument that changed the world. It tells the story of how and why the sextant was invented; how it saved the lives of many navigators in wild and dangerous seas—as well as its vital role in man’s attempts to map the world. Among the protagonists in this story are Captain James Cook, Matthew Flinders – the first man to circumnavigate Australia, the great French navigator, Laperouse, who built on Cook's work in the exploring the Pacific during the 1780s, but never made it home, Robert Fitz-Roy of the Beagle, George Vancouver, Frank Worsley of the Endurance, and Joshua Slocum, the redoubtable old ‘lunarian’ and first single-handed round-the-world yachtsman. Much of the book is set amidst the waves of the Pacific ocean as explorers searched for the great southern ocean, charted the coasts of Australia, New Zealand, California, Canada, Alaska as well as the Pacific islands. Their stories are interwoven with the author’s account of his own maiden voyage on Saecwen in 1973, and they are infused with his sense of wonder and dramatic discovery.A heady mix of adventure, science, mathematics and derring-do, Sextant is a timeless tale of sea-faring and exploration, a love letter to the sea which will appeal to the many thousands of readers who loved Dava Sobel’s Longitude as well as the work of Simon Winchester, Patrick O’Brian and Richard Holmes. This is narrative history and storytelling at its best.

The story of a man who gives up the rock ‘n’ roll dream… to play bowls.Alex Marsh wanted to be a rock star – but it didn’t work out. Instead he toiled away in the big city – only to give up his career, move to rural Norfolk, and become a househusband. Only he isn’t a very good one. Whilst his pride won't let him admit it, he struggles with the cooking, the cleaning and the isolation. He hires a cleaner without telling his wife, his repertoire of baked potatoes exhausts quickly. He becomes hooked on daytime television and computer solitaire. He is in danger of becoming weird.So he takes up bowls. In Sex & Bowls & Rock and Roll we follow a season in the life of the village bowls team, a group of amateur sportsmen and mild eccentrics. In doing so we see this unfashionable pastime in a whole new light, and very funny it is too. But Alex hasn’t quite given up on his dreams of rock stardom. Discovering that some of his mates down the pub are a bit handy with bass and drums he makes one final stab at being in a band, with an eagerly awaited local gig. It is a complete disaster.Join Alex has he comes to terms with life as a domestic disappointment, attempts to learn the fine art of bowls and finally realises that supporting the Sultans Of Ping at the Pink Toothbrush in Rayleigh really was the highpoint of his musical career. Sex & Bowls & Rock and Roll is a hilarious account of the life of a genuinely modern man. Everyone will recognise themselves (or their husbands) and you will be hard pressed not to laugh out loud.

David Crane has given us the definitive biography of one of Britain’s greatest heroes and explorers.‘It seems a pity, but I do not think I can write more…For God’s sake look after our people.’These were the final words written in Scott’s diary on 29 March 1912, as he lay dying in his tent with Birdie Bowers and Edward Wilson. Oates had taken himself into a blizzard a few days before, and the fifth member of the Polar party, Edgar Evans, had died some ten days previously, worn out by the cold and physical effort of the journey across Antarctica.Since then Scott has been the subject of many books – many hagiographical, others dismissive and scathing. Yet in all the pages that have been written about him, the personality behind the legend has been forgotten or distorted beyond all recognition.David Crane’s magisterial biography, based on years of close and detailed research with the original documents, redresses this completely. By reassessing Scott’s life and his substantial scientific achievements, Crane is able to provide a fresh and exciting perspective on both the Discovery expedition of 1901-4 and the Terra Nova expedition of 1910-12. The courage and tragedy of Scott’s last journey are only one part of the process, for the scientific enquiry that led up to it transformed the whole nature and ambition of Antarctic exploration.Scott’s own voice echoes through the pages. His descriptions of the monumental landscape of Antarctica in all its fatal and icy beauty are breathtaking; his honest, heartfelt letters and diaries give the reader an unforgettable account of the challenges he faced both in his personal life and as a superlative leader of men in possibly the harshest environment on the planet.Written with the full support of Scott’s surviving relatives, this definitive biography sets out to reconcile the very private struggles of the man with the very public life of extremes that he led.Note that it has not been possible to include the same picture content that appeared in the original print version.

‘A must read’ Gillian FlynnOne night in December 1972, Jean McConville, a mother of ten, was abducted from her home in Belfast and never seen alive again. Her disappearance would haunt her orphaned children, the perpetrators of this terrible crime and a whole society in Northern Ireland for decades.In this powerful, scrupulously reported book, Patrick Radden Keefe offers not just a forensic account of a brutal crime but a vivid portrait of the world in which it happened. The tragedy of an entire country is captured in the spellbinding narrative of a handful of characters, presented in lyrical and unforgettable detail.A poem by Seamus Heaney inspires the title: ‘Whatever You Say, Say Nothing’. By defying the culture of silence, Keefe illuminates how a close-knit society fractured; how people chose sides in a conflict and turned to violence; and how, when the shooting stopped, some ex-combatants came to look back in horror at the atrocities they had committed, while others continue to advocate violence even today.Say Nothing deftly weaves the stories of Jean McConville and her family with those of Dolours Price, the first woman to join the IRA as a front-line soldier, who bombed the Old Bailey when barely out of her teens; Gerry Adams, who helped bring an end to the fighting, but denied his own IRA past; Brendan Hughes, a fearsome IRA commander who turned on Adams after the peace process and broke the IRA’s code of silence; and other indelible figures. By capturing the intrigue, the drama and the profound human cost of the Troubles, the book presents a searing chronicle of the lengths that people are willing to go to in pursuit of a political ideal, and the ways in which societies mend – or don’t – in the aftermath of a long and bloody conflict.

A moving and personal account of a young woman’s experiences of the Second World War from the mother of Sir Tim Rice.Joan Rice had the same ambitions as many young women of her generation: she wanted to write; wanted to travel; wanted to be famous. With the outbreak of World War II she hurried to enlist – aged 20 – in the Women's Auxillary Air Force, hoping for change, for adventure, and for the chance to 'swank around in uniform'.Throughout the early years of the conflict she kept a regular diary of her life as a WAAF. Working first at RAF Hendon, she soon moved to a job in British Intelligence, and ultimately to postings in Egypt and Palestine. She witnessed the 'phoney war' explode into the Battle of Britain, lived through the London Blitz and was forced by Rommell's advance to flee Cairo. But her diary also tells the story of everyday war life, of the social whirl of service society and of her very first encounter with the man who would become her husband.‘Sand in my Shoes’ is a compelling first-hand account of life and love in a defeated Europe. Written with flair and exuberance, Joan's story has lain untouched for some fifty years. Incorporating additional material from her husband's own notes, her diary is a testament to the many women who kept the RAF in the air.

The definitive account of Barack Obama’s life before he became the 44th president of the United States – the formative years, confluence of forces, and influential figures who helped shaped an extraordinary leader and his rise – from the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of ‘Bearing the Cross’.Barack Obama's keynote speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention instantly catapulted the little-known state senator from Illinois into the national spotlight. Three months later, Obama would win election to the U.S. Senate; four years later he would make history as America’s first black president. Now, at the end of his second presidential term, David J. Garrow delivers the most compelling and comprehensive Obama biography – as epic in vision and rigorous in detail as Robert Caro’s ‘The Power Broker’.Moving around the globe, from Hawaii to Indonesia to the American Northeast and Midwest, ‘Rising Star’ meticulously unpacks Obama’s life, from his tumultuous upbringing in Honolulu and Jakarta, to his formative time as a community organizer on Chicago’s South Side, working in some of the roughest neighborhoods, to Cambridge, where he excelled at Harvard Law School, and finally back to Chicago, where he pursued his political destiny. In voluminous detail, drawn from more than 1,000 interviews and encyclopedic documentary research, Garrow reveals as never before the ambition, the dreams, and the all-too-human struggles of an iconic president in a sure to be news-making biography that will stand as the most authoritative account of Obama’s pre-presidential life for decades to come.

The definitive account of Whitney Houston’s astonishing life, ground-breaking career and tragic death – complete with never-before-seen photographs – from the only one who truly knows the story behind the headlines: her mother, Cissy Houston.Cissy has said little publicly about Whitney’s heart-breaking death. Now, for the first time, she opens up and shares the unbelievable story of her daughter’s life, as well as her own, and addresses Whitney’s brightest and darkest moments.A legendary Grammy Award-winning gospel singer in her own right, Cissy Houston shows how the lessons from her own musical journey helped to shape Whitney’s career – from teaching Whitney to use her voice, to keeping her level-headed throughout her meteoric rise to fame.With candour and respect, she sets the record straight about Whitney, exploring both her turbulent marriage and her misunderstood struggles with drug abuse. Cissy goes behind the tabloid headlines to show fans around the world the true, human side of a strong, successful – yet flawed – musical icon who died much too young.Includes a Foreword by Dionne Warwick.