In At The Sharp End (Stories From The Front Line Of The Music Business)

Anyone interested in music will consider this to be essential reading! Covering every genre, it provides intimate inside stories about many artists, songwriters, and music execs never previously documented. Those included are KYLIE MINOGUE, BURT BACHARACH, GEORGE MARTIN, BOB GELDOF, STOCK/AITKEN/WATERMAN, SIMON COWELL, RONNIE WOOD, JUSTIN HAYWARD, GRAHAM GOULDMAN, LEO SAYER, PAUL JONES, JASON DONOVAN, SINITTA, ALLAN CLARKE (The Hollies) and many more. Revelations: How Kylie nearly missed her big chance; when Simon Cowell lost it all; how George Martin signed The Beatles out of pure sympathy; the rise and subsequent disappearance of Clive Calder – the wealthiest man in music; what motivated Bob Geldof to stage the greatest show of all time; where the classic songs originated from: Burt Bacharach, Elton John, Lieber and Stoller, Neil Sedaka, Gene Pitney, Randy Edelman, Tony Hatch, Tony Macaulay, Roger Greenway, Les Reed/Barry Mason plus modern day songwriter of the year, Jamie Hartman.

I Am Thilda

It is the summer of 2019 when Thilda’s world falls apart. The pain in her leg is not growing pains, but in fact a rare form of cancer. The revelation is followed by a period of operations and tough cancer treatments. She is forced to accept a new reality: trips to hospitals, treatments, and unbearable pain. But suddenly, something unexpected occurs. A chance encounter at her hospital leads to an unexpected friendship. Thilda begins to paint, take pictures, selfies, and talk about her days with her new friends. The result is a moving book about a unique young girl’s journey with cancer, about her family’s unfailing support, and a strong bond of friendship.

Hottentot Venus – The Story of Saartjie Baartman

Holloway

Holloway was a closed category A prison supposedly for women who had committed murders and were considered to be dangerous criminals. What was unknown was that many women were placed in Holloway due to the abuses and crimes related to and should often have been blamed on men. Historically such injustices and inequality were often linked to cases such as the Suffragette movement and the Irish Republicans, however, in modern times women found themselves to be remanded or imprisoned in Holloway for petty crimes, as a place of detention when there were immigration issues and for reasons that were beyond the understanding of those involved. Here are the stories of women who were abused by the laws and society one hoped were there to protect rather than punish them further. These remarkable women formed deep friendships, loved and cared for each other despite being thrown into a place of fear and intimidation.

Hard Luck Motty

You will not be able to put this book down once you start!

Hard Luck Motty has been through everything you can imagine.

See if you can find someone who can top my life adventures!

The famous people I have met and spent time with: Hollywood superstars, sporting greats.

The family tragedies along the way.

The excitement and thrills.

The silliness.

The lessons I have learnt the hard way, in my working, sporting and fun life.

You need to read this book.

Half the Size, but Twice the Life

A biography depicting a real-life account of one woman’s incredible weight-loss story, sharing the struggles and successes throughout the journey of losing half her body weight all on her own, transforming not just herself, but her whole life—with an underlying message about going for your goals, no matter what they may be…

From Doctor to Guinea-pig

Alex was born on a Greek island and moves with his parents to Congo-Zaire (Democratic Republic of Congo). He studies medicine and goes to work in a hospital in the bush with his teenage wife. Faced with seemingly unsurmountable problems he works wonders and moves to Kinshasa for the comfort of his family. He is a man married to his work, he contracts AIDS and fights the difficulty of announcing this terrible news. Truly philanthropic, he offers his body to science to test the various drugs that are created to treat this new virus. You will be fascinated by his medical exploits, and be torn between him and his wife both struggling to face the problems that life presents to them. A story about life, faith and our approach to death.

From Cholera to Ebola

"We've been invited to witness a bonfire of marijuana by the Taliban. Anyone interested?" Amid the missionaries, mercenaries and misfits drawn to the world's most dangerous and volatile hotspots stands Dr John Parker. From Cholera to Ebola is a captivating collection of true stories 25 years in the making. Whether challenging the bureaucracy of refugee camps to cradling children as they died, Dr Parker operated far from his comfort zone, from the norms of medical practice and from the decencies of humanity. His is a life that swung from heartbreaking hopelessness to sheer ecstasy as he battled PTSD to chase his next 'fix' over increasingly dangerous missions. "There are some things you cannot be taught; you have to live them."

Elephant on Main Street

This is this story of Eamon, a little boy growing up in Northern Ireland in the sixties, before he succumbed to Leukaemia, a few months short of his seventh birthday. The book describes specific aspects of his short but remarkable life, all written from his perspective. Each chapter has a footnote which charts the history of the conquest of childhood leukaemia which commenced during his lifetime. The book is based around actual events and things which Eamon said and did which have been passed down. Eamon has the benefit of perspective, so he can describe events that have yet to happen which have a bearing on the life of his family.

Edward Jenner – the Original Vaccinator

Dr. Edward Jenner was a man who has saved millions of lives due to his discovery of cowpox as the most effective treatment for the killer disease of smallpox.

Born in 1749, he was orphaned at the age of five years, his parents both dying within two months of each other in 1754. He was sent away to boarding school at the age of eight years, and whilst there was subjected to be inoculated with a small amount of smallpox which was the standard treatment of the day, although it was a matter of luck as to whether the patient survived or not. He suffered side effects that haunted him to his dying day.

 Luckily for us, he survived his ordeal, and as an adult, he dedicated his life to finding a more effective and much safer cure for smallpox and despite a great deal of opposition from some of his medical colleagues, found the cure and in 1980, the World Health Organisation officially announced that smallpox had finally been eliminated.

There is a statue of him in Gloucester Cathedral and sadly visitors to the cathedral know little or nothing about him. As the 200th anniversary of his death in 1823 approaches, this book attempts to show the reader how much we owe him.

Captured by Childhood Memories

I always wondered what kind of people specialised in psychology and neurology. I was very curious to know how a psychiatrist lived. Why did it first occur to him to study this field even though he knew well how difficult it is to deal with mental patients? One could even be physically and verbally attacked by them and be subject to abuse.

To begin with, I was interested in knowing about all the stages of Dr Pashmi’s life. However, his childhood was more appealing to me, as I knew that childhood experiences of joy and sorrow influence the sensitive soul of the child and make him respond to them at a later time. Negative aspects hurt and the hidden anger inside surfaces severely. Newton’s Third Law states: “For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.” Similarly, the child throws back all anger, events and suppressions done to him in life to the society.

Upon retirement, Dr Pashmi’s patients numbered 22118. It was a question to me to know where he got the energy from and what his incentive was to devote all his time to treating his patients. In addition, what was the reason for his becoming one of the famous specialists of Hamburg, Germany? How did he manage to overcome all his life problems while studying and improve himself?

Bill Tutte Codebreaker

BILL TUTTE CODEBREAKER 'THE GREATEST INTELLECTUAL FEAT OF THE SECOND WORLD WAR.' … a testimonial to Bill Tutte and his codebreaking discovery in 1942 at Bletchley Park. Bill Tutte was a young, gauche PhD student, yet his remarkable breakthrough and continuing endeavour against a German cipher machine more complex than Enigma led to the development of the world's first programmable computer, Colossus. Colossus allowed top-secret messages between Hitler and his generals to be read within hours, contributing significantly to the success of the D-Day landings and the eventual defeat of Nazi Germany. So secret were the functions performed by Colossus that the work of Bill Tutte and his colleagues was classified for more than 50 years after the end of the Second World War. This novel not only explores Bill Tutte's codebreaking, but also examines his 'autistic' character, his background and close relationships all woven into the pressures and diversions of life at Bletchley Park. Prime Minister David Cameron wrote in 2012: We should never forget how lucky we were to have men like William 'Bill' Tutte in our darkest hour and the extent to which their work not only helped protect Britain itself but also shorten the war by an estimated two years, saving countless lives. … I can say without doubt that Bill Tutte deserves the thanks of the British people.