'I have read all W. Scott's novels at least fifty times, ' wrote Byron. '-grand work. Scotch Fielding, as well as great English poet
- wonderful man! I long to get drunk with him.' A. N. Wilson's subtle, entertaining & frequently provocative critical biography looks back through the indifference which has surrounded Walter Scott in recent times, & the distortions of his Victorian idolaters, to recapture the freshness of Scott as he appeared to his contemporaries. Despite his staggering output as a novelist, poet, biographer, historian & anthologist
- not to mention his copious letters, & the celebrated Journal
- Scott only embarked on his literary career in early middle age. In the face of constant ill-health, & financial & domestic troubles, he successfully combined the life of a bestselling, much-loved & enormously influential author with that of a lawyer, landowner, Border farmer, part-time soldier & paterfamilias. A. N. Wilson makes clear that Scott's genius, his humaneness, & his splendid qualities of stoicism & sympathy were as apparent in his life as in his work. Few writers can have been so likeable & so unpretentious, & it is hardly surprising that Scott has always been a popular subject with biographers. Yet most modern critics have tried to divorce the life from the work, or to minimise his reputation by suggesting that his talents were recognised in only a few of his works. By weaving together the life & the works, & discussing all Scott's best-known books as well as many which are less familiar, A. N. Wilson has produced a lively & contagiously enthusiastic reassessment of the writer who was, he believes, 'the greatest single imaginative genius of the nineteenth century'. Walter Scott's influence was felt not only in the field of literature, but also in the worlds of art, architecture, opera & domestic manners, & by figures as diverse as Byron & Queen Victoria, Dickens & Donizetti, Pugin & Victor Hugo.


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How often in life does convenience triumph over 'doing the right thing? & what is 'ethical living' anyway? When it comes down to it, most people fight shy of giving up their cars, or their toxic household products, their cheap washing machines, or dodgy, unethical bank accounts in order to make the world a better place. So Leo Hickman, resident consumer expert of the Guardian, decided to give it a try. Over the course of a year, he & his family set out to discover whether it was possible to live a 'normal life'
- job, mortgage, kids, holidays
- while at the same time making each daily choice or decision an 'ethical' one
- for the family, their neighbours & the environment. This the story of that year, is a record of an extraordinary transformation. Amid the pitfalls & confusion, Leo's account is funny, inspirational & a mine of information for the curious.


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It is hardly news that a growing number of people want to step back from the brink of western consumerism & find a way to live an all-round cleaner existence
- one that is not only easier on the physical body but one that is lighter on the conscience too. So how do we go about it? Most people fight shy of giving up their cars, or their toxic household products, their cheap washing machines, or dodgy, unethical bank accounts in order to make the world a better place but Leo Hickman, resident consumer expert of the Guardian, reckoned he should give it a try & report back on whether it is possible to live a life that is western but aware.
Leo's fumbling but hugely well-intentioned & increasingly successful efforts to do the right thing can't fail to involve, educate, inspire
- & amuse
- his readers.



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With his last-gasp victory as part of the Great British coxless four team at the Athens Olympics, Matthew Pinsent clinched an historic fourth Olympic Gold to add to the three already won with his legendary rowing partner Steve Redgrave. In an uniquely exciting & evocative autobiography, Pinsent interweaves the build-up to Athens 2004 with the extraordinary story of his career & unforgettable partnership with Redgrave. Plucked from obscurity at the age of 20, told to partner his hero, & trained to within an inch of his life, Pinsent's story is uniquely revealing about what it takes to be a champion & the mixed blessings of success. Culminating with a nail-biting final chapter detailing the team's extraordinary victory in Athens in blow-by-blow detail, A Lifetime in a Race is a sports book in a different mould. ...

Beware Imitations! Mark Watson walks the tightrope of good taste in this deviously brilliant spoof of the seamier side of the 'entertainment industry'.

Rose & Andreas make an exceedingly odd couple in 1980s Cambridge: she is the fifth tallest woman in Britain & he is a penniless post-grad from Germany. But together they set up a lookalike agency with bizarre, & ultimately fatal, results.

Twenty years on, & Andreas is in prison. His days aren



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By turns funny, charming & sad, this is the story of a sensitive & sickly lad's northern working-class childhood, of a loving mother who kept him off school because of his asthma, of how he washed up in hotels by night to fund studying at RADA by day & would often be found asleep in class. Rodney also tells of laddish behaviour in swinging London, how he climbed Big Ben to hang a pair of knickers on the hand of the clock, his troubled relationship with Likely Lads co-star James Bolam & many celebrity stories, featuring Ralph Richardson, John Gielgud, Rod Steiger, Jimmy Nail & Mel Smith. ...

By turns funny, charming & sad, this is the story of a sensitive & sickly lad's northern working-class childhood, of a loving mother who kept him off school because of his asthma, of how he washed up in hotels by night to fund studying at RADA by day & would often be found asleep in class. Rodney also tells of laddish behaviour in swinging London, how he climbed Big Ben to hang a pair of knickers on the hand of the clock, his troubled relationship with Likely Lads co-star James Bolam & many celebrity stories, featuring Ralph Richardson, John Gielgud, Rod Steiger, Jimmy Nail & Mel Smith. ...