Michael Palin`s diaries begin when he was newly married & struggling to make a name for himself in the world of television comedy. But Monty Python was just around the corner.. . Enjoying an unlikely cult status early on, the Pythons then proceeded to tour the USA & Canada. As their popularity grew, so Palin relates how the group went their separate ways, later to re-form for stage shows & the celebrated films THE HOLY GRAIL & LIFE OF BRIAN. Living through the three-day week & the miners strike, & all the trials of a peripatetic life are also essential ingredients of these perceptive & funny diaries. ...

This is the definitive, the official, the most lavish, the completely-different-to-anything-done-before Pythons` autobiography, reissued to coincide with the eagerly-anticipated live shows. Over forty years ago, a group of five Englishmen
- & one wayward American
- rewrote the rules of comedy. MONTY PYTHON`S FLYING CIRCUS, an unheralded, previously unseen half-hour show of sketches, hilarities, inanities & animations, first appeared on the BBC late one night in 1969. Its impact has been felt on the world ever since. From its humble beginnings, it blossomed into the most influential movement in modern comedy. THE PYTHONS` AUTOBIOGRAPHY BY THE PYTHONS is a unique look at arguably the most important comic team of the modern age, with 64 pages of photographs, many culled from the team`s own personal collections, many more seen for the first time. This is the definitive word on all things Pythonesque.

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A Daily Telegraph book of the year. This is a landmark in science writing that resurrects from the vaults of neglect the polymath Jerome Cardano, a Milanese of the sixteenth century. Who is he? A gambler & blasphemer, inventor & chancer, plagued by demons & anxieties, astrologer to kings, emperors, & popes, & the unacknowledged discoverer of the mathematical foundations of quantum physics. The Quantum Astrologer`s Handbook, like Jerome, has multiple occupations: it is at once a biography, a history of science, an explanation of quantum theory, & an engrossing story which reads like the best kind of novel. It is a science book like no other about a scientist like no other. ...

On a lonely stretch of road a nameless man commits a murder. The victim is a religious minister on his way to take up a post in a nearby town. The murderer decides to steal the dead man`s identity in order to conceal the crime. But one of his first duties as the new minister is to bury a body that has just been discovered in suspicious circumstances. As the corpse is laid to rest the manhunt begins... In The Quarry, Galgut`s tender prose combines with the power of myth to create a devastating drama, alive with tension. ...

When Martha accepts a place at university, her decision is met with a mixture of hostility & pride by her uncomprehending family. This is the story of a young woman`s journey to maturity & independence, struggling to cope with the intellectual & emotional challenges that surround her, at a time when such space was rarely given freely to women. In The Quarry Wood, Nan Shepherd`s subtle prose is matched with intense & memorable descriptions of the natural world, & a dry sense of humour. Ninety years after the first publication, it remains as fresh & original today. ...

An updated edition of Ben Pimlott`s classic biography of the Queen: ` There is no better biography of Elizabeth II.` PETER HENNESSY, Independent on Sunday The royal family have been through a tumultuous decade, but with the wedding of Prince William to Kate Middleton, Prince Philip`s 90th birthday & the forthcoming Diamond Jubilee celebrations, there is renewed interest & appreciation of our monarchy. The Queen is an in-depth look at the woman at the centre of it all & is the only biography to take Elizabeth II seriously as the subject of historical biography, or to examine the influences that formed her & the ideas she represents. Ben Pimlott (described by Andrew Marr in the Independent as `the best writer of political biography now writing`) treats the Head of State to the rigorous & objective scrutiny he applied to major political personalities, using a wide range of sources, including interviews, diaries & letters, & papers in the Royal Archives. The Queen looks at the social, political & psychological aspects of his subject in detail, as well as at the changing role of Monarchy in the British Constitution. In the process, the book displays all the author`s formidable analytic & narrative skills, & provides a gripping yet sensitive account of one of the most publicised
- yet least known
- figures of our time. It is vital reading for all those who care about public life in Britain
- past, present & to come.


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Join Britain`s much-admired monarch on one of her rare days-off, as she & her loveable pet corgi Mr Brown enjoy an action packed adventure at London`s Natural History Museum. On a grey, gloomy & unbearably miserable day, the two friends go in search of dinosaurs. Armed with sandwiches & biscuits they encounter immense skeletons, huge teeth & a thigh bone as big as the Queen. There are aliens from outer space & some smelly dinosaur dung too! After much exploring it is no surprise when they both fall asleep
- which is when the real excitement begins! Find out what really happened to the dinosaurs all those years ago, what the Queen is doing on top of a Megalosaurus & who wins a famous victory. Beautifully illustrated & affectionately told, the book is great to read aloud & is also highly suited to encourage children to read on their own. With lots of facts about how dinosaurs lived & why they all disappeared, this is a delightful tale of two close friends & their eventful day at the Museum.
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Britain`s monarch is back for another animal adventure as she & her loveable pet corgi Mr Brown visit London`s Natural History Museum after hours. In the dead of night, when all the visitors have left the Museum, the two friends go in search of the Queen`s secret passion
- natural history. They encounter enormous woolly mammoths & giant dinosaurs. But it soon transpires that they are not alone in the Museum after all & they find out, at first h&, the unique talents of some of the wondrous creatures in the animal kingdom. When they display their own very special skills, the Queen & Mr Brown cause quite a stir among their new friends. This is an engaging & uplifting story which is full of surprises & beautifully illustrated. It is great to read aloud & also highly suited to encourage children to read on their own, & there are fantastic facts about the amazing abilities of animals throughout. The book is the follow-up to the popular ` The Queen & Mr Brown: A Day for Dinosaurs`.
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The ” Queen of Spades & Other Stories” is a collection of short fiction showcasing Alexander Pushkin`s application of Romantic sensibilities to uncompromising studies of human frailty. This ” Penguin Classics” edition is translated with an introduction by Rosemary Edwards. ” The Queen of Spades”, one of Pushkin`s most popular & chilling short stories, tells of an inveterate card player who develops a dangerous obsession with the secret of an old lady`s luck, which he believes will bring him the wealth he craves. ” The Negro of Peter the Great”, a story based on the life Pushkin`s own great-grandfather, is a vivid depiction
- & criticism
- of both French & Russian society, while ” Dubrovsky” is the Byronic tale of a dispossessed young officer. ” The Captain`s Daughter” tells of a young man sent to military service
- based on the actual events of the rebellion against Catherine II, it demonstrates Pushkin`s unparalleled skill at blending fiction & history. Together these four stories display the versatility & innovation that earned Pushkin his reputation as a master of prose & established him as the towering figure in Russian literature. Rosemary Edmonds` translation is accompanied by an introduction examining Pushkin`s simplicity of style & the powerful influence he exerted on his country`s literature. Alexander Pushkin (1799-1837) was born in Moscow in 1799. Leaving school in 1817, he spent three years in St Petersburg working in the Foreign Office & writing erotic verse. His flirtations with pre-Decembrist movements & his revolutionary verses lead to his exile in 1820. After a stay in the Caucasus & Crimea he was sent to Bessarabia, where he began to write more seriously, beginning Eugene Onegin & Tsygany. In 1831 he retired to a family estate, married, & his literary output slackened. He was mortally wounded in a duel & died in January 1837. If you enjoyed ” The Queen of Spades”, you might like Fyodor Dostoyevsky`s ” The Idiot”, also available in ” Penguin Classics”.


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The Queen of Spades & Selected Works is a brand new English translation of two of Alexander Pushkin`s greatest short stories, ` The Queen of Spades` & ` The Stationmaster`, together with the poem ` The Bronze Horseman`, extracts from Yevgeny Onegin & Boris Godunov, & a selection of his poetic work. ` The Queen of Spades` (` Pikovaya dama`), originally published in Russian in 1834, is one of the most famous tales in Russian literature, & inspired the eponymous opera by Tchaikovsky; in ` The Stationmaster` (` Stantsionnyy smotritel”), originally published in Russian in The Tales of the Late Ivan Petrovich Belkin (Povesti pokoynogo Ivana Petrovicha Belkina) in 1830, he reworks the parable of the Prodigal Son; the hugely entertaining ` Tsar Nikita & his Forty Daughters` is a bawdier early poem; & the deeply moving narrative poem ` The Bronze Horseman`, inspired by a St Petersburg statue of Peter the Great, is one of his most influential works. The volume also

Includes:: a selection of his best lyric poetry. Translated by Anthony Briggs, The Queen of Spades & Selected Works is the perfect introduction to Alexander Pushkin`s finest work. Contents: *` The Queen of Spades`*` The Stationmaster`* Extract from Boris Godunov* Extract from Mozart & Salieri*` The Bronze Horseman`*` Tsar Nikita & His Forty Daughters`* Extract from Yevgeny Onegin* Fourteen lyric poems Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin ranks as one of Russia`s greatest writers. Born in 1799, he published his first poem when he was a teenager, & attained fame in 1820 with his first long poem, Ruslan & Lyudmila. In the late 1820s he found himself the target of government censors, unable to travel or publish at will; during this time, he wrote his most famous play, Boris Godunov, & Yevgeny Onegin (published 1825-1832). ` The Queen of Spades`, his most famous prose work, was published in 1834; his best-known poem, ` The Bronze Horseman`, appeared after his death (from a wound sustained in a duel) in 1837. Anthony Briggs is one of the world`s leading authorities on the work of Pushkin, author of Alexander Pushkin: A Critical Study & editor of Alexander Pushkin: A Celebration of Russia`s Best-Loved Writer. He is also an acclaimed translator from the Russian, whose translations include War & Peace, The Death of Ivan Ilyich & Resurrection by Leo Tolstoy.

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