The enormous respect & affection of the British public for Betty Boothroyd has its roots in a strong belief in what she stands for: fair play an unshakeable sense of honour & a passionate belief in the sovereignty of Parliament. Her convictions she has said are set in Yorkshire granite. Born into a working class family in Dewsbury in 1929 there was little money but Betty grew up in a home that radiated love & warmth. Betty popular & a talented dancer who went on eventually to become one of the celebrated Tiller Girls
- the full story of which she tells here for the first time. But by the age of 25 Bettys dreams of taking the West End by storm had crashed
- & her fathers ambition of seeing her settled with a nice safe job had been abandoned. Undaunted she won a national speaking award stood for election to the local council & became a full-time worker for the Labour Party. Nothing would ever part Betty Boothroyd from politics again. In 1953 Betty began work at the House of Commons for Barbara Castle & Geoffrey de Freitas. She speaks candidly about the devastation of losing two by-elections & the time she spent in America campaigning for JFK. Back in Britain Betty landed a top job with millionaire Labour Minister Lord Harry Walston & the Yorkshire girl became part of the inner circle of the socialist elite including Hugh Gaitskell & Roy Jenkins. She describes the elation she felt on becoming an MP at last in 1973 the huge debt she owes her mother for her support & the full story behind her role in the struggle to save the Labour Party from the hard left. Betty Boothroyds long political career reached its apogee in 1992 when she was appointed the first woman Speaker of the House of Commons with overwhelming support from both sides of the House. Her term of office coincided with John Majors attempts to defend his slim majority. Detailing many of the true stories behind the headlines she writes of the sleaze scandals that beset the Major government her feelings when Labour won their landslide election in 1997 & her strongly held views on the role of Parliament. Finally she tells why she decided to retire her plans for the future &
- in retrospect
- what she feels about her decision to put public service above marriage.



...

A new-look printing of Agatha Christies most absorbing mystery to mark the 25th anniversary of her death. Agatha Christie died on 12 January 1976 having become the best-selling novelist in history. Her autobiography published in 1977 a year after her death tells of her fascinating private life from early childhood through two marriages & two World Wars & her experiences both as a writer & on archaeological expeditions with her second husband Max Mallowan. Not only does the book reveal the true genius of her legendary success but the story is vividly told & as captivating as one of her novels. ...

Young Johnnie Walker was obsessed with music & loved to share that passion. So it wasn't long after he'd started DJing in dance halls & pubs around his Solihull home that he got his big break: he talked his way into a slot with newly founded private station Radio England
- & launched his incredible career. Here he tells of forty years at the heart of British broadcasting stints that involved working on the legendary Radio Caroline BBC Radio 1 & BBC Radio 2; of the stars & musicians he's met & worked with; of how he won the hearts of his listeners & of his devotion to pioneering new music. Johnnie also speaks candidly about the personal challenges he's faced: divorce exile & his very public struggles with drug addiction & cancer. His life has been inspiring &
- above all
- entertaining. His autobiography is no different.


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Benjamin Franklins writings represent a long career of literary scientific & political efforts over a lifetime which extended nearly the entire eighteenth century. Franklins achievements range from inventing the lightning rod to publishing Poor Richards Almanack to signing the Declaration of Independence. In his own lifetime he knew prominence not only in America but in Britain & France as well. This volume

Includes:: Franklins reflections on such diverse questions as philosophy & religion social status electricity American national characteristics war & the status of women. Nearly sixty years separate the earliest writings from the latest an interval during which Franklin was continually balancing between the puritan values of his upbringing & the modern American world to which his career served as prologue. This edition provides a new text of the Autobiography established with close reference to Franklins original manuscript. It also

Includes:: a new transcription of the 1726 journal & several pieces which have recently been identified as Franklins own work. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford Worlds Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxfords commitment to scholarship providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features including expert introductions by leading authorities helpful notes to clarify the text up-to-date bibliographies for further study & much more.



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Sayo Masuda's story is an extraordinary portrait of rural life in japan & an illuminating contrast to the fictionalised lives of glamorous geishas. At the age of sis Masuda's poverty-stricken family sent her to work as a nursemaid. At the age of twelve she was indentured to a geisha house. In Autobiography of a Geisha Masuda chronicles a harsh world in which young women faced the realities of sex for sale & were deprived of their freedom & identity. She also tells of her life after leaving the geisha house painting a vivid panorama of the grinding poverty of rural life in wartime Japan. Many years later Masuda decides to tell her story. Although she could barely read or write she was determine to tell the truth about life as a geisha & explode the myths surrounding their secret world. Remarkably frank & incredibly moving this is the record of one woman's survival on the margins of Japanese society. ...

A text first published in 1950 in which the authors story is interwoven with reflections on the religious & scientific foundations of both eastern & western culture & with accounts of his meetings with spiritual leaders such as Gandhi Babaji Therese Neumann & Rabindranath Tagore. ...

This is the story of England's most famous & notorious king. The facts of Henry VIII's life & reign were more astonishing poignant & outlandish than the plot twists of most fiction. Henry's character was complex: he was a charismatic ardent -- & brash -- young lover who married six times; a scholar with a deep love of poetry & music; an energetic hunter who loved the outdoors; a monarch whose lack of a male heir haunted him incessantly; & a ruthless leader who would stop at nothing to achieve his desires. His monumental decision to split from Rome & the Catholic Church was one that would forever shape the religious & political landscape of Britain. Combining magnificent storytelling with an extraordinary grasp of the pleasures & perils of power Margaret George delivers a vivid portrait of Henry VIII & Tudor England & the powerhouse of players on its stage: Thomas Cromwell Cardinal Wolsey Thomas More & Anne Boleyn. It is also a narrative told from an original perspective: Margaret George writes from the King's point of view injecting irreverent comments from Will Somers -- Henry's jester & confidant. ...

This memoir was recently discovered & appears to have been written in the 1920s by someone who asserts that he was Jack the Ripper. This person is James Carnac this memoir written shortly before his death is an account of his entire life including a few short months in 1888 when he became the murderer known to posterity as Jack the Ripper. This book introduces a new suspect for the infamous murders in Whitechapel in 1888. There is information in this book that does not appear to be derived from contemporary newspapers or any other publications & the descriptions of Tottenham in the 1870s the visits to performances of Jekyll & Hyde the intricate geography of Whitechapel in 1888 are written with pin-point accuracy. There is also a credible motive given for James becoming the murderer Jack & also a reason for the end of the murders. Given the fact that the author also appear to have knowledge about aspects of the case not in the public arena at the time it could be that this actually is the Autobiography of Jack the Ripper". Ultimately it is up to the reader to decide if they believe the mystery has been solved at last but even if they end up deciding the account to be a work of fiction it would still be one of the very earliest imaginings of the Ripper case written in the early years of the twentieth century a fascinating piece of period writing & a worthy addition to the Ripper canon. Whatever side they come down on there is no question that this book will be a source of much debate." ...

From hustling drug addiction & armed violence in America's black ghettos Malcolm X turned in a dramatic prison conversion to the puritanical fervour of the Black Muslims. As their spokesman he became identified in the white press as a terrifying teacher of race hatred; but to his direct audience the oppressed American blacks he brought hope & self-respect. This autobiography (written with Alex Haley) reveals his quick-witted integrity usually obscured by batteries of frenzied headlines & the fierce idealism which led him to reject both liberal hypocrisies & black racialism. ...

They called him the 'angriest black man in America'.. . Celebrated & vilified the world over for his courageous but bitter fight to gain for millions of black men & women the equality & respect denied them by their white neighbours Malcolm X inspired as many people in the United States as he caused to fear him. His remarkable autobiography completed just before his murder in 1965 ranges from Omaha & Michigan to Harlem & Mecca & tells of a young disenfranchised man whose descent into drug addition robbery & prison was only reversed by his belief in the rights struggle for black America & his conversion to the Nation of Islam. Not only is this an enormously important record of the Civil Rights Movement in America but also the scintillating story of a man who refused to allow anyone to tell him who or what he was. ...