The name Borgia is synonymous with the corruption nepotism & greed that were rife in Renaissance Italy. The powerful voracious Rodrigo Borgia better known to history as Pope Alexander VI was the central figure of the dynasty. Two of his seven papal offspring also rose to power & fame
- Lucrezia Borgia his daughter whose husband was famously murdered by her brother & that brother Cesare who served as the model for Niccolo Machiavellis The Prince. Notorious for seizing power wealth land & titles through bribery marriage & murder the dynastys dramatic rise from its Spanish roots to its occupation of the highest position in Renaissance society forms a gripping tale. Erudite witty & always insightful Hibbert removes the layers of myth around the Borgia family & creates a portrait alive with his superb sense of character & place.
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The Borgia family of Renaissance Italy has become a byword for pride lust cruelty avarice splendour & venomous intrigue. They have inspired abomination & fascination in almost equal measure comparable to the Corleone clan depicted in Mario Puzo's novel The Godfather. Indeed Puzo himself featured the Borgias in his last novel The Family & the Borgias have inspired many other works of fiction together with plays films & even an opera
- Donizetti's Lucrezia Borgia. Of Spanish origin the Borgias came to prominence in the Italy of the 15th century at a time when the spiritual values of the medieval Church were being swept aside by the worldly secularism of the Renaissance. They also became notorious for licentiousness venality & indeed all forms of immorality while at the same time their patronage of the arts helped to bring about some of the greatest artistic masterpieces of the Renaissance. Notorious Borgias include: Cesare Borgia (1476-1507)
- the illegitimate son of Pope Alexander VI. Violent & passionate he was greatly admired by Machiavelli. Lucrezia Borgia (1480-1519)
- the sister of Cesare accused of incest & poisoning & one of history's most famous femmes fatales. Rodrigo Borgia (Pope Alexander VI) (1431-1503)
- father of Cesare & Lucrezia he was notorious for his extravagance nepotism & immorality.



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A fully updated edition of Gimsons 2006 biography with new material covering Boriss years as Mayor of London. His distinctive appearance (Like a haystack on a bicycle) befuddled manner & ready wit have assured a high media profile & a large fanbase with the general public. In 2008 he was elected Mayor of London with over 1 million votes the largest personal mandate of any UK politician. In this the first & most authoritative biography of Boris Andrew Gimson investigates Boris twin-faced dilemma
- politics or entertainment
- & asks how deep his political ambition runs. Boris has transcended his class education & his various occupations (Mayor of London Conservative MP for Henley-on-Thames Conservative spokesman for Higher Education columnist on the Daily Telegraph motoring correspondent for GQ novelist TV presenter) to become a paradoxical character
- the old Etonian who fascinates teenagers as well as grandparents the classical scholar who is also a TV quiz-show contestant. Despite being a comic actor of genius he is not just an act & Andrew Gimsons biography covers all facets of this complex individual. There is his exotic Turkish ancestry his place among five siblings his competitive relationship with his father Stanley the distinguished university career his five years as a journalist in Brussels his first failed venture into politics (I fought Clwyd South
- & Clwyd South fought back) overseeing the Spectator during the David Blunkett affair & the Liverpool editorial fiasco which led to Boris sacking from the shadow cabinet his exile & return under David Cameron his two marriages four children & love affairs. Interviewing Boris contemporaries his family & his detractors Andrew Gimson has created a fascinating & amusing portrait of this unique man of our times.



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When Miss Cluck tells her little pupils that there is going to be a new animal in their class they are all very excited. In fact there are squeals of delight. Nobody expects the new animal to be a grizzly bear! So when a rather bashful Boris enters the room Leticia the rabbit Fergus the fox cub Maxwell the mole & the little mice.. .scream! Boris is upset. He doesn't mean to be scary. He just wants to make friends. But he spends a lonely miserable first day at school he's just too big to fit in. When it's home time Boris trudges through the woods far behind the others. After all it seems to him that none of them wants to be his friend. Then he sees some rats up ahead as they jump out from behind the trees. Boris hurries along to introduce himself (ever hopeful of making new friends) but once again his big bear grin terrifies the rats. However to his astonishment in scaring off the bullies Boris has truly endeared himself to Maxwell Leticia Fergus & the mice. A beautifully-observed story with a positive message about friendship & acceptance. ...

Once upon a time there were two geese called Mr & Mrs Plumpster. Each Spring they returned to the marshes of their ancestors & Mrs Plumpster layed her eggs. Soon six fine young Plumpsters hatched: Archie Freda Jennifer Oswald Timothy & Borka. But Borka was different. Borka had no feathers & could not fly. When winter came the other geese flew off in search of warmer climates leaving Borka all alone. But her adventure was only just beginning... ...

Kylie Galen has had a lot of crap tossed in her lap. Her parents are getting a divorce. Her boyfriend broke up with her because she wouldn't put out. Her grandmother died & now Kylie's acquired a stalker. Unfortunately she's the only one who seems to be able to see the stalker. & that gets her sent to a psychologist's sofa. The kooky psychologist gets Kylie sent to Shadow Falls Camp. Kylie & her parents think it's a camp for troubled teens. They thought wrong. It's a camp of supernaturals: vampires werewolves fairies witches & shape shifters. & if she believes the camp leader Kylie is one of them too. ...

The powerful bestseller from the nations favourite storyteller & author of The Loner & The Journey Harry always knew he would go back one day! Eighteen years ago he made a hard decision that drove him from the place he loved. Since then he carved out a life for himself & found a semblance of peace yet he is still haunted by the warm carefree girl with the laughing eyes. For Judy Saunders the pain of her past has left her deeply scarred. Cut off from her family & trapped in a loveless marriage the distant memories of her first love are her only source of comfort in a dark & dangerous world. Years later Harry is heading back. Excited afraid & racked with guilt he has little choice. He must confront the past & seek forgiveness. ...

June Dawson has come a long way from the rough East End background where she met got pregnant by & eventually married charming reckless Johnny Fuller. Now she lives in leafy Rainham in a nice little cul-de-sac with her ultra-respectable second husband & a lovely social life. Then her world collapses when daughter Debbie announces that she is pregnant by her low-life drug addict boyfriend Billy Mc Daid. June feels as though she is being physically sucked back into the world of villains & thugs she thought she had escaped for ever. But worse is to come. Much much worse. The baby
- doted on by his violent feckless dad
- grows into the child from hell: mean sadistic & out of control. Suddenly the family is not just in crisis. It is in meltdown.

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' Hard eyes stare out of massive beards their faces marked by the scars of battle. With these guys their webbing looks like it belongs to them rather than it's been hung on a pair of reluctant shoulders. There's not a word been said to us but the ante has clearly been upped. There's a dark & sinister feeling in the air. It doesn't take a genius to figure it's about to kick off.' Former SAS soldier Big Phil Campion tells it like is in this brutally honest account of his insanely dangerous life as a private military operator. From playing chicken with a suicide bomber in backstreet Kabul to taking on pirates with his bare hands this is true-life action-packed drama at its best. ...

Among the ethnic gangs that rule Americas inner cities none has had the impact of the Jamaican posses. Spawned in the ghettos of Kingston as mercenary street-fighters for the islands politicians the posses began migrating to the United States in the early 1980s just in time to catch & ride the crack wave as it engulfed the country. Laurie Gunsts provocative expose of the Jamaican politicians role in creating this problem is also a moving & compelling tale of suffering & exploitation. Leone Ross substantial afterword examines further the issues raised by the book from a British & Jamaican perspective ...