The Daleks are one of the most iconic & fearsome creations in television history. Since their first appearance in 1963 they have simultaneously fascinated & terrified generations of British children their instant success ensuring & sometimes eclipsing that of Doctor Who. They sprang from the imagination of Terry Nation a failed st&-up comic who became one of the most prolific writers for television that Britian ever produced. Survivors his vision of a post-apocalyptic England so haunted audiences in the Seventies that the BBC revived it over thirty years on & Blakes 7 constantly rumoured for return endures as a cult sci-fi classic. But it is for his genocidal pepperpots that Nation is most often remembered & on the 50th anniversary of their creation they continue to top the Saturday-night ratings. Yet while the Daleks brought him notoriety & riches Nation played a much wider role in British broadcastings golden age. He wrote for Spike Milligan Frankie Howerd & an increasingly troubled Tony Hancock & as one of the key figures behind the adventure series of the Sixties
- including The Avengers The Saint & The Persuaders!
- he turned the pulp classics of his boyhood into a major British export. In The Man Who Invented the Daleks acclaimed cultural historian Alwyn W. Turner explores the curious & contested origins of Doctor Whos greatest villains & sheds light on a strange world of ambitious young writers producers & performers without whom British culture today would look very different.

...

When Monty Roberts was thirteen years old he went off on his own to the deserts of Nevada to watch mustangs in the wild. What he learned about their methods of communication changed his life forever. The Man Who Listens to Horses reveals his deep love & understanding of horses. We learn how through his relationship with various horses he gradually developed the methods which enabled him to communicate in their own language: a silent language of gestures like signing for the deaf. According to Monty anyone can learn the language of the horse & anyone can learn his Join-Up (R) methods. In this book he tells you how. This is the bestselling autobiography that spread Monty Roberts message across the world & changed his life forever. Unique & inspirational & with a message that resonates far wider than its application to horses it might change your life too. ...

Lysander Hawkley combined breathtaking good looks with the kindest of hearts. He couldnt pass a stray dog an ill-treated horse or a neglected wife without rushing to the rescue. & with neglected wives the rescue invariably led to ecstatic bonking which didnt please their erring husbands one bit. Lysanders mid-life crisis had begun at twenty-two. Reeling from the death of his beautiful mother he was out of work drinking too much & desperately in debt. The solution came from Ferdie his fat fast-operating friend: if Lysander was so good at making husbands jealous why shouldnt he get paid for it? Let loose among the neglected wives of the ritzy county of Rutshire Lysander causes absolute havoc. But it is only when he meets Rannaldini Rutshires King Rat of Rutshire & a temperamental fiendishly promiscuous international conductor that the trouble really starts. The only unglamorous woman around Rannaldini was Kitty his plump young wife who ran his life like clockwork. Soon Lysander was convinced that Kitty must be rescued from Rannaldini at all costs even if it means enlisting the help of the old blue-eyed havoc maker: Rupert Campbell-Black. ...

Oliver Sacks has become the world's best-known neurologist. His case studies of broken minds offer brilliant insight into the mysteries of consciousness". (" Guardian"). In his most extraordinary book Oliver Sacks recounts the stories of patients lost in the bizarre apparently inescapable world of neurological disorders. These are case studies of people who have lost their memories & with them the greater part of their pasts; who are no longer able to recognize people or common objects; whose limbs have become alien; & who are afflicted & yet are gifted with uncanny artistic or mathematical talents. In Dr Sacks' splendid & sympathetic telling each tale is a unique & deeply human study of life struggling against incredible adversity. " Populated by a cast as strange as that of the most fantastic fiction.. . Dr Sacks shows the awesome powers of our mind & just how delicately balanced they have to be". (" Sunday Times"). " This book is for everybody who has felt from time to time that certain twinge of self-identity & sensed how easily at any moment one might lose it". (" The Times"). "A gripping journey into the recesses of the human mind". (" Daily Mail")." ...

Jean Gionos beautiful allegorical tale is legendary. Written in the 1950s its message was ahead of its time inspiring readers to rediscover the harmonies of the countryside & prevent its wilful destruction. The narrator journeying by foot across the barren plains of the lower Alps has his thirst assuaged by the well water drawn by the shepherd Elzeard Bouffier. Here begins the subtle parable which Giono weaves of the life-giving shepherd who chooses to live alone & carry out the work of God. Over forty years the desolate hills & lifeless villages which so oppressed the traveller are transformed by the didication of one man. All with the help of a few acorns. Gionos hope was to set in motion a worldwide reforestation programme that would rejuvenate the earth. The Man who Planted Trees is a hymn to creation & a purveyor of confidence in mans ability to change his- indeed the worlds- lot. ...

For almost a decade psychic medium Joe Power has used his extraordinary powers to investigate high-profile unsolved murder cases around the world including most recently the disappearance of Shannon Matthews. But it wasnt always this way. Joe had denied his psychic abilities until the day his brother was found dead. Then messages from the spirit world led him to see the shocking truth behind the tragedy.. .his brother had been murdered. Joe realized he could no longer ignore the startling visions & voices in his head. He vowed to use his psychic gift to help solve the murder cases that were leaving detectives baffled & loved ones without closure. In The Man Who Sees Dead People" he tells the astonishing story of his life for the first time." ...

After killing a man in the line of duty Inspector Kurt Wallander finds himself spiralling into an alcohol-fuelled depression. He has just decided to leave the police when an old friend approaches him for help investigating his father's suspicious death. Kurt doesn't want to know. But then his friend is found shot dead. Against his better judgment he returns to work to head what may now have become a double murder case. But while Wallander is on the trail of the killer somebody is on the trail of Wallander & closing in fast. ...

Spiralling into an alcohol-fuelled depression after killing a man in the line of duty Inspector Kurt Wallander has made up his mind to quit the police force for good. When an old acquaintance seeks Wallander's help to investigate the suspicious circumstances in which his father has died Kurt doesn't want to know. But when his former friend turns up dead shot three times Wallander realises that he was wrong not to listen. Against his better judgment he returns to work to head what may now have become a double murder case. An enigmatic big-business tycoon seems to be the common denominator in the two deaths. But while Wallander is on the trail of the killer somebody is on the trail of Wallander & closing in fast... Over 35 million copies of the Kurt Wallander series sold worldwide. ...

After killing a man in the line of duty Inspector Kurt Wallander finds himself spiralling into an alcohol-fuelled depression. He has just decided to leave the police when an old friend approaches him for help investigating his fathers suspicious death. Kurt doesnt want to know. But then his friend is found shot dead. Against his better judgment he returns to work to head what may now have become a double murder case. But while Wallander is on the trail of the killer somebody is on the trail of Wallander & closing in fast. ...

No artist offered a more incisive & accurate portrait of the troubled landscape of the 1970s than David Bowie. Cultural historian Peter Doggett explores the rich heritage of Bowie's most productive & inspired decade & traces the way in which his music reflected & influenced the world around him. From ' Space Oddity' his dark vision of mankind's voyage into the unknown terrain of space to the Scary Monsters album Doggett examines in detail Bowie's audacious creation of an 'alien' rock star Ziggy Stardust & his increasingly perilous explorations of the nature of identity & the meaning of fame. Mixing brilliant musical critique with biographical insight & acute cultural analysis The Man Who Sold The World is a unique study of a major artist & his times. ...