I had spent most of my childhood thinking I was a dog & suspect I had aged in dog years. By the time I was ten I had discovered the pain of unbearable loss. I had felt joy & jealousy. Most important of all I knew how to love & how to let myself be loved. All these things I learnt through animals. Horses & dogs were my family & my friends. This is their story as much as it is mine. Clare Balding grew up in a rather unusual household. Her father a champion trainer she shared her life with more than 100 thoroughbred racehorses mares foals & ponies as well as an ever-present pack of boxers & lurchers. As a toddler she would happily ride the legendary Mill Reef & take breakfast with the Queen. She & her younger brother came very low down the pecking order. Left to their own devices they had to learn lifes toughest lessons through the animals & through their adventures in the stables & the idyllic Hampshire Downs. From the protective Candy to the pot-bellied Valkyrie & the frisky Hattie each horse & each dog had their own character & their own special part to play. The running family joke was that women aint people". Clare has to prove them wrong to make her voice heard
- but first she had to make sure she had something to say. " My Animals & Other Family" is a funny brave tender story of self-discovery."
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My Animals & Other Family" by Clare Balding is a funny brave tender story of self-discovery. 'I had spent most of my childhood thinking I was a dog & suspect I had aged in dog years.' Clare Balding grew up in a rather unusual household. Her father a champion trainer she shared her life with more than 100 thoroughbred racehorses mares foals & ponies as well as an ever-present pack of boxers & lurchers. As a toddler she would happily ride the legendary Mill Reef & take breakfast with the Queen. She & her younger brother came very low down the pecking order. Left to their own devices they had to learn life's toughest lessons through the animals & through their adventures in the stables & the idyllic Hampshire Downs. From the protective Candy to the pot-bellied Valkyrie & the frisky Hattie each horse & each dog had their own character & their own special part to play. The running family joke was that "women ain't people". Clare had to prove them wrong to make her voice heard
- but first she had to make sure she had something to say. " Moving funny & larger than life". (Michael Morpurgo). " Magical enchanting riotously eccentric". (" Daily Mail"). " Funny & unexpectedly wise. Balding has lots of good stories to tell. It is impossible not to admire her honesty". (" Mail on Sunday"). " The reading equivalent of snuggling by the fire with a labrador". (" The Guardian"). Clare Balding is an award-winning broadcaster & writer. She has been a lead presenter for the Olympics Paralympics Winter Olympics & Commonwealth Games. For more than twelve years she has hiked across the countryside for the BBC Radio 4 series Ramblings. Clare has presented " Countryfile" " Britain's Hidden Heritage" " Britain By Bike" " Crufts" & " Famous & Fearless" & has appeared on "QI" " Have I Got News for You" & " Sport Relief". She has been voted RTS Sports Presenter of the Year & Racing Broadcaster of the Year. She lives in West London with her partner Alice their wayward Tibetan Terrier Archie & a cat who couldn't give a damn called Itty. " My Animals & Other Family" is Clare's first book."
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My Animals & Other Family" by Clare Balding is a funny brave tender story of self-discovery. 'I had spent most of my childhood thinking I was a dog & suspect I had aged in dog years. By the time I was ten I had discovered the pain of unbearable loss. I had felt joy & jealousy. Most important of all I knew how to love & how to let myself be loved. All these things I learnt through animals. Horses & dogs were my family & my friends. This is their story as much as it is mine'. Clare Balding grew up in a rather unusual household. Her father a champion trainer she shared her life with more than 100 thoroughbred racehorses mares foals & ponies as well as an ever-present pack of boxers & lurchers. As a toddler she would happily ride the legendary Mill Reef & take breakfast with the Queen. She & her younger brother came very low down the pecking order. Left to their own devices they had to learn life's toughest lessons through the animals & through their adventures in the stables & the idyllic Hampshire Downs. From the protective Candy to the pot-bellied Valkyrie & the frisky Hattie each horse & each dog had their own character & their own special part to play. The running family joke was that "women ain't people". Clare has to prove them wrong to make her voice heard
- but first she had to make sure she had something to say. " Moving funny & larger than life". (Michael Morpurgo). " Magical enchanting riotously eccentric". (" Daily Mail"). " Funny & moving James Herriot meets David Sedaris". (" The Times"). " Forthright thoughtful funny.. .reads like a Jilly Cooper novel". (" Sunday Times"). " Funny & unexpectedly wise. Balding has lots of good stories to tell. It is impossible not to admire her honesty". (" Mail on Sunday"). " She can do anything. If there were four more Clare Baldings we'd have our empire back. Six & we'd be colonising the Moon. & there would be crumpets & ashtrays for everyone". (Caitlin Moran " The Times"). " The reading equivalent of snuggling by the fire with a labrador". (" The Guardian") "A funny affectionate memoir". (" Independent on Sunday"). " Charming refreshingly self-depreciating funny & moving. Balding tells it with immense flair". (" Daily Express"). Clare Balding is an award-winning broadcaster & writer. She became the face of the BBC's racing coverage in 1998 & now works across a wide range of sports for television & radio. She has been a lead presenter for the Olympics Paralympics Winter Olympics & Commonwealth Games. For more than twelve years she has hiked across the countryside for the BBC Radio 4 series Ramblings. Clare has presented " Countryfile" " Britain's Hidden Heritage" " Britain By Bike" " Crufts" & " Famous & Fearless" & has appeared on "QI" " Have I Got News for You" & " Sport Relief". She has been voted RTS Sports Presenter of the Year & Racing Broadcaster of the Year. She lives in West London with her partner Alice their wayward Tibetan Terrier Archie & a cat who couldn't give a damn called Itty. " My Animals & Other Family" is Clare's first book."
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As I looked about me I felt that the grass was the country as the water is the sea. The red of the grass made all the great prairie the colour of wine-stains... And there was so much motion in it; the whole country seemed somehow to be running. My Antonia (1918) depicts the pioneering period of European settlement on the tall-grass prairie of the American midwest with its beautiful yet terrifying landscape rich ethnic mix of immigrants & native-born Americans & communities who share lifes joys & sorrows. Jim Burden recounts his memories of Antonia Shimerda whose family settle in Nebraska from Bohemia. Together they share childhoods spent in a new world. Jim leaves the prairie for college & a career in the east while Antonia devotes herself to her large family & productive farm. Her story is that of the land itself a moving portrait of endurance & strength. Described on publication as one of the best [novels] that any American has ever done My Antonia paradoxically took Cather out of the rank of provincial novelists as the same time that it celebrated the provinces & mythologized a period of American history that had to be lost before its value could be understood. 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. ...

During that burning day when we were crossing Iowa our talk kept returning to a central figure a Bohemian girl whom we had both known long ago. More than any other person we remembered this girl seemed to mean to us the country the conditions the whole adventure of our childhood.. . His mind was full of her that day. He made me see her again feel her presence revived all my old affection for her.' MY ANTONIA is the unforgettable story of an immigrant woman's life on the Nebraska plains seen through the eyes of her childhood friend Jim Burden. The beautiful free-spirited wild-eyed girl captured Jim's imagination long ago & haunts him still embodying for him the elemental spirit of the American frontier. ...

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Born into a theatrical family Chaplin's father died of drink while his mother unable to bear the poverty suffered from bouts of insanity Chaplin embarked on a film-making career which won him immeasurable success as well as intense controversy. His extraordinary autobiography was first published in 1964 & was written almost entirely without reference to documentation
- simply as an astonishing feat of memory by a 75 year old man. It is an incomparably vivid reconstruction of a poor London childhood the music hall & then his prodigious life in the movies.
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Just before the start of the 2002 Wales v Scotland match in Cardiff the stadium announcer asked people to stand & acknowledge Bill McLarens great contribution to the sport. The whole ground rose leaving McLaren choking back the tears. Then came a voice in his ear: Cue Bill... Coping with his emotions on that day was obviously not straightforward even for a commentator of Bill McLarens experience used to being caught up in some of the most dramatic moments rugby has ever seen. But Bill also talks frankly about the greatest tragedy of his life: the death of his younger daughter from cancer at 46 the three-years of agony & the trauma of her final day. Bill wanted to stay at her bedside but she insisted him to go & carry out a commentating duty in Edinburgh on the Saturday afternoon. He did so rushed back to the hospital but she had died that afternoon while he was on air. McLaren himself had almost died of TB in his youth & he tells of the days & nights when he hid under the sheets in bed at the Scottish hospital where he was kept for 19 months crying myself to sleep each night as they took away my friends who had died that day. I was certain I would be next. He has excellent memories of his war years & delves deep to recall some harrowing times as a forward observation spotter when he came within inches of being killed by a German sniper. Later he also remembers leading his men one day into a small northern Italian town where they discovered 1500 corpses piled up in the square. That was the day I became a man rather quickly he says. He was 21. As well reliving the highlights of his illustrious career as a commentator Bill talks of the game today & his regrets that rugby went professional. He is a fierce critic of what this has led to & fears for the future health & safety of rugby players because he regards the modern game as dangerously physical. His story amounts to a history of the game itself & reaffirms McLarens status as something of a global treasure. ...

Tony AP Mc Coy is unquestionably the greatest & most successful jump-jockey of all time. He has collected a record sixteen consecutive jump jockey titles to date & since 1992 he has ridden over 3 000 winners saying I never stop dreaming of the day Ill reach 4 000. In 2002 he beat Sir Gordon Richards record of 269 winners in a season by riding 289. In April 2010 AP achieved his lifelong ambition when he won the Grand National at Aintree on Dont Push It. It was his fifteenth attempt to win the race a victory that captured the publics imagination & irradiated a glittering career in which he had already won all there was to win. It was the final missing piece in the racing jigsaw for a champion jockey who had already had famous victories in the King George VI Chase Champion Hurdle Champion Chase & Cheltenham Gold Cup. This powerfully honest autobiography looks at life at the very top in National Hunt racing. These are the memoirs of a true champion an icon of sport whose astonishing achievements over the past fifteen years are unlikely to be surpassed. It is a great story of courage & modesty pain & professional setbacks strong family values & sporting triumphs the good guy coming first
- & staying there.
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This beautifully produced journal has sold more than 330 000 copies & is now available in adorable gender-themed pink & blue editions as well as the original yellow (unisex) colour way. Every new parent knows just how special & precious the first year of baby's life is. My Baby's Journal" is especially designed so you can hold on to every memorable moment: first tooth first smile first steps first words & many more. When completed " My Baby's Journal" is a unique memento full of happy poignant & appealing memories of the first year of your child's life." ...