Russell Brand grew up in Essex. His father left when he was three months old he was bulimic at 12 & left school at 16 to study at the Italia Conti stage school. There he began drinking heavily & taking drugs. He regularly visited prostitutes in Soho began cutting himself took drugs on stage during his st&-up shows & even set himself on fire while on crack cocaine. He has been arrested 11 times & fired from 3 different jobs
- including from XFM & MTV
- & he claims to have slept with over 2 000 women. In 2003 Russell was told that he would be in prison in a metal hospital or dead within six months unless he went in to rehab. He has now been clean for three years. In 2006 his presenting career took off & he hosted the NME awards as well as his own MTV show 1 Leicester Square plus Big Brother's Big Mouth on Channel 4. His UK st&-up tour was sold out & his BBC Radio 6 show became a cult phenomenon the second most popular podcast of the year after Ricky Gervais. He was awarded Time Out's Stand Up Comedian of the Year & won Best Newcomer at the British Comedy Awards. In 2007 Russell hosted both the Brit Awards & Comic Relief & continued to front Big Brother's Big Mouth. His BBC2 radio podcast became the UK's most popular. Russell writes a weekly football column in the Guardian & is the patron of Focus 12 a charity helping people with alcohol & substance misuse.

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Much beloved broadcaster Dame Jenni Murray recounts her great love affair with Butch the Chihuahua. There was always a dog. If not real then imagined. As a lonely only child Dame Jenni Murray longed to have a dog. She had only Timmy her imaginary pooch for company until her fifth birthday when her parents bought her a beautiful little puppy
- Taffy the Corgi. This was to be the start of a life-long passion for mans best friend. Having been a small dog owner all her adult life in her fifties the arrival of Butch the Chihuahua coincided with the devastating discovery that she had breast cancer. Butch proved to be a devoted source of comfort love & hilarity at the most difficult time in her life. Making her smile when she wanted to cry & laugh when she needed to the most Butch was an invaluable source of support & the reassuring presence of this special little dog helped Jenni to make a full recovery. Heartwarming moving & hilarious at turns My Boy Butch is a tribute to this oft maligned breed & to a little dog who made life worth living again.
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Republished to coincide with the new ITV film My Boy Jack? starring Daniel Radcliffe this is the full account of the tragic life of John Jack Kipling. On 27th September 1915 John Kipling the only son of Britains best loved poet disappeared during the Battle of Loos. The body lay undiscovered for 77 years. Then in a most unusual move the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC)re-marked the grave of an unknown Lieutenant of the Irish Guards as that of John Kipling. There is considerable evidence that Johns grave has been wrongly identified & for the first time in this book the authors name the soldier they believe is buried in Johns grave. This is the first biography of Johns short life analysing the devastating effect it had on his famous fathers work." ...

Covering the key body systems this series provides an essential introduction to how the human body works. Packed with photographs artwork & clear concise text these titles make complex ideas easy to underst&. This title

Features: labelled diagrams of key body parts; activities to aid understanding; & fascinating facts written & checked by experts.

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First published in 1901 this Australian classic recounts the live of 16-year-old Sybylla Melvyn. Trapped on her parents outback farm she simultaneously loves bush life & hates the physical burdens it imposes. For Sybylla longs for a more refined aesthetic lifestyle -- to read to think to sing -- but most of all to do great things. Suddenly her life is transformed. Whisked away to live on her grandmothers gracious property she falls under the eye of the rich & handsome Harry Beecham. & soon she finds herself choosing between everything a conventional life offers & her own plans for a brilliant career. ...

Ho-Ho-How can Nicholas save Christmas? Nicholas dad has lost his job just before Christmas! This means no money for yucky cake (hurray) or for presents (boooooo). But then the ding dong merrily doorbell rings & an old friend has the answer... Can a certain someones famous bottom come to the rescue? Wham Bam Mega Bega! Bloop-Bloop-Bloop! Whizzing! ...

Thats the one! she cried. Thats the bottom Im after. Darling you have the most gorgeous bottom! Nicholas dad has a plan to make some fast cash. Nappies! Some disposable-nappy people are looking for a beautiful botty for their new advert
- & all Nicholas baby brother has to do is pass the audition. What could possibly go wrong?
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Frances Foggarty now in her fifties remembers her childhood. When she was nine her ten-year-old brother Tom was hit by a milk-float & killed. He returns after the funeral & Frances story is of her new relationship with Tom the ghost & guardian angel. Frances wears a caliper as a result of polio & she & her young brother live with a rather tyrannical aunt. In this touching tale of loss hardship & endurance Frances comes to terms with Toms death & moves on in her life. ...

Carlo is finding it difficult to adjust to having a new step-brother around the house. Then he discovers that he may just have something in common with him after all
- football. When Carlo's team needs a replacement goal keeper for the Cup final Justin comes to mind. But has Carlo done the right thing? More than just goals are at stake in the big match against Harden Celtic.
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Nicholas' baby brother Cheese is famous. Well his bottom is because he advertises Dumper disposable nappies. Now the whole family is being whisked off on a nationwide tour starring Cheese. Little do they know the chaos waiting for them including giant babies & goats on motorbikes! Rowan Clifford's black-&-white illustrations add to the comic mayhem in this sparkling new story. ...