From Anne Robinson to the Act of Union Neighbours from Hell?" looks at English attitudes to the Welsh. Drawing on the authors experience of the comedy circuit cartoons; the popular press & postcards; from Tours of the Picturesque to the novels of Niall Griffiths the range of reference is as broad as the writing style is witty. Stereotypes explored include the Welsh character (shifty oversexed or verbose); the Welsh language (dead ugly or secret code for extremists) & the landscape. Mike Parker examines treacherous policy decisions sacrificing communities to reservoirs forestry & military ranges. & he warns of future loss through blinkered tourist & property marketing. This is fine & funny polemic with a purpose by the author of " The Rough Guide to Wales."" ...

Neil Diamond has been responsible for writing some of the most memorable songs in pop music history & he has sold in excess of 120 million albums & has continued to reign as one of the Top 5 most successful solo artists in pop music. After years of anonymity in Tin Pan Alley churning out hits for other artistes Neil Diamond burst onto the scene in his own right in 1969 with ' Sweet Caroline.' However superstardom has come at a personal cost
- he is a star who has suffered periods of crippling self doubt. He is an intriguing blend of contradictions
- a massively charismatic dazzling live performer yet deeply introspective off stage. In this fascinating portrait his life his music & his passions are explored from his childhood struggle to get out of Brooklyn through five decades of global stardom to the present day. NEIL DIAMOND: THE BIOGRAPHY provides a definitive insight into one of the most enduring creative & prolific singer-songwriters of his generation exploring the complex man behind the glittering legend.

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Captain of Celtic & midfield enforcer for Northern Ireland Neil Lennon is one of the most controversial figures in British football. His story fully updated for the Celtic 2006/7 season in this paperback edition is an extraordinary tale of religious bigotry life-threatening career injury & tumultuous football success at club level. The first Northern Irish Roman Catholic to play for Celtic & to be chosen to captain his country Lennon was sensationally forced to quit the captaincy even before he took the field following death threats by Loyalist paramilitaries. In Northern Ireland the words Neil Lennon RIP were painted on a wall near his family home while in Scotland he has been the target of vicious verbal & physical assault by fans of Old Firm rivals Rangers
- including being mugged on the street & hung in effigy. Now he will give his side of these stories revealing in full the terrible consequences of the religious hatred that has tainted his career. Lennon will write of his Leicester years under Martin ONeill & how the Midlands club defied bigger rivals by maintaining their Premiership League status & winning two League Cups. He will also tell the inside story of Celtic under ONeill; how his GBP5 million transfer to Parkhead nearly didnt happen; his wrongful arrest on a club night out; lifting the domestic treble in a glorious first season with Celtic & the continued revival of the club to the point where they reached the UEFA Cup Final (narrowly losing out to a Jose Mourinho-inspired Porto); & his relationship with current boss Gordon Strachan. As he approaches the twilight of his playing career Lennon has decided the time is right to reveal all about his life on the field
- including his horrific spinal injury & his less than happy apprenticeships at Motherwell & Manchester City
- as well as his hitherto closely guarded private life including his battle with depression. Its a book that will shock football to its core.


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Originally conceived as a companion to the groundbreaking 2011 3-disc DVD set of the same name this book combines astonishingly detailed musical transcriptions historical writing instructional text & a beautiful collection of photographs to create a book that every drummer & every fan of Neil & Rush will want to add to their collection. At the heart of the book are note-for-note musical transcriptions of 17 songs that are included on the Taking Center Stage DVD". These transcriptions are exclusive to this book since they are taken from the performances on the DVD documenting how Neil currently approaches the songs. Some of the tracks included are " Tom Sawyer" " Red Barchetta" " The Spirit of Radio" " Free Will" " Subdivisions" " Time Stand Still" " Marathon" " La Villa Strangiato" " The Trees" " Caravan" "BU2B" " Far Cry" & many others. But this is much more than a mere transcription book. The book is divided into chapters corresponding to each & every Rush tour from the time Neil joined the band in 1975 up to the present. Each of these chapters contains extensive text discussing the musical approach of the band at the time the construction of the drum parts & Neils set up. Accompanying this are exquisitely detailed diagrams of each of Neils drumsets produced after extensive research into the exact instruments that were used on every tour. Tying everything together is a beautiful collection of dozens of photographs taken over the past 30 years including exclusive shots from the archives of Fin Costello & Andrew Mc Nauhgtan which show Neil & his drums in vivid detail. The book also contains color reproductions of just about every drum company advertisement that featured Neil during his career. Written transcribed & researched by well-known drummer author & educator Joe Bergamini (who also co-produced & appeared in the DVD) & overseen & edited by Neil himself " Taking Center Stage: A Lifetime of Live Performance" is the most complete accurate & definitive work on Neil Pearts career as a drummer." ...

Neil Young is a rock icon with a career unrivaled in its breadth innovation & success. This celebration of the man & his music tells the story of Youngs nearly six-decade rock n roll journey. UK author Mike Evans traces the singer/songwriters memorable work with Crazy Horse" " Buffalo Springfield" & Crosby Stills Nash & Young; his solo albums & tours; his activism particularly for green causes & Farm Aid & his personal life. Classic & rare images record artwork & contemporary press & marketing materials make this a sumptuous must-have volume for every fan." ...

Bill Brysons first travel book The Lost Continent was unanimously acclaimed as one of the funniest books in years. In Neither here Nor there he brings his unique brand of humour to bear on Europe as he shoulders his backpack keeps a tight hold on his wallet & journeys from Hamemrfest the northernmost town on the continent to istanbul on the cusp of Asia. Fluent in oh at least one language he retraces his travels as a student twenty years before. Whether braving the homicidal motorists of Paris being robbed by gypsies in Florence attempting not to order tripe & eyeballs in a German restaurant window-shopping in the sex shops of the Reeperbahn or disputing his hotel bill in Copenhagen Bryson takes in the sights dissects the culture & illuminates each place & person with his hilariously caustic observations. He even goes to Liechtenstein. ...

On 7 August 1915 in an ill-fated attempt to break the stalemate at Gallipoli hundreds of Australian light horsemen repeatedly charged the massed rifles & machine-guns of the Turkish soldiers. The charge at The Nek has been immortalised in art literature & film & has come to epitomise both the futility & courage of the Gallipoli campaign. In this classic book Peter Burness provides the best account ever published of the formation & training of the Light Horse regiments (including profiles of the officers involved) the battle itself & a careful consideration of how the suicidal charges were allowed to continue when any hope of success was lost. For this new edition the author has updated the text to include new information that has come to light since the book was first published in 1996 & he has also provided new maps & photographs. ...

I can never understand how the scribbles of such an ordinary person leading a shut-in dull life can possibly have value. So wrote Nella Last in her diary on 2 September 1949. Sixty years on tens of thousands of people have read & enjoyed the first two volumes of her diaries written during World War II & its aftermath as part of the Mass Observation project & the basis for BAFTA-winning drama Housewife 49" starring Victoria Wood. This third compelling volume sees Nella now in her sixties writing of what ordinary people felt during those years of growing prosperity in a flourishing & modernising Britain. Her diary offers a detailed moving & humorous narrative of the changing experiences of ordinary people at a time that shaped the society we live in today. It is an account thats full of surprises as we learn more about her relationship with my husband (never Will) & her fears of nuclear war. Outwardly Nellas life was commonplace; but behind this mask were a lively mind & a persistent pen. As David Kynaston said on Radio 4 she will come to be seen as one of the major twentieth century English diarists." ...

Outwardly Nella's life was probably seen as ordinary; but behind this mask were a lively mind & a persistent pen
- a pen that never
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In September 1939 housewife & mother Nella Last began a diary whose entries in their regularity length & quality have created a record of the Second World War which is powerful fascinating & unique. When war broke out Nella's younger son joined the army while the rest of the family tried to adapt to civilian life. Writing each day for the ' Mass Observation' project Nella a middle-aged housewife from the bombed town of Barrow shows what people really felt during this time. This was the period in which she turned 50 saw her children leave home & reviewed her life & her marriage
- which she eventually compares to slavery. Her growing confidence as a result of her war work makes this a moving (though often comic) testimony which covering sex death & fear of invasion provides a new unglamorised female perspective on the war years. ' Next to being a mother I'd have loved to write books'
- Oct 8 1939.

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