Beautiful damaged the ultimate sex symbol publicly celebrated privately unhappy
- Marilyn Monroe's tumultuous life & untimely death
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Neil Mc Kenna argues that our view of Oscar Wilde even after Ellmans magisterial volume is determined by Victorian sentimentality. In his own much more modern version of Wildes story he is not only extremely promiscuous but also a sort of campaigner for sexual freedom. He reveals for example that Wildes relationship with Lord Alfred Douglas was not an idealistic doting on a beautiful boy but that Bosie was the more dominant experienced of the two who used to go out hunting together for young boys. Wildes last days in Paris were not Mc Kenna shows miserable & defeated; Paris was for him an idyllic sensual & intellectual playground free from the narrowness of London. ...

Colin Tudges The Secret Life of Trees: How they Live & Why they Matter" explores the hidden role of trees in our everyday lives
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The greatest writer of them all brought to glorious life. How well do you know the man you love? How much do you think you know about Shakespeare? What if they were one & the same? He is an ordinary man: unwilling craftsman ambitious actor resentful son almost good-enough husb&. & he is also a genius. The story of how a glove-maker from Warwickshire became the greatest writer of them all is vaguely known to most of us but it would take an exceptional modern novelist to bring him to life. & now at last Jude Morgan acclaimed author of Passion & The Taste of Sorrow has taken Shakespeares life & created a masterpiece. ...

Behind the celebrated code-breaking at Bletchley Park lies another secret... The men & women of the 'Y' (for Wireless') Service were sent out across the world to run listening stations from Gibraltar to Cairo intercepting the German military's encrypted messages for decoding back at the now-famous Bletchley Park mansion. Such wartime postings were life-changing adventures
- travel out by flying boat or Indian railways snakes in filing cabinets & heat so intense the perspiration ran into your shoes
- but many of the secret listeners found lifelong romance in their far-flung corner of the world. Now drawing on dozens of interviews with surviving veterans Sinclair Mc Kay tells their remarkable story at last.

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To the dismay of her ambitious mother Bolanle marries into a polygamous family where she is the fourth wife of a rich rotund patriarch Baba Segi. She is a graduate & therefore a great prize but even graduates must produce children & her husbands persistent bellyache is a sign that things are not as they should be. Bolanle is too educated for the white garment conmen Baba Segi would usually go to for fertility advice so he takes her to hospital to discover the cause of her barrenness. Weaving the voices of Baba Segi & his four competing wives into a portrait of a clamorous household of twelve Lola Shoneyin evokes an extraordinary Nigerian family in splashes of vibrant colour. ...

Britains birds are among the best loved in the world & also among the best studied. In recent times these studies rather like tabloid exclusives have thrown up some surprising revelations & sullied a few reputations in the process. They have above all demonstrated that many of our birds lead much more complex lives than we previously thought. Following in the footsteps of the bestselling Secret Lives of Garden Birds this trip around Britains principal habitats looks beyond the confines of our gardens & parks to expose the extraordinary hidden world of some our most familiar birds. We learn the secrets of romance from Mute Swans meet the perfect father in the Guillemot the estranged couple (of Chiffchaffs) who share the same territory & enter the bizarre high-rise society of the Dotterel in which women rule. We also meet the ultimate killers both by day (Peregrine) & by night (Barn Owl) & encounter the only true living monster in Scotl&. At the same time we find out how all these birds cope with living in seemingly inhospitable habitats such as muddy estuaries lonely moorland or open ocean. Dominic Couzens is an acclaimed writer & bird tour leader whose popular monthly columns in BBC Wildlife & Birdwatching magazines have brought a fresh & dynamic approach to writing about birds & birdwatching. His previous publications include Identifying Birds by Behaviour & Secret Lives of Garden Birds. Peter Partingtons painting is widely admired for the uniquely vibrant & fluid style in which he captures the essence of bird behaviour. His previous publications include Learn to Draw Birds & Secret Lives of Garden Birds. Whether its the duplicitous love-life of certain male Pied Flycatchers or the fragile pair-bonding of Dottorel plenty of sexy secrets are revealed. Birds Illustrated Spring 2007 ...

There is no wildlife closer to us than that found in our gardens
- or indeed in our houses
- so it follows that many of those

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Postsecret.com founder Frank Warren is back with an irresistible addition to his hugely popular Post Secret series. For The Secret Lives of Men & Women Warren has selected a never-before-seen collection of postcards bearing the explosive confessions & captivating revelations of men & women everywhere. Created using photographs collages illustrations & more the handmade cards offer a compelling dialogue on some of todays most provocative topics from marriage & infidelity to parenting office politics repressed fantasies & even abortion; daring us to consider how well we really know our friends family even ourselves. ...

This is a book for the observant & the curious. A book for people who take in their surroundings & wonder at the smallest detail: why? Above all its a book about numbers
- those that surround us every day & the intriguing stories behind them. From the 7-day week to 24-carat gold Chanel Number 5 to five-star luxury The Secret Lives of Numbers" figures out the mysterious background to the numbers we encounter on a daily basis. Revealing the facts behind those figures author Michael Millar outlines where to spot each digit what it means & how it came to be in meticulously researched & entertaining entries creating an absorbing & intelligent book thats perfect for any numbers fan. Its as easy as 1 2 3... Entries include: sports shirt numbers firearms calibres TV ratings football rankings poker scores suncream factors A4 paper & more."
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