For the first time Tommy Coopers biographer writer & producer John Fisher collects between two covers the cream of the comedians personal archives with photographs memorabilia & documents that have never been seen before. Had Cooper kept a scrapbook this is what he would have produced. Souvenirs from his many stage & television triumphs jostle side by side with candid shots of him at play with his family many revealing a side to the man the public never really saw. Here is the authentic side of Tommy in the forces the early show business struggle the backstage world of his magic the newspaper coverage of the most recognisable man in Britain the crazy japes at home with wife Gwen & so much more. This book with its brilliant colour images & hilarious text puts the successive stages of Tommys life in full context. & if you dont want to follow his life in biographical detail just sit back & relax by laughing at the many jokes that crowd the pages. They tell their own story! ...

Youve heard of the lone ranger? Im his brother hydrangea! The other night I dreamt I was eating a ten-pound marshmallow. When I woke up the pillow had gone! My wife just phoned me. She said Ive got water in the carburettor. I said Wheres the car? She said In the river. I said to the doctor Doctor Im losing all sense of direction. What should I do? He said Get lost. Ive got a dog you know. I have. Hes a one-man dog. He only bites me. Tommy Cooper died on stage at Her Majestys Theatre London twenty-five years ago in April 1984 & is still revered today as probably the greatest comedian of the second half of the 20th century. More than just a comedian Tommy Cooper was a born entertainer. Working in a golden age of British comedy Cooper stood
- literally
- head & shoulders above the crowd & had a magical talent for humour that defied description. With a love of laughter stemming from a magic performance gone wrong when he was in his teens Cooper enlisted in the army in 1939 & began to perfect his comic timing on his army colleagues in the Egyptian desert. The man with the fez was born.

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For the first time the secret joke archives of the legendary comedian are opened up for all to enjoy. Relive the laughter with jokes on every subject from 'A for Absent-minded' to 'Z for Zoo'. Part of an ongoing series of books celebrating the Cooper legacy Tommy Cooper's Secret Joke Files" follows hot on the heels of John Fisher's bestselling " The Tommy Cooper Joke Book" & " Tommy Cooper's Mirth Magic & Mischief". It promises to be the funniest yet. Alphabet: My little boy learnt the alphabet. I said ' What comes after A?' He said ' All the rest of them!' Doctors: I said ' Doctor I keep getting these dizzy spells'. He said ' Vertigo?' I said ' No I only live up the road!' Facts of Life: When my wife was pregnant we went to see a baby doctor but he didn't know anything. He was only eight months old! Horses: I used to have a riding school but business kept falling off! Waiters: I said to the waiter ' There's no chicken in this chicken soup'. He said ' And there's no horse in the horseradish either'. Wives: ' The other night I had an argument with my wife in the launderette.. .but we went home & ironed things out'." ...

The first ever intimate portrait of Britain's best-loved but little known comedy entertainer. Fully authorised & written by Cooper's friend & colleague John Fisher. More than just a comedian Tommy Cooper was a born entertainer. Working in a golden age of British comedy Cooper stood
- literally
- head & shoulders above the crowd & had a magical talent for humour that defied description. But there was a man behind the laughter that few people saw. John Fisher was Cooper's friend & colleague & witnessed first-hand the moments of self-doubt & inadequacy that contrasted with the genial exterior. Until his tragic death on live television in 1984 Tommy Cooper lived in constant fear of the day he would be found out by his audience. He could never accept the accolades that came so thick & fast from every direction & died to the sounds of laughter that he never really believed. Supplementing his own intimate knowledge with material accessed for the first time from the archives of Cooper's agent & manager Miff Ferrie & with the full co-operation of the Cooper family John Fisher's warm honest & insightful writing skilfully brings alive the man behind the comedic mask in this definitive biography of a comedy legend.

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For soldiers in the Great War going over the top was a comparatively rare event; much more frequently they were bored & lonely & missing their families at home. Needing an outlet for their affection many found it in the animal kingdom. Tommys Ark" looks at the war through the eyes of the soldiers who were there & examines their relationship with a strange & unexpected range of animal life from horses dogs & cats to monkeys & birds
- even in one case a golden eagle. Animals became mascots
- some Welsh battalions had goats as mascots some of the Scots had donkeys. & then there were the animals & insects that excited curiosity amongst men drawn into the army from the industrial heartlands of Britain men who had little knowledge of let alone daily contact with wildlife. Civilians turned soldiers observed the natural world around them from the smallest woodlouse to voles mice & larger animals such as deer & rabbit. Richard van Emden explores his subject far more radically than previous attempts revealing how for example a lemur was taken on combat missions in the air a lion was allowed to pad down the front line trenches & how a monkey lost its leg during the fighting at Delville Wood on the Somme. It is illustrated with more than sixty previously unseen or rarely published photographs drawn mainly from the authors own extraordinary collection."

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Shall have to be about all night for have charge of this particular bit of trench. Have now made close acquaintance with the brilliant lights we have seen breaking over No Mans L&. They are fired from a large pistol one of which I have in my pocket now also a supply of cartridges for same. On anything the least bit suspicious happening out in front during the hours of darkness a shot from this pistol fired up in the air after the style of a rocket will produce a very brilliant light lasting over half a minute as it falls to the earth. It is a very useful affair for the imagination absolutely runs riot during the darkness. The night is hardly half gone but have used 12 or 14 cartridges already to convince the boys that there is nothing moving out there". Lance Corporal Henry Buckles drawings & writings are a window onto the Western Front as one man saw it. His charming colour sketches are a rare & exquisite insight into trench life that cannot fail to amuse & move the observer. This book truly means that you can experience the Great War at first h&." ...

The bestselling author of the nostalgic classics OUR KID & KATES STORY has based his engaging new novel on the fascinating & inspiring life of his father Tommy born in a Manchester slum in 1886 Tommy Hopkins early years arent very promising. Born at the end of the nineteenth century in a slum district of Manchester hes blessed with a loving hard-working mam & dad but they dont have two hapennies to rub together. The family is struck by tragedy not once but twice
- but Tommy is a survivor. He quickly makes friends at school & together they plot money-making schemes settle scores & play lots of football. Then at last its time to leave the playground behind. Denied the chance of a promising career as an engineer Tommy finds employment at Manchesters Smithfield market & works his way up finally becoming a porter. Hes turning into a man & amongst the young women who catch his eye is Kate Lally who may just be the love of his life...
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There is a reason why Stephen King is one of the bestselling writers in the world ever. Described in the Daily Express as a fabulous teller of stories Stephen King writes books that draw you in & are impossible to put down. Everything is familiar. But everything has changed. Coming back to the little community is like walking into a nightmare for Jim Gardener poet drunk potential suicide. It all looks the same the house the furniture Jims friend Bobbi her beagle (though ageing) even the woods out at the back. But it was in the woods that Bobbi stumbled over the odd part-buried object & felt a peculiar tingle as she brushed the soft earth away. Everything is familiar. But everything is about to change. ...

Tomorrow we ride. thats what my brother Louison & I used to say as we arranged to meet: every day while we were racing cyclists & then just on Sundays when we werent competing any more. We kept on riding until the end of his life because even then
- especially then perhaps
- we always understood each other best on bikes. We had always needed a bike beneath us. In the words of the song we took the high road & the low road: in cycling the glory days always have less glorious ones on their tail. Thanks to Louison I had the good fortune to ride with him through the golden years the 50s: the years of post-war reconstruction of Coppi & Bartali of Kubler & Koblet of Gaul & Van Steenbergen Anquetil & Darrigade. These are names that speak of the aristocracy of cycling & the fierceness of the competition. Every day Louison & I took pleasure in cycling together whether on our intimate journeys through Brittany or the Alps or in the frenzy of the Tour de France or Giro d Italia." Jean Bobet. Jean Bobets book is not so much a biography of his superstar brother Louison nor his own autobiography but rather an account of the intermingling of their two lives. & what lives
- Louison triple Tour de France winner & World Champion & Jean (no mean rider himself) who gave up an academic career to ride in the service of his brother in pursuit of sporting glory. Set in the period after the war this story brings alive the romance of the great races & the star riders of the day whose exploits lifted the public spirit after years of conflict & economic hardship."


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For Alan Carter the greatest personal sacrifice of the Great War of 1914-18 is being called-up after only one week of marriage. Leaving his new bride is even more painful than the wound that months later interrupts his war at sea & sends him to Cornwall to convalesce. For there he has time to think about Dora & about the career as a writer that he secretly nurtures. A career that seems possible when he finds himself accepted by the established colony of Newlyn artists. There is one artist in particular
- Vicky Hazleton
- who encourages Alans leanings towards the arts. & she stirs other feelings: inappropriate & impossible ones. For Vicky & her set inhabit a different world from Alan. He as one of Vickys friends makes clear belongs to Londons East End
- & to Dora.. .


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