The definitive life story of the seventies world 500cc motorcycle champion Barry Sheene – the Brit whose death-defying crashes and playboy lifestyle made him the most famous bike racer on the planet. Written by the only journalist to have ridden on the roads with him, and featuring interviews with closest friends, team mates and former rivals.Born in London's East End in 1950, Sheene was introduced to motor sport at the age of five, with his fat ...
The ebook edition of Nigel Mansell’s bestselling autobiography is an absorbing account of one man's rollercoaster ride to the top.Nigel Mansell is one of motor racing's all-time greats. An ordinary bloke who took on the best and most ruthless drivers in the world's most glamorous sport and won; the epitome of speed, daring and sheer bloody determination.His refusal to be beaten endeared him to millions, but few inside the sport or outside it hav ...
First published in 1997 and now available as an ebook.Two years after arriving in London, Ruud Gullit took English football by storm, not only revolutionising Chelsea Football Club but helping to transform the image of the Premier League so that it now attracts the best footballers from all over the world.Not that it was plain sailing for Chelsea’s player-manager throughout his career. In between winning European Cups with AC Milan and a Europea ...
The intriguing story of how wireless was invented by Guglielmo Marconi – and how it amused Queen Victoria, saved the lives of the Titanic survivors, tracked down criminals and began the radio revolution.Wireless was the most fabulous invention of the 19th century: the public thought it was magic, the popular newspapers regarded it as miraculous, and the leading scientists of the day (in Europe and America) could not understand how it worked. In ...
A major biography of Michael Faraday (1791–1867), one of the giants of 19th century science and discoverer of electricity who was at the centre of an extraordinary scientific renaissance in London.Faraday’s life was truly inspirational. Son of a Yorkshire blacksmith who moved to London in 1789, he was a self-made, self-educated man whose public life was underpinned by his devotion to a minor Christian sect (the Sandemanians) and to his wife. He ...
An updated edition of Ben Pimlott’s classic biography of the Queen: ‘There is no better biography of Elizabeth II.’ PETER HENNESSY, Independent on SundayThe royal family have been through a tumultuous decade, but with the wedding of Prince William to Kate Middleton, Prince Philip’s 90th birthday and the forthcoming Diamond Jubilee celebrations, there is renewed interest and appreciation of our monarchy. The Queen is an in-depth look at the woman ...
This edition does not include illustrations.This explosive biography of the Prince of Wales set media headlines alight on hardback publication. Now available complete with an updated epilogue, it will change the way you think about Charles, his Princess and his mistress.As the Prince of Wales turned fifty at the end of 1998, the media focused on the publication of Charles: Victim or Villain?, Penny Junor’s controversial biography of the heir to ...
The life of the spiritual pugilist and eminent Scottish Cardinal Thomas Winning, leader of Scotland’s Catholics until his death in June 2001.Stephen McGinty tells for the first time the full life story of Cardinal Thomas Winning, arguably the most controversial and pugnacious archbishop in recent British history.Cardinal Winning’s father was an unemployed miner in Lanarkshire, whose illegitimate birth remained a family secret Winning took to his ...
The most authoritative, comprehensive, perceptive biography of R. L. Stevenson to date, using for the first time his collected correspondence – which has been unavailable to all previous writers.The short life of Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-94) was as adventurous as almost anything in his fiction: his travels, illness, struggles to become a writer, relationships with his volatile wife and step-family, friendships and quarrels have fascinated re ...