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Handling Edna: The Unauthorised Biography
by Barry HumphriesThe real story behind Dame Edna, the international superstar!In this unauthorised biography of Dame Edna Everage, acquired for an unprecedented advance and in spectacular secrecy, her long-time manager and the man who was there from the very beginning, Barry Humphries, takes a behind-the-scenes, no-holds-barred look at an icon of our times. Superstar, swami, confidante and advisor to royalty, Hollywood stars and international political leaders, Dame Edna's life has catapulted her from her humble Moonee Ponds beginnings as a suburban housewife to the most elite social and artistic circles in the world. Who would have thought that this modest Australian woman could achieve so much from London to Louisiana to New York to Tokyo? Who could have anticipated her global fame? Barry Humphries certainly didn't.Dame Edna may not like this book but Barry knows everything - the who, the why and the where - and in this much-anticipated work, for the first time, he reveals all. This exhaustively researched account of Edna's roller-coaster life is essential reading for scholars, female achievers, fans of Dame Edna and those who feel that behind the fairytale career lies a darker and more sinister story...
The Handmade House: A Love Story Set in Concrete
by Geraldine Bedell"We didn't intend to build a house. We just wanted to move - somewhere a bit bigger, with more of a garden: commonplace enough ambitions, especially for families with young children, especially in Britain, where property is wealth, and so, in some vague and unexamined sense, identity. Not that we were thinking about anything like that." The true and very funny story of how journalist, Geraldine Bedell and her husband Charlie Leadbeater, with no savings and no knowledge of architecture nearly make themselves bankrupt in an attempt to build their dream home. Far more than that, it's about the ultimate fantasy - creating your own made to measure living space. The Handmade House tells the story, alternately comical and horrifying, of one family's ambitious and inept attempt to build the perfect home.
The Handoff: A Memoir of Two Guys, Sports, and Friendship
by John TournourJohn Tournour, known to his many listeners and fans as JT the Brick, is one of the biggest sports radio personalities in America. Making it as a sports radio host is almost impossible, and JT went about it in a fearless way, leaving a lucrative position as a Merrill Lynch stockbroker to pursue his dream. But Tournour's hardest challenge would come when his best friend and mentor, Andrew Ashwood was diagnosed with cancer.THE HANDOFF is about JT the Brick's rise to sports radio stardom, and how his entire view of life changed as his best friend fought a losing battle to a deadly disease. As Andrew heroically endured chemotherapy treatment after treatment, Tournour was at his side, marveling at his friend's bravery and trying to be there for him as best he could. THE HANDOFF is about facing your fears, the power of connection, and the incredible lessons Tournour learned from his dear friend.
Hands of an Angel
by Helen Parry JonesHelen Parry Jones has been a professional spiritual healer and empathic medium for thirty years. She has filled theatres and auditoriums and appeared on radio and TV. But this is the first time she has told her incredible story.'Helen Parry Jones' turbulent journey to embracing her gift is sincere and elevating' Daily Express'... the reaction to her was phenomenal, I do mean phenomenal. We have been at this a very long time now and we know the difference between phenomenal and phenomenal!!' Gay Byrne, The Late Late Show
Hands on Hearts: A Physio's Tale
by Alan RaeAlan Rae was the physio at Hearts for over 20 years. He joined the club in 1982, languishing in the First Division and looking at the prospect of part time football. In that time he has seen 8 managers come and go as well as 3 owners and too many players to mention. Six years after leaving 'The Jambos' he has penned a memoir of his time at Hearts. He has anecdotes about home games, European games and even pre and post season tours abroad. Woven into these memories is the medical knowledge of a true professional, from players suffering career threatening injuries to managers for whom the pain of losing is physical as well as mental. BACK COVER: As Heart of Midlothian FC's physiotherapist, Alan Rae was a vital member of the Tynecastle backroom staff for more than two decades. He was one of the few constants during a tumultuous period in the club's rich history and his behind-the-scenes recollections will fascinate and entertain in equal measure. From international superstars to mischievous boot-room boys, Rae shares his unique insight into the life of a great Scottish football institution. Hands on Hearts is a must-read for football fans everywhere - Jambos or otherwise -and for anyone who has ever wondered about the healing properties of the physio's magic sponge!
Hands Up!: A Year in the Life of an Inner City School Teacher
by Oenone Crossley-HollandWhen Oenone Crossley-Holland started teaching at an inner city school in London, she had no idea what to expect. She just knew that there was no going back. She would have one of the most challenging and overwhelming years of her life, in which she would get involved in the lives of some wonderfully - and sometimes horrifyingly - exuberant students, and find herself tested to the limit. In this colourful and moving account, Oenone tells of the lows and unexpected highs of the sharper end of teaching. Will she make it through the year? Will she make it through another day? HANDS UP! is for anyone who's ever worked in a school or thought about teaching. It also gives a very clear answer to those who still believe that those who can't, teach.
Handstands In The Dark: A True Story of Growing Up and Survival
by Janey GodleyBrought up amid near-Dickensian squalour in the tough East End of Glasgow and sexually abused by her uncle, Janey married into a Glasgow criminal family as a teenager, then found herself having to cope with the murder of her mother, violence, religious sectarianism, abject poverty and a frightening family of in-laws.First-hand, Janey saw the gangland violence and met extraordinary characters within an enclosed and seldom-revealed Glasgow underworld - from the grim and far-from-Swinging 60s, to the discos of the 70s, to the tidal wave of heroin addiction which swept through and engulfed Glasgow's East End during the 1980s.This evocative, intimate and moving portrayal of a woman forced to fight every day for her family's future will strike a chord with anyone who has ever struggled against adversity.
Hanging by a Thread: What would it take to walk away from your dream life in Monaco and a global, multi-million-dollar business?
by Erin DeeringWind back the clock on any Australian or New Zealand woman in her thirties or forties today and you'd probably find a Triangl bikini tucked away in her swimwear drawer. The uniquely neoprene, colour-blocked bikinis were the summer accessory season after season. Yet as customers snapped selfies at the beach, one woman was holed up in a smog-filled Hong Kong apartment, living on canned soup, battling twenty-hour days and debilitating depression, trying to make it all happen.Hanging by a Thread takes a vulnerable deep dive into success and the challenge of caring for your mental health while in pursuit of your dreams. From getting scammed out of $50,000, trying to illegally cross the border into China, meeting with elite private equity firms with a three-month-old baby in tow and even experiencing the Kardashian-Jenner-kiss-of-death, Hanging By A Thread shares what it was really like behind the closed doors of one of Australia's young start-up success stories, and to be a woman on the edge of a nervous breakdown.
Hanging Man: The Arrest of Ai Weiwei
by Barnaby MartinIn October 2010, Ai Weiwei's Sunflower Seeds appeared in the Turbine Hall in the Tate Modern. Six months later, he was arrested in China and held for over two months in terrible conditions. The most famous living Chinese artist and activist, Ai Weiwei is a figure of extraordinary talent, courage and integrity. From the beginning of his career, he has spoken out against the world's greatest totalitarian regime, in part by creating some of the most beautiful and mysterious artworks of our age, works which have touched millions around the world.After Weiwei's release, Barnaby Martin dodged the secret police to interview him about his imprisonment and his intentions. Based on these interviews and Martin's own intimate connections with China, Hanging Man is an exploration of Ai Weiwei's life, art and activism. It is a rich picture of the man and his beliefs, what he is trying to communicate with his art, and of his campaign for democracy and accountability in China. It is a book about courage and hope found in the absence of freedom and justice. 'Hanging Man is the most detailed, comprehensive and eloquent English-language account of what happens these days to Chinese political prisoners . . . [an] invaluable book' Literary Review
Hanging Ned Kelly: Elijah Upjohn, the hangmen and the underbelly of colonial Australia
by Michael AdamsIn Hanging Ned Kelly, Elijah Upjohn's tale becomes the rusty scalpel that slices open the underbelly of colonial Victoria. Written by Michael Adams, creator of the acclaimed podcast Forgotten Australia, this is an odyssey into an infernal underworld seething with serial killers, clueless cops, larrikin vigilantes, renegade reporters, racist settlers, furious fallen women and cunning waxworks showmen. Looming over them all: the depraved hangmen paid to execute convicted men and women - some of them innocent or unfairly condemned - in Melbourne before it was marvellous.
Hanging On: A life inside British climbing's golden age
by Martin BoysenThe start of a love affair. 'I kicked off my shoes and prepared to climb in stocking feet, aware of an enormous sense of occasion as I laid hands on the rock and stepped up on the first rounded hold. It was not a hard climb but that was unimportant. I felt instinctively at home and at the finish experienced such a surge of happy elation that I knew then I was committed to climbing.' Martin Boysen's passion for crags and mountains springs from his deep love of nature and a strong sense of adventure. From his early days on rock as a Kent schoolboy after the war, he was soon among the most gifted climbers of his or any generation, famed for his silky technique. Boysen made a huge contribution to British rock climbing, especially in North Wales; he discovered Gogarth in the 1960s and climbed some of the best new routes of his era: Nexus on Dinas Mot, The Skull on Cyrn Las and the magisterial Capital Punishment on Ogwen's Suicide Wall. For more than two decades, Boysen was also one of Britain's leading mountaineers. A crucial member of Sir Chris Bonington's team that climbed the South Face of Annapurna in 1970, Boysen was also part of Bonington's second summit team on the South West face of Everest. In 1976 he made the first ascent of Trango Tower with Joe Brown. Along the way, Boysen climbed with some of the most important figures in the history of the sport, not just stars like Bonington and Brown, but those who make climbing so rich and intriguing, like Nea Morin and the brilliant but doomed Gary Hemming. He joined Hamish MacInnes hunting gold in Ecuador, doubled for Clint Eastwood on the North Face of the Eiger and worked on director Fred Zinnemann's last movie. Wry, laconic and self-deprecating, Martin Boysen's Hanging On is an insider's account of British climbing's golden age.
Hanging with the Elephant: A Story of Love, Loss and Meditation
by Michael Harding'A compelling memoir. Absorbing and graced with a deceptive lightness of touch, [Hanging with the Elephant] is clever and brilliantly pieced together. Harding writes like an angel' Sunday TimesFrom the No.1 bestselling author of Staring at Lakes, Talking to Strangers and On Tuesdays I'm A Buddhist'In public or on stage, it's different. I'm fine. I have no bother talking to three hundred people, and sharing my feelings. But when I'm in a room on a one-to-one basis, I get lost. I can never find the right word. Except for that phrase - hold me.'Michael Harding's wife has departed for a six-week trip, and he has been left alone in their home in Leitrim. Faced with the realities of caring for himself for the first time since his illness two years before, Harding endeavours to tame the 'elephant' - an Asian metaphor for the unruly mind. As he does, he finds himself finally coming to terms with the death of his mother - a loss that has changed him more than he knows.Funny, searingly honest and profound, Hanging with the Elephant pulls back the curtain and reveals what it is really like to be alive.
Hani: A Life too Short
by Janet Smith Beauregard Tromp‘This is an excellent portrayal of the Chris I knew. Not one word of exaggeration, so large was Chris. His contribution to our freedom is inestimable.’ – Mavuso Msimang, ANC veteran and former member of the military high command of uMkhonto we SizweChris Hani’s assassination in 1993 gave rise to two of South Africa’s greatest political questions. If he had survived, what impact would he have had on the ANC government? And could this charismatic man have risen to become president of the country?In the 30th anniversary year of his murder by right-wing fanatics, this updated version of the seminal biography of Hani re-evaluates his legacy and traces his life from his childhood in rural Transkei to the crisis in the ANC camps in the 1980s and the perilous last 36 months he spent back home rallying for South Africa’s freedom.Drawing on interviews with those who knew him, this vividly written book provides a detailed account of the life of a hero of South Africa’s liberation, who was both an intellectual and a fighter.
Hanif Kureishi: Writing the self: A biography
by Ruvani RanasinhaOriginal, bold and always funny, Hanif Kureishi is one of Britain’s most popular, provocative and versatile writers.Born in Bromley in 1954 to an Indian father and white British mother, Kureishi’s life is intimately bound up with the history of immigration and social change in Britain. This is the story of how a mixed-raced child of empire who attended the local comprehensive school found success with a remarkable series of novels and screenplays, including My Beautiful Laundrette and The Buddha of Suburbia, Intimacy, Venus and Le Week-End. The book also illuminates a larger story, not only of the artist as a young man, but of the recasting of Britain in the aftermath of decolonisation.Drawing on journals, letters and manuscripts from Kureishi’s unexplored archive, recently acquired by the British Library, and informed by interviews with his family, friends and collaborators, as well with the writer himself, Ruvani Ranasinha sheds new light on how his life animates his work. This first biography offers a vivid portrait of a major talent who has inspired a new generation of writers.
Hanif Kureishi: Writing the self: A biography
by Ruvani RanasinhaOriginal, bold and always funny, Hanif Kureishi is one of Britain’s most popular, provocative and versatile writers.Born in Bromley in 1954 to an Indian father and white British mother, Kureishi’s life is intimately bound up with the history of immigration and social change in Britain. This is the story of how a mixed-raced child of empire who attended the local comprehensive school found success with a remarkable series of novels and screenplays, including My Beautiful Laundrette and The Buddha of Suburbia, Intimacy, Venus and Le Week-End. The book also illuminates a larger story, not only of the artist as a young man, but of the recasting of Britain in the aftermath of decolonisation.Drawing on journals, letters and manuscripts from Kureishi’s unexplored archive, recently acquired by the British Library, and informed by interviews with his family, friends and collaborators, as well with the writer himself, Ruvani Ranasinha sheds new light on how his life animates his work. This first biography offers a vivid portrait of a major talent who has inspired a new generation of writers.
Hank Williams: The Biography
by William MacEwen Colin Escott George Merritt- Long considered the last word on Hank Williams, this biography has remained continuously in print since its first publication in 1994.- This new edition has been completely updated and includes many previously unpublished photographs, as well as a complete catalog detailing all the songs Hank Williams ever wrote, even those he never recorded.- Colin Escott is codirector and cowriter of the forth-coming two-hour PBS/BBC television documentary on Hank Williams, set to broadcast in spring 2004, and coauthor of "Hank Williams: Snapshots from the Lost Highway.- HANK WILLIAMS was the third-prize winner of the prestigious Ralph J. Gleason Music Book Award.
Hanna Schygulla (Film Stars)
by Ulrike SieglohrOne of the most celebrated figures of the New German Cinema, Hanna Schygulla acquired transnational stardom through her work with a range of directors in different national cinemas and languages.This absorbing study charts Schygulla's career and star persona from her early days as a member of Rainer Werner Fassbinder's experimental anti-teater group to her work with eminent European auteurs, including Jean-Luc Godard, Andrzej Wajda and, more recently, Fatih Akin. It also discusses her reinvention as an acclaimed cabaret chanteuse. Unpicking the myth that Schygulla's star persona depended on her collaboration with Fassbinder, Ulrike Sieglohr examines how her versatile and idiosyncratic acting style developed throughout her career. With in-depth analysis of key films and their international receptions, Sieglohr foregrounds Schygulla's individual agency, resourcefulness and talent.
Hannah’s Choice: A Little Girl's Failing Heart, An Impossible Decision, An Unbreakable Bond
by Kirsty Jones Hannah JonesThe moving and inspirational true story of one little girl's battle against the medical odds and a mother's unwavering love for her daughter.
Hannah’s Gift: Lessons From A Life Fully Lived
by Maria HousdenTransformative lessons in life learnt through a remarkable three-year-old girl's battle with cancer. From Hannah's story emerge five profound lessons – of truth, joy, faith, compassion and wonder – that have the power to change our lives.
Hannibal: A Hellenistic Life
by Eve MacDonaldHannibal lived a life of incredible feats of daring and survival, massive military engagements, and ultimate defeat. A citizen of Carthage and military commander in Punic Spain, he famously marched his war elephants and huge army over the Alps into Rome’s own heartland to fight the Second Punic War. Yet the Romans were the ultimate victors. They eventually captured and destroyed Carthage, and thus it was they who wrote the legend of Hannibal: a brilliant and worthy enemy whose defeat represented military glory for Rome. In this groundbreaking biography Eve MacDonald expands the memory of Hannibal beyond his military feats and tactics. She considers him in the wider context of the society and vibrant culture of Carthage which shaped him and his family, employing archaeological findings and documentary sources not only from Rome but also the wider Mediterranean world of the third century B.C. MacDonald also analyzes Hannibal’s legend over the millennia, exploring how statuary, Jacobean tragedy, opera, nineteenth-century fiction, and other depictions illuminate the character of one of the most fascinating military personalities in all of history.
Hannibal's Oath: The Life and Wars of Rome's Greatest Enemy
by John PrevasAccording to the ancient sources, Hannibal was nine years old when his father led him to the temple at Carthage and dipped the young boy's hands in the blood of the sacrificial victim. Before those gods, Hannibal swore an oath of eternal hatred toward Rome.Few images in history have managed to capture and hold the popular imagination quite like that of Hannibal, the fearless North African, perched on a monstrous elephant, leading his mercenaries over the Alps, and then, against all odds, descending the ice-covered peaks to challenge Rome in her own backyard for mastery of the ancient world. It was a bold move, and it established Hannibal as one of history's greatest commanders. But this same brilliant tactician is also one of history's most tragic figures; fate condemned him to win his battles but not his war against Rome.An internationally recognized expert on Hannibal for nearly thirty years, historian John Prevas has visited every Hannibal-related site and mountain pass, from Tunisia to Italy, Spain to Turkey, seeking evidence to dispel the myths surrounding Hannibal's character and his wars.Hannibal's Oath is an easily readable yet comprehensive biography of this iconic military leader--an epic account of a monumental and tragic life.
Hanns and Rudolf: The German Jew and the Hunt for the Kommandant of Auschwitz
by Thomas Harding_____________________________________THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLERWINNER OF THE JQ WINGATE PRIZE 2015SHORTLISTED FOR THE COSTA BIOGRAPHY AWARD'A gripping thriller, an unspeakable crime, an essential history.' JOHN LE CARRÉ_____________________________________Hanns Alexander was the son of a prosperous German family who fled Berlin for London in the 1930s, becoming an investigator of war crimes. Rudolf Höss was a farmer and soldier who became the Kommandant of Auschwitz Concentration Camp and oversaw the deaths of over a million men, women and children.The hunt was on.In the aftermath of the Second World War, the first British War Crimes Investigation Team is assembled to hunt down the senior Nazi officials responsible for the greatest atrocities the world has ever seen. Lieutenant Hanns Alexander is one of the lead investigators, Rudolf Höss his most elusive target.In this book Thomas Harding reveals for the very first time the full account of Höss’ capture. Moving from the Middle-Eastern campaigns of the First World War to bohemian Berlin in the 1920s, to the horror of the concentration camps and the trials in Belsen and Nuremberg, Hanns and Rudolf tells the story of two German men whose lives diverged, and intersected, in an astonishing way.
Hans Christian Andersen: European Witness
by Paul BindingRarely does an American or European child grow up without an introduction to Hans Christian Andersen’s "The Ugly Duckling," "The Princess and the Pea," or "Thumbelina." Andersen began publishing his fairy tales in 1835, and they brought him almost immediate acclaim among Danish and German readers, followed quickly by the French, Swedes, Swiss, Norwegians, British, and Americans. Ultimately he wrote more than 150 tales. And yet, Paul Binding contends in this incisive book, Andersen cannot be confined to the category of writings for children. His work stands at the very heart of mainstream European literature. The author considers the entire scope of Andersen’s prose, from his juvenilia to his very last story. He shows that Andersen’s numerous novels, travelogues, autobiographies, and even his fairy tales (notably addressed not to children but to adults) earned a vast audience because they distilled the satisfactions, tensions, hopes, and fears of Europeans as their continent emerged from the Napoleonic Wars. The book sheds new light on Andersen as an intellectual, his rise to international stardom, and his connections with other eminent European writers. It also pays tribute to Andersen’s enlightened values-values that ensure the continuing appeal of his works.
Hans Holbein: Portrait of an Unknown Man
by Derek WilsonOne of the greatest artists of the Renaissance, Hans Holbein the Younger was also a complex and fascinating man who knew Erasmus, Thomas More, Henry VIII and many of the sixteenth century's wielders of power and influence. He developed his own distinctive attitudes towards religion, politics and social life as he moved among stalwart burghers, merchant adventurers and the bejewelled denizens of a glittering court.The Elizabethan artist Nicolas Hilliard recognised him as 'the greatest Master in [portraiture] that ever was'. Yet the range of Holbein's talent went far beyond painting likenesses. He was constantly in demand for trompe-l'oeil murals and intricate jewellery designs, and he revolutionized book illustration. He produced Catholic altarpieces and Protestant propaganda engravings, woodcuts and drawings depicting the stories of the bible.In this fascinating biography, acclaimed historian Derek Wilson gives a fresh account of Holbein's motives and paintings, suggesting that they included coded signals and propaganda about political figures of the time. Hans Holbein: Portrait of an Unknown Man is a controversial reinterpretation which presents the artist as a man inextricably bound up in the stirring events of a creative and turbulent age.