In 1997, controversial TV star Paula Yates discovered that her true father was not, as she had believed, disgraced television personality Jess Yates, but the man who had destroyed his career--Hughie Green. Devastated, she approached Green's son, Christopher, in an effort to unravel the mystery behind her two 'fathers'. Hughie Green was a huge showbiz figure and probably the first star of British TV. His show, Opportunity Knocks, launched the career of Les Dawson and many others. Christopher Green's investigation, which forms the heart of this extraordinary book, uncovered many of the dark and deeply buried secrets that Paula Yates, tragically, never lived to hear.
Helene Thornton has lived a life of unequalled passion and hartache. In her fascinating memoirs she gives the definitive account of her daughter Paula Yates really was. From frail, lonely schoolgirl to voluptuous star of the stage and screen, wife, mother, lover, author and artist, in this dramtic autobiography. After a tough childhood in bleak post-war Blackpool where she suffered from bouts of debilitating sickness, at the hands of cruel bullies and from the impact of her mother's mential illness, Helene blossomed into a renowned beauty and went on to win Miss Blackpool 1954 where she first encountered TV producer and presenter Jess Yates. Joining the famous dancing troupe the Bluebell Girls, Helene toured Europe where she broke hearts and honed her dancing and acting skills before being reunited with Jess and embarking on a whirlwind and frequently steamy romance. After mere months, however, the fairy-tale marriage took a sinister and violent turn with Helene discovering one too many of Jess' secrets, and was forced to leave her husband with baby Paula in tow, as she battled life as a single mother, roaming Britain and then Europe in search of happiness and fulfillment. Writing candidly about the difficult mother-daughter relationship, Helene reveals her anguish at Paula's unsettled infancy and early signs of mental illness. She sets the record straight about one of Britain's best-loved - but least understood - stars, fondly recalling Paula's joy on meeting Bob Geldof, and writing of the childhood incidents that formed her relationships with family, friends and assoicates and the press. For the first time, she discusses the circumstances that lead to the revelation that Paula's true father was Hughie Green, and discloses the identities of some of her most cherished lovers. Explosive, moving, frank, but above all honest, Big Girls Don't Cry is a no-holds-barred account of the exciting highs and gut-wrenching lows of a life lived to a full.
Belinda Brewin has experienced more in her life than most people ever will. Never far away from trouble, she recently made the headlines when, having started a new job, her boss and his family were murdered and, in a sickening twist of fate, the prime suspect turned out to be the man who claimed to be in love with her. Even more disturbingly, it transpired that the bodies of the victims had been temporarily buried in her back garden.By the time the book is published, Belinda will have given evidence as a key witness at the trial. Her colourful life has also included being best friend and confidante to Paula Yates, being arrested with a car boot full of cocaine and subsequently being exonerated at her trial. This is a breath-taking and scandalous read.
Here are the facts, divulged in painful and deeply moving detail, and told with an intimacy that could only be disclosed by one caught in the centre of the storm.
Police officers shot . . . judges murdered . . . and Detective Michael Bennett is the killer's next target. Detective Michael Bennett arrests an infamous Mexican crime lord in a deadly chase that leaves Bennett's lifelong friend dead. From jail, the prisoner vows to rain epic violence down upon New York City-and to get revenge on Michael Bennett. To escape the chaos, Bennett takes his ten kids and their beautiful nanny, Mary Catherine, on a much-needed vacation to his family's cabin near Newburgh, New York. But instead of the calm and happy town he remembers from growing up, they step into a nightmare worse than they could have ever imagined. Newburgh is an inferno of warring gangs, and there's little the police-or Bennett-can do to keep the children safe. As violence overwhelms the state, Bennett is torn between protecting his hometown and saving New York City. A partner in his investigations, federal prosecutor Tara McLellan, brings him new weapons for the battle-and an attraction that endangers his relationship with Mary Catherine. A no-holds-barred, pedal-to-the-floor, action-packed novel, I, Michael Bennett is James Patterson at his most personal and most thrilling best.
A haunting and psychologically driven collection from Shirley Jackson that includes her best-known story "The Lottery" At last, Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery" enters Penguin Classics, sixty-five years after it shocked America audiences and elicited the most responses of any piece in New Yorker history. In her gothic visions of small-town America, Jackson, the author of such masterworks as The Haunting of Hill House and We Have Always Lived in the Castle, turns an ordinary world into a supernatural nightmare. This eclectic collection goes beyond her horror writing, revealing the full spectrum of her literary genius. In addition to Come Along with Me, Jackson's unfinished novel about the quirky inner life of a lonely widow, it features sixteen short stories and three lectures she delivered during her last years. For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.
Hawkwind emerged in 1969 from Ladbroke Grove, the heartland of London’s counterculture, to become a ‘people’s band’ supported by bikers and hippies alike as they staged free gigs, benefits and protests and welcomed the involvement of any number of creative people – writers, poets, dancers – from within their community. They insisted upon all these things even with the Top Three success of 1972’s enduring anthem Silver Machine and the pioneering Space Ritual projects. They have had more line-up changes than their only remaining founder member Dave Brock, can remember. Motorhead’s Lemmy and legendary Cream drummer Ginger Baker were just two of the musicians sacrificed along the way as the band went head to head with the police, customs, the taxman – and each other. With the memories of many of those who were there, this is the story of an extraordinary 35-year career, the music and the band, whose fans still loyally turn out for conventions and are rewarded with ‘private festivals’, set against a background of sex, drugs, madness, writs, rage and revenge.
“An illustrated history of good old-fashioned entertainment from names like Tessie O’Shea, George Formby, and the early days of Bruce Forsyth.” —Yours As one of the richest sources of diversion for the people of Britain between the end of the First World War and the 1960s, the variety theater emerged from the embers of music hall, a vulgar and rambunctious entertainment that had held the working classes in thrall since the 1840s. Music hall bosses decided they would do better business if a man going to theaters on his own could take his wife and children with him, knowing they would see or hear nothing that would scandalize them. So variety, a gentler, less red-blooded entertainment was gradually established. At the top of the profession were Gracie Fields, a peerless singer and comedienne, and Max Miller, a comic who was renowned for being risqué, but who, in fact, never cracked a dirty joke. They were supported by acts that matched the word variety: ventriloquists, drag artists, animal acts, acrobats, jugglers, magicians and many more. But the variety theater was constantly under threat, first from revue, then radio, the cinema, girlie shows, the birth of rock ’n’ roll and finally television. By the end of the 1950s, the variety business seemed to have given up, but the recent and extraordinary popularity of talent shows on television has proved the public appetite is still there. Variety could be about to start all over again. “A priceless record of the people who entertained several generations between the wars and, for a brief time, after WWII . . . thoroughly entertaining.” —Books Monthly
