| Books | Extracts |
Aled Jones' Favourite Christmas Carols
by Aled Jones
The perfect gift for Christmas, this book includes all your favourite carols brought vividly to life with Aled's personal reminiscences of singing them and thoughts on why each is so special. Accompanied by the history of the words and music, and for nine of the carols the sheet music for piano.
Includes: 'Away in a Manger', 'Come All Ye Faithful', 'In the Bleak Midwinter', 'Angel Gabriel', 'O Come Emmanuel', 'Hark the Herald Angels', 'Silent Night', 'O Little Town Of Bethlehem', 'Little Drummer Boy', 'Joy to the World', 'Deck the Halls', 'Ding Dong Merrily', 'God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen', 'Once In Royal David's City', 'The First Noel', 'While Shepherds Watched', 'Coventry Carol', 'Calypso Carol', 'Still, Still, Still', 'Do You Hear What I Hear?', 'Good King Wenceslas', 'Mary's Boy Child', 'Holy Night', 'The Twelve Days Of Christmas', 'The Little Road To Bethlehem', 'Mary Had a Baby', 'Little Donkey'.
Popular Errors Explained
by Stewart McCartney
In 1841 John Timbs wrote a book called Popular Errors Explained. It went on – with Timbs' other great series 'Curiosities of …’ – to become one of the great popular books of the 19th century, running into many editions and selling hundreds of thousands of copies. Some say the popularity of his one hundred and fifty volumes led him to outsell a certain Mr Dickens.
Stewart McCartney, under the Timb's title of Popular Errors Explained has created a new book, capturing the zeal and enthusiasm of the original, to be 'agreeable, by way of abstract and anecdote so as to become an advantageous and amusing guest at any intellectual fireside.'
The book has completely new material - around 200 or so 'popular errors' from science and literature, history, sport, popular culture and so on. Each entry will have that eyebrow raising 'I didn't know that!' or 'Surely that cannot be true!' feel. Every one will explode a commonly held misbelief.
Tommy Cooper's Mirth, Magic and Mischief
by John Fisher
Relive the mirth, magic and mischief of everybody's favourite magic man with gags galore, tricks unlimited and a priceless trip down memory lane courtesy of many previously unpublished photographs from the Cooper archives - jus like that!
Before I Forget
by Fiona Phillips
Fiona Phillips is one of our best-loved television presenters. Well-known for being warm, chatty and down to earth, she attended her local comprehensive in Southampton before studying English in Birmingham. For over twelve years she presented GMTV, during which time she interviewed some of the most famous and influential people on the planet, from film stars to royalty, politicians to local heroes. But in August 2008 Fiona announced that she was to quit the job she loved, revealing that her father, Phil, had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s just a year after her mother had died of the same disease and that she had decided to devote more time to him and to her family.
Before I Forget is a wonderfully honest account of growing up in the 1960s and 70s within a complex family. During her childhood her father could sometimes be distant and demanding which both saddened her and drove her to succeed, her mother always the devoted wife and the steady heart of the family. When Fiona lands the job at GMTV she revels in how proud they are of her achievement. When her mother and then her father succumb to Alzheimer’s we share in Fiona’s sadness as she movingly describes watching them fade away, one moment interviewing George Clooney the next taking a call from Pembrokeshire Social Services to say that her mother had wandered away from her care home.
Before I Forget is an extraordinary book which will resonate with Fiona’s millions of fans and the millions of people who day-by-day are going through, or have gone through, the same experiences.
Get Out: Halcyon River Activity Book
by Philippa Forrester, Fred, Gus and Arthur Hamilton James
Following on from the major BBC1 TV series screened in the spring of 2010 this Halcyon River activity book is the perfect way to engage children on everything to do with wildlife in streams and rivers. Written by Philippa Forrester, with lots of input from their three children Gus (three) Arthur (six) and Fred (nine), this book is full of things to do, facts about the river wildlife. It features photographs by Charlie, their father, and illustrations from the children themselves. It follows key stage learning.