In October 1986 ChildLine - the first national helpline for children in the world - was launched. With it came a revolution in child protection. For the first time abused children had someone they could ask for help. The launch of ChildLine was broadcast on BBC TV on October 30th. Watching in her quiet, respectable home in a small rural town was Jo, a clever, troubled fourteen year old. Suddenly Jo, the silent victim of sexual abuse by her parents' closest friend, no longer felt utterly al...

Be bolder as you grow older, and make sure you float above any challenges that threaten to overwhelm you.Multi-award-winning broadcaster, founder of Childline and The Silver Line, campaigner, mother, grandmother and joyous trailblazer of our times, Dame Esther Rantzen dazzles in the glory of getting older and ever bolder.And now in this energising A-Z, she time-travels through her most signi?cant memories, from meeting Princess Diana to creating a national ...

TV personality, founder of Childline, writer and broadcaster, Esther Rantzen has spent her life tirelessly campaigning on behalf of children and mental health sufferers. In this personal and anecdotal handbook, she turns her attention to the baby boomer and shows how, ultimately, reaching your fifties and beyond is just the beginning.Starting from her own experiences whether it be her childhood, the death of her husband, her battle with prejudice against women in the media, laughte...

The comedy panel game where all the questions are about the guest hostWelcome to The Personality Test, the panel show in which a brand new host takes the chair for every episode to present a quiz entirely themed around themselves. Each gets to run the show by their own rules, devising topics and queries based on their life, whims, fancies and past glories. Among the showbiz celebrities in the hot seat are Gyles Brandreth, Jennie Bond, Antony Worrall Thomps...

The last ever episodes of the acclaimed quotations quiz, devised and introduced by Nigel Rees - including the historic 500th showEver since 1976, Quote... Unquote chairman Nigel Rees has quizzed a host of well-known personalities on the origins of popular sayings, both familiar and obscure, and encouraged them to contribute their own quotes, anecdotes and catchphrases. But - to paraphrase Chaucer - all good things must come to an end, and with Series 57, t...

Russell Brand grew up in Essex. His father left when he was three months old, he was bulimic at 12 and left school at 16 to study at the Italia Conti stage school. There, he began drinking heavily and taking drugs. He regularly visited prostitutes in Soho, began cutting himself, took drugs on stage during his stand-up shows, and even set himself on fire while on crack cocaine. He has been arrested 11 times and fired from 3 different jobs - including from XFM and MTV - and he claims to have...

‘IF YOU READ ANY BOOK THIS YEAR, READ THIS ONE – MARTINA COLE‘A LIFE STORY FAR MORE INCREDIBLE THAN ANY BESTSELLER’ - JEFFREY ARCHER‘Sometimes today I still cry for the lonely, frightened little boy I was then – so unhappy and so longing for love – and marvel at not only surviving the brutality and the other appalling abuse but also, in the end, triumphing over it all.’Abused by those who were supposed to love and cherish him, Michael Seed had to fight for survival aga...

Rachael Keogh was catapulted into the public consciousness when a shocking image of her needle-ravaged arms – skin burnt from injecting heroin into her wasted veins – made front pages around the country. Desperate for help, she made a public appeal to secure one of just 27 detox beds in Ireland so that she could reclaim her life from the drugs that had consumed it. What followed was an extraordinary story of grit and determination as she embarked on her recovery journey. Dying to Survive i...

From childhood dreams of prostitution to her unabashed passion for heavy drinking, from growing up wide-eyed on the set of Australian soaps to her infatuation with Bob Ellis, these are the outrageously entertaining and deeply revealing reminiscences of a multimedia star. He was wearing a pair of leather pants that clung like terrified orphans to his muscular thighs, and a revealing black mesh t-shirt. The outfit seemed at odds with the cream-coloured settee and floral print curtains. From ...

A heartwarming short story from bestselling author and foster carer Casey Watson.A digital-exclusive short story from Casey Watson, plus a sneak peek chapter from Casey’s highly anticipated next title, Breaking the Silence, and sample chapters from each of Casey’s five moving and inspirational titles.Although he isn’t with them for long, Cameron immediately touches the hearts of Casey’s whole family. A sweet boy with a great sense of humour, he seems different from the othe...

David Mitchell, who you may know for his inappropriate anger on every TV panel show except Never Mind the Buzzcocks, his look of permanent discomfort on C4 sex comedy Peep Show, his online commenter-baiting in The Observer or just for wearing a stick-on moustache in That Mitchell and Webb Look, has written a book about his life.As well as giving a specific account of every single time he's scored some smack, this disgusting memoir also details:the singular, pitbull-in...

Best known for her role in cult comedy TV hit, Benidorm and for playing Maggie Conlon in Ken Loach's remarkable film Ladybird Ladybird, Crissy Rock is a hugely popular actress and comedienne. But Crissy's path to success was far from easy and her life has been plagued by trauma and turmoil. Never has there been a more honest and disturbing biography ever written; never has there been so much to tell. Crissy Rock's poor but idyllic young life was plunged into darkness at the age of eight, w...