She was Australian born, an international bestselling author and a member of the glamorous literary, intellectual and society salons of late nineteenth and early twentieth century London and EuropeShe was 'amused, cynical, ironic, loving, gay, ferocious, cold, ardent but never gentle'. She was a whirlwind. She created around her the atmosphere of a Court at which her friends were either in disgrace or favour, a butt or a blessing.Elizabeth von Arni...

'Martin wore tight pants that were striped red, white and blue, like a Union Jack, and an embroidered Afghan vest. In front of his face he carried, like a lollipop, a smile on a stick. As he went, he bowed to passers-by. Even on King's Road, he stood out.'Martin Sharp's art was as singular as his style. He blurred the boundaries of high art and low with images of Dylan, Hendrix and naked flower children that defined an era. Along the way the irreverent Australian was charg...

When a Chinese monk broke into a hidden cave in 1900, he uncovered one of the world’s great literary secrets: a time capsule from the ancient Silk Road. Inside, scrolls were piled from floor to ceiling, undisturbed for a thousand years. The gem within was the Diamond Sutra of AD 868. This key Buddhist teaching, made 500 years before Gutenberg inked his press, is the world’s oldest printed book.The Silk Road once linked China with the Mediterranean. It conveyed merchants, pilgrims a...

“You should know that when the night feels very long, remember that a new day is just through the forest”. Andrew whispered to Anna. She was alone and standing on the precipice of no return. The thought that each day was filled with new possibilities, new opportunities and that every day was a miracle was so foreign to her, that it didn’t seem possible to make it “Through the Dark Night”. With the Lord’s help though, anything is possible. Traveling from the shores of Los Angeles to the pla...

This is the beautifully told story of charismatic and unconventional pop artist Martin Sharp, from his lonely privileged childhood, to the heady days of the underground magazine Oz to Swinging London and beyond. Sharp blurred the boundaries of high art and low, he drew rock stars and reprobates into his world, he collaborated with Eric Clapton, obsessively championed eccentric singer Tiny Tim, was haunted by Sydney’s Luna Park, and paradoxically became a recluse whose phone never stopped r...

I can hardly believe that it is more than half a century since I first stepped on to the stage of the Old Vic Theatre and into a way of life that has brought me the most rewarding professional relationships and friendships. I cannot imagine now ever doing anything else with my life except acting…" – Judi DenchFrom London's glittering West End to Broadway's bright lights, from her Academy Award-winning role as Elizabeth I in Shakespeare in Love to "M" in the James Bond films...

The British comedian recounts the highs and lows of his wild years: "A gifted writer with a perfect sense of comic timing and anecdote-spinning . . . Lots of fun." — Kirkus ReviewsBy his early thirties, Stephen Fry—writer, comedian, star of stage and screen—had, as they say, "made it." Much loved on British television, author of a critically acclaimed and bestselling first novel, with a glamorous and glittering cast of friends, he had more work than was per...

'National treasure? I hate that. Too dusty, too in a cupboard, too behind glass, too staid ... What I love is being part of a company. On stage I am not trying to be myself, I'm trying to be someone else, the more unlike me the better.'From her first theatrical roles as a teenager in York to her scene-stealing performances as 'M' in the James Bond films, Dame Judi Dench's professional life has consisted of non-stop acting, leading to numerous accolades, including an Academy Award.

Dubbed a National Treasure by Gough Whitlam, a Gay Icon by Les McDonald and a Household Name by the Sydney Morning Herald ('so is Sorbent,' her unimpressed mother remarked), Jacki Weaver has combined a distinguished acting career with a tumultuous personal life.A self-confessed bolter and adventuress, with five marriages under her tiny belt, there have been times of great wealth (most notably during her marriage to Derryn Hinch) and times of scraping along. There have alwa...

The World was my Lobster tells the story of George Cole's more than 70 years in the acting profession that began with a walk-on part at the age of 14 in the stage musical The White Horse Inn in 1939, and continues today having included such roles as David Bliss in the radio and television versions of A Life of Bliss, Flash Harry in the St. Trinian's films, and Arthur Daley in television's Minder.Adopted when he was only 10 days old, George Cole grew up in south London in the 1920s. On the ...

Michael Palin's bestselling diaries of the 1980s.After a live performance at the Hollywood Bowl, The Pythons made their last performance together in 1983 in the hugely successful MONTY PYTHON'S MEANING OF LIFE. Writing and acting in films and television then took over much of Michael's life, culminating in the smash hit A FISH CALLED WANDA (for which he won a BAFTA for Best Supporting Actor), and the first of his seven celebrated television journeys for the BBC. He...

The third volume of Michael Palin's celebrated diaries.TRAVELLING TO WORK is a roller-coaster ride driven by the Palin hallmarks of curiosity and sense of adventure. Michael was not the BBC's first choice for the travel series AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS, but after its success, the public naturally wanted more.Palin, however, had other plans. There was his film AMERICAN FRIENDS, a role in Alan Bleasdale's award-winning drama GBH, the staging of his West End...