Fifty-five piers. Two weeks. One eccentric road trip.Before the seaside of their youth disappears forever, two friends from the landlocked Midlands embark on a peculiar journey to see all the surviving pleasure piers in England and Wales. With a clapped-out car and not enough cash, Jon and Danny recruit Midge, a man they barely know, to be their driver, even though he has to be back in a fortnight to sign on...Join Jon and Danny as they take a funny and nostalgic look at Brit...

FROM GERAINT THOMAS, WINNER OF THE 2018 TOUR DE FRANCELike no other cycling book, from no other rider - Britain's cycling star shares his unique take on the world of cyclingSit back or saddle up as double Olympic gold medallist and multiple world champion Geraint Thomas gives you a warts and all insight into the life of a pro cyclist. Along the way he reveals cycling's clandestine codes and secret stories, tales from the peloton, the key ch...

As seen on This Time with Alan Partridge on BBC One.THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLERPraise for Nomad:'Funniest book of the year' Sunday Telegraph'Alan Partridge's Nomad is almost certainly the funniest book ever written' Caitlin Moran'Sensationally funny. What brilliant writing' Richard Osman'Sensational' Jenny Colgan'Hilarious' Jon Ronson'Brilliantly...

Here are the voices of London - rich and poor, native and immigrant, women and men (and a Sarah who used to be a George) – witnessed by Craig Taylor, an acclaimed Canadian journalist, playwright and writer, who has lived in the city for ten years, exploring its hidden corners and listening to its residents. From the woman who is the voice of the London Underground to the man who plants the trees along Oxford Street; from a Muslim currency trader to a Guardsman at Buckingham Palace; from th...

If you want to write a murder mystery, you have to do some research...In a luxury flat in Monaco, John Houston's supermodel wife lies in bed, a bullet in her skull.Houston is the world's most successful novelist, the playboy head of a literary empire that produces far more books than he could ever actually write. Now the man who has invented hundreds of best-selling killings is wanted for a real murder and on the run from the police, his life transformed into something out ...

Two women, two bikes, no backup on a Sea to Sea adventure.At the beginning of the twenty-first century two friends set off to cycle from coast to coast across England. For one, it was to be the first of many long distance cycle rides.Cycling Across England is an account of the fun, the food, the mountains, the moorlands and the mathematics the two friends encountered along the way. From the Irish Sea, through the mountains of Cumbria and the Pennine uplands they travelled thr...

‘Enthusiastic, pleasingly madcap’ GeographicalAdventure – something that’s new and exhilarating, outside your comfort zone. Adventures change you and how you see the world, and all you need is an open mind, bags of enthusiasm and boundless curiosity.Recommended for viewing on a colour tablet.So what’s a microadventure? It’s close to home, cheap, simple, short and 100% guaranteed to refresh your life. A microadventure takes ...

When the only gig Mark Wallingtons R&B band can get is in a nursing home they decide its time to call it a day. But then Mark discovers an instrument he might just have enough talent for the ukulele. Realising his dream of a nationwide tour, the Uke of Wallington sets off on a 42 night road trip, playing open mic sessions from Brighton to Cape Wrath. Probably the first rock and roll tour ever undertaken on public transport. Working his way through the British summer, he takes his music...

We were aware of a dreamlike quality to our trip. There was something far-fetched about it, something out of this world.Austerity might be getting everyone else down, but Steve is waving his worries goodbye on another of his light-hearted trips around the picturesque English waterways.This time it’s a bit different, though. This time he’s not just cruising with his cat, Kit, but with his long-suffering wife, Em, who’s given up work and wants her share of easy living too. The...

That strangest of traveller, the lone female, is at it again. This time cycling through the heart of England from Bath to London to her home in Lancashire. For such a small country England was proving to be a land of contrasts and surprises; from the leafy lanes of Berkshire to the bleak moorlands of the north, spectacular scenery and post-industrial mill towns, dead divas and murderous mad men.Throughout the six hundred mile cycle ride there was much that was quintessentially Engli...

A hilarious field guide to the world’s most remarkable and unusual creatures: the English.Thanks to television documentaries by Bruce Parry and David Attenborough, we are better acquainted with the hunting rituals of the San bushmen and the mating habits of Papua New Guinean tribes than we are with the everyday lives of that most peculiar of species – the English.Matt Rudd has been getting to know this curious breed, and now you’ll be able to spot the English in any number ...

Where do you call home?Performer Jane Clifton had a classic army brat upbringing, constantly on the move as the family followed the postings of her English officer father from Gibraltar to England, Germany to Malaysia and eventually to Australia. Always the new kid in town, Jane became adept at fitting in anywhere.As an adult, living in the fast-moving worlds of anti-war demos, women's lib, experimental theatre, rock 'n' roll, and TV, she kept up the...