When Cosmo Landesman's American parents decided to move their young family to London in the swinging sixties, it was not to pursue a quieter life on this side of the pond. Quite the reverse: it was out of unbridled, unashamed lust for fame and fortune. But things did not go according to plan, and as a child Cosmo found himself charged with raising his starstruck parents and trying to cope with the publicity stunt of their 'open marriage'. Over the years he wrote press releases, blurbs and proposals for their plays, film treatments, novels, book ideas and demo tapes. He found himself playing the roll of creative midwife, personal manager, publicist, psychoanalyst and apologist. Not any more. In this hilarious memoir he finally lays bare his extraordinary childhood and the twists and turns of his parents' bizarre desire for the spotlight - and how they were always doomed to failure.

The gripping inside story of the complex and ambitious Chancellor of the Exchequer's time in power. Gordon Brown's arrival at the Treasury in May 1997 was greeted by a stampede--officials of every rank spontaneously rushed to the door to cheer the new incumbent, excited about the change. As Master of the New Era, Brown created a matrix of relationships across every Whitehall department, and extended his influence to every aspect of government activity. He has been behind the most important budgetary decisions of the past decade: the commitment to Private Finance Initiative, which would affect infrastructure from the London Underground to the NHS to state schools; the management of the Inland Revenue; the increase in taxes; and the demise of Britain's pension funds. Seven years after his arrival at the most powerful department at Whitehall, Brown is now a contender to be the next leader of the Labour Party, but despite extensive newspaper coverage of his activities, his personal agenda has not yet been investigated and described. In this gripping biography of the Chancellor, Tom Bower--author of the best-selling Broken Dreams--documents the rise to power of a driven and complex politician, exposing conflicts within the government and exploring how the repercussions of Brown's ambitions will affect the country for decades to come.

Benny Hill`s saucy smirks at underdressed women are relished the world over. Yet the comedian cut an unlikely figure of global admiration: unmarried and emotionally enfeebled in his few relationships, he was a deeply private individual uninterested in the trappings of success, a frugal man content to live in his humble childhood home flooded, freezing and burgled while his building society account bulged with millions of pounds he didn`t use and hadn`t wanted to earn. Funny, Peculiar is the first objective and full account of Benny Hill`s life and work. Tenaciously researched and yet sensitively reported, it charts the highs, lows and many paradoxes of a man whose professional strengths-observation, impression and mime-bought him unimagined success, and whose weakness, especially an inability to change, fashioned his ultimate downfall. - First in-depth biography since Benny`s death in April 1992. - A return to favour with audiences who are jaded with `alternative comedy`. - Existing biographies are unreliable, lightweight and out of date. - Benny has been screened in 109 countries, and enjoyed for over 50 years

"My mother, my family and Judaism are nested inside each other. I am Jewish and always Jewish; it's analogous with family, however hard it is, and however strained, it can never be disavowed... I remain, as my therapist put it, 'enmeshed', all tangled up in the family hoard. This book has been both a continuation of my conversations with them, and an attempt to untangle myself.This is Joanne's account of coming to terms with her brother's suicide and through that process, the entirety of her family life. In Small Pieces Joanne explores her childhood, her Jewishness and her mother's death as well as that of her brother.The life and family Joanne describes is a complex combination of conflicting influences - both scientific and literary; Jewish and humanist impulses; and middle America and North London settings. Small Pieces is a beautiful and searingly honest meditation on family and faith."--bookdepository.com.

The Worst It Can Be is a Disaster is the autobiography of Braham Murray, founding director of the Royal Exchange Manchester which in 2006 celebrated its thirtieth anniversary. With a foreword by Sir Tom Courtenay. Born into a Jewish family, Braham Murray struggled against his parents' expectations that he should follow them into the world of commerce; instead he became at twenty-two the youngest artistic director in the country when he took over Century Theatre, a theatre company based in Manchester. Detailing his relationships and the theatrical successes and flops along the way, the narrative takes us through his early years with Century Theatre, with the 69 Theatre Company, and the birth of the Royal Exchange Manchester in the heart of Manchester in 1976. Twenty years later, the theatre rose from the ashes of the IRA bomb brilliantly opening a new production on time just ten days after the bomb had destroyed the city centre. The role and influence of the author's Jewish heritage and of his key collaborators - including Caspar Wrede and Michael Elliott - are explored in this illuminating and inspiring account of one of English theatre's great directors. 'Braham's passion is sometimes overwhelming, sometimes annoying but completely inspirational. It's his passion that the Royal Exchange has thrived on, and this book is full of his passion for the theatre.' Robert Lindsay