7 results for "Biography"

Going there

Couric, Katie
From an award-winning American journalist and bestselling author comes a tell-all memoir about breaking boundaries, persevering, and witnessing the reckoning in media. For more than forty years, Katie Couric has been an iconic presence in the media world. In her brutally honest, hilarious, heartbreaking memoir, she reveals what was going on behind the scenes of her sometimes tumultuous personal and professional life - a story she's never shared, until now. Of the medium she loves, the one that made her a household name, she says, Television can put you in a box; the flat-screen can flatten. On TV, you are larger than life but smaller, too. It is not the whole story, and it is not the whole me. This book is. Beginning in early childhood, Couric was inspired by her journalist father to pursue the career he loved but couldn't afford to stay in. Balancing her vivacious, outgoing personality with her desire to be taken seriously, she overcame every obstacle in her way: insecurity, an eating disorder, being typecast, sexism . . . challenges, and how she dealt with them, setting the tone for the rest of her career. Couric talks candidly about adjusting to sudden fame after her astonishing rise to co-anchor of the TODAY show, and guides us through the most momentous events and news stories of the era, to which she had a front-row seat: Rodney King, Anita Hill, Columbine, the death of Princess Diana, 9/11, the Iraq War . . . In every instance, she relentlessly pursued the facts, ruffling more than a few feathers along the way. She also recalls in vivid and sometimes lurid detail the intense pressure on female anchors to snag the latest get --often sensational tabloid stories like Jon Benet Ramsey, Tonya Harding, and OJ Simpson. Couric's position as one of the leading lights of her profession was shadowed by the shock and trauma of losing her husband to stage 4 colon cancer when he was just 42, leaving her a widow and single mom to two daughters, 6 and 2. The death of her sister Emily, just three years later, brought yet more trauma--and an unwavering commitment to cancer awareness and research, one of her proudest accomplishments. Couric is unsparing in the details of her historic move to the anchor chair at the CBS Evening News--a world rife with sexism and misogyny. Her welcome was even more hostile at 60 Minutes, an unrepentant boys club that engaged in outright hazing of even the most established women. In the wake of the MeToo movement, Couric shares her clear-eyed reckoning with gender inequality and predatory behavior in the workplace, and downfall of Matt Lauer--a colleague she had trusted and respected for more than a decade. Couric also talks about the challenge of finding love again, with all the hilarity, false-starts, and drama that search entailed, before finding her midlife Mr. Right. Something she has never discussed publicly--why her second marriage almost didn't happen. If you thought you knew Katie Couric, think again. Going There is the fast-paced, emotional, riveting story of a thoroughly modern woman, whose journey took her from humble origins to superstardom. In these pages, you will find a friend, a confidante, a role model, a survivor whose lessons about life will enrich your own.
Back Bay Books/Little, Brown and Company 2022-06-28 508 pages

This much is true

Margolyes, Miriam
BAFTA-winning actor, voice of everything from Monkey to the Cadbury's Caramel Rabbit, creator of a myriad of unforgettable characters from Lady Whiteadder to Professor Sprout, Miriam Margoyles, OBE, is the nation's favourite (and naughtiest) treasure. Now, at the age of 80, she has finally decided to tell her extraordinary life story - and it's well worth the wait. Find out how being conceived in an air-raid gave her curly hair; what pranks led to her being known as the naughtiest girl Oxford High School ever had; how she ended up posing nude for Augustus John as a teenager; why Bob Monkhouse was the best (male) kiss she's ever had; and what happened next after Warren Beatty asked 'Do you fuck?' From declaring her love to Vanessa Redgrave to being told to be quiet by the Queen, this book is packed with brilliant, hilarious stories. With a cast list stretching from Scorsese to Streisand, a cross-dressing Leonardo di Caprio to Isaiah Berlin, This Much Is True is as warm and honest, as full of life and surprises, as its inimitable author.
John Murray 2021 438 pages

Oh Miriam! stories from an extraordinary life

Margolyes, Miriam
"From declaring my love to Vanessa Redgrave to being fed cockroaches by Steve Buscemi, from turnip-based comedy with Blackadder to being farted on by Arnold Schwarzenegger, from Graham Norton's sofa to Alan Cumming's camper van, my life has been (and continues to be) an uproarious adventure. Oh Miriam! has been such a constant refrain in my life, said in all kinds of tones--laughs, surprised gasps and orgasmic sighs (I'm hoping for all of those from you as you read on!)--that it had to be the title of this book. And with a cast list that stretches from Churchill to DiCaprio, Dahl to Dietrich, Princess Margaret to Maggie Smith, I've so much more to tell you and so much more to say"--Dust jacket flap.
John Murray Press, part of Hodder & Stoughton Limited an Hachette UK Company 2023 323 pages

Unbreakable

Osbourne, Sharon
Sharon Osbourne's life has always been an extreme rollercoaster ride. And despite her best efforts, the last few years have been the most dramatic and turbulent of all. In her gripping new autobiography Sharon reveals the truth behind the headlines. There have been times of huge joy and pleasure - becoming a grandmother for the first time and seeing both Jack and Kelly come through testing times to find happiness and contentment at last. But there has also been a lot of heartache. Sharon describes the shocking and unexpected battle to save her thirty-year marriage to Ozzy - and the devastating betrayal that lay behind their separation. She also lived through every mother's worst nightmare when Jack was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis - and writes movingly of her hopes and fears for her beloved son. A tough but fair judge on the X Factor, Sharon is just as hard on herself. She is honest about the mistakes she has made - from misguided plastic surgery to her battles with her weight and body image. Filled with laughter, tears and hard-won wisdom, Unbreakable is as funny, frank and fearless as Sharon herself.
Sphere 2013 312 pages

How do you want me?

Wax, Ruby
The autumn 2002 publication of Ruby Wax's memoirs was greeted with shock - and delighted acclaim. In the tradition of the best memoirs, such as The Moon's a Balloon and Billy , Ruby Wax revealed, surprised and captured the public more than was ever predicted. How Do You Want Me? was critically acclaimed as brutally honest, vivid and gripping. Ruby Wax's unflinching revelation of a childhood poisoned, and a youth spoiled, culminates in a moving account of her breakdown and recovery. But How Do You Want Me? is also funny, rude and irreverent. It's unusually honest about fame and celebrity and happy to burst ego-balloons and golden myths. A brilliantly fast, furious and surprising read from the inimitable Ruby Wax.
Ebury Press 2020-05-26 241 pages

Confessions of a good girl

McLean, Andrea
BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 'Loose Women's' Andrea McLean is much loved for her bubbly, warm personality. But her life has seen its share of heartache, as well as love and happiness, and now she's finally ready to tell the full story. She takes us from a childhood spent constantly on the move, leaving her feeling like an outsider, to landing a dream job as a weathergirl on GMTV. She describes the tough lessons she had to learn to survive in TV and her hilarious - and sometimes disastrous - encounters with celebrities as a showbiz reporter. She reveals how she pushed herself to be the perfect daughter, the perfect wife and mother - so when she had an affair that ended her first marriage, the guilt and self-loathing drove her shockingly close to a breakdown.
Sidgwick & Jackson 2012 308 pages