Entertainment Books

The explosive new book from Britain’s leading investigative biographer, Tom Bower As one of the most famous and influential couples in the world, David and Victoria Beckham have attained iconic status. The ultimate power couple have together built a multi-billion-dollar global brand. For decades, adoring fans have been captivated by the glamorous world they have created, while their unrivalled fusion of showbiz, fashion, football and celebrity has been cultivated alongside the image of a strong marriage. When the much-trailed Netflix documentary Beckham aired in 2023, viewers were offered an even more intimate insight into their private lives. Produced by the Beckhams themselves, the series raised many questions, not only about their success and personal relationship, but also about the ruthlessly successful management of their image in the media. Are their lives really as perfect as the Beckhams would like the world to believe? Through extensive research, expert sourcing and interviews with insiders, Britain’s most celebrated investigative biographer, Tom Bower, has unearthed a succession of revelations that give surprising insight into the reality of ‘Brand Beckham’. Exploring the couple’s relationship, and the truth about their football and fashion careers, their finances and their new life in Miami, The House of Beckham unravels the extraordinary reality of the business-savvy cultural icons to tell an engrossing, often astonishing story of money, sex and power. Product Information:  • ISBN: 9780008638870 • Author: Tom Bower • Publisher: HarperCollins • Format:  Hardcover • Pages: 384 • Dimensions: 15.9 x 3.8 x 24 cm

Ripley's Believe It or Not! is guaranteed to amaze and entertain children and adults alike with its unique blend of weird but true stories and jaw-dropping facts gathered from all over the world. This year... Marvel at the ice caves of Alaska. Find out what very unusual food Icelanders eat at their traditional mid-winter feast. Discover why Lucas the penguin has to wear rubber boots. Hear about the woman who sailed down the Missouri River in a giant hollowed-out pumpkin. And take the 'Funny Bones' test to see whether you can match photographs of skeletons to their animal owners. No Christmas is complete without Ripley's! Product Information: • ISBN: 9781529941203 • Author: Ripley • Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd • Format: Hardback • Pages: 256 • Dimensions: 30.5 x 23.6 x 2.2cm

To the Women is a celebration of the beauty, strength and joy of being a woman. A love letter to our deep capacity to love, rage, fear and rebuild, Donna Ashworth reminds us that we are stronger when we come together and unstoppable when we accept ourselves. With poems such as 'Be That Woman', 'Take Up Space', 'When One Woman Screams', 'There Will Be Days' and 'To the Woman Who Thinks She Isn't Good Enough', Donna helps us find comfort, inspiration and courage in the many roles we play in life as daughters, guides, mothers and friends. Product Information: • ISBN: 9781785307164 • Author: Donna Ashworth • Publisher: Bonnier Books UK Limited • Format: Hardback • Pages: 288 • Dimensions: 20.4 x 13.8 x 2.8 cm

Pull on your wellies, grab your flat cap and join Jeremy Clarkson in this hilarious and fascinating behind-the-scenes look at the farm we're all obsessed with . . . An idyllic spot offering picturesque views across the Cotswolds, bustling hedgerows and natural springs. Until one day, Jeremy decided he would do the farming itself. After all, how hard could it be? . . . Faced with suffocating red tape, biblical weather, local objections, a global pandemic and his own frankly staggering ignorance of how to 'do farming', Jeremy soon realises that turning the farm around is going to take more than splashing out on a massive tractor. Fortunately, there's help at hand from a large and (mostly) willing team, including girlfriend Lisa, Kaleb the Tractor Driver, Cheerful Charlie, Ellen the Shepherd and Gerald, his Head of Security and Dry Stone Waller. And yet while the farm may be called Diddly Squat for good reason, Jeremy soon begins to understand that it's worth a whole lot more to him than pounds, shillings and pence . . . Product Information: • ISBN: 9780241464502 • Author: Jeremy Clarkson • Publisher: Michael Joseph • Format: Hardback • Pages: 224 • Dimensions: 24 x 16.2 x 2.6 cm

Join Winnie the Pooh and friends on a charming journey through the Hundred-Acre Wood. Follow Winnie the Pooh as he wanders through his day, discovering how the beauty of the natural world, the kindness of friends and the joy of a drop of honey can inspire wonder and gratitude. These beautifully illustrated mindful moments are accompanied by simple affirmations to encourage reflection on how the little things in life can spark joy and appreciation. Product Information: • ISBN: 9781800787629 • Author: Walt Disney • Publisher: Bonnier Books UK Limited • Format: Hardback     • Pages: 128 • Dimensions: 21 x 14.8cm

After three years, Jeremy Clarkson has discovered the golden rule of farming: whatever you hope will happen, won't. Enthusiastic schemes to diversify face defeat at the hands of the Council Planning department, or derision from Kaleb. Jeremy's plans for a business empire founded on rewilding and nettle soup are doubted by Lisa. And the stifling thickets of red tape keep only one person smiling – Cheerful Charlie, who charges by the hour. But the animals couldn’t be happier. A rented bull called Break-Heart Maestro is delighting the cows. The pigs are bringing home the bacon. And the goats are . . . most probably psychopaths. Yet on the good days it hard not to be optimistic. Where else do you get to harvest blackberries with a vacuum cleaner? Maybe it’s not just Break-heart Maestro who gets a happy ending? Product Information: • ISBN: 9780241786987 • Author: Jeremy Clarkson • Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd • Format: Hardback • Pages: 192 • Dimensions: 23.8 x 16 x 2.8 cm

Explore the unique stories behind every Formula One World Championship circuit. Written by award-winning journalist Maurice Hamilton and complete with bespoke digital maps of each course, this is the ultimate guide to the circuits of Formula One. Product Information: • ISBN: 9780008700188 • Author: Maurice Hamilton • Publisher: Harper Collins Publishers • Pages: 336

Experience the legendary history of Formula 1 in this definitive illustrated book. Foreword by Ross Brawn. Fully updated for 2024, Formula 1: The Official History is an electrifying account of the F1 phenomenon, telling the complete story of one of the world’s most popular, thrilling, and glamorous sports. Bringing together a superbly written account of the history of the sport and an exceptional selection of stunning images from across seven decades of F1 racing, the book charts the FIA Formula One World Championship, decade by decade, from its first race at Silverstone in May 1950 right through to the present day. Each chapter tells the fascinating stories behind the greatest drivers and teams, important personnel, famous and infamous incidents, as well as key changes to the rules on design, safety and competitiveness. These tales are accompanied by more than 250 exceptional photographs featuring icons past and present, including Ayrton Senna, Michael Schumacher, Alain Prost, Sebastian Vettel, Lewis Hamilton, Fernando Alonso and Max Verstappen. Accessible and entertaining for any F1 fan, this is the definitive visual history of the sport. Product Information: • ISBN: 9781802797787 • Author: Maurice Hamilton • Publisher: Orion Publishing • Format: Hardback • Pages: 304 • Dimensions: 28.45 x 23.4 x 2.6 cm

The Guard’s Parcel is a steaming 226-page hardback compilation of the most fragrant cartoons, articles, letters and Top Tips from a whole year of Viz. Product Information: • ISBN: 9781916421950 • Author: Viz Magazine • Publisher: Quarto Publishing UK Account • Format: Hardback • Pages: 226 • Dimensions: 30 x 23cm

Go beyond the music with the most comprehensive exploration of the life and career of international megastar Taylor Swift The Taylor Book is the ultimate guide to a generation-defining pop sensation, packed with stunning images and all the context you need to fully immerse yourself in the Swiftiverse. From her humble beginnings as a teen country artist to her record-obliterating Eras tour, Taylor Swift is a supernova that shows no sign of burning out. The Taylor Book explores the life of an icon, including: •    Expert analysis of every album and Taylor’s Version, including The Tortured Poets Department •    In-depth exploration of Taylor’s most beloved songs and music videos •    Breakdowns of Taylor’s notorious Easter Eggs, helping fans explain the secret messaging she slips into every album •    Exploration of the songwriting process and genre experimentation •    Iconic fashion moments from each era •    Exquisite images spanning Taylor’s entire career •    A look at Taylor’s work beyond the music, from her acting credits and fandom to her relationships and politics •    And much more! Product Information: • ISBN: 9780241700761 • Author: Malcolm Mackenzie • Publisher: Penguin DK (Dorling Kindersley) • Format: Hardback • Pages: 224

Run your own pub quiz with 500 brand new general knowledge quizzes. With 10,000 questions arranged in easy, medium and difficult categories, you can set the pace as quiz master for your friends and family, or pit yourself against the Collins Quiz Master in a battle of wits. Product Information: • ISBN: 9780008348205 • Author: Collins Puzzles • Publisher: Harper Collins Publishers • Format: Paperback     • Pages: 512 • Dimensions: 23.5 x 15.24 x 3.81 cm

The 2024 Private Eye Annual presents the year's best cartoons, jokes, parodies and topical sketches from the UK's most successful, best-selling news and current affairs magazine. Edited by Ian Hislop and illustrated throughout with cartoons, sketches and photo-bubbles, the Private Eye Annual has become both a seasonal institution and a perennial Christmas bese-seller. The perfect gift for yourself or your friends and family. Product Information:  • ISBN: 9781901784749 • Author: Ian Hislop • Publisher: Private Eye • Format:  Hardcover • Pages: 96  • Dimensions: 29.7 x 21cm

The first puzzle book based on the BAFTA-award-winning television show The Repair Shop, with a foreword from The Repair Shop clocks expert Steve Fletcher. Think you know about the Repair Shop, its crafts, craftspeople and stories? Looking for fun brainteasers, word games and quizzes to train your brain and hone your problem solving skills? It’s time to put your knowledge to the test with this collection of questions and puzzles designed to challenge and entertain. Blending together basic trivia, complex wordplay and a range of visual teasers, the book calls on the knowledge of Repair Shop fans to provide hours of challenges inspired by the iconic barn and the work that goes on inside. From silversmithing and woodworking, to teddy bears, clocks and paintings, the puzzles draw on the wide range of skills and objects that the Repair Shop team are famed for. With difficulty levels varying from pleasantly tricky to fiendishly hard, The Repair Shop Puzzle Book will delight all fans of the show. Product Information: • ISBN: 9781804192146 • Author: The Repair Shop • Publisher: Octopus Publishing Group Ltd • Format: Paperback • Pages: 192 • Dimensions: 21.59 x 13.72 x 3.05 cm

The world’s bestselling Grand Prix handbook is back for the new season. This is the definitive guide to Formula 1 in 2025. A complete examination of all the teams racing this season, every driver and all the tracks featured in the packed Grand Prix calendar. Also including a full review of the 2024 season and a breakdown of the new rules and regulations for 2025, this indispensable guidebook features a full breakdown of last season’s drivers’ and constructors’ world championship results – as well as a fill-in chart for 2025, so each book becomes your own personalised guide to the year’s action. Written by bestselling F1 author Bruce Jones and containing dozens of breathtaking photographs and detailed circuit illustrations plus a statistics section highlighting the major records in F1 history, this is the only guide you’ll need for the racing action ahead. Product Information: • ISBN: 9781035418756 • Author: Bruce Jones • Publisher: Hodder Headline • Format: Paperback • Pages: 128 • Dimensions: 24.41 x 18.8 x 1.2 cm

An iconic piece of design and style – and a gold standard in motorcycle engineering – the Triumph has roved through the twentieth century, making its mark in hearts and minds. Founded in Coventry in 1885, Triumph Engineering had humble beginnings, importing bicycles and sewing machines. Little did anyone know that in the coming years the company would birth a historic series of motorcycles that have lit up the arenas of racing, popular culture and even warfare for well over a century. To this day, the iconic model names – the Bonneville, the Daytona – evoke excitement and admiration all over the world. But as brilliant as the bikes are, the stories behind them are even better: Triumph have blazed a trail across the silver screen, being ridden by stars like Steve McQueen and Marlon Brando in classic movies. They have sped round the world’s most famous racetracks and scorched to numerous land speed records. And, of course, Triumph motorcycles, including the ‘Trusty Triumph’, were used in both the First and Second World Wars by the Allies – forging their legend forever as the bikes that truly can do it all. In this enthralling book, esteemed motorcycle journalist, editor of Bike magazine and lifelong rider Mike Armitage reveals the story of a true heritage brand, told in all its high-octane glory. Product Information: • ISBN: 9781789297522 • Author: Mike Armitage • Publisher: Michael O'Mara • Format: Hardback • Pages: 288 • Dimensions: 23.4 x 15.3 cm

Celebrate the incredible career of pop music’s biggest star in this sparkling, Sunday Times bestselling biography, fully up to date and featuring The Tortured Poets Department. Selling hundreds of millions of records and selling out countless arenas, Taylor Swift is one of the most influential artists of her generation. But how did she become so iconic and so wildly successful? Covering her influences and her collaborators to the aesthetics that have become such a crucial part of her performances and much more, this meticulously researched biography reveals all. From her self-titled debut album to The Tortured Poets Department, author and music journalist Caroline Sullivan charts Taylor’s journey from budding country starlet to pop music phenomenon. Each of Taylor’s eras are explored in depth like never before, encompassing her evolution as an artist, her high-profile relationships and the stories behind her songs. Featuring a stunning photographic section with pictures spanning her entire career, this is the most complete portrait yet of one of the most popular artists on the planet, and the perfect gift for any Taylor fan. Product Information: • ISBN: 9781789297584 • Author: Caroline Sullivan • Publisher: Michael O'Mara • Format: Paperback • Pages: 256 • Dimensions: 19.8 x 12.9 x 1.95 cm

David Gardner delves into the world of celebrity to investigate legendary stories that continue to fascinate and intrigue to this day.  If people famously remember where they were when JFK was assassinated, many also recall where they were and what they were doing when Elvis, Princess Diana and John Lennon died. As for Marilyn Monroe, the candle flickered out long ago, but only now can the truth be told about how and why she died.  After combing through thousands of recently declassified FBI files, and interviewing key witnesses, crime analysts and forensic experts during years of research, investigative writer David Gardner has unearthed new information that will transform the way we look at these iconic tragedies as well as include new insights on the conspiracy theories that surround the deaths of Bob Marley, Kurt Cobain and even the Queen.  For the first time, Conspiracy: Legends provides many of the answers that have been so elusive for so long while explaining what it was about these enduring legends that made them so memorable.  Product Information:  • ISBN:  9781789467093 • Author: David Gardner • Publisher:  John Blake • Format:  Paperback • Pages:  336 • Dimensions:  12.7 x 19.8 x 2.1 cm

Alom Shaha’s mission is to show that science is one of humanity’s greatest cultural achievements, which can enrich our lives in the same way as art, music, and literature. So he wrote the acclaimed Why Don’t Things Fall Up? to deliver what he believes every adult and schoolchild deserves, but rarely gets: an authoritative and accessible exploration of the key ideas in science. Alom is the ideal guide to this world. He is acknowledged as one of our best science communicators, having worked with leading scientific institutions and scientists to help them explain their ideas and work to the public. Perhaps more importantly, he has a wealth of classroom teaching experience, and has spent decades teaching these ideas to thousands of young people. He really knows how to make science come alive, whether you’re already fascinated or struggling to grasp the fundamentals. In seven chapters, each starting with a simple question, Alom takes us on a journey to understand everything from the physics of space and matter to the biology of our bodies – and even the origins of life itself.Why Don’t Things Fall Up? answers the big questions about life and the universe in a way that makes us realise that science is the most exciting story ever told. Product Information: • ISBN: 9781529348194 • Author: Alom Shaha • Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton • Format: Paperback • Pages: 304 • Dimensions: 19.6 x 13 x 2.4 cm

This book is filled with awesome ideas to entertain the kids on a rainy day! ‘I’m bored’ must be the most frightening words in a child’s vocabulary, and how to keep kids entertained is something that keeps many of us awake at night. 101 Things to do on a Rainy Day is a brilliant collection of creative (and occasionally crazy) games, activities and projects to do when you’re stuck indoors – without having to go anywhere near a TV or computer screen! Why not grow a windowsill herb garden, make your own jigsaw, or learn to play the glasses? Get crafty with decoupage and salt dough, or play detective by dusting for fingerprints. Exciting makes include terrariums and kaleidoscopes, whilst wacky games cover everything from Balloon Stomp to Sticky Note Scramble. All 101 ideas only require materials that you’ll already have around the house. With a wealth of ingenious and fun suggestions to keep you amused, you might not even notice that the rain has stopped. The activities are written with children aged 5+ years in mind but it’s your call as to how much help, support and age-appropriate supervision they might need … make whatever adjustments are necessary. Product Information: • ISBN: 9781804192955 • Author: Dawn Isaac • Publisher: Octopus Publishing Group Ltd • Format: Paperback • Pages: 224

Explore the failures, mistakes and missed opportunities that shaped history in this new entry in the bestselling series. From the botched attempt to create a life-extending elixir that produced gunpowder, to the unsuccessful stint in medical school which led to a career in naturalism for Charles Darwin, to the missile detection system malfunction that almost sparked a nuclear war, the course of human history has so often been shaped by failures of all magnitudes. In fifty bite-sized chapters spanning thousands of years, A Short History of the World in 50 Failures details how the world as we know it has been defined by plans gone awry, opportunities not seized upon and schemes that were always fated to end in catastrophe. Whether it’s the pharaoh Akhenaten’s misplaced attempt to found a new religion or Napoleon’s doomed invasion of Russia, discover a fascinating collection of outsized tales and historical snafus that created the world as we know it today. Product Information: • ISBN: 9781789296938 • Author: Ben Gazur • Publisher: Michael O'Mara • Format: Hardback     • Pages: 288 • Dimensions: 17.8 x 12.9 x 2.5 cm