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      • Educational material
        July 2013

        Humorous History Plays

        by Katie Krais

        This book has a funny collection of plays linked to the History scheme of work.

      • Biography & True Stories
        November 2014

        The Soho Don

        by Michael Connor

        The Soho Don is the story of a shy south London boy from a respectable family who became a shadowy, but powerful figure in the Soho, Mayfair and Brighton underworlds.

      • Fiction
        June 2011

        Songs of Bliss

        by Clive Gilson

        Songs of Bliss is a Dancing Pig Original publication - showcasing work by author Clive Gilson. Songs was Clive's first published novel. Just how far will a father go to protect his daughter, especially when his 'protection' is so fundamentally flawed?Billy Whitlow, one time "Don of Doo Wop", has survived his days of drink, drugs and groupies, settling now into a more peaceful life centred on his blossoming seventeen year old daughter Bex. Revising for her 'A' Levels, Bex visits Billy one Easter but the longed-for simplicity of father-daughter happiness is shattered one night in a local club.Billy's world becomes one of questions; Why is his daughter in a drug induced coma? Who put her in that state? How in the name of Hell is he going to make them pay?

      • Boxing
        June 2014

        Fighting Men of London

        Voices from Inside the Ropes

        by Alex Daley

        Fighting Men of London explores the lives of seven former professional boxers who fought in the capital between the 1930s and 1960s. Set around a series of interviews, it resurrects a golden age of the sport when boxing was as popular as football and Britain's leading fighters were working-class heroes. Dramatic, poignant, inspiring and at times funny, the book covers such subjects as booth fighting, exploitation in boxing, East End poverty, World War Two London, Jewish culture, fame and success, crime, prison life and encounters with such figures as the Kray twins, the Great Train Robbers and Britain's most infamous inmate, Charles Bronson. Fighting Men of London takes us on a journey through a lost era of smoky fight halls, ramshackle boxing arenas and courageous fighting men. It features the previously untold stories of 1950s boxing star Sammy McCarthy, Bethnal Green knockout specialist Ted Berry (an associate of the Kray twins) and Sid Nathan, who as one of Britain's last surviving 1930s boxers once shared a fight bill with the great Jack Kid Berg. This isn't a single story, but seven stories of seven very different men. The common bond they shared was boxing.

      • April 2021

        Broadmoor Sinister

        Sanctuary or Hell for the Criminally Insane

        by Boris Coster & Christopher Berry-Dee

        Broadmoor Sinister is a must-read for everyone with an interest in homicidal insanity, serial murder and the true meaning of evil. Boris Coster is perhaps the world’s leading authority on what was previously known as the ‘Broadmoor Criminal Lunatic Asylum’. His depth of research into the history, beginning in the middle 1800s, of what we might call ‘The Mother of all British Asylums’, brings to the reader its remarkable 157-year history - the good and bad times, and its terrifying times - to its closure when the Commission for Healthcare Improvement declared it unfit for purpose in 2003. This so-called ‘high-security facility’, Broadmoor, has housed and treated some of the most notoriously evil, mentally deranged killers in the black annals of British criminal history. Yet, while the majority were safely incarcerated behind the grim walls and glistening wire, others were freed to kill again and again, to terrorise communities, most shockingly with no accountability at all.  Sunday Times bestselling author, Christopher Berry-Dee brings to Broadmoor Sinister his own unique talents: psychopathological studies of the killers – from Ronnie Kray to Peter Sutcliffe and Charles Bronson - and comparisons with other notorious overseas mass murderers and serial killers, taking the reader inside the heads of these monsters.

      • Individual actors & performers

        An East End Life

        by Derek Martin

        As long-suffering EastEnders patriarch Charlie Slater, Derek Martin has become one of British TV's best loved stars. Now in this witty and revealing memoir, Derek tells of his extraordinary journey from growing up in the real East End of London during the Blitz to taking up residency in Albert Square. Derek's journey to Albert Square has proved to be an eventful one. A bone fide East Ender, born within the sound of Bow Bells, Derek grew up during the Blitz in a tight-knit, working-class family. In this candid memoir he describes those tough early days, his stint in the police, life on the wrong side of the law and how he turned his dream of being an actor into a reality. But not before trying his hand as a professional gambler and acting as a runner for the notorious East End gangster Charlie Kray, brother of twins Ronnie and Reggie. Determined to be an actor, Derek began his hugely successful stage and screen career firstly as a stuntman; before landing memorable TV roles in series such as Law and Order, Minder, King and Castle, The Governor and doomed soap Eldorado. In this frank and revealing tale, Derek pulls no punches as he admits past mistakes and describes his remarkable transformation into one of our best loved actors. Meet the man behind the character as he shares with readers his heartbreak over two marriage break ups and his devotion to his twin boys. An East End Life is a truly remarkable story spanning nearly seven decades, packed with tears and laughter that will endear you to this popular star.

      • TV tie-in humour

        The Official Only Fools and Horses Quiz Book

        by Dan Sullivan, Jim Sullivan

        The book has been written by Dan Sullivan and Jim Sullivan, who, as sons of the creator of the Only Fools and Horses, are uniquely placed to use their knowledge of the show  to set such brain-teasers as: What is the title of Rodney's prize winning painting? At what train station do Del and Raquel first meet? According to Trigger he once owned a hat. What colour was it?   What does the 'A' on Del's O-level exam results stand for? What is Joan Trotter's middle name? It s a lovely jubbly stocking filler which will entertain all the family and remind them of many classic moments from the much-loved comedy series.

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