A new generation of fans and comedians, including Johnny Vegas, Victoria Wood and Vic Reeves, are now rediscovering Dodd's unique talents. Dodd has a huge and fiercely loyal fanbase. On the eve of his eightieth birthday, Ken Dodd is still touring the country, performing in packed venues an average of two nights a week with his legendary four-hour sets. 'I do it because that is what I do. I do it because that is what I am,' he said, when asked why he continues with this punishing schedule. Ken Dodd's career has spanned over five decades as he went from singer to actor, and presently, most famously, comedian. He is considered the last, great, music-hall-inspired variety comic, but what drives this man whose career has been tainted by hardship? Dodd still lives in his childhood home of Knotty Ash and has never married, despite having two-long term fiances. In 1989, his strange relationship to money culminated in a trial for tax evasion, and he was also famously stalked by a mystery woman. How did this feather-duster salesman become one of the most loved, though least-lauded, British comedians of all time? Stephen Griffin interviewed friends, colleagues and fellow comedians to get inside the mind of the original Diddyman.

    As Alan recounts tales from his extraordinary life, he relives the sporting occasions, radio broadcasts and famously long drinking sessions that have defined his career. He takes readers inside the talkSPORT studio for a behind-the-scenes view of his most memorable interviews, and talks for the first time about the on-pitch rivalries and dressing room debriefs of his footballing career.With his typically outspoken and irreverent delivery, Alan shares everything from his thoughts on how the sports he loves have changed to his top tips for picking winners (and many losers) at Cheltenham. And he revels in wine-soaked jaunts in the South of France and late-night supermarket sweeps with Ray Parlour – if you can keep up.Packed full of never-before-told stories, refreshing appraisals, sporting controversy and a cast of larger-than-life characters, this is a brutally honesty and wickedly funny insight into an extraordinary life.

    The art of dealing the best quality drugs to the neediest crack head took patience, precision and street smarts qualities Kason “Kaotic” Lafleur had down pack. Inheriting the family business from his uncle, Kaotic becomes a self-made millionaire by producing the purest coke and skillfully smuggling them into the US without lifting a finger. With a take charge attitude and boss mentality, Kaotic, the leader of the Dade County Goonz (DCG), only concern is money. To him, if it didn’t make money it didn’t made sense. Not even the slew of women he has encountered during the many rendezvous has the ability to shift his attention. Getting him to care and love was practically unachievable and non-existent until he met her… ​ ​Serenity has it all; beauty, brains and a bank account with more zeros than she knew what to do with. From the outside looking in, Serenity has it together. Her life is goals to many except no one knows the demons she faces. The fear of love forces her to use men for sex before tossing them aside. Her wild behavior mirrors the pain she’s truly going through, the pain no one can understand, pain that is uncontrollable until she met him… ​Love can be so beautiful yet painful in the same sense. Kaotic struggles with the adjustment his heart forces him to make as he allows a broken woman into his life, one who is so harmless, but can potentially cause him and his organization so much damage. Serenity struggles to keep secrets hidden, secrets that could potentially cost her- her life.

     A handsome successful husband, two beautiful children, a family that she loved and success. Everything Jade ever thought was hers and true... switched in a night. The night her husband got into a near fatal accident that not only erased his memory of the man he was... It also forbids him from explaining to his wife why her sister was in the car at the time of the accident. Apollo King has no recollection of his wife or children. He has no idea what it means to be the King Of The South. Everything that was ever taught to him is long gone, erased with the possibility of returning slim to none. Jade, Apollo’s wife steps up to take over all of Apollo’s operations in order to keep the family business afloat. But with Apollo’s attack comes startling revelations that threaten to ruin everything that they have built. They say if you love something then let it go and if it comes back then it’s meant to be but is unconditional love enough to withstand the damage that Apollo caused? To the left or right of every man…is a strong woman holding him down! But, will him doing what many would consider the unforgiveable, cause him to lose the one thing in his life that he cherished the most; his wife, the woman he has no memory of?

    With decades of research and insight, Jensen lifts the veil of public relations half-truths and exposes the reality of the man who is still, 30 years after his death, the iconic Western movie hero and hero of red state America. Jensen proves that the public John Wayne was very different from the private man, who struggled with severe alcoholism, chronic infidelity, self-esteem and personal demons that often made life hell for his wives and children. The book painstakingly recounts the triumphs and tragedies of the life of John Wayne – who rose from abject poverty to become the world’s most famous movie star – and creates a portrait of a man haunted by a childhood of abuse; a man conflicted by his own definition of masculinity; a man fighting to control his own rage and his propensity for violence; a man who committed domestic violence against all three of his wives and his children; and a man haunted by and driven to overcome his fear of failure, poverty and ridicule.

    His courage was remarkable, as was the way he defied his handicap. The film Reach for the Sky brought Bader’s life into cinemas, and Robert Jackson's classic biography was the first to document his life. After a lonely childhood Bader’s early reputation as a sportsman and a daredevil made him popular with his contemporaries. But he was also an irritation to his superiors, a pattern which continued throughout his life, and hid an academic ability which won him a scholarship to St Edward’s School and a cadetship at the elite RAF College in Cranwell. After his accident, Bader was determined to rejoin the RAF. As a pilot, he was an tactical innovator, a man who confronted the methods of other pilots. When he was a Prisoner of War, Bader’s antagonism toward his guards, and his political pronouncements in later life, sometimes provoked his colleagues, but never lost him their lasting respect and admiration. After retiring from the RAF he combined a full-time job with Shell with all the demands of being a celebrity; his inspiration to the disabled gained him many accolades and finally a knighthood.Both aggressive and charming, Bader’s outward personality was famous. Robert Jackson describes the evolution of that forceful character, and the motivation behind his remarkable achievements. ‘Its style and structure make it readily accessible and, like your favourite armchair, it is easy to relax into at the end of a busy day.’ Frank BurnsRobert Jackson has been a full-time author since 1969, specializing in aviation and military history. A retired member of the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, he has flown a wide variety of aircraft, ranging from jets to gliders. A prolific author, he has written both fiction and non-fictionEndeavour Press is the UK's leading independent digital publisher. For more information on our titles please sign up to our newsletter at www.endeavourpress.com. Each week you will receive updates on free and discounted ebooks. Follow us on Twitter: @EndeavourPress and on Facebook via http://on.fb.me/1HweQV7. We are always interested in hearing from our readers. Endeavour Press believes that the future is now.

    Prime Minister Indira Gandhi hated the marigold flower, although in death it was strewn all over her body; her son Sanjay Gandhi was dictatorial, but also uncommonly empathetic; Smita Patil, who was synonymous with strong, women-centric films, was deeply insecure in her personal life; Ekta Kapoor, the television czarina believes that her unabashed faith in God helped her scale heights and earn her first big bucks; and Abhinav Bindra, who won India the first Olympic gold medal in an individual event confessed how he was a laidback child with no goals in sight. Embellished with interesting nuggets, this book is a collection of fascinating profiles including, L.K. Advani, Smriti Irani, Lalu Prasad Yadav, Rajiv Gandhi, Amitabh Bachchan and Arun Jaitley. Uncommon access, being privy to confidences and, above all, a willingness to tell the story, bring alive the people behind the headlines. The Marigold Story: Indira Gandhi & Others is not a gushing account of newsmakers; if anything it captures their weaknesses; goes beyond their achievements and examines what makes these individuals distinctive and unforgettable at the same time.

    Lady Sondra and her family. Shortly after Lady Sondra is released from doing a ten year stint in Bellevue Mental Institution, tragedy strikes close to home testing her bad side and putting her on a vengeful mission for blood. Things go horribly wrong when she attempts to recruit her twin sons Rahmel and Jahmel to embark on a mission to build an untouchable drug empire all the while trying to keep her daughter Mahogany on the straight and narrow path. Lady Sondra is just one incident away from being sent back to the place she’s vowed never to visit again. Drama and betrayal send her spiraling down a dark bumpy road of no return. Get to know the Bells and learn all of the family secrets as you and those who betray Lady Sondra experience “A Bitch’s Bad Side”

    Michener was an obscure textbook editor working in New York. Within three years, he was a naval officer stationed in the South Pacific. By the end of the decade, he was an accomplished author, well on the way to worldwide fame. Michener’s first novel, Tales of the South Pacific, won the Pulitzer Prize. Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein used it as the basis for the Broadway musical South Pacific, which also won the Pulitzer. How this all came to be is the subject of Stephen May’s Michener’s South Pacific.An award-winning biographer of Michener, May was a featured interviewee on the fiftieth-anniversary DVD release of the film version of the musical. During taping, he realized there was much he didn’t know about how Michener’s experiences in the South Pacific shaped the man and led to his early work.May delves deeply into this formative and turbulent period in Michener’s life and career, using letters, journal entries, and naval records to examine how a reserved, middle-aged lieutenant known as "Prof" to his fellow officers became one of the most successful writers of the twentieth century.

    

    

    Caught between two men she once loved and the one who holds her heart, now. With a baby on the way, she has to face the music and deal with the karma she brought onto herself. Confined in total darkness with little to no food or water, her thoughts become her refuge… But those same thoughts haunt her with the demons from her past and the hateful actions against her baby sister. Seemingly all hope is gone, Salimah slowly gives up. Wishing she’d thought things through. Is life worth living? Tyrone is caught between a rock and a hard place. Once the brother with all the answers, he’s left broken-hearted and discarded. Torn between the facts and his feelings. How could the same girl who he loved and claimed to love him double cross him? Did he miss the signs? Now, his brothers are in jeopardy and Tyrone is partially to blame. Even through this, Torin, the same brother he attacked and belittled is the only person he trusts during this trying time in his life. Will Torin be the bigger person and help his brother or will he hold a grudge and hang him out to dry? A rocky past unraveling itself leaves Fatima in a rut. Defying Torin’s wishes and snooping around The Windy City for answers. Left handcuffed to a bed, Fatima must come to grips with all the secrets she’s kept from Torin. From her sneaking out of the house to meet with his estranged sister to keeping her pregnancy a secret. With Torin ten steps ahead of her there’s no room for lies and games. Not to mention, she and her best friend are on the outs, leaving Fatima with nobody to run to. Will she open up to Torin about everything she’s been up to or add more gasoline to the fire? Crack open Promising My Love to a Boss 3 and find out how these stories unveil. There’s no love in these streets and the city that hates itself will swallow you whole.

    He has his woman, his position as head of his family lucrative drug business and he still has rapping. Life is going good until it isn’t. Secrets that his mother kept hidden from him while she was alive comes out while a family enemy hell bent on revenge surfaces to take Kasam and his brothers down. Erin is in college pursing her dreams while being with the man that she loves. Life is almost fairytale like until things come out to show her that Kasam is no Prince Charming. Erin has to decide if she can deal with groupies and infidelity while trying to manage her own life’s issues. A storm is brewing. Danger is headed Kasam and Erin’s way as people are out to tear them apart. For two people who are so much better together than they are apart will they crumble under pressure or will they prove to the world that they are indeed meant to be together? Erin and Kasam first appeared in Hold You Down

    Everything the legendary duo has built is on the line due to the jealously of past loves, friends and even family. Obtaining money, power, and respect is never easy, but The Alton’s prove it that holding on to it is even harder.

    Ex-players, close friends, journalists, managers and former colleagues reveal their astonishing brushes with the greatest football manager England never had. The stories are cherry-picked from two acclaimed books - 150BC: Cloughie the Inside Stories and Clough: Confidential. An additional 242 stories can be found in these two volumes. So, enter the whirlwind world of Old Big 'Ead and prepare to be entertained.