It was, however, preferable to his day job of paving driveways, and that day in 2005 saw the start of an incredible journey for Ferris, Ulster and Ireland rugby. A Celtic League title in his very first senior season with Ulster. A Grand Slam in 2009, followed by a sensational Lions breakthrough. A starring role in Ireland's greatest World Cup win, over Australia in 2011, when Ferris famously picked up Will Genia and carried him ten yards. And leading Ulster from nowhere to the Heineken Cup final.Stephen Ferris had an incredible rugby career, tragically ended by ankle injuries so severe they will never properly heal. He is an inspiration to the population of Ulster, an emblem of the sport that serves as such a positive expression of its culture and identity, and earned the respect and admiration of fans across Ireland for his strength, pace, skill and courage. Fearless, funny and full of an incredible array of stories from behind the scenes of Ulster, Ireland and the Lions, this is the must-have rugby book of the year.

    They did not talk about their mom's extended absences or why their dad put Scotch tape on the backdoor frame. To cover up the chaos, they kept their clothes neat and got good grades. But when they were teenagers, an arson fire destroyed their home and killed their parents. Rumors were thick that summer that smart, angry, fourteen-year-old Lisa set the blaze. Then, adult powers they did not understand squelched the investigation. As teenagers accustomed to keeping silent, they packed up and moved on.Forty years later, Leigh, the oldest, decided it was time to find out who killed their parents. She obtained copies of the police and fire investigations and began unwrapping the past. This memoir is the story of that investigation as Leigh tried to piece together the truth, but found more lies instead. With the help of her sisters, Leigh was able to reconstruct much of what happened to them in the beach towns around Atlantic City in the early 1970s. After the fire, one sister turned to heroin and another to alcohol; Leigh became Miss Atlantic City. Then, one by one, they each moved to California and shut the door on their past, even though they privately wondered whether one of them killed Frank and Nancy Overton. It's funny. They never wondered whether one of their parents was trying to kill them.

    With millions of followers across the world, his unique brand of nothingness has come to define a generation, while his YouTube channel continues to gain new followers on a daily basis. Now, for the very first time, Alfie talks about how it all began . . . From growing up on the sunny south coast of England, having fun with friends and thinking up pranks, dares, and silly activities throughout the long summer holidays in Brighton, through to recording his first ever vlog at the age of 15, The Scrapbook of My Life is the story of how a young, ambitious kid with a big character took the world by storm. But The Scrapbook of My Life isn't a typical autobiography. Join Alfie as he recalls his first childhood memories, his first day at school, his first ever job, and how he has moved from his hometown to the wide-eyed metropolis of London--and fill in your own pages alongside your favorite YouTube star! With alternate pages for readers to complete, including pages for sticking photographs, completing stats and facts, and collecting souvenirs, The Scrapbook of My Life is the ultimate journal for PointlessBlog fans, old and new!

    It was a dream that would lead him into a nightmare of sexual and physical abuse from which he has still not recovered. Stewart was abused every day for four years by his junior football coach. He suffered in silence and embarked on a successful career that saw him play for Manchester City, Tottenham Hotspur, Liverpool and Sunderland, scoring in an FA Cup final and winning caps for England. Behind it all, he was a broken man – many times he wished he could end his life. He turned to drink and drugs as a way of coping with his devastating secret. In 2016, Stewart was sitting at his office desk one morning when he read a Daily Mirror story about a footballer who had been abused. His world was about to change… Paul Stewart: Damaged is one of the most powerful and emotionally charged football life stories you will read.

    Sick of the weather, perennial colds and their increasingly routine lifestyle, they’d all been getting restless. Finally, Guy and Juliet broke in spectacular style – they re-mortgaged their house and bought a yacht. Her name was Forever.The plan? To pick up Forever from her mooring in the Leeward Antilles off the coast of Venezuela, and sail around the West Indies before crossing the Atlantic back to Scotland. This was despite the fact that Guy, skipper of the expedition, had almost no sailing experience.Travelling around the lush tropical islands of the Caribbean and up the waterways of America, the family had countless sublime moments as they discovered the freedoms of sailing – anchoring in deserted bays, night passages under star-studded skies, and entering New York by water, greeted by the Statue of Liberty. But there were also testing times as they grappled with seasickness and bad weather, coping with young children at sea and learning to run a large, complex boat. Far from being the idyllic escape they’d envisaged, the journey forced Guy and Juliet to draw on reserves of courage and endurance they never knew they had.Wry, funny and buccaneering, this is a compelling tale of bravery and endeavour, out on the open sea.

    You'll soon be relating to the sense of humour that moves an ambulance driver to respond to his friend and fellow paramedic's predicament on a hot summer's day, as a powerful smell engulfs the saloon of the vehicle. What would you do? Open the cab windows and the hatch through to the saloon to provide some extra ventilation? Of course not! You switch the heating on, causing the already intolerable pong to become even more unbearable, making for a bangin' mess room tale on your later return! Wonderfully illustrated with cartoons depicting each scene, it's an eye-watering insight into the Lighter Side of working on the Dark Side, straight from the mess rooms of ambulance stations up and down the UK. There's also a heartening reminder of the power of a flamin’ good belly laugh and its analgesic effect even in situations of severe pain. This is a book that laughs in the face of extreme emotion and stress. Outrageous? Perhaps. Distasteful? Probably. Humorous? Absolutely!

    You’re going to want to take notes.” Jobless, heartbroken and broke, new college graduate Laila Lucent packs up her car and drives alone across the country to her new life as a Las Vegas stripper. In an empowering, intelligent and hilarious memoir of self-discovery, 22-year-old Laila takes us deep inside the best, most infamous, strip club in Las Vegas, the Spearmint Rhino. From living with homeless drug addicts, to practicing yoga on the beaches of Costa Rica, from threesomes with wealthy foreigners, to dancing at the best music festivals in the world, The Yoga Stripper is a wickedly funny reverse fairy tale where morality is flexible, money is fast, and clothing is discouraged.

    Among a UK prison population of close to 100,000, fewer than 40 men and women have been told they will end their days in a prison cell. They range from men who crossed continents to slay youngsters, to contract killers who relished their grisly calling. Some planned their killings in a sick and sadistic manner, others killed in an unanticipated explosion of rage, lust, greed or jealously. But whatever their crime, whatever their motive, each of these beasts has one thing in common: they are the most evil people in our prison system. A graphic and harrowing read, this book is the first ever to bring together the case histories of every full-term lifer in Britain's jails. It offers never-before-published information about these extraordinary offenders. Police, lawyers and the relatives of the victims and killers all describe how the truth behind these awful crimes was pieced together and those responsible were brought to justice to face the harshest punishment. These are the 36 monsters deemed beyond redemption, who by their own hands forfeited the right to live among us, forever. These are the killers whose crimes were such that society demanded that ...LIFE MEANS LIFE!

    Drawing on his extraordinary personal experience, it provides in-depth, comprehensive lessons and practical takeaways.Whether serving as an elite soldier, training as a high-level shooter or becoming an expert in HALO (high-altitude, low-opening) and HAHO (high-altitude, high-opening) parachuting, Jay has always strived to be at the very top of the game.More than most, Jay knows that military service develops skillsets you’d never dreamed of having, and which can be applied to our day-to-day lives. We are prone to underestimating ourselves, but physical and mental endurance and resilience – as well as realising our own full potential – are well within our reach.

    He's a child in the back seat of Dad's car on the way to the seaside in Weston-Super-Mare. He's on his first bike, a red one, in Solihull; then on his first motorcycle, a Honda MTX50. He's at the wheel of his first car, and with his first girlfriend. He is driving a furniture delivery van as part of his first job in and around Ripon. Now he is showing off with a friend, risking everything. Then he is surging ahead in an open-top, a successful TV star. Next, a car crash that made national headlines. This is an emotional road map in which each chapter has its own registration number, and its own distinctive interior. This memoir surges on to its destination, reversing or moving quickly through the gears, reliving the central episodes and conflicts of Richard's life. Although there are precious few road-rage monologues against four-wheel drivers and men in vests in white vans, Richard Hammond's readers will quickly recognize the funny, self-deprecating, and balanced ease that has made him one of Britain's best-loved writers and television hosts.

    More can happen to Monica in one week than most people experience in a year, from facing down psychopathic drug dealers to the FBI threatening to put her in the Witness Protection Program or the SWAT team appearing to rescue her from a man she's done with, and every story is as true as it is strange. Get ready for an exciting ride that takes you from the depths of drug addiction to the pinnacle of high society only to end up six feet under.

    After 22 years, spent across four continents, with two children – Louis and Marcel – in 1990 Anne and Paul Theroux decided to separate.For that year, Anne – later a professional relationship therapist herself – kept a diary, noting not only her day-to day experiences as a busy freelance journalist and broadcaster, but the contrasts in her feelings between despairing grief and hope for a new future.With reflections on truth and fiction, literature and art and the nature of marriage, alongside commentary on notable political and cultural events, and interviews with prominent writers of the time, including Kingsley Amis and Barbara Cartland, The Year of the End offers a unique insight into the unravelling of a relationship and the attempts to rebuild a life.

    Sgt. Charles Black is a 35 year veteran of the Iowa State Patrol during those years he has had many experiences and he shares his favorites in this book. In 35 years I have seen a lot of changes from the name of the organization to the primary function. From hearses to ambulances to rescue units with EMT's. From paper list of stolen cars to computers.From no recorders to body cameras. From fist fights to gun fights.But human nature and the effects of drugs and alcohol remain the same.

    For his wife, Ginny, the accident meant taking on new and unwanted roles as head of the household and family decision-maker, while also struggling to overcome the anger and grief she felt after the accident.In A Different Kind of Life, Ginny tells her story with honesty and humor, set against the glamorous backdrop of Formula One racing. She documents life before and after the devastating accident - from falling in love with Frank at first sight to learning how to cope with his needs after he became severely disabled but remained fiercely independent.A testament to the power of compassion and perseverance, A Different Kind of Life is a moving and inspiration story.

    Miller wound up in jail more than once, especially as a teenager. But he immersed himself in the educational opportunities, eventually took advantage of a Pennsylvania state education-release program offered to incarcerated people, and was able to graduate with honors from Temple University.When revealing his gangland past caused him to lose his first major job opportunity, Miller vowed to keep it a secret. He climbed the corporate ladder with a number of companies such as Kraft Foods, Campbell’s Soup, and Jantzen, until Nike hired him to run its domestic apparel operations. Around the time of Michael Jordan’s basketball retirement, Nike Chairman Phil Knight made Larry Miller president of the newly formed Jordan Brand. In 2007 Paul Allen convinced Miller to jump to the NBA to become president of the Portland Trailblazers, one of the first African-Americans to lead a professional sports team, before returning to Jordan Brand in 2012.All along, Miller lived two lives: the secret of his violent past haunted him, invading his days with migraines and his sleep with nightmares of getting hauled back to jail. More than a rags-to-riches story, Jump is also a passionate appeal for criminal justice reform and expanded educational opportunities for incarcerated and formerly incarcerated people across the United States. Drawing on his powerful personal story, as well as his vast and well-connected network, Miller plans to use Jump as a launching point to help expand such opportunities and to provide an aspirational journey for those who need hope.