Christmas Gift Guide 2014: Books
Looking for a book this Christmas? Factual, entertaining, or biography, we've a selection of the best right here.
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A Very Courageous Decision - The Inside Story of Yes Minister This fabulous new book tells the story of legendary political sitcom Yes Minister and its sequel, Yes, Prime Minister. Graham McCann goes in search of the real political fiascos that inspired the show. Drawing on fresh interviews with cast, crew, politicians and admirers, he reveals how it captured the mood of its time to become one of the most cherished comedies of Thatcher's Britain. Details |
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Still Open All Hours - The Story of a Classic Comedy We can't recommend this book highly enough for comedy fans. An in-depth history and guide to Roy Clarke's corner-shop sitcom, it charts the huge popularity of the show from its pilot in 1973 to the 2013 revival, Still Open All Hours, which itself returns this Christmas for a full series. Starring David Jason and Ronnie Barker, this is a series that surely holds a special place in many hearts. Details |
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Going Off Alarming: The Autobiography - Vol 2 - Danny Baker "In these memoirs I bounce all about British TV with such success that I wind up in radio. I will also be filling a few holes that I left in the previous decades. For example, I managed to forget in Book One that I had been shot. Twice." Danny Baker's first volume of autobiography, Going To Sea In A Sieve, was a Sunday Times best-seller, and this follow-up promises to be just as popular. Details |
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More Fool Me: A Memoir - Stephen Fry This third volume of autobiographical reminiscences from one of the nation's most loved TV personalities, actor and presenter Stephen Fry, covers the late 1980s and early 1990s, a period during which he had found fame but also a way to burn the candle at both ends, "and took to excess like a duck to water". Details |
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Only When I Laugh: My Autobiography - Paul Merton Improv star, Comedy Store Player and Have I Got News For You stalwart Paul Merton delves back into his own past in this latest comedy biography. Details |
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John Cleese - So, Anyway... This is the story of how a tall, shy youth from Weston-super-Mare went on to become a comedy legend. This is Python and Fawlty Towers star John Cleese's long-awaited autobiography, punctuated from time to time with thoughts on topics as diverse as the nature of comedy as the importance of knowing the dates of all the kings and queens of England. Details |
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The Man Who Was Old Mother Riley During the 1930s and 40s, Arthur Lucan and his wife Kitty McShane were among the highest-paid and most admired variety artistes in Britain. Despite making at least 15 feature films starring as belligerent washerwoman Old Mother Riley and her flighty daughter, Kitty, they're now largely forgotten, but this new book seeks to redress that. Details |
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Moone Boy - The Blunder Years If you love Chris O'Dowd and Nick Vincent Murphy's Sky1 sitcom Moone Boy, you should be adding this to your Christmas wishlist. A prequel novel, it charts young Martin's first attempts to develop an imaginary friend - at Padraic's suggestion - and disastrous first concoction, the hyperactive Loopy Lou. A third series of the TV show has already been filmed. Details |
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1,411 QI Facts To Knock You Sideways 1,227 QI facts blew your socks off. 1,339 QI facts made your jaw drop. Now the QI team return with this year's groaning sack of astonishment. Prepare to be knocked sideways... Orchids can get jetlag. There are 177,147 ways to tie a tie. Ladybird orgasms last for 30 minutes. Traffic lights existed before cars. Sir Bruce Forsyth is four months older than sliced bread. Details |
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Mrs. Brown's A - Y Of Everything If there's one Mammy in the world who knows what's what, it's Mrs. Brown. Here, Agnes follows up her bestselling Mrs. Brown's Family Handbook with an A to Y (who really needs Zs anyway?) of modern life. In it, Agnes explores everything from pandas to piles, from biscuits to The Big Bang and from handwriting to hairdryers. Details |
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The Frood - The Authorised And Very Official History Of Douglas Adams & The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy The Frood tells the story of Adams's explosive but agonisingly constructed fictional universe, from his initial inspirations to the posthumous sequel(s) and adaptations, bringing together a thousand tales of life as part of the British comedy movements of the late 70s and 80s along the way. Details |
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The Best Of Miranda The Best Of Miranda contains the full scripts of Miranda Hart's six favourite episodes of her hit sitcom (including her original revisions and annotations). The book also includes Miranda's own account of just what goes in to the process of writing, rehearsing and filming, hilarious gossip, previously unpublished photographs and more that didn't make the final edits. Details |
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Little Keith Lemon - Memoirs Of Me Childhood Keith Lemon's prequel to Being Keith, this is the memoir of his life as a northern youngster. Have you ever wondered how Keith Lemon went from life as a young nipper in Leeds to being the strawberry blonde star of Celebrity Juice, surrounded by bang tidy lasses? In this heart-warming, inspirational memoir, Keith reveals the story of his childhood. He's also got a childrens' book out. Details |
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Top Tips For Life Life doesn't come with an instruction manual. But if it did, and if that manual was cobbled together in five minutes by a drunken idiot-genius, then it might look something like these crowd-sourced tips and ill-thought-out ideas. This book presents the wealth of knowledge gleaned from the dusty vaults of Twitter's hugely popular @TwopTwips account. Details & Feature |
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Cheep Laughs Darren Walsh, the UK's first Pun Champion and the comedy circuit's Tallest Comedian, debuts his first and greatest joke book encompassing four misspent years of scribbling and doodling. Look upon these works and despair and/or giggle: I just deleted all the German names off my phone. It's Hans free. Details |
See also:
Live Comedy
TV & Film
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