Showing results by publisher "----RM Alexander" in Entertainment & Celebrities

Lauren Graham has graced countless television screens with her quick wit and larger-than-life personality, earning a reputation as a pop culture icon who always has something to say—and fast. Now Graham shares personal stories about her career in entertainment, from her early days navigating Los Angeles as a struggling actress in a red Volkswagen, to her first appearance on late-night TV, to the challenges of ageing gracefully in Hollywood. With her signature sense of humour and down-to-earth storytelling, she tells all and never spares a detail (as long as she hasn't forgotten it).

Few people serve time in prison before studying at Cambridge. You might be surprised to know that Stephen Fry is one of them. Moab is My Washpot, the remarkable story of Stephen Fry's tumultuous early life, is by turns funny, shocking, tender, delicious, sad, lyrical, bruisingly frank and addictively listenable.

Misanthrope. Iconoclast. Apostate. Drunk. Many words have been used to describe Doug Stanhope, but rarely has “hopeful” been one of them. However, heading into 2016, Stanhope peered through the apocalyptic fog and saw a forecast that was more rainbows than acid rain: His first book was set for release, his new stand-up special was in the can, and he was about to film a television pilot with his friend and confidant Johnny Depp. The only thing that could stop Doug was himself, and that’s exactly what he did.

Creedence Clearwater Revival is one of the most important and beloved bands in the history of rock, and John Fogerty wrote, sang, and produced their instantly recognizable classics: "Proud Mary", "Bad Moon Rising", "Born on the Bayou", and more. Now he reveals how he brought CCR to number one in the world, eclipsing even the Beatles in 1969. By the next year, though, Creedence was falling apart; their amazing, enduring success exploded and faded in just a few short years.

With over 100 movies to his credit over five decades, Hollywood legend and British national treasure Michael Caine shares the wisdom, stories, insight and skills for success in life that acting has taught him in his remarkable career. One of our best-loved actors Michael Caine has starred in everything from classic British films Alfie, Zulu and The Italian Job to the Hollywood blockbusting The Dark Knight trilogy and much-loved movie favourites Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Hannah and Her Sisters and The Quiet American.

Dylan, who began working on the book in 2010, offers a masterclass on the art and craft of songwriting. He writes over 60 essays focusing on songs by other artists, spanning from Stephen Foster to Elvis Costello, and in between ranging from Hank Williams to Nina Simone. He analyses what he calls the trap of easy rhymes, breaks down how the addition of a single syllable can diminish a song and even explains how bluegrass relates to heavy metal. These essays are written in Dylan’s unique prose.

Every week, hear guests like Michelle Obama, Glennon Doyle and Abby Wambach, Matthew Broderick, D-Nice, José Andrés, and more explore the complexities of family life and how their earliest culinary experiences helped shape their personal and professional lives—and of course, each guest brings a recipe for a favorite dish from their youth so you can taste a bit of their story.

The age of the rock star, like the age of the cowboy, has passed. Like the cowboy, the idea of the rock star lives on in our imaginations. What did we see in them? Swagger. Recklessness. Sexual charisma. Damn-the-torpedoes self-belief. A certain way of carrying themselves. Good hair. Interesting shoes. Talent we wished we had. What did we want of them? To be larger than life but also like us. To live out their songs. To stay young forever. No wonder many didn't stay the course.

In March 2022, Michael Palin travelled the length of the River Tigris through Iraq to get a sense of what life is like in a region of the world that once formed the cradle of civilisation, but that in recent times has witnessed turmoil and appalling bloodshed. It was a journey of sharp, often brutal contrasts. At one moment he would be exploring the old streets of Baghdad or the ancient ruins of Babylon. At the next he would be visiting the war-torn city of Mosul, or learning about the horrific Speicher massacre in Tikrit.

Prince was a musical genius, one of the most talented, beloved, accomplished, popular, and acclaimed musicians in pop history. But he wasn't only a musician - he was also a startlingly original visionary with an imagination deep enough to whip up whole worlds, from the sexy, gritty funk paradise of his early records to the mythical landscape of Purple Rain to the psychedelia of Paisley Park. But his greatest creative act was turning Prince Rogers Nelson, born in Minnesota, into Prince, the greatest pop star of his era.

Not many have lived as many lives as Archie Roach - stolen child, seeker, teenage alcoholic, lover, father, musical and lyrical genius, and leader - but it took him almost a lifetime to find out who he really was. Roach was only two years old when he was forcibly removed from his family. Brought up by a series of foster parents until his early teens, his world imploded when he received a letter that spoke of a life he had no memory of.

Deborah Conway pulls back the curtain on the fevered world of a 1980's post punk band, the spectacular rise and fall and rise of one of the more obstreperous women working inside Australia's music industry, a woman who has straddled the high arts and the low without losing her footing or her mind and whose fierce independence has seen her produce her best work.

William McInnes, one of Australia's best-loved entertainers and authors, takes a look at the Aussie obsession with sports and pop culture. A chance encounter in an auction house is the jumping-off point for William's inimitable take on our sport-obsessed nation, Australian popular culture and the artefacts and memorabilia that make us both cringe with recognition and laugh with warm affection. His trademark humour and anecdotes litter this collection, making it a true delight.

What happens when Paul Simon, widely considered one of the greatest songwriters in music history, and Malcolm Gladwell, the bestselling author and podcast host, sit down together, with a tape recorder and a guitar? Miracle and Wonder: Conversations with Paul Simon is part memoir, part investigation, and unlike any creative portrait you’ve ever heard before.

Mike Majlak was a 17-year-old from a loving middle-class family in Milford, Connecticut, when he got caught up in the opioid epidemic that swept the nation. For close to a decade thereafter, his life was a wasteland of darkness and despair. While his peers were graduating from college, buying homes, getting married, having kids, and leading normal lives, Mike was snorting Oxycontin, climbing out of cars at gunpoint, and burying his childhood friends.

At the ripe age of three, Mike Drucker got his very first Nintendo console—the Nintendo Entertainment System—and he was hooked. Every video game felt like a new chapter was opening in his life, expanding his world for the better and—sometimes—for worse. In this fond and joyful memoir, Drucker combines ridiculous personal stories and fascinating gaming history to explore the poignant ways that electronic entertainment can save us from ourselves. Good Game, No Rematch is a love letter to video games and the people who play them, from a very nerdy voice in the world of comedy.

This definitive biography of Anna Wintour chronicles the steep climb of an ambitious young woman who would, with singular and legendary focus, become the most powerful woman in media.

Picking up from where Living the Château Dream ended, Dick and Angel recount the newest and biggest challenges they faced on the journey to transforming their once derelict and abandoned château in France's Pays de la Loire into a thriving family home and sustainable business.

The hilarious and heartwarming account of Miranda and her life changing dog, the inimitable and most lovable Peggy. Hello dear audiobook browser and welcome to Peggy and Me. The story of my life since getting a beautiful Shih-Tzu Bichon Frise cross puppy (I call the breed a Shitty Frise - fun) in the form of Peggy.

Food has always been an integral part of Stanley Tucci’s life: from stracciatella soup served in the shadow of the Pantheon, to marinara sauce cooked between scene rehearsals and costume fittings, to home-made pizza eaten with his children before bedtime. Now, in What I Ate In One Year Tucci records twelve months of eating, in restaurants, kitchens, film sets, press junkets, at home and abroad, with friends, with family, with strangers, and occasionally just by himself.