The day of his mother's death when he was five years old was the day the music died for Tony Garnett. His story begins in working-class war-torn Birmingham where he movingly describes the trauma of his mother's death following a back street abortion. 19 days later, stricken with grief, his father committed suicide, and Tony was sent to live with other family members, no longer to hear the soundtrack of his early life, his mother's piano playing. As an angry young man, Tony realised that his passion lay behind the camera and he rebuilt a life in films, pursuing the truth about the world in order to avoid the truth about himself. He eventually moved to London and was part of the counterculture scene in the 1960s. He shares the inside story of his most ground-breaking productions, including Cathy Come Home, Kes and This Life. He gives accounts of angry clashes with the BBC and film executives as he battled to make films that were thought too controversial, films about police corruption and psychiatrists' cruelty, films advocating abortion law reform and the abolition of the death penalty, films about the homeless and the waste of young people in poor schools. He takes us behind the scenes of a selection of his more famous productions and offers secrets and anecdotes, some moving, some amusing and this is a fine and moving memoir of a fine storyteller. 306pp, 16 pages of archive and some colour photos including Garnett with Pauline Letts on the cover of Radio Times for 'The Birth of a Private Man'. He probably was simply the best TV drama creator and producer ever and we all remember his films to this day. Paperback.

George Michael found fame and fortune beyond his wildest dreams from the formation of Wham! in 1981. Their music formed the soundtrack to the 1980s, but when they split in 1986, George went on to greater things as a solo artist. He achieved all this despite growing up in a dysfunctional family where his father openly proclaimed that George had no talent. Along the way he was embroiled in several controversies, but always happy to address the issues head on with the media. A court case with Sony, an arrest in a Los Angeles public toilet, minor run-ins over class C drugs and traffic offences in London, the biography tackles the issues that formed the superstar and his place as a cultural icon. In the last decade before his untimely death he had returned to touring and achieved a massively successful 25 Live tour and the critically acclaimed Symphonica after a serious health scare and a stint in prison. In the months before his death, George was working on new material and a TV documentary. It was only after his death in December 2016 that stories of the full extent of his generosity came to light, adding another layer to the complex story of an unusual superstar. 234pp, paperback with illustrations, we have the 2007 original edition.

An intimate of the 1960s fashion scene and Fleet Street, Felicity Green never knew who she might be interviewing next - politicians, film stars, the latest pop stars, fashion designers. She was thrilled to be working for the Daily Mirror and she brought a new and original voice and look to the fashion pages of the newspaper. For the first time in newspaper history, she created fashion pages to appeal to both sexes, and the circulation soared to more than five million copies a day. And with all those magical names, which journalist could fail to shine? There was the inimitable Mary Quant, the sheer style genius of Barbara Hulanicki of BIBA fame, the irresistible Twiggy, Kiki Byrne, Foale and Tuffin, Jean Muir, John Bates and Ossie Clark. Felicity sailed happily through all the excitement and her role expanded. Long before her famous Dear Marje column was born, Marje Proops, columnist and agony aunt, had been beloved of the multimillion readers for six years before Felicity came on board as associate editor. Two powerful women, and together they represented the voice of women for The Mirror and got on famously, enjoying being women in a man's newspaper world under the guidance of the brilliant Editorial Director Hugh Cudlipp. There are fantastic cartoons of Felicity by cartoonist Moira Hodell picturing her from the back, and page after page of newsprint features reproduced in facsimile to take us right back to the 60s. Pictured are Her Majesty the Queen, Jackie Kennedy and Liz Taylor all wearing real leopard skin, full length coats, the rarest and best skins of which was the Somali leopard which could cost up to £3,000. 'Cheaper ones cost much less - a few hundred pounds - but who wants a CHEAP status symbol?' And then there are the most famous photographers of the time and their remarkable, classy pictures - David Bailey, Terry Donovan, John Cowan, Brian Duffy, Lewis Morley, John Adriaan and of course Terry O'Neill creating striking, saucy and stylish images bringing visual excitement to The Mirror pages. Here is all the glamour and style capturing the stellar time when London fashion conquered the world, with discussion on bikinis that let the sun shine through, tights to wear with miniskirts, new shapes in bras, the Paris catwalk fashions, a comparison of corset adverts, trouser suits and some crazy fashion statements. It is all fun, entertaining and informative in a big glamorous glossy 192 page history of beauty and fashion. 24.6 x 30.8cm published by the Antique Collectors Club.
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Fully revised and updated this is a must have for soul fans covering Dusty's status as a 60s mod queen to influential LGBT heroine. Dusty Springfield was one of our greatest pop singers from releasing 60s hits like 'I Only Want to be With You', 'Son of a Preacher Man' and 'You Don't Have to Say You Love Me' to collaborating with The Pet Shop Boys and beyond, she was a musical pioneer and the very essence of authentic white soul. 20 years after her death she continues to fascinate and inspire. Featuring a new introduction and photographs, this latest edition of the classic biography explores Dusty's life and legacy, from a troubled home counties childhood, struggles with addiction and mental health to becoming a member of the US Rock 'n' Roll and UK Music Halls of Fame. 'In building the image of The Lady, she took tips from male drag queens on which mascara lasted longer and how to apply the heavy eye-shadow. 'Basically I'm a drag queen myself' she admitted later. Yet it was this glitzy image that established her on the upmarket cabaret circus. For her 1967 Talk of the Town in London, she earned £2,500 a week...' Her evening gowns became her trademark and even Prime Minister Harold Wilson named her as his favourite singer. Dusty was adept at moving from one end of the pop spectrum to the other from a laid back The Look of Love for the soundtrack to spoof Bond movie Casino Royale and her pursuit of looking at film roles 'but most of the parts offered were 'crummy? requiring her to play a 'brainless pop singer.' Her press interviews were becoming more introspective and wistful and her most thoughtful interview was given in 1967 to Penny Valentine at Disc. At this point she introduced her infamous teddy bear mascot Einstein, which served as her secure alter ego, a manifestation of the shy, self-protected Mary O'Brien. 'I'm just groping and wandering. All I know is that I have a distinctive voice I don't particularly like listening to.' Packed with musical names from the past and eight pages of colour and black and white photos. 304pp.
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In August 1968, The Beatles launched their greatest business enterprise, Apple Records, to international fanfare. It was their label for experimental music and spoken word recordings, launching the group to be leading members of the counterculture movement of the late 1960s. The brainchild of Paul McCartney, the label collaborated with Yoko Ono alongside John Lennon, Allen Ginsberg, Richard Brautigan, Charles Bukowski, Lawrence Ferlinghetti and Charles Olson. The less well known story is the introduction of their Zapple label about nine months later. If Apple presented artists with new, commercial opportunities, Zapple offered more cutting-edge freedom for leading avant-garde figures of the time. Barry Miles was the label's manager who went on to become a leading authority and chronicler of 1960s culture and here he provides insight into the colourful lives and working methods of the artists and discloses the experimental ventures and an engaging account of this little-known last chapter of Beatles history. Lennon and George Harrison took advantage of the sub-label to release their 'Life with the Lions: Unfinished Music #2' and 'Electronic Sound' albums respectively. The book describes in detail the transatlantic journeys to record on both the West and East Coasts of the USA, interwoven with the excitement and turmoil that was occurring at the Apple offices and in the London art and literary scene. Written by someone who really was there. 238pp, very well illustrated throughout and with useful chronology.

As an emerging music journalist in the 1970s, Paul Morley wrote for NME. No longer excited by modern pop music and determined not to give in to dreary nostalgia, Paul went searching for something new, rare and wondrous, and found it in classical music. His soaring polemic, a grumpy reflection on modern music, rejects the idea that classical music is a drag and instead rehabilitates this genre as the most exciting, radical and varied of all. Both a memoir of Paul's shifting musical tastes and a compelling history of classical music, he explores the genre's rich and often deviant past, and makes a case for its future, all the while recognising its revolutions and revelations. His Coda is entitled 'Music to Listen to While Reading A Book', and other chapters The Piano, The Light and the Dark and The Writing - Finding the Right Words but starting with the To The Planets and Beyond. 599 page illustrated paperback.

100 mesmerising photographs of pop stars to movie stars, TV personalities to socialites, Andy Warhol's protégé presents a virtual 'who's who' of 1980s celebrity. The Beverly Hills California Hollywood photographer led the way and for everyone interested in the nostalgia for the Golden Age of the Silver Screen in full swing and you will adore this vintage Hollywood glamorous tome of 14" x 18", golden clothbound and with tipped in huge illustration of Prince on the front cover. Befitting the subject, there is even a stunning gatefold double page image of Wendy and Lisa in top hat and tails 1985 showgirls ready for action, one looking transgender in her male tuxedo and the other wearing top hat, fishnets, long black satin gloves over the elbow and a strapless cancan style Basque. Marvel at a portrait for Jean Harlow in Dinner at Eight 1933, with her dewy skin, arched eyebrows, perfect make-up and tresses of platinum blonde hair spread out in curls, rosebud lips and silky skin and white satin dress. We see Matthew Rolston's portrait of Michael Jackson posing as a King complete with crown and furs in 1985, his rather grotesque studies of mummies in the Capuchin catacombs in Palermo, and Talking Heads, colour photographs of ventriloquists' dummies. But it is the glamour of the uninterrupted full page plates, all in striking mono: George Michael, Cybill Shepherd sunbathing, a young Jodie Foster, Isabella Rossellini with a daisy in front of one eye, a double page gatefold of Joseph Culp from a The Bad and the Beautiful series of early Hollywood style poses by each of the actors including Robert Downey Jr. again; Christy Turlington appearing to eat a bowl of cigarette ends or as a Tudor beneath a beaded Manta Ray, Shirley MacLaine wearing a chain, a gatefold page of Lisa Bonet floating semi-naked, nipples erect, her leather jacket behind her; Bono with a guitar in Dublin 1987, Brian Wilson 1992, Joni Mitchell 1991, Terence Trent D'Arby on a motorcycle, two more double gatefold pages all featuring Kelly LeBrock in The Seven Deadly Sins series, all spectacularly glamorous and witty; Sylvester Stallone, David Byrne and the beautiful Anjelica Houston without make-up 1987 and Warren Beatty, ruggedly good looking in 1991. Rolston has been ranked among such luminaries as Herb Ritts and Greg Gorman and Annie Leibovitz as one of the most influential photographers with his celebrity image making, gender bending and much more. A quality teNeues publication, 278 heavyweight pages
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ISBN	9783961710249