Entertainment Books

Now including the top astronomical places to visit, star festivals and the latest on star parties in Britain and Ireland, the new 2024 edition is totally up-to-date for exploring the wonder of the night skies, month-by-month and day-by-day. Whether you're a seasoned astronomer or just starting out, Philip's Stargazing 2024 is the only book you'll need. Compiled by experts and specially designed for easy and daily use, Stargazing 2024 acts as a handily illustrated and comprehensive companion. Includes 12 updated sky charts for year-round astronomical discovery, Month-to-Month information. Daily Moon Phase Calendar, highlighting special lunar events throughout the year and planet Watch for ideal viewing days in 2024. Find the best places to experience Dark Skies, along with the latest on Star Festivals and Star Parties and the top places to visit for astronomical insights. With expert advice and insight throughout from internationally renowned Prof Nigel Henbest, a special article on the use of filters for astro-photography by expert Robin Scagell, the complete calendar of major astronomical events, including the Top 20 Sky Sights of 2024 and Jargon Buster, explaining common or confusing terms, the planets' movements explained from solar and lunar eclipses to meteor showers and comets.  Product Information:  • ISBN:  9781849076517 • Author: Nigel Henbest • Publisher:  Philip's • Format:  Paperback • Pages:  96 • Dimensions: 14.9 x 14.9 x 21 cm

The explosive new book from Britain’s leading investigative biographer, Tom Bower As one of the most famous and influential couples in the world, David and Victoria Beckham have attained iconic status. The ultimate power couple have together built a multi-billion-dollar global brand. For decades, adoring fans have been captivated by the glamorous world they have created, while their unrivalled fusion of showbiz, fashion, football and celebrity has been cultivated alongside the image of a strong marriage. When the much-trailed Netflix documentary Beckham aired in 2023, viewers were offered an even more intimate insight into their private lives. Produced by the Beckhams themselves, the series raised many questions, not only about their success and personal relationship, but also about the ruthlessly successful management of their image in the media. Are their lives really as perfect as the Beckhams would like the world to believe? Through extensive research, expert sourcing and interviews with insiders, Britain’s most celebrated investigative biographer, Tom Bower, has unearthed a succession of revelations that give surprising insight into the reality of ‘Brand Beckham’. Exploring the couple’s relationship, and the truth about their football and fashion careers, their finances and their new life in Miami, The House of Beckham unravels the extraordinary reality of the business-savvy cultural icons to tell an engrossing, often astonishing story of money, sex and power. Product Information:  • ISBN: 9780008638870 • Author: Tom Bower • Publisher: HarperCollins • Format:  Hardcover • Pages: 384 • Dimensions: 15.9 x 3.8 x 24 cm

Join Winnie the Pooh and friends on a charming journey through the Hundred-Acre Wood. Follow Winnie the Pooh as he wanders through his day, discovering how the beauty of the natural world, the kindness of friends and the joy of a drop of honey can inspire wonder and gratitude. These beautifully illustrated mindful moments are accompanied by simple affirmations to encourage reflection on how the little things in life can spark joy and appreciation. Product Information: • ISBN: 9781800787629 • Author: Walt Disney • Publisher: Bonnier Books UK Limited • Format: Hardback     • Pages: 128 • Dimensions: 21 x 14.8cm

Ripley's Believe It or Not! is guaranteed to amaze and entertain children and adults alike with its unique blend of weird but true stories and jaw-dropping facts gathered from all over the world. This year... Marvel at the ice caves of Alaska. Find out what very unusual food Icelanders eat at their traditional mid-winter feast. Discover why Lucas the penguin has to wear rubber boots. Hear about the woman who sailed down the Missouri River in a giant hollowed-out pumpkin. And take the 'Funny Bones' test to see whether you can match photographs of skeletons to their animal owners. No Christmas is complete without Ripley's! Product Information: • ISBN: 9781529941203 • Author: Ripley • Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd • Format: Hardback • Pages: 256 • Dimensions: 30.5 x 23.6 x 2.2cm

The world’s bestselling Grand Prix handbook is back for the new season. This is the definitive guide to Formula 1 in 2025. A complete examination of all the teams racing this season, every driver and all the tracks featured in the packed Grand Prix calendar. Also including a full review of the 2024 season and a breakdown of the new rules and regulations for 2025, this indispensable guidebook features a full breakdown of last season’s drivers’ and constructors’ world championship results – as well as a fill-in chart for 2025, so each book becomes your own personalised guide to the year’s action. Written by bestselling F1 author Bruce Jones and containing dozens of breathtaking photographs and detailed circuit illustrations plus a statistics section highlighting the major records in F1 history, this is the only guide you’ll need for the racing action ahead. Product Information: • ISBN: 9781035418756 • Author: Bruce Jones • Publisher: Hodder Headline • Format: Paperback • Pages: 128 • Dimensions: 24.41 x 18.8 x 1.2 cm

Experience the legendary history of Formula 1 in this definitive illustrated book. Foreword by Ross Brawn. Fully updated for 2024, Formula 1: The Official History is an electrifying account of the F1 phenomenon, telling the complete story of one of the world’s most popular, thrilling, and glamorous sports. Bringing together a superbly written account of the history of the sport and an exceptional selection of stunning images from across seven decades of F1 racing, the book charts the FIA Formula One World Championship, decade by decade, from its first race at Silverstone in May 1950 right through to the present day. Each chapter tells the fascinating stories behind the greatest drivers and teams, important personnel, famous and infamous incidents, as well as key changes to the rules on design, safety and competitiveness. These tales are accompanied by more than 250 exceptional photographs featuring icons past and present, including Ayrton Senna, Michael Schumacher, Alain Prost, Sebastian Vettel, Lewis Hamilton, Fernando Alonso and Max Verstappen. Accessible and entertaining for any F1 fan, this is the definitive visual history of the sport. Product Information: • ISBN: 9781802797787 • Author: Maurice Hamilton • Publisher: Orion Publishing • Format: Hardback • Pages: 304 • Dimensions: 28.45 x 23.4 x 2.6 cm

Pull on your wellies, grab your flat cap and join Jeremy Clarkson in this hilarious and fascinating behind-the-scenes look at the farm we're all obsessed with . . . An idyllic spot offering picturesque views across the Cotswolds, bustling hedgerows and natural springs. Until one day, Jeremy decided he would do the farming itself. After all, how hard could it be? . . . Faced with suffocating red tape, biblical weather, local objections, a global pandemic and his own frankly staggering ignorance of how to 'do farming', Jeremy soon realises that turning the farm around is going to take more than splashing out on a massive tractor. Fortunately, there's help at hand from a large and (mostly) willing team, including girlfriend Lisa, Kaleb the Tractor Driver, Cheerful Charlie, Ellen the Shepherd and Gerald, his Head of Security and Dry Stone Waller. And yet while the farm may be called Diddly Squat for good reason, Jeremy soon begins to understand that it's worth a whole lot more to him than pounds, shillings and pence . . . Product Information: • ISBN: 9780241464502 • Author: Jeremy Clarkson • Publisher: Michael Joseph • Format: Hardback • Pages: 224 • Dimensions: 24 x 16.2 x 2.6 cm

Explore the failures, mistakes and missed opportunities that shaped history in this new entry in the bestselling series. From the botched attempt to create a life-extending elixir that produced gunpowder, to the unsuccessful stint in medical school which led to a career in naturalism for Charles Darwin, to the missile detection system malfunction that almost sparked a nuclear war, the course of human history has so often been shaped by failures of all magnitudes. In fifty bite-sized chapters spanning thousands of years, A Short History of the World in 50 Failures details how the world as we know it has been defined by plans gone awry, opportunities not seized upon and schemes that were always fated to end in catastrophe. Whether it’s the pharaoh Akhenaten’s misplaced attempt to found a new religion or Napoleon’s doomed invasion of Russia, discover a fascinating collection of outsized tales and historical snafus that created the world as we know it today. Product Information: • ISBN: 9781789296938 • Author: Ben Gazur • Publisher: Michael O'Mara • Format: Hardback     • Pages: 288 • Dimensions: 17.8 x 12.9 x 2.5 cm

Celebrate the incredible career of pop music’s biggest star in this sparkling, Sunday Times bestselling biography, fully up to date and featuring The Tortured Poets Department. Selling hundreds of millions of records and selling out countless arenas, Taylor Swift is one of the most influential artists of her generation. But how did she become so iconic and so wildly successful? Covering her influences and her collaborators to the aesthetics that have become such a crucial part of her performances and much more, this meticulously researched biography reveals all. From her self-titled debut album to The Tortured Poets Department, author and music journalist Caroline Sullivan charts Taylor’s journey from budding country starlet to pop music phenomenon. Each of Taylor’s eras are explored in depth like never before, encompassing her evolution as an artist, her high-profile relationships and the stories behind her songs. Featuring a stunning photographic section with pictures spanning her entire career, this is the most complete portrait yet of one of the most popular artists on the planet, and the perfect gift for any Taylor fan. Product Information: • ISBN: 9781789297584 • Author: Caroline Sullivan • Publisher: Michael O'Mara • Format: Paperback • Pages: 256 • Dimensions: 19.8 x 12.9 x 1.95 cm

The Guard’s Parcel is a steaming 226-page hardback compilation of the most fragrant cartoons, articles, letters and Top Tips from a whole year of Viz. Product Information: • ISBN: 9781916421950 • Author: Viz Magazine • Publisher: Quarto Publishing UK Account • Format: Hardback • Pages: 226 • Dimensions: 30 x 23cm

The first puzzle book based on the BAFTA-award-winning television show The Repair Shop, with a foreword from The Repair Shop clocks expert Steve Fletcher. Think you know about the Repair Shop, its crafts, craftspeople and stories? Looking for fun brainteasers, word games and quizzes to train your brain and hone your problem solving skills? It’s time to put your knowledge to the test with this collection of questions and puzzles designed to challenge and entertain. Blending together basic trivia, complex wordplay and a range of visual teasers, the book calls on the knowledge of Repair Shop fans to provide hours of challenges inspired by the iconic barn and the work that goes on inside. From silversmithing and woodworking, to teddy bears, clocks and paintings, the puzzles draw on the wide range of skills and objects that the Repair Shop team are famed for. With difficulty levels varying from pleasantly tricky to fiendishly hard, The Repair Shop Puzzle Book will delight all fans of the show. Product Information: • ISBN: 9781804192146 • Author: The Repair Shop • Publisher: Octopus Publishing Group Ltd • Format: Paperback • Pages: 192 • Dimensions: 21.59 x 13.72 x 3.05 cm

This book will score a major-league success with sport obsessives and casual fans alike... Any true fan knows that the porcelain umpire’s chair is an ideal place to put your sporting knowledge to the test. This compendium of fun activities and quiz questions will have you spotting the difference at Wembley, finding a lost helmet at Lord’s, and going for gold in Olympic omniscience. From bestselling author and professional brain-teaser Hugh Jassburn, this illustrated puzzle book includes a range of challenges relating to football, rugby, tennis, cricket, athletics, golf, boxing, basketball, rowing, snooker and more. Pit your wits against such quiz questions as these: What is the lowest darts score you can’t achieve with a single dart? In 1981 Muhammad Ali retired from boxing – what was his career record? What is Tiger Woods’ real first name? Who was the first cricket player to score a century and take ten wickets in a test match? What sport has four letters, is played all around the world, and begins with a “t”? Product Information:  • ISBN:  9781786852687 • Author: Hugh Jassburn • Publisher:  Summersdale • Format:  Hardback • Pages:  112 • Dimensions: 14.8 x 1.7 x 14.6 cm

The 2024 Private Eye Annual presents the year's best cartoons, jokes, parodies and topical sketches from the UK's most successful, best-selling news and current affairs magazine. Edited by Ian Hislop and illustrated throughout with cartoons, sketches and photo-bubbles, the Private Eye Annual has become both a seasonal institution and a perennial Christmas bese-seller. The perfect gift for yourself or your friends and family. Product Information:  • ISBN: 9781901784749 • Author: Ian Hislop • Publisher: Private Eye • Format:  Hardcover • Pages: 96  • Dimensions: 29.7 x 21cm

Global superstar, songwriter, singer and Princess of Pop Britney Spears tells all in her heartfelt and honest memoir that portrays her rise to fame, tumultuous relationship with her father, controversial conservatorship, widely documented mental health struggles and so much more. Battling with a parent to take control of your own life at the age of 39 seems impossible. But this is where superstar Britney Spears found herself, 13 years into a conservatorship constructed by her father. In June 2021, the whole world was listening as she spoke in open court for the first time, delivering a bombshell statement in which she described the complex legal arrangement as abusive and condemned the actions of her own father, Jamie. The impact of voicing her truth was undeniable, and it changed the course of her life and the lives of countless others. The Woman in Me reveals for the first time her incredible journey and the strength at the core of one of the greatest performers in pop music history. Written with remarkable candour and humour, Spears's ground-breaking book illuminates the enduring power of music and love and the importance of a woman telling her own story, on her own terms, at last. Product Information:  • ISBN: 9781398522541  • Author: Britney Spears • Publisher: Gallery UK • Format:  Paperback • Pages: 288 • Dimensions:  13 x 1.7 x 19.8cm

How many eggs have been broken in the making of this programme? What is the worst thing Alex has eaten? Are you more likely to win Taskmaster if you wear a hat? Why is the Taskmaster always right? This hilarious compendium celebrates a decade of Taskmaster's inspired chaos. Relive the most outrageous tasks, iconic meltdowns, and ingenious victories from your favourite contestants. Product Information: • ISBN: 9781529441529 • Author: Alex Horne & Jack Bernhardt • Publisher: Quercus Publishing plc • Format: Hardback • Pages: 320 • Dimensions: 21.8 x 15.6 x 2.8 cm

A profoundly personal, warmly nostalgic and deliciously funny memoir by the legendary Sky Sports anchorman Jeff Stelling, chronicling a life spent obsessing about 'The Beautiful Game' ever since he was a little boy, and underpinned by a deeply rooted love of football and of people. For a quarter of a century the iconic Sky Sports football presenter Jeff Stelling was the face and voice of football television. As the host of Soccer Saturday, a results show with National Treasure status, he expertly presided over a live panel of former footballers watching the most exciting sporting chapter of the weekend, on the telly, in front of a transfixed audience of millions, watching, unbelievably... on the telly. Beginning at midday and wrapping just after the Premier League's players had showered and changed, the show's popularity stitched Stelling into the fabric of match-day rituals up and down the country. For fans, the weekend didn't exist without an hour or four of Soccer Saturday. Saturday Afternoon Fever is Stelling's moving and fascinating memoir: a love letter to the game that has shaped and defined him, as it has millions of other football fans across the UK. This is the passionate, engaging tale of one fan's journey from the terraces at Hartlepool's rainy Victoria Park in the 1960s to the sleek and salubrious confines of the Sky Sports studios, an adventure that spans well over half a century and some of the most fast-changing, exciting periods in football's history. Product Information: • ISBN: 9781472279811 • Author: Jeff Stelling • Publisher: Hodder Headline • Format: Hardback • Pages: 320 • Dimensions: 23.6 x 16.2 x 3.4 cm

To the Women is a celebration of the beauty, strength and joy of being a woman. A love letter to our deep capacity to love, rage, fear and rebuild, Donna Ashworth reminds us that we are stronger when we come together and unstoppable when we accept ourselves. With poems such as 'Be That Woman', 'Take Up Space', 'When One Woman Screams', 'There Will Be Days' and 'To the Woman Who Thinks She Isn't Good Enough', Donna helps us find comfort, inspiration and courage in the many roles we play in life as daughters, guides, mothers and friends. Product Information: • ISBN: 9781785307164 • Author: Donna Ashworth • Publisher: Bonnier Books UK Limited • Format: Hardback • Pages: 288 • Dimensions: 20.4 x 13.8 x 2.8 cm

Marcus Berkmann was for many years the pop critic of the Spectator, waiting like most freelances to get fired. He’s also the author of the bestselling Berkmann’s Cricket Miscellany, concentrating on the ridiculous true stories and the weird characters of that most eccentric of sports. Here he combines the two, in a wildly entertaining ride through the galloping absurdities of pop, from Elvis Presley’s real hair colour, to Courtney Love’s hatred of cheese.  Which notable guitarist has unfeasibly tiny hands? Which Britpop star was forced to wear lederhosen as a child? Who said, ‘The majority of pop stars are compete idiots in every respect’? And was she wrong? Product Information: • ISBN: 9780349147291 • Author: Marcus Berkmann • Publisher: Little Brown • Format: Paperback • Pages: 336 • Dimensions: 19.8 x 12.6 x 2.2 cm

Want to know how to attract the right relationships and deepen your connections? Then this is the book for you… Vex King, the Sunday Times bestselling author of Good Vibes, Good Life, is back with another practical and spiritual guide to deeper and more fulfilling love.  In a time where relationships are more complex than ever, Vex King discusses how we can find true connections, unconditional love, and lasting relationships. He uses three clear steps to help you understand the role you play within your connections, build meaningful relationships, and learn how to love authentically and unconditionally. Written with wisdom and truth, this game-changing book about love will change your life.  Product Information:  • ISBN:  9781529087840 • Author:  Vex King • Publisher:  Bluebird • Format:  Hardback • Pages:  336 • Dimensions:  13.5 x 21.6 cm

There's whiskers in the whiskey! Cats love a drink! When you're not looking, your kitty is busy getting liquored up. This book gathers the best photos of cats getting buzzed off booze and looking pawfully pitiful the morning after. And to aid your appreciation, these snaps of sordid and sozzled pussycats have been paired with hilarious captions telling us what their meowing actually means. Bottoms up! Product Information:  • ISBN:  9781800070202 • Author:  Charlie Ellis • Publisher:  Summersdale • Format:  Hardback • Pages:  96 • Dimensions:  14.73 x 1.65 x 14.61 cm