Not in Front of the Corgis

Author: Brian Hoey
Publisher: Biteback Publishing
ISBN: 1849542481
Category : Humor
Languages : en
Pages : 194

Book Description
The Windsors are England's most famous family, but what are they really like when they're out of the public gaze? Behind closed doors in every Royal residence, from Buckingham Palace to Clarence House, there are two families - one upstairs and one down - and nobody knows a Royal quite like a Royal servant, intimately acquainted as they are with every quirk, foible and eccentricity. And there are a fair few! This is the inside story of the Royal Family through the eyes of those who know them best, a sneak peek behind the ermine-trimmed curtains to reveal what they really get up to in their spare time. Are they just like us? Or are they are a world apart? Here are the answers to everything we've ever wondered about the Royals: which programmes does the Queen watch on TV? What music did the Queen Mother listen to? Who can drive and who can't? What is it like to attend a dinner party thrown by Charles and Camilla? Who are the most popular (and most unpopular!) Royals to work for and why? Not in Front of the Corgis is the real Upstairs Downstairs - a unique and fascinating collection of all the secrets you ever wanted to know about the Royal Family.

Corgis on Wheels

Author: Bobbie Mayer
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780615765105
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

Book Description

The Biteback Dictionary of Humorous Literary Quotations

Author: Fred Metcalf
Publisher: Biteback Publishing
ISBN: 1849546711
Category : Humor
Languages : en
Pages : 214

Book Description
If you're Wilde about Shaw but not Shaw about Wilde, this classic collection of humorous literary quotations is the book for you. Within its pages you will find hundreds of hand-picked quotes in dozens of handy categories. All the big names are here, from Henry James to Clive James (no relation); from Waugh, Evelyn to War, Poets; from Dickens to Dictionaries and Twain to Twitter. Delve here and discover T. S. Eliot's advice on becoming a great writer (it's a bit anal). Find out what the critics said about Virginia Woolf and what Virginia Woolf said about the critics. And check out what it was about Jane Austen that got Mark Twain so hot under the choler! When dirt is dished, fat is chewed, sides are split and chins are wagged, the result, dear reader, is this richly entertaining book.

Buried to the Brim

Author: Jenn McKinlay
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 1984804731
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 306

Book Description
New York Times bestselling author Jenn McKinlay's beloved Hat Shop duo Scarlett Parker and Vivian Tremont return to don their sleuthing caps and solve a murder that's death in show. London's most refined canines and their humans are gearing up for the Pets and Wellness Society's annual dog show--and Betty Wentworth, favorite aunt to Scarlett's fiancé Harrison and proud owner of corgi front-runner Freddy, knows that this could be their year with the right edge. Never one to turn away a corgi in need, Scarlett convinces her milliner cousin, Vivian, to design matching hats for dream team Betty and Freddy as they compete for Best in Show. It's a tail wagging good time until the dog-food sponsor of the event is found dead and Betty is the prime suspect. Vivian and Scarlett agree to enter the competition in Betty's place and help Harrison catch the real killer before Betty is collared for a crime she didn't commit.

Prime Minister Boris

Author: Duncan Brack
Publisher: Biteback Publishing
ISBN: 1849542457
Category : Humor
Languages : en
Pages : 413

Book Description
History resting on a hair's breadth ... a man dies rather than lives, an election is lost rather than won, one minister is appointed, another dismissed, a coalition is joined, or not. Enter a world of political counterfactuals, twenty-two examinations of things that never happened - but could have. In this book a collection of distinguished commentators, including journalists, academics, former MPs and special advisers, consider how things might have turned out differently throughout a century of political history - from Lloyd George and Keynes drowning at sea in 1916 right through to Boris Johnson becoming Prime Minister in 2016. Scholarly analyses of possibilities and causalities take their place beside fictional accounts of alternate political histories - and all are guaranteed to entertain and make you think.

Running the Family Firm

Author: Laura Clancy
Publisher: Manchester University Press
ISBN: 152614932X
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 180

Book Description
In recent decades, the global wealth of the rich has soared to leave huge chasms of wealth inequality. This book argues that we cannot talk about inequalities in Britain today without talking about the monarchy. Running the Family Firm explores the postwar British monarchy in order to understand its economic, political, social and cultural functions. Although the monarchy is usually positioned as a backward-looking, archaic institution and an irrelevant anachronism to corporate forms of wealth and power, the relationship between monarchy and capitalism is as old as capitalism itself. This book frames the monarchy as the gold standard corporation: The Firm. Using a set of case studies – the Queen, Prince Charles, Prince Harry, Kate Middleton and Meghan Markle – it contends that The Firm’s power is disguised through careful stage management of media representations of the royal family. In so doing, it extends conventional understandings of what monarchy is and why it matters.

Medallion Status

Author: John Hodgman
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 0525561110
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 304

Book Description
“[An] affecting and hilarious meditation on fame and prestige as seen through the lens of an airline loyalty program.” —The AV Club A hilarious and honest new book in which John Hodgman, New York Times bestselling author of Vacationland, leaves vacation behind and gets back to work as a still somewhat famous person . . . and then loses his job. An uproarious read. After spending most of his twenties pursuing a career as a literary agent, John Hodgman decided to try his own hand at writing. Following an appearance to promote one of his books on The Daily Show, he was invited to return as a contributor. This led to an unexpected and, frankly, implausible career in front of the camera that has lasted to this very day, or at least until 2016. In these pages, Hodgman explores the strangeness of his career, speaking plainly of fame, especially at the weird, marginal level he enjoyed it. Through these stories you will learn many things that only John Hodgman knows, such as how to prepare for a nude scene with an oboe, or what it feels like to go to a Hollywood party and realize that you are not nearly as famous as the Property Brothers, or, for that matter, those two famous corgis from Instagram. And there are stories about how, when your television gig is canceled, you can console yourself with the fact that all of that travel that made your young son so sad at least left you with a prize: platinum medallion status with your airline. Both unflinchingly funny and deeply heartfelt, Medallion Status is a thoughtful examination of status, fame, and identity--and about the way we all deal with those moments when we realize we aren't platinum status anymore and will have to get comfortable in that middle seat again.

Backstairs Billy

Author: Tom Quinn
Publisher: Biteback Publishing
ISBN: 1849548935
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 203

Book Description
"William Tallon was a creature of extremes: though intensely loyal, he was also a dangerous risk-taker; though charming, he could also be vicious; though considerate and amusing, he could be ruthless and predatory. For much of his life he was driven by two demons: a powerful sex drive and an intense, almost pathological love for the Queen Mother..." From humble beginnings as a shopkeeper's son in Coventry to 'Page of the Backstairs' at Clarence House, William Tallon, or 'Backstairs Billy' as he came to be known, entered royal service at the age of fifteen. Over the next fifty years, he became one of the most notorious and flamboyant characters ever to have graced the royal household - the one servant the Queen Mother just could not do without. While others came and went, he remained by her side, becoming one of her most trusted friends and confidants. The fascinating life story of the man who spent more than half a century working for one of the world's most elusive institutions, Backstairs Billy provides a rare glimpse of what the royals really get up to behind closed doors...

Corgiville Fair

Author: Tasha Tudor
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
ISBN: 9780316853125
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 48

Book Description
In Corgiville, as in many small towns all over America, the biggest event of the year is the fair. And the most exciting thing at the Corgiville Fair is the goat race! Caleb Corgi has spent moths training his goat, Josephine, for the big event. But Edgar Tomcat's goat is fast, too, and Caleb knows that Edgar is not above indulging in some dirty tricks in order to win. The sights, smells, and all the fun and excitement of a typical small-town fair are captured with humor and affection in Tasha' Tudor's text and marvelously detailed watercolor paintings.

The Uncommon Reader

Author: Alan Bennett
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
ISBN: 1429934530
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 126

Book Description
From one of England's most celebrated writers, a funny and superbly observed novella about the Queen of England and the subversive power of reading When her corgis stray into a mobile library parked near Buckingham Palace, the Queen feels duty-bound to borrow a book. Discovering the joy of reading widely (from J. R. Ackerley, Jean Genet, and Ivy Compton-Burnett to the classics) and intelligently, she finds that her view of the world changes dramatically. Abetted in her newfound obsession by Norman, a young man from the royal kitchens, the Queen comes to question the prescribed order of the world and loses patience with the routines of her role as monarch. Her new passion for reading initially alarms the palace staff and soon leads to surprising and very funny consequences for the country at large. With the poignant and mischievous wit of The History Boys, England's best loved author Alan Bennett revels in the power of literature to change even the most uncommon reader's life.