New Releases by Hunter Davies

George Stephenson is the ultimate selfmade man: born in the pit village of Wylam, near Newcastle, and skipping any education to start work, his inventions would change the very nature of the world. From the moment he began work in the pit at the tender age of ten, he showed a natural talent for mending and inventing machines, slowly rising to become the colliery''s resident engineer. However, he struggled to break through the class prejudices of the time; indeed, Sir Humphrey Davy, later President of the Royal Society, considered Stephenson (then an unknown pitman) ''a thief and not a clever thief''. This early battle was only one of many that Stephenson waged against the establishment. Even so, Stephenson went on to build the world''s first public railways, the Stockton and Darlington in 1825 and the Liverpool–Manchester in 1830. Much is known of these achievements and of his famous creation, Rocket, yet little is known of the man himself. In George Stephenson a colourful portrait is painted of the self-taught and often testy Geordie, whose Victorian invention is now the backbone of every nation on the planet.

Who doesn''t remember Kevin Keegan''s haircut? Or David Seaman''s? Or David Beckham''s latest...? From the History of the Ball to the History of Football Haircuts, this book examines every facet of football beyond the rules and goals to the fans, commentators, merchandise, books and even art it has inspired.

En 1967, les Beatles autorisent pour la première et dernière fois un biographe à partager leur intimité. L''heureux élu, Hunter Davies, passera dix-huit mois aux côtés du groupe le plus légendaire de la planète, alors à son sommet créatif. John, Paul, George et Ringo lui feront, en toute liberté, des confidences sur leur vie, leur musique, l''engouement qu''ils suscitent. Ils l''introduiront auprès de leurs familles, de leurs proches et de leurs amis, y compris ceux des débuts. L''ouvrage de Hunter Davies, seule biographie " autorisée " des Beatles, a été un best-seller dans le monde entier. Il est publié pour la première fois en langue française, dans une édition mise à jour et agrémentée de nombreux documents iconographiques inédits. Hunter Davies, resté proche des Beatles après la séparation du groupe, y évoque l''assassinat de John Lennon, la disparition de George Harrison, le destin de Paul McCartney, de Ringo Starr, et des autres grandes figures de la galaxie Beatles. Les chapitres consacrés au quotidien des Beatles en 1967 et 1968 sont particulièrement émouvants. Hunter Davies, témoin privilégié, y décrit dans les moindres détails la naissance de chansons aussi mythiques que With A Little Help From My Friends, Getting Better ou I Am The Walrus. Rarement nous aura été donné un témoignage aussi précis et intime de la collaboration entre John Lennon et Paul McCartney. Fourmillant d''anecdotes et de témoignages sur l''enfance et l''adolescence des Fab Four, sur leurs débuts à Liverpool et à Hambourg, ainsi que sur la Beatlemania, la personnalité des membres du groupe et leur remarquable sens de l''humour, ce document indispensable ravira tous les fans d''hier et d''aujourd''hui.

Wainwright''s biographer selects twenty of his and Wainwright''s favorite mountains and eloquently and entertainingly introduces them to the reader, with an account of how they came to be chosen.

Relative Strangers is a history of adoption in Britain, and the true-life tale of the seventy-one-year-old Hodder triplets. The book tells the unique and moving story of how the triplets, adopted as babies in 1932, were reunited in June 2001 - the first time the three of them had been together since their birth. Their life stories and how they found each other again are interspersed with the story of adoption, which began as a legal phenomenon in the UK in 1926. The book also describes the twenty-five-year legal battle fought by NORCAP (the National Organisation for the Counselling of Children and Parents) to change the adoption laws, which helped to bring the triplets, and other adoptees, together again. Hunter Davies is one of Britain''s most sympathetic and thoughtful interviewers, and the author of over thirty books. He has interviewed the triplets at length and has had access through NORCAP to other case histories, which are themselves profoundly affecting

When the first edition of The Glory Game was published in 1972, it was instantly hailed as the most insightful book about the life of a football club ever published. Hunter Davies was, and still is, the only author ever to be allowed into the inner sanctum of a top-level football team (Tottenham Hotspur) and his pen spared nothing and no one. ''His accuracy is sufficiently uncanny to be embarrassing,'' wrote Bob Wilson in the New Statesman. ''Brilliant, vicious, unmerciful,'' wrote The Sun. Davies spent a whole season with the team, training with them, visiting the players'' homes and witnessing the dressing-room confrontations. In the modern era of painstaking media management and tight security, no sportswriter will ever again be granted such unprecedented access. While some features of the game have changed beyond all recognition - notably the all-consuming role that money now plays - inside every club the dramas and tensions revealed by Davies remain, making the book a timeless classic and securing its position as one of the best books about football ever written.

Three ''Snotty Bumstead'' stories in one bumper edition.

Flossie Teacake is not content with her lot--she is 10 years old, flatbroke, and she never has adventures. Well, that''s not strictly true. Since she discovered her magical fur coat she has had amazing escapades and even won the lottery.

Wimbledon manager Joe Kinnear reveals the secrets of his success in this autobiography. A stylish wing-back in the Tottenham side of the late 70s and 80s, capped over 50 times for Northern Ireland, and now one of the top managers in the country, Kinnear has spent over 30 years in the game.

Following in the footsteps of J.B. Priestley, whose book English Journey told the tale of his 1934 voyage, Hunter Davies embarks upon an epic journey at the end of the century. He spends a year travelling from London to the Lake District, observing the people and places of England today and noting the mood of the English nation at the end of the millennium. It is also a journey into his own life, as he recalls incidents and people from his past.

Reissued with Beatrix Potter illustrations and previously unpublished materials, this book combines authoritative text with colour photographs taken during the course of a complete year to show the Lake District in all its seasons and moods.

In conversation with Hunter Davies this is Dwight Yorke''''s own account of his rise to superstardom at Old Trafford combined with Hunter Davies''''s interviews with the people Yorke met along his way.''

The Labour Party, the Daily Express, West Ham United FC, Birmingham University and the opera Tosca all have one thing in common with the Queen Mother. They all first saw the light of day in the year 1900. Author and interviewer Hunter Davies follows the century through these people and institutions, exploring how we live now and how we lived then. Why isn''t education as valued today? Where are the great philanthropists? Why does work have so little meaning when it''s all people do? These are some of the questions provoked by Hunter Davies'' interviewees and their candid recollections of being born with the century. Amid huge technological changes, it is the lack of community and the belief of most people that they now live in an uncaring world, that appears to define the century''s end.

Flossie Teacake is a teensy bit miserable - she''s ten years old, flat broke, and it''s Saturday night and she''s NOT going out! So flossie turns to her magical fur coat to spice things up. As a glam 18 year old she''s eligible to buy her own lottery ticket - and win the lottery.

To mark the hundredth anniversary of Stevenson''s death, Hunter Davies has gone travelling with him, searching out the man and his motivation, following him in the past and in the present. He has visited those places which will always be associated with him -- from his birthplace in Edinburgh, to France, California, and then his final home in the Pacific. His book is half travel, half biography. And all of it, as one would expect from the pen of Hunter Davies, is entertaining, amusing and informative.

When Snotty''s mother takes a sudden trip away he turns the house into a multi-purpose adventure playground and life is wonderful, provided that he can keep the nosey grown-ups away and make the money last.

Davies tries to find the man behind the legend and unravel all the mysteries surrounding Columbus. He also gives us a 20th-century view of the New World Columbus found and people''s impressions of the explorer. The mixture of biography and travel writing works well.