Everyone wants to feel important, but Florrie Cochrane found it hard to. Yet, after one of the boys at school admired her driving and then seemed even to admire her, and especially after an automobile accident, she realized that she was a very special person.

First published in 1882, All Sorts and Conditions of Men chronicles daily life in the East-end district of Whitechapel road, where people go about their business with an air of quiet resignation. The arrival of Miss Kennedy, who wants to establish a dressmakers' co-operative, causes great excitement, especially when it transpires she is a friend of Angela Messenger, heiress to a local brewing fortune. Meanwhile, Harry Goslet learns his is not an aristocrat but the son of a lowly army sergeant. Determined to return to his true roots, he moves to the East End, where he ends up in the same boarding house as Miss Kennedy. The two discover a mutual interest in social reform, imagining a People's Palace of delight where the working classes can enjoy recreational activities as a reward for their labours. Nothing is quite what it seems in this magical microcosm, and soon their dreams are realised in the shape of a shimmering edifice that transforms the local community. This edition includes: a critical introduction, explanatory footnotes, suggestions for further reading, and extensive contextual material.

Probing beneath the level of TV punditry, Zizek offers a highly original and readable account that serves as a fascinating and insightful comprehension of the events of September 11.

Michael Winner, the legendary film director, writer and food critic, is a colourful figure who has led a remarkable life. He has a reputation for being outspoken, and, true to form, in his autobiography he tells it like it is with sharp and insightful observations. 'Winner Takes All' begins with his unconventional childhood as a Jewish boy attending a Quaker boarding school and introduces his eccentric mother, who was a compulsive gambler. Michael Winner gained his first taste of fame, when aged fourteen, he met the stars for a showbusiness column in twenty London local papers. At Cambridge he edited the student newspaper and became a local celebrity. The author is a natural raconteur and his anecdotes from the film industry are compelling. He recounts his early life with relish and provides fascinating accounts of his experiences directing some of the world’s most famous actors and actresses, including Charles Bronson, Sophia Loren, Joan Collins, Orson Welles, Marlon Brando and Anthony Hopkins. Many of them became close friends. As a food critic, Michael Winner is famous for shooting from the hip. Love him or loathe him, he is constantly in the public eye. His esure TV commercials – which produced a national catchphrase ‘Calm down dear!’ – have been an advertising industry phenomenon. What may come as a surprise to the reader is the gentle side that he reveals in his autobiography. He speaks with candour about his private life; he admits his fear of relationships with women and confides the heartbreaking story of the love of his life, a famous female star.

Peter Roebuck meanders through his 25-year career in reporting cricket, to reveal the people and personalities who have touched his life and contributed to his life-long passion for the game.

Lists the meaning and origin of more than 1,700 traditional and contemporary English proverbs.

A rare and entertaining look at Felicity Ashbee's experiences as a member of the Women's Auxiliary Air Force during World War II

“With outrageous comedy” this classic of Absurdist drama “attacks the most serious subjects: blind conformity and totalitarianism, despair and death” (The New York Times). In Rhinoceros, as in his other plays, Eugene Ionesco startles audiences with a world that invariably erupts in explosive laughter and nightmare anxiety. A rhinoceros suddenly appears in a small town, tramping through its peaceful streets. Soon there are two, then three, until the “movement” is universal. This is not an invasion of wild animals, but a transformation of average citizens into beasts, as they learn to move with the times. As the curtain comes down, only one desperate man remains. Rhinoceros is a commentary on the absurdity of the human condition made tolerable only by self-delusion. It shows us the struggle of the individual to maintain integrity and identity in a world where all others have succumbed to the “beauty” of brute force and mindlessness.