The laugh-out-loud, reach-for-your-hanky story of one of Australia's best-loved comedians. Anh Do nearly didn't make it to Australia. His entire family came close to losing their lives on the sea as they escaped from war-torn Vietnam in an overcrowded boat. But nothing - not murderous pirates, nor the imminent threat of death by hunger, disease or dehydration as they drifted for days - could quench their desire to make a better life in the country they had dreamed about. Life in Australia was hard, an endless succession of back-breaking work, crowded rooms, ruthless landlords and make-do eve... View More...
Debra Byrne's life has been a roller-coaster ride of successes and adulation alongside scandal, drugs and depression. From her first showbiz triumphs on "Young Talent Time", Debra's existence had a darker side. From childhood abuse to underage sex, from the destructive evil of cocaine and heroin addiction to the black depths of depression, Debra lurched from one personal disaster to another - all the while performing to an adoring public, both as a recording artist and in musical-theatre smashes such as 'Cats' and 'Sunset Boulevard'. But, above all, Debra is a survivor, and, despite everything... View More...
As a black woman in a business dominated by white males, Oprah Winfrey has become a symbol of hope and success to a legion of fans. Born illegitimate and virtually abandoned in the deep South, Oprah has made it to the top of her chosen field with remarkable determinatin and talent. The path to fame was neither smooth nor painless. Oprah's unsettled, and often harsh, upbringing propelled her into a wild and promiscuous existence which continued until the strength of her ambition landed her a job in radio. The move into television created additional personal pressures and, at one particular low ... View More...
Enter Audrey Hepburn's private world in this unique biography compiled by her son that combines recollections, anecdotes, excerpts from her personal correspondence, drawings, and recipes for her favorite dishes written in her own hand, and more than 250 previously unpublished personal family photographs. Audrey at Home offers fans an unprecedented look at the legendary star, bringing together the varied aspects of her life through the food she loved-from her childhood in Holland during World War II, to her time in Hollywood as an actress and in Rome as a wife and mother, to her final years as ... View More...
In an exquisitely written memoir, Mia Farrow introduces us to the landscapes of her extraordinary life. Moving from her earliest memories of the walled gardens and rocky shores of western Ireland and her Hollywood childhood to her career as an actress, she writes of these experiences and her struggle to protect her children in a painful custody battle with Woody Allen. It was this crisis that led her to reflect upon the incidents that had brought her to a place so incomprehensible. Now, in What Falls Away, a memoir resonant not only in its honesty but also in its beautifully crafted prose, ... View More...
Now for the first time Michael Crawford tells his life story. By turns hilarious, revelatory and desperately sad, here is the autobiography of the man whose successes, such as Hello Dolly, Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em, and The Phantom of the Opera, have made him a national institution. Crawford's infectious enjoyment of stage work illumines his account of his early struggles to make a name for himself in the business, and his early failures with girls are lifted by his abiding sense of the absurd. Both in his private life and his work, he begins a lifetime's habit of pratfalls that he would later ... View More...
'At the turn from my bedroom into the hallway leading to the kitchen there is an old full-length mirror in a wooden frame. I can't help but catch a glimpse of myself as I pass, and turning myself towards the glass, I consider what I see. This reflected version of myself, wet, shaking, rumpled, slightly stooped, and pinched, would be alarming if it were not for the self-satisfied expression pasted across the face, I would ask the obvious question, 'What are you smiling about?' - but I already know the answer ...it just gets better from here.' Struck with Parkinson's - a debilitating, degenerati... View More...
Michael Parkinson occupies a unique place in the public consciousness. Through his perceptive onscreen interviews over the past five decades, he has introduced millions of people to the personalities of major international figures in sport, showbiz, politics, the arts and journalism. In Parky's People, Parkinson sets down on record the highlights of his interviews which provide an intimate insight into the private lives and personal characters of great celebrities from around the world, from Tony Blair and Henry Kissinger, John Betjeman and WH Auden, to Ken Dodd and Elton John. Now an internat... View More...
From prize-winning journalist to chat show king on a show voted one of the top ten British TV programmes of all time, Michael Parkinson's starry career spans over four decades. Now an international celebrity himself, the man from a humble but colourful Yorkshire mining family who can tease out the secrets of even the most reticent star guest, at last reveals his own story, with the easy manner and insight that has kept his audiences fascinated. His distinguished career has involved working on highly acclaimed current affairs and film programmes. His wide interests and expertise include jazz, f... View More...
"Rex" is the blockbuster autobiography of one of Australia's best-loved and most colourful personalities - Rex Hunt. His book is Rex to the core - funny, earthy, refreshingly direct and, above all, deeply inspirational. "Rex" tells the story of a kid who struggled at school, but who found the drive and motivation to carve out a hugely successful career as an Aussie Rules player and then as a major media figure. Along the way Rex talks about his years in the police force, his national service, the dramatic legal case against his former manager after the disappearance of millions of dollars of R... View More...
Russell Brand grew up in Essex . His father left when he was three months old, he was bulimic at 12 and left school at 16 to study at the Italia Conti stage school. There, he began drinking heavily and taking drugs. He regularly visited prostitutes in Soho, began cutting himself, took drugs on stage during his stand-up shows, and even set himself on fire while on crack cocaine. He has been arrested 11 times and fired from 3 different jobs - including from XFM and MTV - and he claims to have slept with over 2,000 women. In 2003 Russell was told that he would be in prison, in a mental hospital o... View More...
Beloved stoner comedian TOMMY CHONG is now older, wiser, and officially an EX-CON. On the morning of February 24, 2003, agents of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration launched a sting called Operation Pipe Dreams and forced themselves through the door of Tommy's California home, with automatic weapons drawn. As a result of the raid on his home; the simultaneous ransacking of his son's company, Chong Glass; and the Bush administration's determination to make an example out of the "Pope of Pot;" he was sentenced to nine months in prison because his company shipped bongs to a head shop in Pen... View More...