British Art

Do you want to learn about the artist Benjamin West but don’t have the time or patience to read a thick book? Then this is the short and concise book for you! Grew up in colonial Pennsylvania and with little formal instruction became a portrait painter at a very young age. The first American artist to travel to Italy to study the art of the great masters. Painted the first historical art in America. His art helped transform the Neoclassical art world. Historical painter for Britain’s King George III. Helped found the Royal Academy of Art in London. His “American School” in London ...

When he turned 65, the playwright Simon Gray began to keep a diary: not a careful honing of the days' events with a view to posterity but an account of his thoughts as he had them, honestly, turbulently, digressively expressed. One of Britain's most amusing and original writers reflects on a life filled with cigarettes (continuing), alcohol (stopped), several triumphs and many more disasters - a record of shame, adultery, friendship and love. Few diarists have ever been so frank about themselves and even fewer so entertaining.

Mark Kermode’s compelling study of this horror classic was originally published in 1997, and then extensively updated and expanded in 2003 to incorporate the discovery of new material. This revised edition documents the deletion and reinstatement of key scenes that have now been integrated into the film to create The Exorcist: The Version You’ve Never Seen. Candid interviews with director William Friedkin and writer/producer William Peter Blatty reveal the behind the-scenes battles which took place during the production.

The true story of how the First Folio creators made ‘Shakespeare’. 2023 marks the 400-year anniversary of Mr William Shakespeare’s Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies, known today simply as the First Folio. It is difficult to imagine a world without The Tempest, Twelfth Night, Antony and Cleopatra, The Winter’s Tale, and Macbeth, but these are just some of the plays which were only preserved thanks to the astounding labour of love that went into creating the first collection.

An essay by Edward Lucie-Smith on David Hockney's portraits exhibited at the Royal Academy's "82 Portraits and One Still-Life", and also "David Hockney and the Yorkshire Landscape" at RA in 2012.

Simon Gray is determined to give up smoking. Really. At last. Can he kick the habit of 60 years? Will he, sometime soon, be able to leave his house without nervously feeling for his two packets of 20 and his two lighters, and add no more singes to his cardigan? As this wonderful, wayward record of Gray's life progresses, these questions are overtaken by much larger ones. What is that lady on the plane to Athens doing with her nose? What was sex like before 1963? Will his name be in lights on Broadway? Why did he leave the bedside of his dying mother?

A great many writers use their own lives as the raw material for their work but few have done it with the wit and courage of Simon Gray. Like his previous best-seller, The Smoking Diaries, The Year of the Jouncer has the rare ability to make you laugh aloud one moment and ponder the sad mysteries of mortality the next, and sometimes to do both at the same time.

The Book-Makers is a celebration of 550 years of the printed book, told through the lives of eighteen extraordinary men and women who took the book in radical new directions: printers and binders, publishers and artists, paper-makers and library founders. This is a story of skill, craft, mess, cunning, triumph, improvisation, and error.

Ben Edge is a rising star of both the art world and the current folk renaissance. This first trade book of Edge's art, featuring over 200 artworks, is a unique insight into his creative process as well as the first mainstream book to explore the amazing and wildly popular folk customs of the British ritual year. Ben Edge has travelled the length and breadth of Britain recording the weird and wonderful folk customs alive in communities all over the country.

The Beatles are the biggest band there has ever been. James Bond is the single most successful movie character of all time. They are also twins. Dr No, the first Bond film, and Love Me Do, the first Beatles record, were both released on the same day—Friday 5th October 1962. Most countries can only dream of a cultural export becoming a worldwide phenomenon on this scale. For Britain to produce two on the same windy October afternoon is unprecedented.

This collection contains 12 of the greatest shows ever broadcast during the Golden Age of Radio – including episodes of The Jack Benny Program, Burns & Allen, Gunsmoke, The Amos ‘n' Andy Show, Richard Diamond, Private Detective, Suspense, Dimension X, The Whistler, Sherlock Holmes and more. Radio’s finest actors perform before the microphones, including: Jack Benny, Tom Conway, Bud Abbott, Lou Costello, Nigel Bruce, Chester Morris, Dick Powell, Howard Duff, George Burns, Gracie Allen, William Conrad, John Dehner and many more.

Perhaps no actor has been able to retain their popularity into old age as well as Sean Connery. Despite retiring in 2006, Connery remains a venerable figure who continues to receive accolades for his handsome virility and status within the Hollywood elite. onsidering his personal acclaim as an actor, it is perhaps surprising that despite his status, most of the films in which Connery has appeared are not particularly acclaimed. Even the James Bond franchise initially received a largely lukewarm critical reception.

Only a select few actors become international stars in their time, but none had as unique a career as Charlie Chaplin. Chaplin was the first true film star, and he managed to do so even when films were still silent. He has been honored with too many awards to count, and the fact that his name remains instantly recognizable nearly a century after his first film is a testament to his influence.

Born and bred in Dundee, Servant sees himself as a people's champion. His extraordinary self-belief stems largely from his dominant position in Dundee's notorious Cheeseburger Wars of the early 1980s - a period of riotous appreciation for the traditional American snack that caused madness on the streets and lined Servant's pockets. He continued his Midas touch in the 1990s by running what he often claims to have been the 'largest window cleaning round in Western Europe'.

During the Cold War, over 500 songs were written about nuclear weapons, fear of the Soviet Union, civil defense, bomb shelters, uranium mining, the space race, espionage, the Berlin Wall, and glasnost. This music uncovers aspects of the world-changing events that documentaries and history books cannot. In Atomic Tunes, Tim and Joanna Smolko explore everything from the serious to the comical, the morbid to the crude, showing the widespread concern among musicians who were trying to cope with the effect of communism on American society.

Eine Sammlung der Episoden aus dem Erfolgspodcast #100malMusiklegenden, die thematisch geordnet wird. In diesem Band geht es um die britische Pop- & Rockszene in den 60er Jahren. Angefangen mit Apache, dem ersten britischen Rockhit der Shadows bis hin zum Ende der 60ies mit den Beatles und ihrer Single Lea it be. Dieses Hörbuch ist gemacht für Musikliebhaber:innen, die noch den ein oder anderen Hintergrund Ihrer Lieblingsmusik wissen möchten.

Spike Milligan, Harry Secombe and Peter Sellers star in 10 rare episodes of The Goon Show, plus a plethora of bonus features.

From an early age, Grace Dent was hungry. As a little girl growing up in Currock, Carlisle, she yearned to be something bigger, to go somewhere better. Hungry traces Grace’s story from growing up eating beige food to becoming one of the much-loved voices on the British food scene. It’s also everyone’s story—from treats with your nan, to cheese and pineapple hedgehogs, to the exquisite joy of cheaply made apple crumble with custard.

Father Peyton of the Holy Cross Fathers wanted to inspire his country with a radio program. Footing the expense of the show himself, he arranged for some of the biggest names in radio and film to donate their services, and for a network to provide the broadcast time. The series that resulted featured heartwarming stories for audiences nationwide. The commercial breaks were filled only with an earnest, non-sectarian appeal for family prayer, reminding listeners that "The family that prays together stays together."

Test your knowledge or brush up on it with this unofficial Trivia Book. If you want to remember some of the great moments (with the expanse of time, we couldn’t remember them all!) of one of the most loved television shows ever, this book is for you.