Lawrence of Arabia's seminal work charts his time in the British Military Intelligence in the Levantine territories, during the wars with the Turks. The manuscript is candid and action-packed, and was entirely re-written after Lawrence lost the original manuscript whilst changing trains.

The extraordinary story of an obscure German princess who became one of the most powerful women in history. Born into a minor noble family, Catherine transformed herself into empress of Russia by sheer determination. For thirty-four years, the government, foreign policy, cultural development and welfare of the Russian people were in her hands. She...

This fascinating collection of archive interviews with the renowned actress and MP begins with a radio interview in 1970 and runs through to a guest appearance on Desert Island Discs in 1997. Along the way Glenda Jackson appears on numerous programmes including Parkinson, In The Psychiatrist's Chair and Start the Week, during the course of which sh...

Homage to Catalonia is George Orwell's account of his experiences fighting in the Spanish Civil War, and a portrait of disillusionment with his early politics. Orwell's experiences include being shot in the neck by a sniper, and being forced into hiding as factions of the Left battled on the streets of Barcelona. Orwell entered Spain intending to g...

A memoir of Roald Dahl's childhood containing some hilariously true stories, such as the great mouse plot of 1924, when an eight year old Dahl and his gobstopper-loving friends took a just revenge on the disgusting sweetshop owner Mrs Pratchett. Dahl also recounts the deaths of his father and his sister within the space of a few short weeks, the ca...

In 1909, actress Sybil Thorndike wed Welsh-born actor/director Lewis Casson. This is the story of their great theatre partnership as told by their son John.

Having filled roles in films as varied as 'Lawrence of Arabia' and 'Star Wars', Guinness is one of the most distinguished and beloved movie actors of his generation. His charmingly sincere diary entries offer a glimpse of the private side of his often very public life. What makes Guinness a fine and versatile actor is precisely what also makes him...

Actress, comedienne and raconteur Joyce Grenfell brings to life her experiences working in radio and in film, on the stage and war-time entertainment tours. Her glamorous and madcap American mother, aunt Nancy Astor and husband Reggie are just some of the larger-than-life characters in this reading.

The story of Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire, one of the most flamboyant women of the 18th century. Georgiana was, in turn, a compulsive gambler, astute political operator, drug addict, adulteress and darling of the common people. Winner of the Whitbread Biography of the Year Award.

This audiobook presents Karl Marx as a man of both brilliance and frailty: as a poverty-stricken Prussian emigre who became a middle-class English gentleman; as an angry agitator; as a gregarious and convivial host; as a devoted family man; and as a deeply earnest philosopher who loved drink and cigars.

In one of the most extraordinary memoirs of recent years, Lorna Sage brings alive her experience of growing up in the 1940s and 50s. From her early childhood - dominated by her grandfather, a boozing, womanising vicar - to finding herself pregnant without even realising she has lost her virginity, this portrait of a young girl is unsurpassed.

Mary Warnock entered the public eye when Margaret Thatcher made her Chairman of the highly charged Enquiry into Human Fertilization. In this audiobook she reflects on the places and people who have influenced her including the Oxford school of philosophy in the 1950s and 60s.

The true story of three men; a cowboy, a car salesman and a jockey blind in one eye, and their dreams for an ungainly racehorse - Seabiscuit - that symbolised a pivotal moment in American history as the country began to emerge from the hardships of the 1930s Depression era. Winner of the William Hill Sport Book of the Year.

'The Rivals' is an insider's view of the potent alliance between Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. Behind the public face of a prime minister and chancellor united in policy and instinct, James Naughtie reveals the tensions of power in action. This is a unique account of the most enduring, complex and important relationship in recent times.

At the age of 26, David Attenborough applied for a job at the BBC - which then meant radio - and was turned down. It was suggested that he tried television, and fifty years later he is still one of British television's most well-loved figures. This audiobook covers both his hectic half-century in television, as well as expeditions to some very wild...

To mark their thirtieth anniversary, the Medici String Quartet asked composer George Fenton and writer Alan Bennett to collaborate on a piece for performance at the Harrogate International Festival. The result was 'Hymn', a meditative piece, in which Bennett looks at the part which music played in his childhood. George Fenton's score, which accompa...

Born in 1725 to Italian and Spanish parents, Giacomo Casanova was a scholar and adventurer, not to mention a notorious seducer of women, who lived a long and exciting life. This first volume of his memoirs charts his childhood and life as a young man in Venice and Italy.

The mastermind behind Apple sheds his low profile and steps forward to tell his story for the first time. Before cell phones that fit in the palm of your hand and slim laptops that fit snugly into briefcases, computers were like strange, alien vending machines. They had cryptic switches, punch cards and pages of encoded output. But in 1975, a young...

After three years of research, bestselling journalist Joe McGinniss presents his already controversial and much anticipated investigative chronicle of Sarah Palin as an individual, politician, and cultural phenomenon. On Election Day 2008, McGinniss began his on-the-ground reporting that culminated, famously, in his moving next door to Sarah Palin...

Orwell was arguably one of the first 'gonzo' journalists. In this unabridged, enlightening and often shocking expose of life on the streets of two of Europe's most romanticised and celebrated cities, Orwell describes in detail the day-to-day life of a 'down-and-out', which involves hunger, filth, derision and often prejudice and violence. Alcohol i...

Robert Graves relates his time in the trenches. Robert Graves's writing is versatile and intense. Famous as a war poet, his prose works are on a stage of their own, especially this piece, which is an autobiographical account of Grave's school days and life as a soldier in the trenches in World War 1. Political as well as personal, the piece is imp...