JEREMY PAXMAN

A brilliantly researched, hugely entertaining study of the English by Britain's best-known broadcaster. In the light of membership of Europe, the loss of an Empire and a devolved United Kingdom, the English no longer know who they are. Covering every aspect of the English identity (from cricket to Cumberland sausages, St George to Bernie Grant, the Book of Common Prayer to Cool Britannia, John Bull to football thugs) and combining popular history with incisive interviews, Jeremy Paxman provides some fascinating and timely answers.

To answer these crucial questions, Paxman looks for clues in the English language, literature, luke-warm religion and 'curiously passionless devotion' to cricket. He explores attitudes to Catholics, the countryside, intellectuals, food and the French. And he brings together insights from novelists, sociologists and gentleman farmers; the editor of This England magazine (launched in 1967 with the slogan 'as refreshing as a cup of tea'); a banker enthusiastic about the 'English vice' of flagellation; and a team at the OED looking for the first occurrence of phrases like 'bad hair day' and 'the dog's bollocks'. Witty, surprising, affectionate and incisive, this is a definitive portrait of a fascinating, exasperating nation at a turning point in its history.

It's a tough business. Those political careers that don't end in defeat or disgrace often disappear into obscurity. And we seem to think of politicians as either hypocritical, power-hungry misfits or hopeless, unrealistic idealists. So why do people go into it? And why don't we like them? This is a witty, unsparing, but essentially sympathetic portrait of modern politicians and the strange world they inhabit.

News, views and hilarious stories from the legend of Newsnight and long-standing quiz master of University Challenge.Bursting with good things Daily TelegraphDuring 25 years as BBC Newsnights supreme inquisitor, Jeremy Paxman proved himself as the master of the political intervview. From John Major to Theresa May and Tony Blair to Ed Miliband, he has them quaking in their boots. But it wasnt just politicians. Paxmans interviews with Dizzee Rascal, David Bowie, Russell Brand and Vivienne Westwood are legendary. He discussed belief with religious leaders and philosophers, economics with CEOs and bankers, books with writers, and art and theatre with artists. After 23 years on University Challenge, Paxman is also the longest-serving active quizmaster on British television.In A Life in Questions, the tables are turned: the quizmaster answers our burning questions, telling terrifying stories and laughing at much of the silliness in the world. These are the long-awaited memoirs of the greatest political interviewer of our time.

Jeremy Paxmans unique portrait of the Victorian age takes readers on an exciting journey through the birth of modern Britain. Using the paintings of the era as a starting point, he tells us stories of urban life, family, faith, industry and empire that helped define the Victorian spirit and imagination.To Paxman, these paintings were the television of their day, and his exploration of Victorian art and society shows how these artists were chronicling a world changing before their eyes. This enthralling history is Paxman at his best - opinionated, informed, witty, surprising - and a glorious reminder of how the Victorians made us who we are today.

Jeremy Paxman has created the perfect literary catch for fellow angling enthusiasts in this rich and varied anthology. Ten thoroughly entertaining themed chapters include Ones That Got Away, Ones That Didnt Get Away and Fish That Bit Back. Each is introduced by Paxmans own sharp, humorous observations and features both contemporary and historical writing about fishing in prose and verse, covering everything from tench tickling to piranha attacks. Some pieces are well known favourites, others are obscure, every one is a delight. A superb compilation because it roams from carp to cod, trout to tarpon and does not regurgitate the same old clippings. Paxman has clearly read widely and wisely in putting this together ... probably the definitive anthology of angling writing. Keith Elliott, Independent on Sunday.

Jeremy Paxmans magnificent history of the First World War tells the entire story of the war in one gripping narrative from the point of view of the British people.***We may think we know about it, but what was life really like for the British people during the First World War?The well-known images - the pointing finger of Lord Kitchener; a Tommy buried in the mud of the Western Front; the memorial poppies of Remembrance Day - all reinforce the idea that it was a pointless waste of life. So why did the British fight it so willingly and how did the country endure it for so long?Using a wealth of first-hand source material, Jeremy Paxman brings vividly to life the day-to-day experience of the British over the entire course of the war, from politicians, newspapermen, campaigners and Generals, to Tommies, factory workers, nurses, wives and children. It shows how both British life and identity were utterly transformed - not always for the worst - by the enormous upheaval of the war.Rich with personalities, surprises and ironies, this lively narrative history paints a picture of courage and confusion, doubts and dilemmas, and is written with Jeremy Paxmans characteristic flair for storytelling, wry humour and pithy observation.***"A fine introduction to the part Britain played in the first of the worst two wars in history. The writing is lively and the detail often surprising and memorable"Guardian"He writes so well and sympathetically, and chooses his detail so deftly, that if there is one new history of the war that you might actually enjoy from the very large centennial selection this is very likely it"The Times

Jeremy Paxman is to many the embodiment of Englishness yet even he is sometimes forced to ask: who or what exactly are the English? And in setting about addressing this most vexing of questions, Paxman discovers answers to a few others. Like: Why do the English actually enjoy feeling persecuted? What is behind the English obsession with games? How did they acquire their odd attitudes to sex and to food? Where did they get their extraordinary capacity for hypocrisy?Covering history, attitudes to foreigners, sport, stereotypes, language and much, much more, The English brims over with stories and anecdotes that provide a fascinating portrait of a nation and its people.

What is the point of Kings and Queens? What do they do all day? And what does it mean to be one of them? Jeremy Paxman is used to making politicians explain themselves but royalty has always been off limits. Until now. In On Royalty he delves deep into the past and takes a long hard look at our present incumbents to find out just what makes them tick. Along the way he discovers some fascinating and little-known details. Such as: how Albania came to advertise in England for a king which English queen gave birth in front of 67 people how easy it is to beat up future kings of England and how meeting the Queen is a bit scary whoever you are No other book will tell you quite as much about our kings, queens, princes and princesses: who they are and what theyre for.

Jeremy Paxman knows every maneouvre a politician will make to avoid answering a difficult question, but here he seeks an answer to just one: What makes politicians tick?Embarking on a journey in which he encounters movers and shakers past and present, he discovers: that Prime Ministers have often lost a parent in childhood why Trollope is the politicians novelist of choice that Lloyd George once hunted Jack the Ripper how an Admirals speech in parliament helped win WWII Where do politicians come from? How do they get elected? What do they do all day? And why do they seek power? All these questions and many more are addressed in Paxmans thrilling dissection of that strange and elusive breed the political animal.

From the bestselling author of The English comes Empire, Jeremy Paxmans history of the British Empire accompanied by a flagship 5-part BBC TV series, for readers of Simon Schama and Andrew Marr.The influence of the British Empire is everywhere, from the very existence of the United Kingdom to the ethnic composition of our cities. It affects everything, from Prime Ministers decisions to send troops to war to the adventurers we admire. From the sports we think were good at to the architecture of our buildings; the way we travel to the way we trade; the hopeless losers we will on, and the food we hunger for, the empire is never very far away.In this acute and witty analysis, Jeremy Paxman goes to the very heart of empire. As he describes the selection process for colonial officers (intended to weed out the cad, the feeble and the too clever) the importance of sport, the sweating domestic life of the colonial officers wife (the challenge with cooking meat was "to grasp the fleeting moment between toughness and putrefaction when the joint may possibly prove eatable") and the crazed end for General Gordon of Khartoum, Paxman brings brilliantly to life the tragedy and comedy of Empire and reveals its profound and lasting effect on our nation and ourselves.Paxman is witty, incisive, acerbic and opinionated . . . In short, he carries the whole thing off with panache bordering on effrontery Piers Brendon, Sunday TimesPaxman is a magnificent historian, and Empire may be remembered as his finest workIndependent on SundayJeremy Paxman was born in Yorkshire and educated at Cambridge. He is an award-winning journalist who spent ten years reporting from overseas, notably for Panorama. He is the author of five books including The English. He is the presenter of Newsnight and University Challenge and has presented BBC documentaries on various subjects including Victorian art and Wilfred Owen.

The secret story of chemical and biological warfare.A Higher Form of Killing was first published to great acclaim in 1982. The authors have written a new Introduction and a new Epilogue to take account of the events that have happened since the early 1980s - including the break-up of the former Soviet Union and the black market that appeared in chemical and biological weapons, the acquisition of these weapons by various Third World states, the attempts of various countries like Iraq to build up arsenals of these weapons and, most recently, the use of these weapons in terrorist attacks. As the authors point out, the two generations since the Second World War lived with the threat of nuclear annihilation. Now a new generation must learn to live with weapons that are more insidious and potentially more devastating.

From the bestselling historian and acclaimed broadcaster A rich social history Paxmans book could hardly be more colourful, and I enjoyed each page enormously DOMINIC SANDBROOK, SUNDAY TIMESVividly told Paxmans fine narrative powers are at their best THE TIMES Coal is the commodity that made Britain. Dirty and polluting though it is, this black rock has acted as a midwife to genius. It drove industry, religion, politics, empire and trade. It powered the industrial revolution, turned Britain into the first urban nation and is the industry that made almost all others possible. In this brilliant social history, Jeremy Paxman tells the story of coal mining in England, Scotland and Wales from Roman times, through the birth of steam power to war, nationalisation, pea-souper smogs, industrial strife and the picket lines of the Miners Strike. Written in the captivating style of his bestselling book The English, Paxman ranges widely across Britain to explore stories of engineers and inventors, entrepreneurs and industrialists but whilst coal inevitably helped the rich become richer, the story told by Black Gold is first and foremost a history of the working miners the men, women and often children who toiled in appalling conditions down in the mines; the villages that were thrown up around the pit-head. Almost all traces of coal-mining have vanished from Britain but with this brilliant history, Black Gold demonstrates just how much we owe to the black stuff.