JOHN HUMPHRYS

Takes a look at phrases and expressions in use to expose the often hidden attitudes that lie behind them - from the schoolroom to the boardroom, from Westminster to the weather forecast.

All the erudition and pithy wit you would expect from Humphrys, but there is also a charming, genuine enquiry that shines throughMAIL ON SUNDAY* * * * * *Bestselling author, radio presenter and national treasure John Humphrys tackles the big question of God through his own personal journey and argues that doubt is the only credible belief. Throughout the ages believers have been persecuted - usually for believing in the "wrong" God. So have non-believers who have denied the existence of God as superstitious rubbish. Today it is the agnostics who are given a hard time. They are scorned by believers for their failure to find faith and by atheists for being hopelessly wishy-washy and weak-minded. But John Humphrys is proud to count himself among their ranks. In this book he takes us along the spiritual road he himself has travelled. He was brought up a Christian and prayed every day of his life until his growing doubts finally began to overwhelm his faith. As one of the nations most popular and respected broadcasters, he had the rare opportunity in 2006 of challenging leaders of our three main religions to prove to him that God does exist. The Radio Four interviews - Humphrys In Search of God - provoked the biggest response to anything he has done in half a century of journalism. The interviews and the massive reaction from listeners had a profound effect on him - but not in the way he expected. Doubt is not the easy option. But for the millions who can find no easy answers to the most profound questions it is the only possible one.

Wonderfully spiritedDAILY MAILThe follow-up to the Sunday Times Top 10 bestseller Lost for Words, from Today presenter and national treasure John Humphrys.From the huge response to Lost for Words, its clear that many of us share Johns strong feelings about the use and misuse of the English language. Not because we want to split hairs (or infinitives) but because how we use words reveals so much about the way we see the world.Here John takes a sharp look at phrases and expressions in current use to expose the often hidden attitudes that lie behind them - from the schoolroom to the boardroom, from Westminster to the weather forecast. Questioning our assumptions, puncturing our illusions and illuminating the way we live now, Beyond Words is a small book that speaks volumes.

Greatly enjoyableGUARDIANIt is always exhilarating to read a book which says what so many of us thinkSPECTATORTimely and livelySUNDAY TELEGRAPHLet us be very clear about this from the start: John Humphrys is a Good ThingEVENING STANDARD* * * * * *From Today programme presenter and national treasure John Humphrys, the bestselling cry in book form for better English and an expose of the political uses and abuses of language.From empty cliche to meaningless jargon, dangling participle to sentences without verbs, the English language is reeling. It is under attack from all sides. Politicians dupe us with deliberately evasive language. Bosses worry about impacting the bottom line while they think out of the box. Academics talk obscure mumbo jumbo. Journalists and broadcasters, who should know better, lazily collaborate. In his bestselling Lost for Words, Today presenter and national treasure John Humphrys wittily and powerfully exposes the depths to which our beautiful language has sunk and offers many examples of the most common atrocities. He also dispenses some sensible guidance on how to use simple, clear and honest language. Above all, he shows us how to be on the alert for the widespread abuse - especially by politicians - and the power of the English language.

CompellingOBSERVERHumphrys level-headedness makes the arguments all the more powerfulSUNDAY TIMESA concise, no-nonsense assessment of the true cost of cheap food: to the environment, the livestock, and the nations long-term healthDAILY MAILA passionate discourse ... well-written and accessibleINDEPENDENT* * * * * * * * *John Humphrys is passionate about the state of British food, farming, fishing and agriculture. Here, he looks back to the days of organic farming in England when people shared and swapped food and considered the wildlife as well as the farmed animals, crops and fruits. He examines todays travesties: factory farming, pouring chemicals into the land, the scandal of the supermarket wars and cheap imported goods. He then turns to the future and asks: Can we save this ravaged earth and rebuild our community values? Most of all, can we reverse the damage to ourselves and our long-term health that may result from what we eat? John Humphrys book requires the full attention of anyone who cares about themselves or the future.

This is an important book. It needs to be ... we are coming to realise that a life well lived might decently conclude with a death well and timely died TERRY PRATCHETTImpassioned and impressiveSUNDAY TIMESA powerful, compassionate bookFT ON SUNDAY* * * * * * *From presenter of Radio 4s Today& national treasure John Humphrys, one of the first books to deal unflinchingly with death and dying well, written in conjunction with a high-profile GP.Death is a subject modern society shies away from. Even doctors avoid the word. But if we regard death as a failure in our desire to prolong life, can we ever arrive at a humane approach to those whose lives have lost meaning? Are we keeping people alive simply because we can?Inspired by his own experience with his fathers death from Alzheimers, John Humphrys and co-author Dr Sarah Jarvis take a wider look at how our attitudes to death have changed as doctors have learned how to prolong life beyond anything that could have been imagined only a few generations ago, and confront one of the great challenges facing the western world today. There are no easy answers but the first step must surely be to accept that death can be as welcome as it is inevitable.The Welcome Visitor is a book which brings genuine knowledge and insight to a taboo subject, while asking the difficult questions that need to be asked about our attitudes and approach to the realities of end-of-life care.

The bombshell book everyone is talking about DAILY MAILA radio genius the maestro of the show EVENING STANDARD As presenter of Radio 4s Today, the nations most popular news programme, John Humphrys was famed for his tough interviewing. He has been at the heart of journalism for decades. Now, he offers his life story from the poverty of his post-war childhood in Cardiff, leaving school at fifteen, to the summits of broadcasting. Along the way, he recalls the experiences that have marked him most: being the first reporter at the terrible disaster in Aberfan, reporting from South Africa in the dying days of apartheid, from Ireland during the Troubles, and from the White House on Richard Nixons historic resignation. With his trademark tenacity and no punches pulled, John also weighs in on the controversies of his career, the role and limitations of the BBC, and the broader health of political debate today. He hopes youll tune in.

A very funny tomeDAILY TELEGRAPHHilariousDAILY MAILA profoundly instructive course in the idiosyncrasies of Greek law, custom and culture ... entertainingly chronicledSAGA* * * * * *From Radio 4 presenter, bestselling author and national treasure John Humphrys, a funny and engaging memoir of building a home in Greece written together with his son Christopher.It was a moment of mad impulse when John Humphrys decided to buy a semi-derelict cottage and a building site on a plot of land overlooking the Aegean. A few minutes gazing out over the most glorious bay he had ever seen was all it took to persuade him. After all, his son Christopher was already raising his family there so he would help build the beautiful villa that would soon rise there. What could possibly go wrong?Everything.John was to spend the next three years regretting his moment of madness.Some of it had its comic side. He learned to cope with a drunken peacock falling out of his favourite tree and even a colony of rats invading his bedroom. Some of the humans proved trickier: the old man demanding payment for olive trees in the middle of Johns own land; the neighbour who dragged his lovely old fishing boat onto the beach and set fire to it after a row with his wife. And, of course, the builders. Was the plumber who electrocuted him in the shower vengeful or merely incompetent?John learned a lot about Greece in a short time. He grew to love it and loathe it in almost equal measures, but was never for a moment bored by it. And Christopher learned a bit more about John. Their shared experience revived keen memories for him of growing up with a father for whom patience was never the strongest virtue...Here father and son capture the idyll and the odyssey as paradise is found, lost and regained.