BiteBack Publishing

10. Bloody Sunday: Truth, Lies and the Saville Inquiry by Douglas Murray

For almost forty years the events of ‘Bloody Sunday’ on January 30 1972, have been the subject of intense claim and counter-claim. In 1998 Tony Blair attempted to settle the controversy by commissioning a fresh inquiry. The longest, most thorough and costly inquiry in legal history, the details of the Saville Inquiry are hardly known. Douglas Murray followed the Inquiry daily, almost from the beginning, hoping to find a story. Instead, he found hundreds. In this book he tells these stories – the stories of the individuals involved in the terrible events of that defining day. This book is not only about a terrible event and it is not just about a process of justice. It is about the efforts of a group of people to arrive at truth and a country’s effort – three decades on – at a painful and perhaps incomplete reconciliation.

9. ED by James Macintyre and Mehdi Hasan

Ed Miliband is perhaps the least understood political leader of modern times. This book reveals where he has come from and where he is going. It charts his unique upbringing, against the backdrop of tragedy and with a prominent Marxist thinker for a father. ED follows his coming of age at Oxford, his election to Parliament and asks whether the pressures of being Labour party leader are swaying him from deep personal and ideological convictions. But Ed’s story cannot be fully understood outside the context of his struggle to emerge from the shadow of his elder brother, David. Ed followed David to the same college at Oxford, into Parliament and into the Cabinet before, at the eleventh hour, snatching away David’s dream of the leadership. Ed Miliband’s political hero is Robert Kennedy but, unlike the Kennedys, the Milibands fought to the bitter end, rather than supporting one another. ED gets to the heart of the dramatic decision-making that led him to join that epic leadership battle and reveals the hidden truth behind the making of a Labour leader.

8. Masters of Nothing by Matthew Hancock and Nadhim Zahawi

This book is about how people behave. Not how we think we behave, or how we’d like to behave. but how we really do. It is a story of how a failure to understand human nature helped cause one of the biggest crises in the history of capitalism. Of the extraordinary extremes we witnessed from the so-called Maters of the Universe – their greed, recklessness and irrationality. of how that failure led to policy mistakes that magnified the crisis. And of how the crisis will happen again unless we get to grips with it.
‘Anyone wishing to understand the nature of the global economic mess in which we still find ourselves – an understanding which is essential if we are to avoid a repetition – would do well to read this timelt book’ – Nigel Lawson

7. Mr Moon Has Left The Stadium by Jeremy Nicholas

When Jeremy Nicholas was asked to be West Ham United’s stadium announcer, he said no thanks. However, after dreaming about it three nights running, he agreed. He spent the next ten years establishing a reputation as one of the best announcers in the Premier League, combining information with a gentle humour that made visits to the Boleyn Ground a bit special. This is the story of one man’s love for football and doing things the right way. Packed full of humour, this is a book for lovers of the beautiful game the world over. Inside, Jeremy reveals the answer to such important questions as: Who is Mr Moon and why he does he keep arriving and leaving during games? Why is music played after goals only for small northern clubs? What happened to the Hammerettes? Which ref was never given chocolate biscuits by Betty the tea lady and why?

6. Flying Free by Nigel Farage

Nigel Farage is a politician who is impossible to ignore, provoking controversy and admiration in equal measure. Farage’s charismatic leadership and determination to battle the forces of anti-libertarianism have made him a Robin Hood figure to many, and propelled his party, UKIP, into a position of real power in the country. This edition includes the story of Nigel’s extraordinary escape from death in a plane crash on the eve of the 2010 general election, his recovery and return to the leadership of UKIP in November 2010. Featuring a stellar supporting cast, including Tony Blair, Gordon Brown, Nicolas Sarkozy, José Manuel Barroso, and UKIP’s short-lived, silver-gilt masco, Robert Kilroy-Silk – and told with Farage’s customary wit and humour, Flying Free is a candid, colourful life story by a fascinating and controversial character. It also shows that one fearless, determined individual can still make a difference.

5. Not in Front of the Corgis by Brian Hoey

Interest in the Royal Family – at home and overseas – is inexhaustable. Just take the amazing clamour over the recent wedding of William and Kate! But who are the Royals, and what do they get up to when we aren’t watching them? In Not in Front of the Corgis, veteran Royal commentator and author of more than twenty books on the Royals, peeks behind the curtains to tell us what they really get up to in their spare time. Asking what the Queen watches on TV, why she does not have a driving license, and answering thousands of questions about the world’s most famous family, including who are the most popular Royals to work for, and who the least? Who is the grandest of the Queen’s children and why? Why Edward and Andrew pay less than Charles private secretary for the rent of their homes, and what records the Queen Mother liked to dance to.

4. Snow: The Double Life of a World War II Spy by Nigel West and Madoc Roberts

Snow is the codename assigned to a Welshman who was the most remarkable British spy of the Second World War. Owens came originally from Wales, and later emigrated to Canada before returning to London in the employ of the Abwehr as their chief agent in Britain. Unbeknownst to them, he was simultaneously passing information back to the British security services. Owens was able to operate with supreme coolness in an environment where a slip up would lead to him being executed for treason by either side. It seems astonishing, but Snow was Britain’s most successful spy and source of enemy information. He managed to maintain the trust of his German paymasters throughout the war – even blowing the entire German sabotage budget on a fur coat for a mistress. After the war he used his skills as a spy to simply vanish – the reality of his existence to be replaced by myth. Snow reveals the truth about an extraordinary man who’s considerable contribution to winning the war is obscured by history.

3. Running Out Of Tears by Esther Rantzen

In Running Out of Tears Esther Rantzen vividly and movingly tells the tales of ChildLine’s children. For these young people, the only safe way to reach out for help was to contact the helpline. And ChildLine has proved that if children are helped in time, their lives can be transformed and a downward spiral may be reversed: for saved children may in their turn save others. The book is a celebration of ChildLine’s first twenty-five years, told by those whose lives have been saved. It also charts the journey the charity has taken to become a national institution, with its own unique place in child protection. These stories take us into the hearts and minds of children who were imprisoned in silence. Running Out of Tears shows that if they can be given the confidence to find a voice, we must be prepared to listen. The young people featured in this book are not victims; they are survivors. Esther Rantzen tells the harrowing stories of their suffering and the inspiring way they’ve triumphed over their ordeals.

2. Brown at 10 by Anthony Seldon and Guy Lodge

Gordon Brown’s three years in power were among the most turbulent in Downing Street’s post-war history. Brown at 10 tells the compelling story of his hubris and downfall, and with it, the final demise of the New Labour project. Containing an extraordinary breadth of previously unpublished material, Brown at 10 is a frank, penetrating portrait of a remarkable era, written by one of Britain’s leading political and social commentators. Using unrivalled access to many of those at the centre of Brown’s government, and original material gleaned from hundreds of hours of interviews with many of its leading lights, Brown at 10 looks with greater depth and detail into the signal events and circumstances of Brown’s premiership than any other account. The result is the definitive chronicle of Gordon Brown’s troubled period in Number 10, from the unique perspective of those who worked most closely with him.

1. Tales I Never Told by Michael Winner

Michael Winner’s life as a movie director, food critic and general mover and shaker has brought him in touch with many of the most famous people in the world. In his acclaimed autobiography he told some stories but kept back a wealth of others up to the present time which are recounted herewith his customary wit and humour. The stories that form the basis of Tales I Never Told feature stars of film and TV, figures from his personal life and things in general that have amused him and will amuse the reader. Names included are Simon Cowell, Marlon Brando, Faye Dunaway, Sophia Loren, Charles Bronson, Michael Caine, Anthony Hopkins, Orson Welles, Burt Lancaster, Ava Gardner, Robert Mitchum, Oliver Reed, Jack Palance, Ernest Borgnine, Alain Delon, Leslie Caron and Frank Sinatra.