Fake Heroes: Ten False Icons and How they Altered the Course of History

Product Information

The perfect gift this Christmas! The bestselling heartwarming memoir from BBC’s LOVE IN THE COUNTRYSIDE’S matchmaker and Radio 2’s favourite DJ I’m also hoping that if they know where I’ve literally come from then they’ll understand better where I’m coming from when I nag them about wasting food, working hard, respecting their elders – all the stuff that punctuated my childhood (and therefore this book) and is a big part of who I am.’ Illustrated through the tactics of Queen Elizabeth I, Henry Kissenger, P T Barnum, and other famous figures who have wielded – or been victimised by – power, these laws will fascinate any reader interested in gaining, observing or defending against ultimate control. One of the best [books] I have read about the complexities of poverty . . . one of the most remarkable people you will ever meet’ Guardian Excellent . . . at once a vicious polemic, a helpful primer and a cringe-inducing account of one barrister’s travails’ – The Telegraph

Fake Heroes: Ten False Icons and How they Altered - WHSmith Fake Heroes: Ten False Icons and How they Altered - WHSmith

Poor shows the strength of Katriona O’Sullivan’s unbreakable spirit – she is a beacon of light’ Patricia Scanla Money Matters Neurodiversity Preparing for University - Subject Reading Lists Reading For Pleasure Stationery An inspiring and beautifully written story of hope and healing . . . We, her readers, are privileged to walk alongside her’ COUNTRYFILE Till the Cows Come Home is DJ and TV presenter Sara Cox’s wonderfully written, funny coming of age memoir of growing up in 1980s Lancashire.The result is a gripping narrative of Pakistan’s turbulent political realities and the death of its leading politician. But for all the physical struggle, there is healing. And so when their journey ends, they do what they know best: they keep walking . . . 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 you’ll tune in. Scrutinising figures from the worlds of art, politics, business, religion and royalty, he brings to light the murkier truths they would rather have kept buried away, at the same time as celebrating the unsung heroes lost to time.Fake Heroes exposes the truth of the past and helps us understand why that matters today.

Fake Heroes: Ten False Icons and How they Altered the C… Fake Heroes: Ten False Icons and How they Altered the C…

Amoral, cunning, ruthless, and instructive, this piercing work distils three thousand years of the history of power into forty-eight well-explicated laws. As attention-grabbing in its design as it is in its content, this bold volume outlines the laws of power in their unvarnished essence, synthesizing the philosophies of Machiavelli, Sun-tzu, Carl von Clausewitz, and other great thinkers. Dives into the hidden lives of some of history’s biggest names. Fake Heroes exposes the truth of the past and helps us understand why that matters today. An alternative history of the world which takes ten great lies and shows how our present continues to be manipulated by the fabrications of the past. As presenter of Radio 4’s Today, the nation’s 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 Nixon’s historic resignation.For the most part it was an enjoyable sequel, but I was disappointed to find that the chapter on Captain Scott was based so heavily on Roland Huntford's 'Scott and Amundsen', a book that is known to be incredibly biased, and in the case of some assertions untrue or without evidence (polar exploration history is my main career focus so I do know a bit about this). As in the Huntford, Scott is presented as an overly emotional, sentimental mess who wishes to climb the career ladder purely for his own egotistical reasons, we are not told that he was the sole financial support to his mother and sisters after his father and brother died, so promotion was essential to stop the family becoming destitute. Join Raynor and Moth on their remarkable 1000-mile walk from Scotland to the South West Coast Path in this powerful account of our country’s land, and the people that make it This is the extraordinary story – moving, funny, brave, and sometimes startling – of how Katriona turned her life around. How the seeds of self-belief planted by teachers in childhood stayed with her. How she found mentors whose encouragement revived those seeds in adulthood. The farm is the place where my story began and now it’s part of my children’s story too…I want them to know that as well as head chef and bottle washer I’m another person – a farmer’s daughter, a former bullying victim, an ex-supermodel-come-barmaid.’