The Complete Acid Drops

by Kenneth Williams

The one book which was published by Kenneth Williams during his life which seemed to capture his fascination for the witty, wicked, and often malicious bon mot or discomforting invective, was his book Acid Drops. Published nearly 20 years ago it became an immediate bestseller and has remained a favourite source of Williams' anecdotes and a definitive source of outrageous stories. It was perhaps the closest he came to revealing the bitter humour which manifested itself later in the publication of his diaries. This new edition contains much material originally excised from the manuscript, some because it might offend the then living, some because it was, for the time, regarded as just too risque, and still more that there was simply no room to accommodate. Hence, now we can present The Complete Acid Drops.

Pictorial laminated boards / With dust jacket

Morecambe & Wise

by Graham McCann

On the night of 25 December 1977, over 28 million viewers switched on the television to watch a rather tall man called Eric and a rather short man called Ernie. When the masses settled down to watch The Morecambe & Wise Show the masses were, for once, massively entertained.
Graham McCann's impeccably researched biography not only charts the rise of one of Britain's best-loved double-acts from music-hall to the movies and television, but is also the story of an award-winning show.

'McCann's book is destined to become required reading for a new generation of nervous non-committal light-entertainment executives, as well as an enlightening behind-the-scenes document for the curious fan.' - Stewart Lee, Sunday Times

An exemplary biography. McCann's manner is scholarly but not dry, and the duo's tortuous rise to fame is here thoroughly documented.' - Jonathan Coe, Guardian

All of Me - My Extraordinary Life

by Barbara Windsor

All of Me is a wonderfully entertaining and moving memoir by Britain's best-loved actress - the fun-loving cockney kid with the smile and the giggle, the walk and the wiggle, who has seen and done it all, and become a legend in her own lifetime. It is a spectacular success story by a courageous lady who has consistently repaid the affection of her fans by always being there for them, and whose own reward came on the day in July 2000 when she visited Buckingham Palace to receive her MBE from the Queen. It was the proudest moment of Barbara's life and a fitting tribute to a performer who, in her fifty years in the business, has always made sure that the show goes on...

Black boards / Gold inscribed spine

High Hopes - My Autobiography

by Ronnie Corbett

Before I begin, I ought to say that even though I was abandoned as a baby on a mountainside and brought up by a she-wolf, before becoming a deckhand, jumping ship in Macau and getting stabbed in the waterfront area - which can be very painful - in a fight over the last green Fruit Pastille, I am not going to tell that story. There is no mention of my time as a lumberjack, and my career as a double-agent remains a closed book.
Anyway, this is the much more exciting story of how I, Ronald Balfour Corbett, the son of a baker in Edinburgh, became convinced that I had to become an actor. It is the story of how I pursued that goal and eventually achieved it, along the way finding fame as one of the Two Ronnies, and encountering an extraordinary cast of characters.
...I tell of how I supported myself in London as a barman in a theatrical club, as a tennis court supervisor, an advertising space salesman and an estate agent's runner. I explain how I first met David Frost and John Cleese, and I exclusively reveal that I once played Othello to Danny La Rue's Desdemona. I come clean about my role in the Lionel Bart musical Twang! - one of the West End's most memorable theatrical disasters...
It is a dramatic story which is full of surprises. Goodness, it even surprised me. I just hope my mother, the she-wolf, won't be too shocked.

Black boards / Gold inscribed spine

Bruce - The Autobiography

by Bruce Forsyth

Bruce Forsyth is known to millions as 'Mr Entertainer', the 'face' of such classic shows as The Generation Game, Play Your Cards Right and Bruce's Price is Right. But his is an amazing story that spans more than two-thirds of the twentieth century. He made his debut as 'Boy Bruce the Mighty Atom' at the age of fourteen in 1942 but it was his appearance as compère on Sunday Night at the London Palladium in 1958 that made him a star. He's been at the very top ever since.
Now in his seventies, and happily married to former Miss World Wilnelia Merced, Bruce has decided that the time is right to pen this show-stopping autobiography. From touring the country in an old Wolsely with a caravan in tow to entertaining an audience of twenty million with The Generation Game, from the Windmill Theatre to his beloved golf course, he describes the highs and lows of his amazing career and talks about his first two marriages and the show business people he has known and loved.
As warm, funny and honest as the man himself, Bruce is a triumphant account of a life lived to the full.

Black boards / Gold inscribed spine

Dad's Army - The story of a classic television show

by Graham McCann

In the summer of 1968, BBC1 screened the pilot edition of a situation comedy about the British Home Guard. Though not at first expected to catch on, decades after the final series ended, Dad's Army is still capable of attracting massive audiences whenever and wherever it is repeated. Now of course it is generally considered to be the finest sitcom this country has ever produced. When we laugh at Dad's Army we laugh at ourselves.

Walmington-on-Sea's community of comic characters was brought to life by a brilliant ensemble of performers who, through a mixture of temperament and design, became more and more like the characters they played. Arthur Lowe, unforgettable as the pompous Captain Mainwaring, had it written into his contract that he should not be obliged to remove his trousers in any scene, and refused to take his script home to study because I'm not having that rubbish in the house, while the urbane John Le Mesurier, who relaxed by listening to jazz at Ronnie Scott's and savouring vintage wines and spirits, exhibited an elective affinity for Sergeant Wilson. The writers, in turn, were inspired to make the characters more like the actors.

Green boards / Silver inscribed spine

Permission to Speak - An Autobiography

by Clive Dunn

Permission to Speak is the autobiography of one of Britain’s best-loved comedians.
Clive Dunn first became nationally known in the television series Bootsie and Snudge and played many character roles in It’s a Square World with Michael Bentine, in The World of Beachcomber with Spike Milligan and his own series My Old Man. Loved by millions of children for his BBC children’s programme Grandad, Clive Dunn had a hit record Grandad which was number one on Top of the Pops for weeks and in the charts for six months. His favourite hobbies are drawing and painting.
But it is for his classic role as Lance Corporal Jones in the long-running series Dad’s Army in which he starred with John Le Mesurier and Arthur Lowe that he is best and most affectionately remembered. He was awarded the OBE in 1975. This witty and candid autobiography entertainingly recalls a full and varied career both on and off the stage.

PlaneTree only print this book to order. Now that's what I call service! This is a rare book back in print - but for how long, is anyone's guess! Get your copy now, while you can, as it's not available off-the-shelf! This publication is not illustrated - The first edition Hardback was illustrated.

The Radio Times Story

by Tony Currie

with a foreword by John Peel

Magazines may come and go, but for the past 77 years Radio Times has occupied a unique position in millions of households throughout the British Isles.
To turn the yellowing pages of its 300+ volumes is to tap into a social history of Britain from genteel Edwardian times to the in-yer-face age of the internet. A chronicle of how the vast majority of citizens of these islands has been spending leisure time - from fiddling with cat's whiskers in 1923 in an effort to capture the tinny sounds of the Savoy Orpheans band on a pair of headphones laid in a biscuit tin, to hanging on the latest digital widescreen colour NICAM stereo goings-on in Albert Square in 2000.
As a leading patron of modern graphic art from its inception, the Radio Times pages are scattered with a rich blend of contemporary drawings, sketches, decorations and cartoons - not to mention photographs of the century's (however fleeting) famous...

for the rest of this books Preface

This book is a current publication and available to buy now. You may need to purchase it direct from the Kelly Publications Web site, as it doesn't seem to be available off-the-shelf at most book shops.

The Complete Terry-Thomas

by Robert Ross

with a foreword by Richard Briers

Terry-Thomas comes under Robert Ross's scrutiny in this first ever guide to cinema's greatest bounder.
Terry-Thomas was a pioneer of television comedy, and later graced such classic movies as Blue Murder at St. Trinian's, School for Scoundrels and Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines.
This book includes a run-down of stage and radio appearances, a complete filmography, and details of Terry-Thomas's diverse television career. Close friends and acting colleagues - including Richard Briers, Ian Carmichael, Derek Fowlds and Janette Scott - share their memories of 'TT', the quintessential British comedian who took America by storm.

The Complete Terry-Thomas boasts over seventy rare and previously unpublished photographs and is a long overdue tribute to one of the great heroes of comedy.

A Stupid Boy

The Autobiography Of The Creator Of Dad's Army

by Jimmy Perry

From the creator of Dad's Army comes A Stupid Boy, a wonderfully written and evocative tale of the life and adventures that inspired the hit TV shows he would go on to create...
Jimmy's school days were a nightmare, but he survived - just. In 1941, at the age of seventeen, he joined the Watford Home Guard - the inspiration for the brilliant Dad's Army. Two years later Jimmy was called up into the regular forces, and sent to Burma with the Royal Artillery, ready for the big push against the Japanese, which never came. Instead he joined the Royal Artillery Concert Party - the armed fighting unit that travelled the Indian Subcontinent, entertaining the troops, and the basis for his second hit show, It Ain't Half Hot, Mum...
This highly entertaining and funny book also gives fascinating insights into these much-loved British comedies: the real-life individuals who inspired the characters and events, and behind-the-scenes stories - including how Dad's Army came about, and how it was very nearly dropped, never to appear on our screens.

Black boards / Gold inscribed spine