Firmly established in the world of entertainment, The Cat's route to fame has been through corporate and sporting dinners. He grew up loving sport and perservered despite having only one eye and an almost total absence of natural ability. His reputation as a figure of fun and his readiness to laugh at his own failures have reaped rich rewards. How many of us have played football with Bobby Moore and George Best at Wembley, or played at Lord's, or written a poem teasing the Duke of Edinburgh for never recognising us? In Nearly Famous, The Cat writes hilariously of the many famous people he has worked with - everyone from Colin Cowdrey, Bobby Robson and Terry Venables to Eric Clapton, Rod Stewart, Billy Connolly, Eric Morcambe and Brian Johnston - and the highs and lows of that most serious of businesses: making people laugh.

Nearly every story in this collection is based on a woman who attained some celebrity, from Lord Byron's illegitimate daughter, Allegra, to Oscar Wilde's troubled niece, Dolly.

What if you weren’t famous, but people treated you as if you were? That was the life of Caroline Paul, who looked just like a celebrity – her own identical twin. With humor and insight, Paul explores the strange world of fame from the wry perspective of an ordinary person.

Bernard Madoff’s financial fraud was global, an enormous amount of money was involved, and thousands of people and hundreds of institutions were swindled. Madoff’s con game was a Ponzi scheme—an investment that pays returns to early investors from money acquired from subsequent investors. This case study of the Madoff scheme looks at the effects of his crimes on the victims. Elements from a theoretical framework put forward by Erving Goffman provide a perspective for understanding the development and the aftermath of Madoff’s con. For example, as Goffman would have put it, Madoff’s “marks were not cooled out.” Many did not accept the fact that they were victims of a con game and publicly clamored for sympathy, restitution, and for public officials to share their perspective. Inside men, ropers, outside men, and victims are at the core of con games. Lionel S. Lewis emphasizes that it is important to understand a con game’s characteristics so as to grasp how it operates. The Madoff fraud includes elements of a variety of con games. For a comprehensive study of this economic crime, the “case study” must be seen as part of the broader social system. Considerably more is known about the dynamics of con games than about Ponzi schemes, and this fact frames this book’s approach. To better understand what Madoff did, who was central in keeping his scheme alive, whom he defrauded, and how they reacted, this work is as invaluable as it is illuminating.

'Before Cliff Richard and the Shadows, there was nothing worth listening to in British music.' - John Lennon. Cliff Richard tells his story, in his own words, in his highly anticipated new autobiography. Achieving a hit in every decade since the 1950s, Cliff Richard stands alone in pop history. Coming of age in 1950s London, he began his music career at Soho's legendary 2i's Cafe, and now he's approaching his 80th birthday with record sales of over 250m and counting. Cliff Richard was a pioneer, forging the way for British rock 'n' roll with his unique sound. The original British teen idol, his incredible story takes us into the studio of TV's first pop show Oh Boy!, through 40 years of Top of the Pops, and playing live up and down the country and across the world, with a constant backdrop of screaming fans. Cliff looks back on his humble upbringing, and how he went on to fulfil his wildest dreams by becoming a pop star and even a film star. He talks about finding Christianity, reflects on the ups and downs of life in the public eye, and reveals how the false allegations against him changed his life forever. He's seen era-defining pop stars come and go, and he's still making new music, with a new project to be released this year. As a teenage Elvis-fan in Cheshunt, this may have seem a distant dream. Here's his story of how he made it all happen.

She packed her dreams of stardom away at 17 when she walked down the matrimonial aisle, never imagining that 30 years later she would have the chance to make them come true...and at what cost. Nearly Famous, Tales From The Hollywood Trenches is the captivating and incredibly honest story of a woman's journey from a 50's era good girl who married the man of her mother's dreams only to end up divorced, destitute and responsible for 2 little girls. The experience started a fire that fueled her determination to never be reliant on anyone else again. The result was an amazing career, sitting opposite the biggest stars in Hollywood, telling their story...but at what cost. In this very revealing memoir Reba Merrill takes the reader on an insider's look at the true cost of fame.

ANGELS HIDE THE DARKEST SECRETS For as long as she can remember, Alexis Minerva has always harbored an unyielding hatred for angels. She'd learned to despise them her entire life until Milo arrived and made her question everything. A divine angel with a mysterious allure, Milo's very presence quickly twists Alexis into a medley of emotions. But if her sister Priscilla's story is one to learn from, Alexis knows she's dancing with the devil by letting Milo in. It doesn't take long for Milo's troubled past and true nature to come to light. And after a chilling call sends Alexis on a search for her missing sister, she finds herself tumbling from an angelic high into the depths of dangers she never imagined possible. Angels are supposed to be good though...right? The holiest creatures share the darkest secrets in this paranormal angel romance with a plot twist that'll send your mind reeling.