This is a story of the Seventies by one baby boomer, viewed through his particular life of travel, work, romance and recreation. Starting Out is not the sensational story of a celebrity, but rather a unique perspective by one witness of a decade that began the hope of flower power and love and ended in the winter of discontent and the advent of Thatcherism. It forms Volume Two of Trevor Cherrett's autobiography Post War Boy and traces his emigration to the 'cod and fog' of Newfoundland for his first job, travels to Mexico with his girlfriend from university to watch the 1970 World Cup, and their return to London after some fraught and accident-prone travels. It is a story of time, place, and politics, viewed through working in London, the new city of Milton Keynes and later the county of Derbyshire. It is also the story of an exploration of the waterways of England in 20ft wooden clinker boat named Morgan, "a suitable case for treatment" as sub-titled in the film of the era, starring Vanessa Redgrave and David Warner. Besides these adventures Starting Out is also about personal feelings and relationships, candidly explored in a decade that saw the end of many dreams of radical change or revolution, but which also experienced the birth and growth of women's liberation and feminism. The author traces the impacts that these movements had on his life and loves, and reflects on the joys and tragedies of the decade for himself and the wider world.

After the outbreak of the Great War, boys as young as twelve were caught up in a national wave of patriotism and, in huge numbers, volunteered to serve their country. The press, recruiting offices and the Government all contributed to the enlistment of hundreds of thousands of under-age soldiers in both Britain and the Empire. On joining up, these lads falsified their ages, often aided by parents who believed their sons’ obvious youth would make overseas service unlikely. These boys frequently enlisted together, training for a year or more in the same battalions before they were sent abroad. Others joined up but were soon sent to units already fighting overseas and short of men: these lads might undergo as little as eight weeks’ training. Boys served in the bloodiest battles of the war, fighting at Ypres, the Somme and on Gallipoli. Many broke down under the strain and were returned home once parents supplied birth certificates proving their youth. Other lads fought on bravely and were even awarded medals for gallantry: Jack Pouchot won the Distinguished Conduct Medal aged just fifteen. Others became highly efficient officers, such as Acting Captain Philip Lister and Second Lieutenant Reginald Battersby, both of whom were commissioned at fifteen and fought in France. In this, the final update of his ground-breaking book, Richard van Emden reveals new hitherto unknown stories and adds many more unseen images. He also proves that far more boys enlisted in the British Army under-age than originally estimated, providing compelling evidence that as many as 400,000 served.

Michael Foreman woke up when an incendiary bomb dropped through the roof of his Lowestoft home. Luckily, it missed his bed by inches, bounced off the floor and exploded up the chimney. So begins Michael's fascinating, brilliantly illustrated tale of growing up on the Suffolk frontline during World War II. He tells how he and his friends and family coped with bombing raids and deadly doodlebugs, how gas masks were great for making rude noises, and how nothing could beat rabbit pie! ' ... vivid, humorous and touching' Guardian.

They say if you can remember the Sixties you could not have been there. Well post war baby boomer Trevor Cherrett was there and he can remember them. But his memories are more about what it was really like to grow up in one of the most rapidly changing periods in Britain`s history, as the country emerged from the destruction of the Second World War to a new world of peace, prosperity and the Welfare State. Born almost in sight of the red funnelled Cunarders in the port of Southampton – and on the edge of the Luftwaffe`s bombing run just a few years before – the author evokes his early years of national health orange juice, cod-liver oil, and school milk; discovering the joys of exploring the (then) sleepy country town of Ringwood where you could get away with tri-cycling halfway to Bournemouth; and growing up by the harbours and beaches of Mudeford and the South Coast . In frank detail he explores how he experienced the trials and tribulations of family life and girlfriends in a period which invented `the teenager` and witnessed the passing of much of the `old order`; how school shaped his life in the days of the 11 Plus and the great divide between Grammar schools and Secondary Moderns, and the new opportunities to go to University; and how growing up on the South Coast and the New Forest opened the door to his passions for fishing, boating and football. Like many baby boomers, Trevor acknowledges that they were, and are, a fortunate generation. But, he argues, it wasn`t just good luck or - worse – some kind of inter- generational conspiracy. Much of their good fortune was the result of far-sighted post-war policies aimed at creating a fairer as well as a more prosperous society. And he believes those policies have lessons for us today. This is not the autobiography of a Celebrity. Rather it is the story of an Everyman living through an extraordinary period of history, and making the links between his personal endeavours and the social, economic and cultural changes that affected his life, and the different places in which they were played out.

Told by a deaf-mute teenage skateboard freak, charged with the fevered intensity of youth, War Boy is a brilliant evocation of the search for love - pure literary adrenalin Fleeing his father, fourteen-year-old Radboy takes to the road with Jonnyboy, an older friend who has become the only person he trusts. On the bus headed out of town they hook up with Finn and Critter, speed-freak boyfriends who take a shine to both of them. They also meet Ula, who is mourning the death of her fiance and taking a trip across the country in his memory. The five become fast allies, united by loss and by the allure of intimacy. When Jonnyboy drops out of sight, Radboy stays behind in San Francisco, where the underground world inspires his own burgeoning sexual and emotional desires. Radboy and his friends put their restless energy to use on a scheme to destroy a company that is ravaging the redwood forests. But their plans, fuelled as much by drugs and paranoia as good intentions go horribly wrong, and the violent aftermath brings a powerful - and unexpected - awakening to Radboy. Hard-edged, emotionally authentic, War Boy is an utterly engrossing novel from a stellar and uncompromising new talent.

Sex is as fascinating to scientists as it is to the rest of us. A vast pool of knowledge, therefore, has been gleaned from research into the nature of sex, from the contentious problem of why the wasteful reproductive process exists at all, to how individuals choose their mates and what traits they find attractive. This fascinating book explores those findings, and their implications for the sexual behaviour of our own species. It uses the Red Queen from ‘Alice in Wonderland’ – who has to run at full speed to stay where she is – as a metaphor for a whole range of sexual behaviours. The book was shortlisted for the 1994 Rhone-Poulenc Prize for Science Books. ‘Animals and plants evolved sex to fend off parasitic infection. Now look where it has got us. Men want BMWs, power and money in order to pair-bond with women who are blonde, youthful and narrow-waisted ... a brilliant examination of the scientific debates on the hows and whys of sex and evolution’ Independent.

A special new edition of Michael Foreman's award-winning memoirs about his wartime childhood. 'I woke up when the bomb came through the roof. It came through at an angle, overflew my bed by inches, bounced up over my mother's bed, hit the mirror, dropped into the grate and exploded up the chimney.' The Second World War is an exciting time for a young boy growing up in a small town in Suffolk - sometimes far too exciting! Life during wartime is vividly brought to life in this personal story filled with childhood memories - from hiding in air-raid shelters to playing in the bombed-out ruins and the arrival of American soldiers. War Boy is a modern classic that combines a touching personal story with factual information and wonderful illustrations. Also available in paperback: War Boy (9781843650874), War Game (9781843650898), After the War Was Over (9781843650881), Farm Boy (9781843650904) and Billy the Kid (9781844583669).