While us oldies bemoan the shift from vinyl to CD and the fact that it deprived us of one of the greatest pleasures of music ownership - that great 12 inch artwork that was the album sleeve, replaced by a tiddly five inch booklet that you need a magnifying glass to read - spare a thought for this generation with their i-Pods and downloaded mp3s - they get nothing at all to go with the music! Here is both an unashamed wallow in nostalgia for us, and a taste of what they are missing for them, 1000 album sleeves, split into three sections; the '60s, '70s and '80s & '90s, 90s from music archivist, disc jockey, journalist, and former record-publicity executive Michael Ochs's enormous private collection. Both a trip down memory lane and a study in the evolution of cover art, this is a sweeping look at an underappreciated art form. Many are works of art, for example Andy Warhol's covers including the banana he designed for The Velvet Underground. Printed in eye-popping colour throughout, each has a caption of artist, title, year of release, record label, sleeve designer and extra notes. Beautifully presented by Taschen, 14 x 19.5cm, 576 pages.

'Peter Sellers and the RAF Gang Shows' is the sub-title of a story now told for the first time. The book reveals previously unknown film footage, photos, performances, broadcasts and recordings like two reels of 35mm film catalogued as 'RAF Gang Show, Akyab Island, Burma.' The footage of excellent quality shows a group of men in khaki Air Force uniforms. Among them is a rather skinny young man with a confident air who takes the lead in some staged high-jinks for the camera and later he is playing drums as part of a jazz quintet and acting in a two-handed sketch. That instantly recognisable face was Aircraftman 2223033 Richard Henry Sellers, better known as Peter Sellers, whose family came from the world of variety and vaudeville. Sellers was one of the biggest stars of the 1960s and 70s and his career began with characters such as Bluebottle on BBC Radio's The Goon Show. He achieved global fame as Inspector Clouseau in The Pink Panther series but what is less well known is he served in the Royal Air Force Entertainment Unit, known as Gang Shows, for over three years. This is a tale of the formation and education of his remarkable talent as well as a small corner of WW2 history that is uniquely British. Groups of servicemen and women were sent all around the world with hampers full of theatrical props and costumes to rally the troops in distant outposts of Empire. 128pp, illus.

This keenly priced pack of three vintage journals reproduces classic comics covers from the 1950s, including Teen-Age Romances, Strange Worlds with a glamorous beauty on the cover, Baffling Mysteries and Web of Evil! Inside every journal are sample comic strips such as Sirens of Space! And lost worlds and vampires. Each fun and funky unique journal is either gridded, lined or blank, 18.34 x 1.65 x 25.5 cm. Pack of three journals.

A bestseller on publication in 1985, this biography draws largely on the remaining 145 volumes of Cecil Beaton's manuscript diaries dating from 1922 to 1974 when he suffered his stroke. He began keeping a diary at Harrow, but destroyed it when he was about 20 because he was frightened that it might be found. He began his day to day diary at Cambridge in October 1922 and filled 56 volumes with closely scrawled material including his first trip to America from 1928-29, his year in Hollywood working on My Fair Lady, summing up a particular summer or weekend, an occasion such as the Duke of Windsor's wedding, and a fictional account of a day spent with his Delhi secretary Jean MacFarlane in 1944 which in fact was spent with his Cairo secretary Pamela Burns in 1942. In this biography, only the original manuscript diaries are quoted, especially when a published version also exists. Much of this material was at times unpublishable and it remains a candid portrait of its writer, and a valuable mirror to the many worlds in which he moved. Nothing has been changed from the expressions he and his circle used, many of which are no longer considered acceptable but they are as they were written at the time, some incredibly bitchy and snobbish and cruel. Cecil Beaton was not just a great photographer but one of Britain's greatest cultural icons who captured some of the most celebrated portraits of the 20th century and was also a designer of the iconic sets and costumes for the films My Fair Lady and Gigi. In 1980, he personally chose Hugo Vickers to be his biographer and entrusted him with his vast collection of diaries and letters written both personally and professionally over the course of his life. Drawing on five years of intensive research and interviews with the likes of Audrey Hepburn, Truman Capote, Princess Grace of Monaco and Sir John Gielgud, the biography explores Beaton's metamorphosis from being the child of a staid middle class family to an international figure mingling with the glittering stars of his age and detailing his great love for Greta Garbo and his private sense of failure. Republished 2020 paperback with Beaton family tree, 804pp, eight pages of colour and black and white photos.

There was a widespread sense of loss when Victoria Wood died in 2016 while working on her biography, but as part of the research for that book 'Let's Do It', the critically acclaimed Sunday Times bestseller, her official biographer Jasper Rees uncovered a treasure chest of unseen work. From Victoria's first piece of comic prose for the school magazine, through to material written for the great TV shows of her maturity, this joyful hoard of unreleased material spans nearly half a century. Here are sketches, songs, stand-up monologues that no one else could have written, details of her university days in Birmingham in 1971, dialogues and exchanges at the bus stop complete with stage directions like 'Ext. The canal bridge. The man stands smoking. He finishes his cigarette, grinds it out on the bridge wall, throws it into the water and walks in the direction of his room. Int. School room the morning after the party...' 'Dorothy sees herself in black satin except Dorothy's got nothing to pop from the sort sexy ladies pop out of.' And there are rare photos in colour and black and white including the Bush Theatre 1978 where Victoria Wood and Julie Walters performed for the first time together from among the dozens of private album snapshots included. 285pp, illus.

In the very collectable Everyman Library Pocket edition with two pagemarkers, this unique collection of poetic tributes to the silver screen ranges over a full century from B-movies to Bollywood. From the silent film era to the present here are movie stars and bit players, art films and horror flicks, acclaimed directors and popcorn palaces. From Clark Gable to Jean Cocteau, more than a hundred poets riff on their movie memories - John Updike on theatres of his youth, Jack Kerouac and Robert Lowell on Harpo Marx, Sharon Olds on Marilyn Monroe, Louise Erdrich on John Wayne, May Swenson on the James Bond films, Terrance Hayes on early Black cinema, Maxine Kumin on Casablanca, and Richard Wilbur on The Prisoner of Zenda. Orson Welles, Leni Riefenstahl, and Ingmar Bergman share the spotlight with Shirley Temple, King Kong and Carmen Miranda, Ridley Scott, Hitchcock and Bresson. Beautiful design, 255pp. Remainder mark.

'A Visual History of the World's Greatest 250 Rock Acts' with striking, colour-coded infographics, the book provides an overview of every aspect of each band's story. See at a glance which musicians featured when, what instruments they played, which label the act was with and when, the album release dates and who played on which album. Photographs of key members past and present supplement the engaging text, and founder and current members are highlighted for immediate recognition in this masterful book which is arranged alphabetically. For more than 50 of the biggest acts there is a stunning display of iconic photographs charting their dramatic changes in appearance, and relating each iconic look to albums of the same period. The Animals 1962-1969, Anthrax 1981-present, Arcade Fire 2001-present, Arctic Monkeys 2002-present, the Bee Gees 1960-2011, Buffalo Springfield 1966-2011, Bob Dylan 1959, Emmerson Lake & Palmer 1970-2010, Jefferson Airplane/Starship 1965-present, The Triffids 1978-1989, U2 1978-present to ZZ Top 1969-present etc etc. With label abbreviations, websites, Grammy Award winners, Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductees and performer directory, this is the ultimate peerless rock encyclopaedia, era by glorious era. Super weighty softback, packed with colour photos, 24.6 x 17.6 x 4.3cm.
Click YouTube icon to see this book come to life on video.

A unique tribute from David Bowie's official photographer and creative partner, Mick Rock, compiled in 2015, with Bowie's blessing. In 1972, David Bowie released his groundbreaking album The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars. With it landed Bowie's Stardust alter ego: a glitter-clad, mascara-eyed, sexually ambiguous persona who kicked down the boundaries between male and female, straight and gay, fact and fiction into one shifting and sparkling phenomenon of '70s self-expression. Together, Ziggy the album and Ziggy the stage spectacular propelled the softly spoken Londoner into one of the world's biggest stars. A key passenger on this glam trip into the stratosphere was fellow Londoner and photographer Mick Rock. Rock bonded with Bowie artistically and personally, immersed himself in the singer's inner circle, and, between 1972 and 1973, worked as the singer's photographer and videographer. This collection brings together spectacular stage shots, iconic photo shoots, as well as intimate backstage portraits. With a 5-phase lenticular cover of different headshots, it celebrates Bowie's fearless experimentation and reinvention, while offering privileged access to the many facets of his personality and fame. Through the aloof and approachable, the playful and serious, the candid and the contrived, the result is a passionate tribute to a brilliant and inspirational artist whose creative vision will never be forgotten. 23.8 x 33.3cm, 300 pages. Text in English, French and German. New from Taschen. The cover features a tipped-in A4 size five colour image that actually moves when tilted of Ziggy and faces of David Bowie. Could be removed from the front cover of the hardback book.

In 1922, three men - only one of whom had previously heard of 'broadcasting' - founded the BBC. In doing so, Arthur Burrows, Cecil Lewis, and John Reith set out to accomplish something utterly bold: using what had been a weapon of war - Marconi's wireless - to remake culture for the good of humanity. 20 years later, when George Orwell famously quit the Corporation, he decided he was done 'doing work that produces no result'. Yet the BBC is now one of Britain's most beloved institutions. Stars once fainted at the microphone; now a select few spend their Saturdays waltzing for the nation's entertainment in front of studio cameras. From Daleks to Desert Island Discs, the BBC has blazed a trail for British entertainment. Yet it has also always been at the forefront of global change, both breaking and covering the most important stories of the century on Panorama and BBC News. The first in-depth history of the iconic radio and TV network that has shaped our past and present. Tennis from Wimbledon, the Beatles and the Stones, the coronation of Queen Elizabeth and the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales, Monty Python's Flying Circus, Morecambe and Wise and Eastenders - for 100 years, the British Broadcasting Corporation has been the preeminent broadcaster in the UK and around the world, a constant source of information, comfort, and entertainment through both war and peace, feast and famine. The BBC has broadcast to over 200 countries and in more than 40 languages. Mixing politics, espionage, the arts, social change, and everyday life, The BBC is a vivid social history of the organization that has provided both background commentary and screen-grabbing headlines and now facing massive social change, streaming services and competition. Illus, 656 pages.

Juxtaposing the literature of jest against court records, sermons, and conduct books, Brown employs a witty, entertaining style to propose that non-elite women used jests to test the limits of their subjection. She also shows how women's mocking laughter could function as a means of social control in closely watched neighbourhoods. While official culture beatified the sheep-like wife and disciplined the scold, jesting culture often applauded the satiric shrew, whether her target was priest, cuckold, or rapist. Brown argues that listening for women's laughter can shed light on both the dramas of the street and those of the stage: plays from The Massacre of the Innocents to The Merry Wives of Windsor to The Woman's Prize taught audiences the importance of gossips' alliances as protection against slanderers, lechers, tyrants, and wife-beaters. Other jests, on the ale-house, cuckold jokes, female gossip, cony-catching pamphlets, ballads, jigs, and plays show women revelling in tales of female roguery or scoffing at the perverse patience of Griselda. As Brown points out, some women found Griselda types annoying and even foolish: better be a shrew than a sheep. Medieval line art illus, Cornell University Press 280 page paperback.