Biography: adventurers and explorers

Using exclusive access to newly uncovered archives, Kalush and Sloman reveal the clandestine agreements in which the British and Americans recruited Houdini to be an active secret agent.

Set against the frenzied world of heavy metal superstardom, the co-founder of legendary Motley Crue offers an unflinching and gripping look at his own descent into drug addiction.

Few celebrities touch as many people as Steve Irwin did.

In l998, Mark and his family welcomed into their lives a half-Border Collie/half-Cocker Spaniel they named Pepsi.

Twain's story is epic, comic and tragic.

When Johnny Cash died in September 2003, the world mourned the loss of the greatest country music star of all time.

Allison DuBois first realised her abilities at six years old when she saw her great-grandfather - after his funeral.

Steve Martin has been an international star for over thirty years.

Not only is Al Pacino known as 'one of the greatest actors in all of film history', he is also considered 'one of Hollywood's most notorious bachelors' (imdb.

It is almost unprecedented for a head of state to publish a memoir while still in office.

NOW AMAJOR SERIES GENIUS ON NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC, PRODUCED BY RON HOWARD AND STARRING GEOFFREY RUSHEinstein is the great icon of our age: the kindly refugee from oppression whose wild halo of hair, twinkling eyes, engaging humanity and extraordinary brilliance made his face a symbol and his name a synonym for genius.

Even as a young girl, growing up in the Bronx, Mary Higgins Clark knew she wanted to be a writer.

Liz Smith, once called the nation's favourite fictional grandmother, is a familiar face to all TV and cinema viewers.

The first volume of Anthony Seldon's riveting and definitive life of Tony Blair was published to great acclaim in 2004.

Before his resignation in April 2007, Duncan Fletcher had been the most successful England cricket coach of the modern era.

A memoir in three parts, Concertina spans five years of the author's life as she makes the extraordinary transition from culinary expert to professional dominatrix.

Even people who don't know football know Pel.

At nine years old, Monica Holloway develops a fascination with the local funeral home.

Of Human Bondage, Jezebel, All About Eve, Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?

IT'S ONLY A MOVIE is as close to an autobiography by Alfred Hitchcock that you could ever have.

A harrowing yet inspiring portrait of a tormented consciousness struggling for reconciliation and peace, JARHEAD is authentic, revelatory and brilliantly crafted.

Shirley MacLaine has established herself as a fearless, iconoclastic thinker and seeker of truth.

Lord Michael Levy hit the headlines with his involvement in the alleged 'cash for peerages' scandal that rocked Tony Blair's government.

Comedian Mark Steel has spent most of his life a committed, signed-up member of the Socialist Workers Party.

On 11th September 2006 - exactly five years after the attacks on the Twin Towers - a modern day Rorke's Drift was played out in the town of Garmsir, known as the Taliban gateway to Helmand Province.

Following a seven-year battle with cancer, Jane Tomlinson died at the age of 43 in September 2007.

Rosie Boycott wasn't a typical 1960's Cheltenham Ladies College girl.

SHORTLISTED FOR THE WILLIAM HILL SPORTS BOOK OF THE YEAR PRIZE CROSS SPORTS BOOK AWARDS BIOGRAPHY OF THE YEAR Engage!

Don McRae grew up in a South Africa where his father would call the black men he met 'boy' and where his mother insisted that their black servants used tin mugs, plates and cutlery as they ate the family's left-over food in the backyard of their grand suburban property.

Best known as one of the stars of the Fast Show(where he played characters such as Dave Angel -- Eco-Warrior, Tommy Cockles and Competitive Dad) and Bellamy's Peopleco-starring Paul Whitehouse, Simon Day tells the shocking, sometimes sad and hilariously funny story of his life so far.

Legendary musician Peter Hook tells the whole story - the fun, the music, the vast loss of money, the legacy - of Manchester's most iconic nightclubPeter Hook, as co-founder of Joy Division and New Order, has been shaping the course of popular music for thirty years.

In an era when even the finest rugby coaches have a drastically short shelf-life, Ian McGeechan's longevity and adaptability is staggering.

Leila understands from early on that she is not part of normal Sudanese society.

In late December 2008, Ian Halperin told the world that Michael Jackson had only six months to live.

Clarence Darrow was one of the most legendary and influential trial lawyers the world has ever seen.

One of Britain's best-loved comic actors, Peter Bowles is perhaps most famous for his role as nouveau riche lord of the manor, Richard de Vere, in the hit television comedy To the Manor Born.

In 1931, City Lightsintroduced Charlie Chaplin's new female star to the world.

Richard Madeley is fascinated by the speed of change in family life and how being a father has changed since the time of his father and grandfather.

The never-before-published narrative of Evander Holyfield's life reveals a man of character behind the larger-than-life public image.

One tragic traffic accident.

Approaching 50, Mark Radcliffe decided to write about his life, most importantly, his time in music.

On 2 August 1708 Captain Woodes Rogers set sail from Bristol with two ships, the Duke and Duchess, on an epic voyage of circumnavigation that was to make him famous.

Starting from present and going back 30 years to 1990, the book about African-American jazz musician Ron Westray's life journey is written in reverse.

Written in reverse, the chapters go backwards.

Deep underwater lurks a mysterious man-made illness.

Georges Bataille was a philosopher, writer, librarian, pornographer and a founder of the influential journals Critique and Ac,phale.

Denis Gorman's A Voyage to the Sea is an inspirational tale of following your dream, despite the set-backs that life can throw at you, and is delivered in a well-paced narrative that military historians and deep-water sailors will enjoy in equal measure.

'Womenhave won their political independence.

A Royal Navy sailor recounts his adventuresome life at sea in this colorful memoir offering a rare look at early nineteenth century naval life.

On 2 August 1708 Captain Woodes Rogers set sail from Bristol with two ships, the Duke and Duchess, on an epic voyage of circumnavigation that was to make him famous.