Biography: arts & entertainment

In 1947, when Christian Dior's model spun her wasp-waisted skirt and tipped a hat over one eye, the iconic designer became an instant celebrity. His groundbreaking 'new look' was quintessentially Parisian - the perfect combination of fanciful and elegant that glorified the female form and seduced...

Introduced with a portrait of each featured composer, more than 90 biographical entries trace the friendships, loves, and rivalries that inspired each musical genius and their work. Profiles offer revealing insights into what drove each individual to create the musical masterpieces - symphonies, ...

Based on new and revelatory material from Brando's own private archives, an award-winning film biographer presents a deeply-textured, ambitious, and definitive portrait of the greatest movie actor of the 20th century, the elusive Marlon Brando, bringing his extraordinarily complex life into view ...

This is the extraordinary story of Elisabeth Beresford, creator of 'The Wombles', the furry, fun-loving recyclers of rubbish which became a children's publishing and television sensation in the 1970s.

The book is an encyclopaedic A-Z of The Cure examining and riffing on miscellaneous trivia, biographies of the band members past and present, summaries of each album and selected songs, details of the band's various tours and films, and essays on broader topics such as their image, their politics...

The most successful Bond of all time. One of the most stylish men in Britain. A United Nations ambassador. Skydiving with the Queen herself. Is there anything Daniel Craig can't do? With the release of 'No Time to Die', Craig will appear for the fifth time as James Bond. The public and the critic...

Vivien Leigh was perhaps the most iconic actress of the 20th century. As Scarlett O'Hara and Blanche Du Bois, she took on some of the most pivotal roles in cinema history. Yet she was also a talented theatre actress with West End and Broadway plaudits to her name. In this ground-breaking biograph...

Charles Dickens and Prince. Two wildly different artists who caught fire and lit up the world in ways no others could. Where did their magic come from? How did they work so hard and produce so much? How did they manage or give in to the restlessness and intensity of their creativity? How did they...

Eve Babitz died on December 17th, 2021. Found in the wrack, ruin and filth of her apartment, a stack of boxes packed by her mother decades before. Inside, a lost world, centred on a two-story rental in a down-at-heel section of Hollywood in the sixties and seventies. Didion and Babitz formed a co...

Known to millions for his continually perplexed expression, David Tomlinson symbolised post-war British comedy. Whilst he distinguished himself as an RAF pilot during the war, he also endured a turbulent, tumultuous personal life. In 1943, his new American wife committed suicide with her two chil...