Showing results by author "Gyles Brandreth" in All Categories

Philip - elusive, complex, controversial, challenging, often humorous, sometimes irascible - is the man Elizabeth II once described as her 'constant strength and guide'. Who was he? What was he really like? What is the truth about those 'gaffes' and the rumours of affairs? This is the final portrait of an unexpected and often much-misunderstood figure. It is also the portrait of a remarkable marriage that endured for more than 70 years.

Legendary British writer, broadcaster, ex-MP and TV star Gyles Brandreth hosts “Rosebud”, in which he talks to famous and fascinating people about their first memories and first experiences. Expect laughter, nostalgia, memorable stories, revelations and, of course, the odd name-drop from Gyles. We want to hear about your first memories - email us at hello@rosebudpodcast.com And you can follow us on Twitter and Instagram at @therosebudpod Artwork: Freya Betts. Music: Phil Lepherd. Producer: Harriet Jaine. Rosebud is a 'Plain Jaine' / 'Keep It Light Media' Production Creator: ...

There are few people Gyles Brandreth doesn't know or hasn't met. Now a grandparent, he traces his steps back to being a three-year-old tearing around 1950s London on his tricycle, to boarding school where he had an appendix removed simply to get out of football, to Bedales, where he met Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, to balancing his growing love of theatre with his love for educating, the 'woolly jumper years', the stint as an MP, the years of close friendship with the queen, to becoming a septuagenarian Twitter star and stalwart fixture in British entertainment.

This intimate, personal biography of Queen Elizabeth II tells the story of her remarkable life, reign and times, from a perspective unlike any other. Gyles Brandreth writes the Queen's tale candidly with grace and sensitivity from the view of someone who met her, talked with her and kept a record of those conversations. Brandreth knew the Queen's husband well and knows the new King and Queen Consort.

This selection of essays by Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) demonstrate the varied power of his genius. Compiled from his lecture tours, newspaper articles, essays and epigrams, these writings show that beneath his trademark wit and love of paradox, Oscar Wilde was an original and remarkably modern writer.

On 18th February 1895, the Marquess of Queensberry left a visiting card at the Albemarle Club on which he had written: "To Oscar Wilde posing as a sodomite." The accusation led to a series of three trials and the imprisonment of Wilde. This compelling dramatic recreation has been carefully compiled from the original trial transcripts.

For every moment in your life there is a poem. In Dancing by the Light of the Moon, we have a remarkable collection of over 250 best-loved poems in the English-speaking world. Allow Gyles Brandreth to be your guide to not only the wonders of poetry - and there are many - but also its practical uses in everyday life. 

This is a story of the most well documented, most commented on love affair of our times. Yet the personalities behind the facade remain elusive and the nature of their relationship is an enigma. This is the first major biography of Charles and Camilla, two people who have battled against the curious lot that fate has thrown their way. Gyles Brandreth returns to the same ground as his last book, the bestselling "Philip and Elizabeth"; "Portrait of a Marriage".

On June 17, 2013, Gyles Brandreth delivered the Baggs Memorial Lecture at the University of Birmingham - an annual conference on the theme of happiness and how it can be achieved. His speech was met with thunderous applause and a widespread demand to know more about the secrets of being happy, so he set about writing this poignant book of truths, sprinkled with British wit and humor throughout. With extensive research backing him, Brandreth travels the world over and meets numerous luminary figures, asking the questions: What is happiness?

"I see murder in this unhappy hand...." When Mrs. Robinson, palmist to the Prince of Wales, reads Oscar Wilde's hand she cannot know what she has predicted. Nor can Oscar know what he has set in motion when, that same evening, he proposes a game of "Murder" in which each of his Sunday Supper Club guests must write down those whom they would like to kill. For the fourteen "victims" begin to die mysteriously, one by one, and in the order in which their names were drawn from the bag....

Penguin presents the audiobook edition of Have You Eaten Grandma? written and read by Gyles Brandreth. It can be much harder than it seems; commas, colons, semicolons and even apostrophes can drive us all mad at times, but it riles no one more than the longest-serving resident of Countdown's Dictionary Corner, grammar guru Gyles Brandreth. In this brilliantly funny tirade and guide, Gyles anatomises the linguistic horrors of our times, tells us where we've been going wrong (and why) and shows us how, in future, we can get it right every time.

London, 1894. 'I am not a detective, chief constable.' 'No, but you are a poet, a freemason and a man of the world. All useful qualifications for the business in hand.' So says Police Chief Macnaghten to Oscar Wilde in a Chelsea drawing room, in the company of Arthur Conan Doyle. The business they are gathered to discuss is none other than the case of Jack the Ripper, the most notorious murderer in England. And thus the three men set out to solve one of the world's most famous mysteries.

Gyles Brandreth presents the quiz show with scandal on its mind. Hosted by the least discreet man in Britain, broadcaster and national treasure Gyles Brandreth, Whispers is the panel game that celebrates all things scurrilous and salacious. Running the gauntlet of gossip are two teams of two guests, who test their wits and wit as they try to tell the difference between fact, fiction and outlandish speculation.

The aim of this audiobook is entertainment - and surprise - but there will be a fair bit of erudition and incidental education along the way. We discover the oldest words, the newest, the longest, the shortest, the most frequently used, the costliest (yes, words can come with prices attached), the funniest, the most fatal, the most unusual...From the words Shakespeare gave us to the latest in sexting, the best and the worst, the most amusing and amazing words are here.

Language is power. Emojis, slang, the subjunctive mood . . . all colour our words with meaning. Interested? Then you’re in the right place. Welcome to the Have You Eaten Grandma? podcast.Join Gyles Brandreth, Natalie Haynes and a group of fellow word nerds as they journey through the intricacies and everyday pitfalls of the English languageDiscover more about the book behind the podcast at http://bit.ly/HYEGwts Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Nick Reynolds is a lefty alternative comedian-turned-holistic therapist. Living on the floor below him is Gyles Brandon, an ex-Tory MP turned media darling. Poles apart, they’d never choose each other as friends, but when Nick accidentally floods Gyles’ apartment, they become reluctant flat-sharers. Joined by Gyles’ goddaughter Sophie Okuyu, the spoilt daughter of a corrupt African politician, the housemates get into various scrapes....

Welcome to The Personality Test, the panel show in which a brand new host takes the chair for every episode to present a quiz entirely themed around themselves. Each gets to run the show by their own rules, devising topics and queries based on their life, whims, fancies and past glories. Among the showbiz celebrities in the hot seat are Gyles Brandreth, Jennie Bond, Antony Worrall Thompson, Esther Rantzen, Janet Street-Porter and Edwina Currie, while the rounds include Love It Or Hate It, True or False, That Special Day and Life's a Pitch.

Pantomime Stories – "Babes in the Wood"; "Cinderella"; "Dick Whittington"; "Jack and the Beanstalk"; "Puss in Boots"; "The Sleeping Beauty". Brothers Griimm Fairy Tales – "Rapunzel"; "Rumplestiltskin"; "The Frog Prince"; "The Three Musicians". Hans Andersen Fairy Tales – "The Nightingale"; "The Emperor's New Clothes"; "The Little Match Girl"; "The Tinder Box"; "The Ugly Duckling"; "Thumbelina".

In this wildly entertaining A to Z of verbal acrobatics, Gyles takes you on a whirlwind tour of our mother tongue – from the origins of words and correct grammar and punctuation, to similes, euphemisms and record breaking tongue twisters (try getting your mouth around floccinaucinihilipification!). An idiosyncratic blend of history, word play, anecdote, and hyperbole, all in 60-second instalments, this is Gyles Brandreth at his word-perfect, Just-a-Minute best. You’ll never mix your metaphors again...

Poetry from around the world! A fortnightly celebration of Poetry and The Commonwealth - where award winning podcaster Gyles Brandreth and his daughter Aphra visit each of the 56 countries of the Commonwealth, meeting poets, performers and people who love poetry and discovering new poems each episode.