In 1909, the largest department store in London's West End, designed and built from scratch, opened in Oxford Street in a glorious burst of publicity. The mastermind behind the façade was American retail genius Harry Gordon Selfridge: maverick businessman, risk-taker, dandy and one of the greatest showmen the retail world has ever known.
His talents were to create the seduction of shopping, and as his success and fame grew, so did his glittering lifestyle: mansions, yachts, gambling, racehorses - and mistresses. From the glamour of Edwardian England, through the turmoil of the Great War and the heady excesses of the 1920s and beyond, Selfridges Department Store was 'a theatre with the curtain going up at 9 o'clock each morning'. Mr Selfridge reveals the captivating story of the rise and fall of the man who revolutionised the way we shop.
The second series of Mr Selfridge will air on ITV in 2014.
'Lively and entertaining' Sunday Telegraph
'Will change your view of shopping forever' Vogue
'Harry Selfridge revolutionised the way we shop ... fascinating' Daily Mail
A bestselling business title on how to unlock the potential of people by applying the techniques of coaching. Coaching is the key to realising the potential of your employees, your organisation and yourself. The good news is that becoming a great coach requires nurturing just a few simple skills and habits. This bestselling and classic business book, now revised and relaunched, takes you through the stages needed to implement coaching to maximum effect. Easy to read and apply, the book provides the techniques and tools of coaching that are vital for anyone who wants to develop a team of people who will perform effectively and who will relish working with you. Since its publication in 1996, it has become the bible for the coaching manager.
In August 1780 Sir Theodosius Boughton, a dissolute Old Etonian twenty-year-old and heir to a Warwickshire fortune, died in painful convulsions after taking his medicine. The following year after an inquest and trial which became a cause celebre, his brother-in-law, Captain John 'Diamond' Donellan, Irish soldier of fortune and man about town, was tried for his murder. The trial was a shambles. Was Donellan guilty?
Based on extensive research and the engrossing trial transcripts Elizabeth Cooke's book shows the dark and violent underside of the society of Mansfield Park.
'The people you love, they just slip away ... I won't let you do that'
A man and his young son set out on a journey one snow-struck day. Another man skims stones across the sea with his daughter. Three generations separate them, but one loss connects them - sixty years apart, but no more than a stone's throw.
In between these two men is Meg. Like everyone, she's made choices in her life; and mostly she's proud of them. But that doesn't mean she isn't haunted by what might have been . . .
Set in England and Africa, opening during World War Two, A Stone's Throw is about how secrets linger and the price we pay to keep them. Most of all, it's about the choices we make, about consequences - and how we must, finally, let go of the past and face the future.
Who said 'Business is a combination of war and sport'?
How did Amazon.com and Volvo get their names?
Which are the world's most valuable brands?
When and what was the Mississippi bubble?
What did Xerox get seriously wrong in the 1970s?
Which company 'exists to benefit and refresh everyone it touches'?
How much do the best paid hedge fund managers earn?
Which brand of coffee claimed to be 'Good to the last drop'?
And how do you avoid seven years of bad sex in Germany?
Full of facts and figures about all aspects of business, this miscellany gives the answers to all the above questions and many, many more with sections that include the biggest firms and biggest bankruptcies, business blunders and bad boys, leading management thinkers and past business giants, inventors and inventions, and famous patents. For anyone who needs proof that you can combine business with pleasure, here it is.
'Some regard private enterprise as if it were a predatory tiger to be shot. Others look upon it as a cow to be milked. Only a handful see it for what it really is - the strong horse that pulls the whole cart' - Winston Churchill
When the past comes to your door, what can you do except let it in?
Gina's life is good. She is independent. She loves her adopted home in Italy and she is passionate about her work as a photographer. Maybe her lover isn't all she might hope and her beautiful apartment is in need of repair, but you can't have everything all the time. And anyway, she's all wrapped up in her latest artistic project, shots of the young men who arrive in Italy as refugees, destitute and vulnerable.
Until one day, Sasha, a lonely British teenager at summer school, crosses Gina's path, and unwittingly sets her world spinning. Sasha's innocent romance creates complications neither of them could have imagined, leading Gina to wonder, can she come to terms with her past?
In the vein of Marian Keyes or Celia Ahern, this is the perfect summer read: touching, sun-drenched and, ultimately, inspirational.
