Biography For Boys

These recollections cover the time from the very early 1960s until after my last significant acting role. After that I pulled a disappearing act and became a regular bloke for the most part. The transition from child/youth actor through to adult is notoriously difficult, some have succeeded, some spectacularly so. Some have stumbled along and sadly, some have fallen. I chose to take a break, which I’m still on. I’ve been the subject of many 'where are they now?' articles and musings. Well, I’m here now, writing this.

The life story of my beloved 98-year-old grandfather, Lee Hayles. We are blessed to still have him here with us today. Tag along as he grows up during the 1920s, joins the Civilian Conservation Corps and the Navy for World War II, and his eventual settling in the Midwest to open his business in the highly competitive printing industry.

In his account of the sensational life and murder of Grady Stiles Jr., also known as the legendary carnival freak Lobster Boy, author Fred Rosen explains how Stiles' death was engineered by his wife, Mary Teresa, the carny known as the Electrified Girl. Rosen describes how Mary Teresa arranged for her husband's murder after years of physical and emotional abuse. During Mary Teresa's dramatic trial, Rosen becomes a character in his own book.

The true story of Deng Adut - Sudanese child soldier, refugee, man of hope. Movingly narrated by Blessing Mokgohloa. Deng Adut's family were farmers in South Sudan when a brutal civil war altered his life forever. At six years old, his mother was told she had to give him up to fight. At the age most Australian children are starting school, Deng was conscripted into the Sudan People's Liberation Army.

Following on from the success of Victor Boys and Vulcan Boys, Tony Blackman, in collaboration with Anthony Wright, brings you Valiant Boys to complete the V Force set. This is a fascinating collection of personal accounts of operating Britain's first V bomber by aircrew and ground crew. The book tells the story from the aircraft's birth taking off from Vickers' tiny airfield at Wisley near Brooklands to its premature death from fatigue.

Tales from the estates of Middlesbrough over the last 50 years.... These are the memoirs of Paddy Moloney's very colourful life. From a two up two down in Cannon Street to Grovehill and the luxury of an inside lav! Going from a "quiet lad" at St Joseph's to his first spell in borstal. This is a brutally honest account of Paddy's journey from an Altar boy to a Criminal, spanning four decades including his dealings with some of Middlesbrough's notorious characters to the big guns from further afield. This book pulls you in from the very first chapter.

Glen Walsh and Steven Alward were childhood friends in their tight-knit working-class community in Shortland, on the outskirts of Newcastle, New South Wales. Both proud altar boys at the local Catholic church, they went on to attend the city's Catholic boys' highs schools: Glen to Marist Brothers and Steven to St Pius X. Both did well: Steven became a journalist, Glen a priest. But when Glen discovered another priest was sexually abusing boys, he reported the offending to police, breaking Canon Law and his vows to the Catholic 'brotherhood' in the process.

In this vivacious memoir, Thomas Keneally conjures up his youthful self - a red-haired teenager who idolised Gerald Manley Hopkins, had visions of being a sporting hero and dreamed of winning the heart of the alluring Bernadette Curran. The one role he did not see himself playing was priest, despite the encouragement of the Brothers at his Catholic school - until Bernadette announced her intention of becoming a nun. Drawing an affectionate portrait of the people who inspired and influenced him, Keneally beautifully captures the agonies and the ecstacies of adolescence.

From a garden shed laboratory where he manufactured the greatest stink in the world to a tent high in the Arctic in pursuit of fossils, this is a story of obsession and love of nature, flavoured with the peculiarities and restrictions of post-war Britain. Fortey tells the story of following his father down riverbanks to fish for trout, and also of his father's shocking death. He unfolds his early passions–fungi, ammonite hunting and eyeing up bird's eggs. He evokes with warmth and wit how the natural world started out as his playground and refuge, then became his life's work.

In The Poster Boy, Chad Scott tells the story of a Midwestern kid from Missouri who worked up the nerve to move to Chicago and chase his dream of becoming an entrepreneur. He didn’t have a pile of cash or a bunch of connections - just a great idea and the willpower to see it through to the bitter end. This book is half-memoir and half-guide. Chapters alternate between Chad’s story and practical business lessons designed to take you all the way from a bare concept to a lucrative business.

Historien om Brian Wilson, hjernen bag The Beach Boys, er dels historien om en af rockmusikkens største begavelser, dels historien om et psykisk følsomt og ustabilt menneske, der i en lang periode af sit liv var hæmmet af druk, stoffer og paranoia. Karsten Jørgensen, en af Danmarks bedste rockskribenter, tager dig gennem hele historien - fra den på mange måder traumatiske barndom med en diktatorisk og voldelig far over starten på musikkarrieren som frontfigur i The Beach Boys og beslutningen om at trække sig fra turneerne for at koncentrere sig om det, der altid har været Wilsons varemærke: At

Albert Black, known as the 'jukebox killer', was only 20 when he was convicted of murdering another young man in a fight at a milk bar in Auckland on 26 July 1955. His crime fuelled growing moral panic about teenagers, and he was to hang less than five months later, the second-to-last person to be executed in New Zealand. But what really happened? Was this a love crime, was it a sign of juvenile delinquency? Or was this dark episode in our recent history more about our society's reaction to outsiders?

Seahawks star running back Curt Warner and his wife, Ana, were prominent figures in Seattle in the early 1990s. When they dropped from the public eye after Curt’s retirement, everyone assumed it was for a simpler life. But the reality behind their seclusion was a secret they hid from even their closest friends: their twins, Austin and Christian, had been diagnosed with severe autism. What followed was a painful struggle to hold their family and their marriage together in a home filled with chaos, emotional exhaustion, and constant fear for the safety of their unpredictable but beloved boys.

A story of thrill-seeking teens, of hope and love, freedom and failure, Kickflip Boys reveals a sport and a community that have become a refuge for adolescent boys who don’t fit in. Ultimately, it’s the survival story of a loving modern American family, of acceptance, forgiveness, and letting go.

In a memoir studded with delicious lines and unforgettable set pieces, Robert Leleux describes his East Texas boyhood and coming of age under the tutelage of his eccentric, bewigged, flamboyant, and knowing mother. Left high and dry by Daddy and living on their in-laws' horse ranch in a white-pillared house they can't afford, Robert and Mother find themselves chronically low on cash. Soon, they are forced into more modest quarters, and as a teenage Robert watches with hilarity and horror as Mother begins a desperate regimen to secure a new, wealthy husband.

Originally intended as a trainer, the Anglo-French Sepecat jet, equipped with the very latest in weapon-aiming and navigational equipment, eventually became the backbone of the RAF's tactical strike-attack and recce forces for a decade from the mid-1970s. In these minutes, the Jaguar Boys - pilots, engineer, and ground crew - tell of the aircraft's drawbacks and joys, their sadness at losses, and their pleasure at its development into a readily deployable and outstandingly capable fighter-bomber for the post-Cold War era.

These stories are specific to one legendary riverfront plateau and one boy's journey, but are emblematic of immigrant life and blue-collar aspirations during the heyday of American industry and its crash, foreshadowing one of the largest internal migrations in US history. Approximately six million baby boomers, like the narrator, fled the Rust Belt. Another six million remained and stories of their youth, struggles, and aspirations echo throughout this book.

The trail went cold for the massive team of trackers - until a dog named Gandalf appeared on the scene.

As the story opens, young Alexander Hamilton marches with the Continentals at Fort Lee, New Jersey. He is frustrated by being relegated to the end of the line and missing out on the action. He desperately wants to make a name for himself. His fortunes soon change at the Raritan River when the vanguard of British infantry catches up to Washington's army. Hamilton and his cannons are the only defense line available to prevent the army from being destroyed. Successfully protecting the Continental army and allowing their escape with his rear-guard action, Hamilton catches the attention of George Washington.

As a boy Matthew Waterhouse loved Doctor Who: he watched all the episodes and read all the novels and comic strips. What starts as a heart-warming story, of a boy growing up with Doctor Who as his trusted friend, engaging the listener with memories and nostalgia that will be familiar to any Doctor Who fan, takes a sudden twist when he is thrust into an alien and adult world - cast as Doctor Who's youngest ever travelling companion - for two of the series' most inventive seasons.