Bloody hell.'The longest serving and most successful manager in British football history shocked the world by finally retiring in May 2013 and instantly created more column inches and twitter mentions that the death of Margaret Thatcher.
Christmas and New Year are as much about planning and preparation as eating and enjoying, and here your favourite chefs provide a collection of fantastic recipes and tips to guide you through this busy festive time.
Keep Calm and Carry On was a World War 2 government poster discovered in a dusty box nine years ago. Though it never saw the light of day in 1939 (it was only supposed to go up if Britain was invaded), it has suddenly struck a chord in our current difficult times, now we are in need of a stiff upper lip and optimistic energy once again. Gordon Brown had one up in 10 Downing Street and James May wears a Keep Calm T-shirt on the telly - it is suddenly everywhere. The book is packed full of similarly motivational and inspirational quotes, proverbs, mantras and wry truths to help us through the recession, from such wits as Churchill, Disraeli and George Bernard Shaw. Funny, wise and stirring - it is a perfect source of strength to get us all through the coming months. 'A banker is a fellow who lends you his umbrella when the sun is shining and wants it back the minute it begins to rain' Mark Twain 'It's a recession when your neighbor loses his job; it's a depression when you lose your own' Harry S. Truman 'An economist is an expert who will know tomorrow why the things he predicted yesterday didn't happen today' Laurence J. Peter 'Always laugh when you can. It is cheap medicine' Lord Byron 'Better bread with water than cake with trouble' Russian Proverb
Well, it just gets worse and worse doesn't it? Collapsing banks, collapsing countries, massive government cuts, rising debt, inflation and the possibility of a double dip. It's amid all this uncertainty that the already embattled modern woman needs the best advice she can get about how to be as cool and calm in life as possible. Keep Calm for Ladies offers the same pearls of life wisdom, inspirational quotes, proverbs and mantras as Keep Calm and Carry On but with women at their wits' end in mind. An emergency pocket survival bible for today's plucky female. 'Don't compromise yourself. You are all you've got' Janis Joplin 'A man would prefer to come home to an unmade bed and a happy woman than to a neatly made bed and an angry woman' Marlene Dietrich 'Remember, blood is not only much thicker than water, it's much more difficult to get out of the carpet' Phyllis Diller 'In politics, if you want anything said, ask a man; if you want anything done, ask a woman' Margaret Thatcher 'Never eat more than you can lift' Miss Piggy
‘If it’s me and your granny on bongos, it’s The Fall.’ As legendary frontman of post-punk outfit The Fall, Mark E. Smith was known as much for his mercurial temperament as his exceptional musical talent. Famous for his singular way with words both onstage and off, his road to the music hall of fame was paved with brilliant one-liners, eccentric behaviour, and the dozens of members of The Fall he ejected along the way. Collecting his wit and wisdom for the first time and featuring an introduction from Stuart Maconie, Messing Up the Paintwork is a tribute to a musical icon described as ‘untouchably cool’ (Lauren Laverne), an ‘uncompromising musical maverick’ (Tim Burgess) and ‘a man shouting from a prison window’ (Frank Skinner). And it’s a book for the fans who will miss him terribly.