The traditional radio medium has seen significant changes in recent years as part of the current global shift toward multimedia content, with both digital and FM making significant use of new technologies, including mobile communications and the Internet. This book focuses on the important role these new technologies play--and will play as radio continues to evolve. This series of essays by top academics in the field examines new options for radio technology as well as a summary of the opportunities and challenges that characterize academic and professional debates around radio today.

As World War II drew to a close and radio news was popularized through overseas broadcasting, journalists and dramatists began to build upon the unprecedented success of war reporting on the radio by creating audio documentaries. Focusing particularly on the work of radio luminaries such as Edward R. Murrow, Fred Friendly, Norman Corwin, and Erik Barnouw, Radio Utopia: Postwar Audio Documentary in the Public Interest traces this crucial phase in American radio history, significant not only for its timing immediately before television, but also because it bridges the gap between the end of the World Wars and the beginning of the Cold War. Matthew C. Ehrlich closely examines the production of audio documentaries disseminated by major American commercial broadcast networks CBS, NBC, and ABC from 1945 to 1951. Audio documentary programs educated Americans about juvenile delinquency, slums, race relations, venereal disease, atomic energy, arms control, and other issues of public interest, but they typically stopped short of calling for radical change. Drawing on rare recordings and scripts, Ehrlich traces a crucial phase in the evolution of news documentary, as docudramas featuring actors were supplanted by reality-based programs that took advantage of new recording technology. Paralleling that shift from drama to realism was a shift in liberal thought from dreams of world peace to uneasy adjustments to a cold war mentality. Influenced by corporate competition and government regulations, radio programming reflected shifts in a range of political thought that included pacifism, liberalism, and McCarthyism. In showing how programming highlighted contradictions within journalism and documentary, Radio Utopia reveals radio's response to the political, economic, and cultural upheaval of the post-war era.

The average American listens to the radio three hours a day. In light of recent technological developments such as internet radio, some argue that the medium is facing a crisis, while others claim we are at the dawn of a new radio revolution. The Concise Encyclopedia of American Radio is an essential single-volume reference guide to this vital and evolving medium. It brings together the best and most important entries from the three-volume Museum of Broadcast Communications Encyclopedia of Radio, edited by Christopher Sterling.

Comprised of more than 300 entries spanning the invention of radio to the Internet, The Concise Encyclopedia of American Radio addresses personalities, music genres, regulations, technology, programming and stations, the "golden age" of radio and other topics relating to radio broadcasting throughout its history. The entries are updated throughout and the volume includes nine new entries on topics ranging from podcasting to the decline of radio. The Concise Encyclopedia of American Radio include suggestions for further reading as complements to most of the articles, biographical details for all person-entries, production credits for programs, and a comprehensive index.

Aspiring radio and TV presenters will benefit from the informative and entertaining guidance provided by accomplished presenter, Janet Trewin. Presenting on TV and Radio is packed with illustrations, practical exercises and insider tips for improving your presentation skills and breaking into this competitive industry.

Based on the principle that all successful presentation on TV and radio is dependent on uniform skills applicable to both mediums, the book begins by explaining basics such as appearance, authority, body language, diction, scriptwriting, deadlines, technology and working with a co-presenter. Valuable insights into key employment issues such as sexism, ageism, racism and disability are also offered. The different requirements of TV and radio presentation are then examined, focusing on each specialist area in detail and with tips from professionals in the business. These include: presenting news in the studio as an anchor and as a reporter on the road; current affairs and features involving live and recorded material; DJ'ing; light entertainment (e.g. game shows and personality programmes); sports presentation; children's programmes; foreign broadcasters and those broadcasting to worldwide audiences.

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As a journalist and presenter herself, Janet Trewin is ideally placed to investigate not just how you do it but how it feels to do it through the eyes of some of the most successful presenters in TV and Radio. There are practical tips, words of warning and much to inspire in this entertaining book.

Presenters increasingly must work in both TV and radio so the starting point is the essentials common to both such as diction, interviewing, stress and team-working. Specialist TV demands like autocue, pieces to camera and scripting for screen are all covered. Similarly radio skills like ad-libbing, running commentary and writing for radio are explained in full. To demonstrate the immense diversity of the job a collection of high flyers, ranging from news presenters, travel reporters, international business anchors and DJs to the celebrity chef, Brian Turner share their secrets. There's advice too on how to get a job and what about those controversial employment issues? Sexism: Do blond bombshells really get the jobs? Ageism: The presenter who became a celebrity after starting in the business at 62. Racism: Colour on screen but not in the editorial team? Disability: The TV reporter who's had all four limbs amputated and still does the job - she tells how.

"Handy writes with the eloquence of simplicity and his gift to us is an enjoyable, profound, and reliable guide toward meaning and direction."--Max De Pree, author of Leading without Power and chairman emeritus, Herman Miller Inc.

Charles Handy's reflections on work and life have earned him legions of fans throughout the world. His previous books have together sold over a million copies. And his "Thought for the Day" series on BBC radio is celebrated throughout the U.K. Now present and future fans in America can sample what his BBC listeners have enjoyed for so long. Waiting for the Mountain to Move includes the gifted commentator's best essays, culled from ten years of radio broadcasts. These succinct writings draw poignant lessons from everyday occurrences and cause us to examine our lives, our institutions, and our society in a different and revealing light.

NOT FOR SALE OUTSIDE NORTH AMERICA

Rock stars and rap gods. Comedy legends and A-list actors. Supermodels and centerfolds. Moguls and mobsters. A president.

Over his unrivaled four-decade career in radio, Howard Stern has interviewed thousands of personalities—discussing sex, relationships, money, fame, spirituality, and success with the boldest of bold-faced names. But which interviews are his favorites? It’s one of the questions he gets asked most frequently. Howard Stern Comes Again delivers his answer.

This book is a feast of conversation and more, as between the lines Stern offers his definitive autobiography—a magnum opus of confession and personal exploration. Tracy Morgan opens up about his near-fatal car crash. Lady Gaga divulges her history with cocaine. Madonna reminisces on her relationship with Tupac Shakur. Bill Murray waxes philosophical on the purpose of life. Jerry Seinfeld offers a master class on comedy. Harvey Weinstein denies the existence of the so-called casting couch. An impressive array of creative visionaries weigh in on what Stern calls “the climb”—the stories of how they struggled and eventually prevailed. As he writes in the introduction, “If you’re having trouble finding motivation in life and you’re looking for that extra kick in the ass, you will find it in these pages.”

Interspersed throughout are rare selections from the Howard Stern Show archives with Donald Trump that depict his own climb: transforming from Manhattan tabloid fixture to reality TV star to president of the United States. Stern also tells of his Moby Dick-like quest to land an interview with Hillary Clinton in the run-up to the 2016 election—one of many newly written revelations from the author. He speaks with extraordinary candor about a variety of subjects, including his overwhelming insecurity early in his career, his revolutionary move from terrestrial radio to SiriusXM, and his belief in the power of psychotherapy.

As Stern insightfully notes in the introduction: “The interviews collected here represent my best work and show my personal evolution. But they don’t just show my evolution. Gathered together like this, they show the evolution of popular culture over the past quarter century.”

When Christine Morgan got Richard Coles, Kate Bottley and Giles Fraser together in a studio, all she had to do was plug them in and let them go. The dynamic between the three meant there were moments of real connection and poignancy alongside the laughter: 'I'm exaggerating for comic effect,' Kate announced after one particularly outrageous anecdote, 'It's one of the reasons we're here.' Each realized in the course of conversation that they favoured one of the three rites of passage: Giles: Baptism because you enter into the body of Christ Richard: Funerals because they take you into the mystery of God Kate: Weddings because you get to wear nice shoes Engagingly introduced by Christine Morgan, the book ends with the profoundly moving episode (recorded remotely in the three vicars' homes) that was broadcast on Easter Sunday 2020, to a world in crisis.

'This innovative and clearly written handbook does exactly what it claims on the cover, providing students with accessible and authoritative knowledge of the essential topics in Radio Studies... Chignell writes about radio with an engaging mixture of scholarly detachment and private passion' - The Radio Journal 'There is a need for a straightforward, wide-ranging, and up-to-date introduction to ways to study radio and other new audio-based media. Hugh Chignell's new book certainly fits the bill, and admirably takes the reader from initial ideas through to additional readings which explore the core issues in greater depth. It is crisply and engagingly written, draws upon a very good range of scholarship, and provides many useful contemporary examples... Students will find it an essential aid to their studies, and it may even go someway to ensuring that the study of radio is as important in the academy as its visual cousins' - Viewfinder 'This book is a useful starting point for radio students and staff, packed with citations and pithy comment from the author. It is a rich resource book for academic radio study at all levels' - Janey Gordon, University of Bedfordshire The SAGE Key Concepts series provides students with accessible and authoritative knowledge of the essential topics in a variety of disciplines. Cross-referenced throughout, the format encourages critical evaluation through understanding. Written by experienced and respected academics, the books are indispensible study aids and guides to comprehension. Key Concepts in Radio Studies: " Provides a comprehensive, easy-to-use introduction to the field " Grounds theory with global examples " Takes it further with recommended reading " Covers the central ideas and practices from production and media studies " Situates radio studies within its historical context and contemporary auditory culture

Since its initial publication in 1978, "Stay Tuned" has been recognized as the most comprehensive and useful single-volume history of American broadcasting and electronic media available. This third edition has been thoroughly revised and updated to bring the story of American broadcasting forward to the 21st century, affording readers not only the history of the most important and pervasive institution affecting our society, but also providing a contextual transition to the Internet and other modern media.
The enthusiasm of authors Christopher H. Sterling and John Michael Kittross is apparent as they lead readers through the development of American electronic mass media, from the first electrical communication (telegraph and telephone); through radio and television; to the present convergence of media, business entities, programming, and delivery systems, including the Internet. Their presentation is engaging, as well as informative, promoting an interest in history and making the connections between the developments of yesterday and the industry of today.
Features of this third edition include:
*chronological and topical tables of contents;
*new material reflecting modern research in the field;
*a new chapter describing historical developments from 1988 through to the current day;
*an expanded bibliography, including Web site and museum listings;
*an updated and expanded glossary and chronology; and
*extensive statistical data of the development of television and radio stations, networks, advertising, programming, audiences, and other aspects of broadcasting.
Designed for use in undergraduate and graduate courses on the history of American mass media, broadcasting, and electronic media, "Stay Tuned" also fits well into mass communication survey courses as an introduction to electronic media topics. As a chronicle of American broadcasting, this volume is also engaging reading for anyone interested in old radio, early television, and the origins and development of American broadcasting.

A dazzling insight into what gives meaning to our life and to us as a species. What makes us human? From Carlo Rovelli on the particles of dust that make us, to Caitlin Moran on the joy of Friday nights, and A C Grayling on how we express ourselves through culture: this illuminating book shares 130 mind-expanding answers to that question. We all want to understand our place in the universe and find a sense of purpose in the life. This book will help the reader navigate that journey with the help of leading names from the worlds of literature, history, philosophy, politics, sport, comedy and popular culture. Originally broadcast as a popular feature on the Jeremy Vine Show, What Makes Us Human? includes short essays from: Andrew Marr, Carlo Rovelli, Marian Keyes, Alain de Botton, Robert Webb, Richard Dawkins, Stephen Fry, and many more.

Why is music so important to radio? This anthology explores the ways in which musical life and radio interact, overlap and have influenced each other for nearly a century. One of music radio's major functions is to help build smaller or larger communities by continuously offering broadcast music as a means to create identity and senses of belonging. Music radio also helps identify and develop musical genres in collaboration with listeners and the music industry by mediating and by gatekeeping. Focusing on music from around the world, Music Radio discusses what music radio is and why or for what purposes it is produced. Each essay illuminates the intricate cultural processes associated with music and radio and suggests ways of working with such complexities.

Beginning in the 1970s Chicana and Chicano organizers turned to community radio broadcasting to educate, entertain, and uplift Mexican American listeners across the United States. In rural areas, radio emerged as the most effective medium for reaching relatively isolated communities such as migrant farmworkers. And in Washington's Yakima Valley, where the media landscape was dominated by perspectives favorable to agribusiness, community radio for and about farmworkers became a life-sustaining tool. Feminista Frequencies unearths the remarkable history of one of the United States' first full-time Spanish-language community radio stations, Radio KDNA, which began broadcasting in the Yakima Valley in 1979. Extensive interviews reveal the work of Chicana and Chicano producers, on-air announcers, station managers, technical directors, and listeners who contributed to the station's success. Monica De La Torre weaves these oral histories together with a range of visual and audio artifacts, including radio programs, program guides, and photographs to situate KDNA within the larger network of Chicano community-based broadcasting and social movement activism. Feminista Frequencies highlights the development of a public broadcasting model that centered Chicana radio producers and documents the central role of women in developing this infrastructure in the Yakima Valley. De La Torre shows how KDNA revolutionized community radio programming, adding new depth to the history of the Chicano movement, women's activism, and media histories.

Leading scholars combine their love of The Archers with their specialist subjects, in Custard, Culverts and Cake - a sometimes serious, but most often wry look at the people of Ambridge. A group of Archers Academics take on subjects such as food, geography, social media, faith. There is, naturally, an entire section dedicated to the Helen and Rob storyline. With contributions from members of the Academic Archers network, the book blurs the line between fact and fiction - The Archers as a BBC soap opera, and Ambridge as a real place in a county called Borsetshire. Each chapter is 'peer reviewed' by a different Ambridge inhabitant. Custard, Culverts and Cake gives the reader a deeper understanding of the real life issues covered in the programme, an insight into the residents of Ambridge, and validation that hours of listening to The Archers is, in fact, academic research.

Started by the National Life and Accident Insurance Company in 1925, WSM became one of the most influential and exceptional radio stations in the history of broadcasting and country music. WSM gave Nashville the moniker "Music City USA" as well as a rich tradition of music, news, and broad-based entertainment. With the rise of country music broadcasting and recording between the 1920s and '50s, WSM, Nashville, and country music became inseparable, stemming from WSM's launch of the Grand Ole Opry, popular daily shows like Noontime Neighbors, and early morning artist-driven shows such as Hank Williams on Mother's Best Flour. Sparked by public outcry following a proposal to pull country music and the Opry from WSM-AM in 2002, Craig Havighurst scoured new and existing sources to document the station's profound effect on the character and self-image of Nashville. Introducing the reader to colorful artists and businessmen from the station's history, including Owen Bradley, Minnie Pearl, Jim Denny, Edwin Craig, and Dinah Shore, the volume invites the reader to reflect on the status of Nashville, radio, and country music in American culture.

Radio s influence can be found in almost every corner of new media. Radio in the Digital Age assesses a medium that has not only survived the challenges of a new technological age but indeed has extended its reach. This is not a book about digital radio, but rather about the medium of radio in its many analogue and digital forms in an age characterised by digital technologies. The context of the digital age reveals new insights about the nature of radio. In this important addition to the world of radio scholarship, Dubber provides a theoretical framework for understanding the medium - allowing for complexity and contradiction, while avoiding essentialism and technological determinism. Introducing radio as a series of practices and phenomena that can be understood through a range of discursive categories, this book explores the relationships between radio, music, politics, storytelling and society in a new and thoughtful way. This book will make essential reading for students of media, communication, broadcasting and the digital industries. It offers a timely and comprehensive introduction for anyone who wishes to understand the role of radio in today s media landscape.

The history of American radio broadcasting has often been written as a lament for lost possibilities, a tale of what might have been. One now familiar landmark in that account is the story of how American commercial broadcasters, in the passage of the 1934 Communications Act, won a great victory over reformers who wanted frequencies set aside for non-commercial use. It is generally agreed that the defeat of the radio reformers was decisive and permanent, and that the best hopes for a public radio in the United States had been thwarted by 1934. In Radio's Civic Ambition, however, author David Goodman focuses not on the lost possibilities and defeated reformers, but on what did happen as the beginning of another chapter in the story of the struggle over the meaning and purpose of American broadcasting. Commercial broadcasters paid a considerable price for their victory: in the years after 1934, American broadcasters always had to be seen to be providing public service as well as entertainment. An impressive range of programs, from imaginatively conceived classical music broadcasts to lively multi-opinion radio forums, was designed to promote civic engagement and individualization. By the later 1930s, political leaders, key social science and communications intellectuals, the Federal Communications Commission, and many articulate and educated ordinary Americans, increasingly expected commercial broadcasters in the US to perform a range of ambitious civic functions, including encouraging local community, strengthening democracy, fostering talent, and producing tolerance for other points of view.
A new look at the history of commercial radio broadcasting in America, Radio's Civic Ambition will appeal to students and scholars in communications and radio studies, music history, media studies, and American history.

A fascinating tour of baseball's greatest moments and iconic stadiums, told through the reminiscences of 50 play-by-play broadcasters. With careers spanning two to three times that of an average player, baseball's best broadcasters have no shortage of history to offer. They have witnessed opening days, no hitters, slugfests, and perfect games, all from arguably the best seats in the house. Broadcasters know their clubs, their stadiums, and their teams in a way that no one else can. In The Voices of Baseball: The Game's Greatest Broadcasters Reflect on America's Pastime, Updated Edition, Kirk McKnight provides an in-depth look at each of Major League Baseball's thirty ballparks from the perspectives of the game's longest-tenured storytellers. Fifty broadcasters reflect on their most iconic calls, fondest memories, what makes their ballparks unique, and more. This updated edition includes 14 additional broadcasters, two new stadiums, the latest World Series calls from the booth, and a special tribute to the recently-departed Vin Scully. With decades of broadcasting between them, their stories encapsulate some of Major League Baseball's biggest moments. Generations of baseball fans will all enjoy the historic and triumphant memories shared by some of the game's greatest broadcasters in The Voices of Baseball.

Radio is 'Africa's medium', with an ability to transcend barriers to access, facilitate political debate and shape identities. Contributors investigate the multiple roles of radio in the lives of African listeners across the continent. Some essays turn to the history of radio and its part in culture and politics. Others show how radio throws up new tensions, yet endorses social innovation and the making of new publics. A number of contributors look at radio's current role in creating listening communities that radically shift the nature of the public sphere. Yet others cover radio's central role in the emergence of informed publics in fragile national spaces, or in failed states. The book also highlights radio's links to the new media, its role in resistance to oppressive regimes, and points in several cases to the importance of African languages in building modern communities that embrace both local and global knowledge. Liz Gunner is visiting Professor at the Wits Institute for Social and Economic Research; Dina Ligagais a lecturer in the Department of Media Studies, University of the Witwatersrand; Dumisani Moyo is Research and Publications Manager at the Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa. Southern Africa (South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Lesotho, Zimbabwe & Swaziland): Wits University Press

An overview of radio's impact on American culture in the first half of the twentieth century.

The Shadow. Fibber McGee and Molly. Amos 'n' Andy. When we think back on the golden age of radio, we think of the shows. In Radio Voices, Michele Hilmes looks at the way radio programming influenced and was influenced by the United States of the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s, tracing the history of the medium from its earliest years through the advent of television.

Hilmes places the development of radio within the context of the turmoils of the 1920s: immigration and urbanization, the rise of mass consumer culture, and the changing boundaries of the public and private spheres. Early practices and structures -- the role of the announcer, the emergence of program forms from vaudeville, minstrel shows, and the concert stage -- are examined.

Central to Radio Voices is a discussion of programs and their relations to popular understandings of race, ethnicity, and gender in the United States of this era. Hilmes explores Amos 'n' Andy and its negotiations of racial tensions and The Rise of the Goldbergs and its concern with ethnic assimilation. She reflects upon the daytime serials -- the first soap operas -- arguing that these much-disparaged programs provided a space in which women could discuss conflicted issues of gender. Hilmes also explores industry practices, considering the role of advertising agencies and their areas of conflict and cooperation with the emerging networks as well as the impact of World War II on the "mission" of radio.

Radio Voices places the first truly national medium of the United States in its social context, providing an entertaining account of the interplay betweenprogramming and popular culture.

In One-Man Band, the third volume in his epic survey of Orson Welles' life and work, Simon Callow again probes in comprehensive and penetrating detail into one of the most complex artists of the twentieth century, looking closely at the triumphs and failures of an ambitious one-man assault on one medium after another - theatre, radio, film, television, even, at one point, ballet - in each of which his radical and original approach opened up new directions and hitherto unglimpsed possibilities. The book begins with Welles' self-exile from America, and his realisation that he could only function happily as an independent film-maker, a one-man band; by 1964, he had filmed Othello, which took three years to complete, Mr Arkadin, the biggest conundrum in his output, and his masterpiece Chimes at Midnight, as well as Touch of Evil, his sole return to Hollywood and, like all too many of his films, wrested from his grasp and re-edited. Along the way he made inroads into the fledgling medium of television and a number of stage plays, including Moby-Dick, considered by theatre historians to be one of the seminal productions of the century. Meanwhile, his private life was as dramatic as his professional life. The book shows what it was like to be around Welles, and, with a precision rarely attempted before, what it was like to be him, in which lies the answer to the old riddle: whatever happened to Orson Welles?

Radio s influence can be found in almost every corner of new media. Radio in the Digital Age assesses a medium that has not only survived the challenges of a new technological age but indeed has extended its reach. This is not a book about digital radio, but rather about the medium of radio in its many analogue and digital forms in an age characterised by digital technologies. The context of the digital age reveals new insights about the nature of radio. In this important addition to the world of radio scholarship, Dubber provides a theoretical framework for understanding the medium - allowing for complexity and contradiction, while avoiding essentialism and technological determinism. Introducing radio as a series of practices and phenomena that can be understood through a range of discursive categories, this book explores the relationships between radio, music, politics, storytelling and society in a new and thoughtful way. This book will make essential reading for students of media, communication, broadcasting and the digital industries. It offers a timely and comprehensive introduction for anyone who wishes to understand the role of radio in today s media landscape.

Frank Deford is one of the most beloved sports commentators in America. A contributing writer to Sports Illustrated for more than fifty years, he is also a longtime correspondent on Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel. These days, Deford is perhaps best known for his weekly commentaries on NPR's Morning Edition. Beginning in 1980, Deford has recorded over 1,600 of them, and in I'd Know That Voice Anywhere he brings together the very best, creating a charming, insightful, and wide-ranging look at athletes and the world of sports. In I'd Know That Voice Anywhere, Deford discusses everything from sex scandals and steroids to Americans' perennial nostalgia for Joe DiMaggio and why, in a culture dominated by celebrity, sport is the only field on earth where popularity and excellence thrive in tandem. He considers the similarities between Babe Ruth and Winnie the Pooh, why football reminds him of Venice, and how the Olympics are like Groundhog Day--or like an independent movie filled with foreign actors you've never heard of. He considers the prevalence of cheating in the classroom among student-athletes and why academic whistle-blowers are castigated as tattletales, pens a one-size-fits-all sports movie script, and even delivers Super Bowl coverage in the form of a Shakespearean sonnet. This page-turning compendium of Deford's witty and frank pieces covers more than thirty years of sports history while showcasing the vast range of Deford's interests and opinions, including his thoughts on the NCAA (a shameless autocracy, where college players are essentially indentured servants), why gay athletes "play straight" (more for fear of their audience than their colleagues), and why he's worried about living in an economy that is so dominated by golfers. A rollicking sampler of one of NPR's most popular segments, I'd Know That Voice Anywhere is perfect for sports enthusiasts--as well as sports skeptics--and a must-read for any Frank Deford fan.

This book is the definitive guide to the film, stage, radio and television career of Kay Francis, one of the most glamorous stars from the golden age of Hollywood. For each film, the authors provide a thorough synopsis plus cast and crew information (including biographies), opening dates, production notes, behind-the-scenes details, and reviews. In addition, information is provided on her stage, radio, and television appearances, and a section is devoted to collecting Kay Francis memorabilia, including such items as cigarette cards, sheet music and soundtracks. Also covered is the stage and vaudeville career of Kay Francis' mother, Katherine Clinton. A brief biography of Kay Francis is provided, along with an insightful foreword by film scholar James Robert Parish. Truly a treasure trove for Kay Francis fans and anyone interested in classic filmmaking in the 1930s and 1940s, the book includes more than 130 illustrations, many of them rare.

'In these memoirs I bounce all about British TV with such success that I wind up in radio. I will also be filling a few holes that I left in the previous decades. For example, I managed to forget in Book One that I had been shot. Twice.' Danny Baker's first volume of autobiography, Going to Sea in a Sieve, was a Sunday Times bestseller, acclaimed for its non-stop humour and anecdotal flourish. It told the exploits of Danny's extraordinary childhood and the wild living of his teenage years. Now, he is twenty-five and it is 1982, and he embarks on an accidental and anxiety-induced career in television - going off alarming. With rollicking good stories from what he describes as 'a frankly crackpot life', Danny continues this stupendous chronicle with irrepressible verve and hilarity. Dozens of TV shows - many of them lousy - give up their backstage stories, and Danny's extraordinary family, particularly his father Spud, react to the ride throughout. Game shows, talk shows, adverts and TFI Friday are but a few of the unplanned pitstops along the way. Not forgetting the tale of Twizzle: the Dog Who Hanged Himself, Died, Then Came Back to Life Again...Clearly, this will be no ordinary showbusiness-stroll down memory lane.

When Jon Holmes became a father (twice), he was asked to fill in a form detailing his family medical history. Except he couldn't, because he has no idea who his family are. Born to an unnamed, unmarried mother and an unknown father and given up for adoption at four weeks old, Jon decided to document his own history, so that one day he could pass it on to his children. It's a story of how boys grow up to become (stupid) men, of sexual misadventure, of being accidentally shot in the face, of spiders, a ghost, a fatally injured gerbil, American road trips that went wrong, becoming inadvertently locked in Graham Norton's toilet with an Oscar nominated screenwriter, being removed from Mrs Thatcher's vicinity by her security detail and having loving parents who did their best to bring up a child that wasn't theirs. Part memoir, part hilarious insight into why men are so inept, this is the true story of how an unwanted baby in the Midlands went on to become a wanted man in the state of Texas, and everything that happened in between. His children will never be allowed to read it.