Readers will discover: Who was John Kennedy's first dangerous lover? Who made rock music possible? Who created the 'Green Revolution'? Who was Simon Cowell's mentor? Who stopped Catholic priests marrying? Who invented the 'hole in the wall' ATM? Whose hand does the French Foreign Legion salute? Who inspired the Red Cross? Who built the first bra? Whose driving error started World War I? Whose 'devil's paintbrush' killed millions? Which doctors finished off Elvis and Michael Jackson? Who first broke the sound barrier? Whose blood cells are 'immortal'?

That night for most people was of little interest. But it would turn out to be the most momentous and threatening of their lives. A mysterious meteor-like object hits the sea off Ireland, quickly followed globally by hundreds more, creating vast amounts of vapour, but little damage. The mists soon clear and people start to relax. But within weeks comes a shocking realisation. Men are suddenly and inexplicably impotent and infertile, with doctors as baffled as they are. No more babies? The devasting news dominates the media - and markets across the globe begin to collapse as the horrific economic implications of an ageing and terminally reducing world sink in. Scientific and military and space experts find evidence that now convinces sceptical world leaders that an alien force intends to take over a weakened world by the patient and devious means of destroying human reproduction. However, one brave woman puts forward a radical idea as the only possible and secret solution. But will it work?

All over the world there are places that became famous forever because something extraordinary happened there by chance. Beautifully illustrated and carefully researched Fame By Chance covers 380 such places with new insights and facts that are amusing, surprising and sometimes controversial. Foreword by Peter Ackroyd. All over the world there are places that became famous forever by chance - battles briefly waged, scenes of triumph and disater, sites of murder and intrigue, centres of influential creativity and noted mythical places from books and film. How and why did; Angora, Tabasco, Duffel and Fray Bentos give us products good and bad; Kohima's tennis court save India; Storyville's 269 brothels helped it to create jaz; Botany Bay never saw any British convicts; Tay Bridge was a disaster avoided by Marx and Engels; 'OK' stands for a farmhouse; Ferrari chose the 'Prancing Horse of Maranello'; Kyoto was saved from Hiroshoma's terrible fate; The British built the Great Hedge of India; With 432 pages beautifully illustrated and carefully researched Fame By Chance covers 380 such places with new insights and facts that are amusing, surprising and sometimes controversial.

A completely new look at plants - not only in food, drink and commerce, and how they have created civilisation, trade and empires, but also in love, in war, in crime, in horror and delight, in music, poetry and prose, and on the screen. Not just another gardening or plant book, this is a complete picture of how plants affect people, for better or worse, now, in the past and in the future with illuminating and startling facts about their ubiquitous presence in human affairs - through life, death, illness, happiness, murder, despair, desperation, love, hate, loss, and far more. From Presidents to pop stars, from scientists to slavers, royals to religious leaders, chefs to charlatans, pioneers to politicians, artists to actors, Plants & Us is a unique overview of plants, wild and cultivated, their vital importance and the threats they face. Above all, how they affect all our lives in stories that will often surprise the reader.

A completely new look at plants - not only in food, drink and commerce, and how they have created civilisation, trade and empires, but also in love, in war, in crime, in horror and delight, in music, poetry and prose, and on the screen. Not just another gardening or plant book, this is a complete picture of how plants affect people, for better or worse, now, in the past and in the future with illuminating and startling facts about their ubiquitous presence in human affairs - through life, death, illness, happiness, murder, despair, desperation, love, hate, loss, and far more. From Presidents to pop stars, from scientists to slavers, royals to religious leaders, chefs to charlatans, pioneers to politicians, artists to actors, Plants & Us is a unique overview of plants, wild and cultivated, their vital importance and the threats they face. Above all, how they affect all our lives in stories that will often surprise the reader.

Readers will discover: Who was John Kennedy's first dangerous lover? Who made rock music possible? Who created the 'Green Revolution'? Who was Simon Cowell's mentor? Who stopped Catholic priests marrying? Who invented the 'hole in the wall' ATM? Whose hand does the French Foreign Legion salute? Who inspired the Red Cross? Who built the first bra? Whose driving error started World War I? Whose 'devil's paintbrush' killed millions? Which doctors finished off Elvis and Michael Jackson? Who first broke the sound barrier? Whose blood cells are 'immortal'?

More than 1300 numerical nuggets of the most astonishing, bizarre, and quirky numbers, from the number of emails a spammer must send to get a response, to the number of teeth on a tortoise Numbers are a common language, as every day people use PIN numbers, figure costs, study sports scores, maintain speed limits, check bank balances, play the lottery, and more. This collection reveals hidden and often astonishing numbers, with entries divided into 14 sections, including science, human body, modern life, business, nature, military, music, space, and history. Readers will learn the minimum number of dollars it would be worth Bill Gates' time to bend down and pick it up--a lot, not surprisingly. They'll also be well informed about deadly sins, the pounds per square inch at which champagne is bottled, how many miles of arteries and veins are in the human body, the staggering number of bottles of wine that Napoleon's army took to Russia, the number of chopsticks the Japanese use in a year, and much more.

In the opening chapters the author records his father Toby's remarkable career in PR. This began just before World War II with Toby becoming responsible for taking the initiative away from Germany's propoganda machine controlled by the well organized and funded Nazi party. After the war Toby was one of the first political spin-doctors, worked for the Conservative Party and later rose to be the doyen of commercial and international PR in the UK. Later in the book, Donough picks up his own story and this really comes to life when he joins the Irish Guards. He then treats us to four years of amusing military recollections. On leaving, the author started civilian work in a London that is just beginning to come alive - the Swinging Sixties have arrived. Like his father he goes into PR and records a memoir of the most colourful people of the period. The glamorous certainly feature - Joanna Lumley, Jacqueline Bisset and Charlotte Rampling are just some. His involvement in the opening of the trendiest nightclub of the period, Sibylla's, with its guest list of all the greats of rock n' roll is another seminal moment.

In a sleepy country village, Detective Inspector Robin Marshal - now in retirement - is nearly killed by a stranger. His friend Alice, a police psychiatrist, discovers that the murder attempt was almost certainly ordered by a terrifying criminal, 'Big Mack', currently incarcerated in a notoriously violent prison. There his criminal kingdom controls not only the inmates, but many of the guards, through the power of money and the threat of extreme violence. When Alice goes to work in the prison to find out more, she, too, becomes a target, her car machine-gunned on a country road; and Robin is attacked again while recovering in Spain. Under pressure from an outraged public and with political concern rising, the authorities try to put a stop to Big Mack's activities. But everyone is under threat when he is suddenly at large following a murderous escape. How can this evil man be stopped?