Don t try to be interesting. That s a fool s errand. Do interesting instead. Make the world light up by paying proper attention. In this book, writer and strategist Russell Davies has rounded up a bunch of interesting people to help you: Notice more? ?practise paying attention and everything gets more interesting Collect more? ?gather together what you ve noticed, new ideas pop out Share more? ?get good at sharing it all and more magic arrives. You ll turn the things you notice into a compost of creativity? ?slow hunches, spark files, scrapbooks and moodboards. It s where unexpected elements collide to form new ideas. Then you ll share those ideas. And you ll learn something about yourself? ?your passions and interests. Your life and work will become more creative, fulfilling and fun. Interesting isn t a personality, it s a decision. Don t hunt for diamonds. Get fascinated by pebbles.

In the beginning was the Word. Now there's PowerPoint. It's used for weddings, warfare and webinars, for literature, lessons and law. And, of course, to tell everyone that Q4 is going to be a lot more challenging than Q3. PowerPoint is probably the most successful piece of software in history - but do you know who invented it? Or why it's banned in American courtrooms? Or which Pulitzer Prize-winning novel has a chapter entirely in PowerPoint? At its heart, PowerPoint is about presentation, theatre and culture. About how to think, create and persuade. And it's hated and loved in equal measure for reasons that tell us a lot about power and who gets to say what where. All of life is somewhere in a PowerPoint slide. Come inside to find out why.

Derek Russell Davis argues that mental health professionals working in a hospital or clinic setting can learn much from playwrights about the psychological processes in mental illness. Looking at such diverse characters as Orestes, Hamlet, Lear, Ophelia, Peer Gynt, Oswald Alving and Blanche Dubois, Dr Davis shows how madness in plays is put into the context of the crucial experiences in an individual's history and current relationships, and demonstrates that these stories can be a new and exciting source of insight into mental illness.

What can be learnt about madness from plays? This work believes that playgoers can learn as much about madness at the theatre as from textbooks of psychiatry, and that the understanding plays give of madness is all the more vivid because the events are presented dramatically, evoking feelings as well as intellectual curiosity. It discusses the account given by playwrights of the madness afflicting such diverse characters as Orestes, Oedipus, Hamlet, King Lear, Dr Faustus, Peer Gynt, Alving, Ivanov and Blanche Dubois. The madness depicted in plays is put into the context of the crucial experiences in the person's history and current relationships, and is shown to arise out of the crises in systems of relationships and to recover when there is reconciliation.

Following the bestselling publication of THE KENNETH WILLIAMS DIARIES, the devastating self-portrait of one of our most loved and complex performers is completed with this marvellous selection of his letters. This is a wonderful treasure trove of correspondence with all manner of people, including Alec Guinness, Maggie Smith, Joe Orton, Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor, and the Stokers' Mess of HMS Leverton. Kenneth Williams took letters very seriously, and he was always disgusted by a morning that failed to provide him with some material to pore over. Letters called forth the performer in Williams in a way that his diaries never did: many of them are virtual comic monologues, and in general they suggest more strongly than the diaries the likeable and constructive side of a man who remains, nevertheless, as outrageous and 'difficult' as ever.

The first of two volumes on the social history of Wales in the period 1870-1948, People, Places and Passions concentrates on the social events and changes which created and forged Wales into the mid-twentieth century. This volume considers a range of social changes little considered elsewhere by studies in Welsh history, accounting for the role played by the people of Wales in times of war and the age of the British Empire, and in technological change and innovation, as they travelled the developing capitalist and consumerist world in search of fame and fortune.

‘I’ll put you in my diary!’ comedian Kenneth Williams was known to threaten on occasion, although tantalisingly he kept the journal to himself during his lifetime. Here at last, in one spellbinding volume, are four million words of it. For more than forty years, from his sixteenth birthday until the eve of his unexpected death in 1988, the beloved actor and outrageous ‘Carry On’ star Kenneth Williams kept a candid diary. Devastatingly honest about himself, he is equally unsparing in his verdicts on his fellow man. In his descriptions of Tony Hancock, Maggie Smith, Joe Orton and countless others, his waspish sense of humour, love of anecdote and ear for dialogue are given full rein. Malicious, hilarious and harrowing, ‘The Kenneth Williams Diaries’ are a unique portrait of one of Britain’s most popular – and most misunderstood – performers.

In an extended account of national identity, this companion volume to People, Places and Passions provides the first detailed study of the sexual and spiritual life of Wales in the period 1870-1945. The author argues that whilst Wales and its people experienced a disenchantment of the spiritual world, a revolution in sexual life was taking place. This innovative study examines how advances in life expectancy and improvements in health were reflected in emotional life. In contrast to the traditional emphasis upon hardship and hardscrabble experiences, this fascinating and beautifully written volume shows that the Welsh were also a free and fun-loving people.

The A Z of String Players surveys the lives, careers and recordings of over 300 string players from the past and present. Many great string players who have made recordings are included, from Accardo to Zukerman. The text covers artists from the earliest recording processes to contemporary, cutting-edge technology. In this clear and straight-forward publication, the artists are listed alphabetically, with a summary of their career, notable recordings, biography and critical appraisal of their recorded legacy. In addition, four compact discs present a selection of recordings from 69 artists. This package will appeal to enthusiast and scholar alike as a readable, informed and fascinating work of reference.