Steve Beresford's polymathic activities have formed a prism for the UK improv scene since the 1970s. He is internationally known as a free improviser on piano, toy piano and electronics, composer for film and TV, and raconteur and Dadaist visionary. His résumé is filled with collaborations with hundreds of musicians and other artists, including such leading improvisers as Derek Bailey, Evan Parker and John Zorn, and he has given performances of works by John Cage and Christian Marclay. In this book, Beresford is heard in his own words through first-hand interviews with the author. Beresford provides compelling insight into an extensive range of topics, displaying the broad cultural context in which music is embedded. The volume combines chronological and thematic chapters, with topics covering improvisation and composition in jazz and free music; the connections between art, entertainment and popular culture; the audience for free improvisation; writing music for films; recording improvised music in the studio; and teaching improvisation. It places Beresford in the context of improvised and related musics – jazz, free jazz, free improvisation – in which there is growing interest. The linear narrative is broken up by 'interventions' or short pieces by collaborators and commentators.

All six episodes from the first series of the BBC comedy about parents Pete (Hugh Dennis) and Sue (Claire Skinner) fighting to get the upper hand bringing up their three children. Rather than playing it just for gags, this part-improvised comedy, written by 'Drop the Dead Donkey' creators Guy Jenkin and Andy Hamilton, reflects the realities of family life, concentrating on those everyday botch-ups that happen when parents are desperately trying to raise their kids to become well-rounded individuals. If only. Episodes comprise: 'The School Run', 'The Special Bowl', 'The City Farm', 'The Quiet Night In', 'The Mystery Illness' and 'The Dinner Party'.

The Continuum Aesthetics Series looks at the aesthetic questions and issues raised by all major art forms. Stimulating, engaging and accessible, the series offers food for thought not only for students of aesthetics, but also for anyone with an interest in philosophy and the arts. Aesthetics and Music is a fresh and often provocative exploration of the key concepts and arguments in musical aesthetics. It draws on the rich heritage of the subject, while proposing distinctive new ways of thinking about music as an art form. The book looks at: The experience of listening Rhythm and musical movement What modernism has meant for musical aesthetics The relation of music to other 'sound arts' Improvisation and composition as well as more traditional issues in musical aesthetics such as absolute versus programme music and the question of musical formalism. Thinkers discussed range from Pythagoras and Plato to Kant, Nietzsche and Adorno. Areas of music covered include classical, popular and traditional music, and jazz. Aesthetics and Music makes an eloquent case for a humanistic, democratic and genuinely aesthetic conception of music and musical understanding. Anyone interested in what contemporary philosophy has to say about music as an art form will find this thought-provoking and highly enjoyable book required reading.

The aesthetics of imperfection emphasises spontaneity, disruption, process and energy over formal perfection and is often ignored by many commentators or seen only in improvisation. This comprehensive collection is the first time imperfection has been explored across all kinds of musical performance, whether improvisation or interpretation of compositions. Covering music, visual art, dance, comedy, architecture and design, it addresses the meaning, experience, and value of improvisation and spontaneous creation across different artistic media. A distinctive feature of the volume is that it brings together contributions from theoreticians and practitioners, presenting a wider range of perspectives on the issues involved. Contributors look at performance and practice across Western and non-Western musical, artistic and craft forms. Composers and non-performing artists offer a perspective on what is ‘imperfect’ or improvisatory within their work, contributing further dimensions to the discourse. The Aesthetics of Imperfection in Music and the Arts features 39 chapters organised into eight sections and written by a diverse group of scholars and performers. They consider divergent definitions of aesthetics, employing both 18th-century philosophy and more recent socially and historically situated conceptions making this an essential, up-to-date resource for anyone working on either side of the perfection-imperfection debate.

All 19 episodes from series 1-3 of the BBC sitcom following parents Pete (Hugh Dennis) and Sue (Claire Skinner) in their ongoing struggle to get the upper hand as they bring up their three children, Jake (Tyger Drew-Honey), Ben (Daniel Roche) and Karen (Ramona Marquez).

Rhythm is the fundamental pulse that animates poetry, music, and dance across all cultures. And yet the recent explosion of scholarly interest across disciplines in the aural dimensions of aesthetic experience-particularly in sociology, cultural and media theory, and literary studies-has yet to explore this fundamental category. This book furthers the discussion of rhythm beyond the discrete conceptual domains and technical vocabularies of musicology and prosody. With original essays by philosophers, psychologists, musicians, literary theorists, and ethno-musicologists, The Philosophy of Rhythm opens up wider-and plural-perspectives, examining formal affinities between the historically interconnected fields of music, dance, and poetry, while addressing key concepts such as embodiment, movement, pulse, and performance. Volume editors Peter Cheyne, Andy Hamilton, and Max Paddison bring together a range of key questions: What is the distinction between rhythm and pulse? What is the relationship between everyday embodied experience, and the specific experience of music, dance, and poetry? Can aesthetics offer an understanding of rhythm that helps inform our responses to visual and other arts, as well as music, dance, and poetry? And, what is the relation between psychological conceptions of entrainment, and the humane concept of rhythm and meter? Overall, The Philosophy of Rhythm appeals across disciplinary boundaries, providing a unique overview of a neglected aspect of aesthetic experience.

"The Self in Question" offers a humanistic account of self-consciousness and personal identity, providing a much-needed rapprochement between Analytic and Phenomenological approaches to self-consciousness. In Analytic philosophy, a resurgence of interest in the topic of self-consciousness has been inspired by the work of Gareth Evans. Both Evans and his successors make the plausible assumption that self-consciousness is a capacity manifested in the use of "I," or through behaviour which must be described in terms of "I." "The Self in Question" develops this assumption through an analysis of Wittgenstein's insights into "I"-as-subject and self-identification, relating them - as their author did not - to the epistemology of memory and bodily awareness. As a result, it is able to discern the truth in the apparently discredited memory criterion of personal identity. It also draws on Husserl's and Merleau-Ponty's understanding of the body's significance for self-consciousness, to offer a critique of materialism about the body.

Ludwig Wittgenstein is arguably the most important philosopher of the twentieth century. In On Certainty he discusses central issues in epistemology, including the nature of knowledge and scepticism. The Routledge Philosophy Guidebook to Wittgenstein and On Certainty introduces and assesses: Wittgenstein's career and the background to his later philosophy the central ideas and text of On Certainty, including its responses to G.E. Moore and discussion of fundamental issues in the theory of knowledge Wittgenstein's continuing importance in contemporary philosophy. This GuideBook is essential reading for all students of Wittgenstein, and for those studying epistemology and philosophy of language. On Certainty, Wittgenstein's final work, addresses a category of "world-picture" propositions discovered by G.E. Moore. These challenge Wittgenstein's enduring commitment to a well-defined category of empirical propositions, and help to generate a critique of scepticism. Developing Wittgenstein's view that scepticism is self-undermining, the Guidebook offers a combative yet therapeutic interpretation that locates On Certainty between the standpoints of Kant and Hume.

Fermentation is the secret behind some of today's trendiest dishes and it can help build a healthier gut. With an ever-growing list of ways to ferment, author Andy Hamilton is here to help readers-both newcomers and lifelong fermenters-keep up with this age-old trick for fantastic flavour. Imparting valuable techniques and equipment expertise, Fermenting Everything provides an endless collection of innovative recipes: Creme Fraiche Sourdough Bread Coconut Chutney Rosehip and Horseradish Sauce Fermenting Everything is a wonderful companion for those who want to get adventurous in the kitchen.

Ludwig Wittgenstein is arguably the most important philosopher of the twentieth century. In On Certainty he discusses central issues in epistemology, including the nature of knowledge and scepticism. The Routledge Philosophy Guidebook to Wittgenstein and On Certainty introduces and assesses: Wittgenstein's career and the background to his later philosophy the central ideas and text of On Certainty, including its responses to G.E. Moore and discussion of fundamental issues in the theory of knowledge Wittgenstein's continuing importance in contemporary philosophy. This GuideBook is essential reading for all students of Wittgenstein, and for those studying epistemology and philosophy of language. On Certainty, Wittgenstein's final work, addresses a category of "world-picture" propositions discovered by G.E. Moore. These challenge Wittgenstein's enduring commitment to a well-defined category of empirical propositions, and help to generate a critique of scepticism. Developing Wittgenstein's view that scepticism is self-undermining, the Guidebook offers a combative yet therapeutic interpretation that locates On Certainty between the standpoints of Kant and Hume.

The Exam is a funny but serious look at the pressures faced by pupils today, both at school and at home. The play is accompanied by teaching materials containing fantastic ideas for drama work, as well as other activities designed to answer English Framework and NC objectives. The exam is comic look at the pressures put on young people by parents and teachers. Andrew, Chas and Bea are three candidates of mixed ability who find themselves holed up in the same exam hall waiting for their papers to arrive. As the wait lenghens, each has to survive a powerful barrage of self doubt, parental pressure and adult incompetence. They must come to terms with themselves, their peers and parents – provoked and helped by ’Ex’, the mysterious, disembodied voice of the exam.

Home brewing and wine-making is fun, easy and hugely satisfying. If you garden or forage, can follow a recipe or make jam, and you enjoy a drink, this is the book for you. Andy's no-nonsense, easy-to-follow guide will enable the beginner and inspire the expert with over 100 recipes including beer made from hops and but also yarrow, mugwort, elder and other foraged plants, great tasting wines from fruit, vegetables and the hedgerows, cider and perry from apples and pears, cordials from the leaves of a range of trees, and teas and fizzy drinks from herbs and wayside flowers. - Discover the secret language of home brewing and drinks making. - Make cheap, wholesome drinks, to your preferred taste and strength in little time, with minimum fuss and no need for expensive equipment. - Turn your garden into a drinkers' paradise. - Find where and how to forage for success. - Impress your friends with the weird, wonderful and just plain tasty. Try Carrot Whisky, Sloe and Damson Rum, Parsnip Sherry, Elderberry and Blackberry Wine, Pumpkin Beer, Broom Tonic, Meadowsweet tea as well as classics such as Elderflower champagne, sloe gin, prison brew... Cheers!

A humanistic account of self-consciousness and personal identity, and offering a structural parallel between the epistemology of memory and bodily awareness. It provides a much-needed rapprochement between Analytic and Phenomenological approaches, developing Wittgenstein's insights into "I"-as-subject and self-identification.

The 2009 Christmas special of the BBC part-improvised sitcom in which beleaguered parents Pete (Hugh Dennis) and Sue (Claire Skinner) struggle to get the upper hand in bringing up their three teenage children. It's Boxing Day in the Brockman household and Santa has paid a visit - along with some burglars. While Mum and Dad try to maintain some festive spirit, Ben (Daniel Roche) wreaks havoc with a mechanical hand, Jake (Tyger Drew-Honey) argues the case for pirated music and Karen (Ramona Marquez) is busy writing New Year's resolutions for the rest of the family... oh, and Barack Obama.

Malcolm George Galbraith is a large, somewhat clumsy, Scotsman. He's being forced to leave the woman he loves behind and needs to explain why. So he leaves her a handwritten note on the kitchen table (well, more a 300-page letter than a note). In it, Malcolm decides to start from the beginning and tell the whole story of his long life, something he's never dared do before. Because Malcolm isn't what he seems: he's had other names and lived in other places. A lot of other places. As it gathers pace, Malcolm's story combines tragedy, comedy, mystery, a touch of leprosy, several murders, a massacre, a ritual sacrifice, an insane tyrant, two great romances, a landslide, a fire, and a talking fish.

Rhythm is the fundamental pulse that animates poetry, music, and dance across all cultures. And yet the recent explosion of scholarly interest across disciplines in the aural dimensions of aesthetic experience-particularly in sociology, cultural and media theory, and literary studies-has yet to explore this fundamental category. This book furthers the discussion of rhythm beyond the discrete conceptual domains and technical vocabularies of musicology and prosody. With original essays by philosophers, psychologists, musicians, literary theorists, and ethno-musicologists, The Philosophy of Rhythm opens up wider-and plural-perspectives, examining formal affinities between the historically interconnected fields of music, dance, and poetry, while addressing key concepts such as embodiment, movement, pulse, and performance. Volume editors Peter Cheyne, Andy Hamilton, and Max Paddison bring together a range of key questions: What is the distinction between rhythm and pulse? What is the relationship between everyday embodied experience, and the specific experience of music, dance, and poetry? Can aesthetics offer an understanding of rhythm that helps inform our responses to visual and other arts, as well as music, dance, and poetry? And, what is the relation between psychological conceptions of entrainment, and the humane concept of rhythm and meter? Overall, The Philosophy of Rhythm appeals across disciplinary boundaries, providing a unique overview of a neglected aspect of aesthetic experience.

Your bar tab doesn't have to break the bank. Learn how to grow, forage, and brew your way to good spirits with the same amount of helpful facts and fun that stirred the moonshine craze
A single cocktail can cost you $15 in a bar or restaurant. But home brewer and self-sufficiency expert Andy Hamilton can show you how easy and economical it can be to make simple hop brews, exquisite wines, and delicious infused spirits--all from easily grown or foraged ingredients. "Booze for Free" shares a wealth of valuable information, including:
- Home-brewing 101
- How to turn your garden into a drinker's paradise
- Where and how to forage with success
- How to make more than 100 delicious drinks to your preferred taste and strength--quickly, cheaply and with minimum fuss
- And more
For readers who love THE DRUNKEN BOTANIST, a guide to making delicious (and inexpensive ) beverages at home.

James Grout, Jimmy Mulville, Robert Duncan and Andy Hamilton star in six episodes from the third and fourth series of Old Harry's Game, the comedy series set in Hell. Satan may rule the roost, but he's beset by the poor unfortunates condemned to sit out Eternity with him. Amongst them are the Professor, who is convinced that societies evolve and mature until Satan introduces him to Bill Clinton. There's also Scumspawn, who here finds himself trying to deal with a lager lout, and a new arrival in the form of a Health and Safety Officer - who soon announces that the lighting in Hell is inadequate. As for Satan himself, in this batch of episodes he is concerned about his image on Earth, persuaded to remake Casablanca (with Bogart, Bergman and a mutant alien), and determined to prove that the English are the worst nation on Earth. He also takes offence to W.B. Yeats' verse description of him - and so pays a visit to the underworld's own Poets' Corner. The episodes in this volume are: Series Three, Episode One, 24 March 1999; Series Three, Episode Two, 31 March 1999; Series Three, Episode Three, 7 April 1999; Series Four, Episode Two, 5 April 2001; Series Four, Episode Three, 12 April 2001; Series Four, Episode Four, 19 April 2001. A fiery furnace of brilliant one-liners and biting satire, Old Harry's Game is the insider's guide to Hell. 'One of the great comic creations of recent years' - Sunday Telegraph. '... one of the best-written comedies around, sustained over its 12 years on the air by brilliant performances and production' - Daily Telegraph. 3 CDs. 2 hrs 48 mins.

Every episode from all six series of the satirical Channel 4 comedy. Set in the offices of GlobeLink News, the British sitcom follows the exploits of the corporation's newsroom staff, led by editor George Dent (Jeff Rawle). Series 1 episodes are: 'A New Dawn', 'Sally's Arrival', 'A Clash of Interests', 'A Blast from the Past', 'Old Father Time', 'Sex, Lies and Audiotape', 'The New Approach', 'The Root of All Evil', 'Death, Disaster 'N' Damien' and 'The Big Day'. Series 2 episodes are: 'The Gulf Report', 'The Trevorman Cometh', 'Henry and Dido', 'Baseball', 'Drunk Minister', 'Alex and the Interpreter', 'Hoax', 'Don't Mention the Arabs', 'Damien Down and Out', 'The Evangelist', 'George's Daughter', 'Dave's Day' and 'Xmas Party'. Series 3 episodes are: 'In Place of Alex', 'Sally's Accountant', 'Henry's Lost Love', 'Helen'll Fix It', 'Sally's Libel', 'Lady Merchant', 'The New Newsreader', 'Joy', 'Paintball', 'George and His Daughter' and 'Awards'. Series 4 episodes are: 'The Undiscovered Country', 'Quality Time', 'The Day of the Mum', 'Births and Deaths', 'Helen's Parents', 'Sally in TV Times', 'Crime Time', 'No More Mr. Nice Guy', 'Henry's Autobiography', 'The Strike', 'The Wedding' and 'Damien and the Weather Girl'. Series 5 episodes are: 'Inside the Asylum', 'The Godless Society', 'The Bird of Doom', 'What Are Friends For?', 'The Path of True Love', 'George's Car', 'Charnley in Love', 'Henry's Diary', 'Dave and Diana', 'Luck', 'The Graveyard Shift' and 'Sex 'N' Death'. Series 6 episodes are: 'The Newsmakers', 'Beasts, Badgers and Bombshells', 'The Diaries', 'But Is It Art?', 'George Finds Love', 'A Bit of an Atmosphere' and 'The Final Chapter'.

David Tennant, Rosamund Pike and Billy Connolly star in this family comedy written and directed by Andy Hamilton. As Doug (Tennant), his wife Abi (Pike) and their three children prepare to travel up to the Scottish Highlands for Doug's father Gordie (Connolly)'s 75th birthday, they give their children a list of things that are to be kept secret, including the fact that daddy lives in a different house to mummy. While their offspring set about telling Grandpa the ins and outs of their lives down in London, including intimate details of arguments their parents have had, Doug and Abi try to put aside their differences and have an enjoyable weekend.

David Tennant, Rosamund Pike and Billy Connolly star in this family comedy written and directed by Andy Hamilton. As Doug (Tennant), his wife Abi (Pike) and their three children prepare to travel up to the Scottish Highlands for Doug's father Gordie (Connolly)'s 75th birthday, they give their children a list of things that are to be kept secret, including the fact that daddy lives in a different house to mummy. While their offspring set about telling Grandpa the ins and outs of their lives down in London, including intimate details of arguments their parents have had, Doug and Abi try to put aside their differences and have an enjoyable weekend.

Blue was the Colour is a witty, wise and charming assessment of modern football by Chelsea FC fan Andy Hamilton, one of the country’s leading comedy writers and stand-ups, and a novelist to boot. Andy grew up in the streets surrounding Stamford Bridge and fell in love with Chelsea and football as a six-year-old taken to his first match by his older brother. That love endured as an obsession until the modern game’s money and machinations took over and left him questioning its, and his, priorities. Taking as a starting point his first game against Newcastle United and comparing it with a match now between two teams owned by an American – via a Russian – and a Saudi Arabian government arm, the inimitable Hamilton relates how he came to question his passion for his club and football itself. Blue was the Colour will have fans and readers laughing out loud and nodding in agreement.

Steve Beresford's polymathic activities have formed a prism for the UK improv scene since the 1970s. He is internationally known as a free improviser on piano, toy piano and electronics, composer for film and TV, and raconteur and Dadaist visionary. His résumé is filled with collaborations with hundreds of musicians and other artists, including such leading improvisers as Derek Bailey, Evan Parker and John Zorn, and he has given performances of works by John Cage and Christian Marclay. In this book, Beresford is heard in his own words through first-hand interviews with the author. Beresford provides compelling insight into an extensive range of topics, displaying the broad cultural context in which music is embedded. The volume combines chronological and thematic chapters, with topics covering improvisation and composition in jazz and free music; the connections between art, entertainment and popular culture; the audience for free improvisation; writing music for films; recording improvised music in the studio; and teaching improvisation. It places Beresford in the context of improvised and related musics – jazz, free jazz, free improvisation – in which there is growing interest. The linear narrative is broken up by 'interventions' or short pieces by collaborators and commentators.