Margaret Rutherford was without a doubt one of Britain' s best-loved comic actresses. But behind the kindly, serene front Rutherford presented to the world lay a life of trauma and repeated nervous breakdown - the legacy of the legacy of family tragedy that saw her father murder her grandfather during a bout of mental illness and her depressive mother later kill herself. Andy Merriman' s acclaimed biography intrigued and shocked readers with these revelations when it was published in hardback. Now out in paperback, it is also a portrait of one of our most individual actresses. Rutherford appeared in such thoroughly English classics as Blithe Spirit, The importance of Being Earnest, Passport to Pimlico and I' m All Right, Jack! But above all she was Miss Marple, in four films - and entirely created for the screen the role of Agatha Christie' s elderly and fearless private detective that subsequent actresses like Joan Hickson and Geraldine McEwan have continued. Rutherford first played Miss Marple at the age of 70, and insisted on wearing her own clothes to feel right in the part. Above all, this was a vulnerable woman whom no-one failed to like and respect, notable again and again for quiet acts of kindness, whose life story has great appeal to everyone who appreciates both classic English comedy and simple human decency.

The hardback of this first and authorised biography received very good reviews and immediately reprinted. It tells the story of one of the heroines of post-war British comedy, on radio, film and TV. Hattie Jacques is known as the billowing, imposing Matron in the Carry On films, as the star of such BBC radio classics as ITMA, Educating Archie and Hancock' s Half Hour, and as the fictional sister of Eric Sykes in his long-running TV sitcom. But the formidable, frumpy galleon-in-full-sail screen persona could not have been more at odds with the real-life woman, as this biography reveals for the first time. She had a tempestuous wartime affair with an American officer, and then a strange marriage to the actor John le Mesurier (Corporal Wilson in Dad' s Army) whose dissatisfactions she circumnavigated by moving her lover, a flashy Cockney car dealer, into the matrimonial home. But as well as being warm and sexy and generous she was also, owing to her lifelong struggle with her weight, needy and melancholic, and rueful that her size persistently typecast her and excluded her from many roles. This biography has been written with full co-operation from Hattie' s son, and show business friends like Barbara Windsor, Clive Dunn, Galton and Simpson and Ian Carmichael.

Sarah Merriman is just like any other urbane young woman in her twenties... She has a job in a Central London hotel, a boyfriend, commutes to work on the Tube, eats out, goes to films and theatre... This is all the more remarkable (though not to her) because Sarah was born with Down's Syndrome. Her parents having no prior inkling, it came as a huge shock to them that they now had a daughter with a disability. In 1999 her father Andy wrote a frank and moving book, A Minor Adjustment, about the challenge of her early years. The national publicity it gained saw it become a treasured resource for other families on a similar journey. Now he follows up with the inspirational story of how his daughter, whose favourite expression is `I love my life', has grown up, featured on Michel Roux's compelling Kitchen Impossible series, and is making a life of her own at a time when pre-natal testing is threatening the very existence of people with Down's syndrome. Sarah has contributed throughout.

Jim Cregan's career as a rock guitarist, songwriter and producer has spanned over fifty years, touring and recording albums with stars such as Elton John, Cat Stevens, Family, Willie Nelson, Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel, Joe Cocker, The Gypsy Kings, and Katie Melua. However, he is perhaps best known for his forty-year association with Rod Stewart, not only as his guitarist but also being best friends and godfathers to each other's children. In his autobiography Jim Cregan lifts the lid on his extraordinary life, recounting his experiences with music's biggest stars, from his first band at the age of 14 playing in youth clubs in Poole to performing in front of 350,000 people in Rio de Janeiro. In And on Guitar . . . Cregan holds nothing back: from his early life and anecdotes about his family to shenanigans on the road and extraordinary tales of hedonism, love and loss, his stories feature a Who's Who of music's biggest stars.

Jim Cregan's career as a rock guitarist, songwriter and producer has spanned over fifty years, touring and recording albums with stars such as Elton John, Cat Stevens, Family, Willie Nelson, Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel, Joe Cocker, The Gypsy Kings, and Katie Melua, among many others. However, he is perhaps best known for his forty-year association with Rod Stewart, not only as his guitarist but also as best friends and godfathers to each other's children. In his autobiography Jim Cregan lifts the lid on his extraordinary life, recounting his experiences with music's biggest stars, from his first band at the age of 14 playing in youth clubs in Poole to performing in front of 350,000 people in Rio de Janeiro. In And on Guitar . . . nothing is held back: Cregan's early life and anecdotes about his family, shenanigans on the road, extraordinary tales of hedonism, love and loss, his stories feature a Who's Who of music's biggest stars.

War hero and '60s Soho doyen Bruce Copp has lived a unique life. With an address book brimming with celebrity names and numbers, he swam regularly with a James Bond, dined with Charlie Chaplin, hung out with Lenny Bruce and spent an unforgettable night with Marlene Dietrich. A reluctant hero, he served in the army throughout the Second World War where he dealt with prejudices towards homosexuality, witnessed the deaths of his comrades and tried to commit suicide by walking into enemy fire. He miraculously survived and was mentioned twice in dispatches for bravery before being transferred to British Counter Intelligence where his duties included tracking down high-ranking Nazis. After the war, Bruce went on to become an important figure in London's 'swinging sixties', running a series of successful theatrical restaurants including Peter Cook's legendary The Establishment club, which attracted such icons of the era as Michael Caine, Jean Shrimpton and the Kray twins. Out of the Firing Line ... Into the Foyer is a fascinating memoir covering nearly 100 years of social history and personal experiences.