This bibulous, drug-indulgent and anarchic rock legend was born on a small farm in Tipperary, won a scholarship to Westminster, was rapidly expelled, became a rent boy, then a central figure of punk and the hugely influential star of The Pogues. MacGowan's music, innovative and powerful, is as distinctive as his chaotic, breakdown-scarred, drug and alcohol-fuelled lifestyle. MacGowan has an enormous fan-base hungry for stories of his wild behaviour, but this is also a book that celebrates this unique and charming musician, and offers insight into his remarkable perspective on this world - and the next!

Oxford Reading Tree Story Sparks is an emotionally-engaging fiction series that will fire children's imaginations. These original stories will get children thinking, and develop and deepen their comprehension skills. The variety of authors and illustration styles broadens children's reading experience, with something to appeal to every child. This pack contains one of each of the following original stories: Plughole, The Top of the Taj Mahal, Not Ethan Again!, Aunty Cake, Astron, Looga and Barooga: The Day the Sky Went Boom!. They also contain inside cover notes, to enable parents and teachers to support children in their reading. Help with children's reading development is also available at www.oxfordowl.co.uk.

Oxford Reading Tree Story Sparks is an emotionally-engaging fiction series that will fire children's imaginations. These original stories will get children thinking, and develop and deepen their comprehension skills. The variety of authors and illustration styles broadens children's reading experience, with something to appeal to every child. This pack contains six of each of the following original stories: Plughole, The Top of the Taj Mahal, Not Ethan Again!, Aunty Cake, Astron, Looga and Barooga: The Day the Sky Went Boom!. All the books in the series are carefully levelled, so it's easy to match every child to the right book for them. They also contain inside cover notes, to enable parents and teachers to support children in their reading. Help with children's reading development is also available at www.oxfordowl.co.uk.

Best known as the cofounder of the Irish band The Pogues, Shane MacGowan has become a cult figure on the alternative-music scene. His achingly beautiful lyrics, as well as his legendary lifestyle of excess, have earned him an avid following that packs his shows and buys his albums. One of the most unusual memoirs to come along in quite a while, A Drink with Shane MacGowan is structured as a series of interviews between MacGowan and his wife, Clarke. The singer recounts his experiences growing up on a farm in Ireland, where his family began giving him two pints of Guinness a night at the tender age of five and his father took him to hang out with bookies and drunks at the local pub. He tells of moving to London and becoming part of the London club scene in the mid-1970s, just as punk was beginning to emerge, offering a firsthand portrait of a seminal time and place in music history. MacGowan also provides his own, strongly opinionated views on The Pogues' success and the reasons for his abrupt departure from the band. As he invites us into this fascinating world, MacGowan tells many hilarious stories and riffs on a wide range of subjects, from Irish history and politics to literature, film, religion, his own substance abuse, and much more. Sometimes maddening, sometimes charming, often brilliant, and always honest, A Drink with Shane MacGowan is an enjoyable romp with a truly unique personality. PRAISE FOR SHANE MACGOWAN: MacGowan can be a dazzling songwriter, channeling his unruliness into rambunctious tales of drinking, sporting, drinking, fighting, and drinking.--Los Angeles Times