Life's Too Short - a television extravaganza

Pint-sized actor and Yaxley's biggest star Warwick Davis will feature in his own television series alongside Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, the creators of hit series The Office and Extras. The BBC series will be based on Davis' autobiography Size Matters Not, published by Aurum Press. According to Davis' own website, the BBC describes the programme, dubbed Life's Too Short, as: "an observation comedy which follows Warwick's day-to-day life in a small world where big things happen. It's a frustrating world but an optimistic and warm one".

So optimistic, in fact, that it was Davis' rare genetic disorder that launched him into showbiz. The actor, now 40, has enjoyed a 29-year career starring alongside the likes of Val Kilmer and David Bowie. But he is probably most fondly remembered for his role as Wicket the Ewok in several Star Wars films and as Filius Flitwick in the Harry Potter series
Davis is currently on a book-signing tour around the UK. For details of dates and locations, please visit his website.

Rejoice, Rejoice! by Alwyn Turner

New from Alwyn Turner we have the spring release of Rejoice, Rejoice!

This is the 1980s follow up to the success of Turner's Crisis? What Crisis?

The first full-length, in-depth history of this most fascinating of decades. If the Seventies, the subject of his previous book, were the last gasp of the old Britain, the Eighties were a truly transitional, politically revolutionary decade, when Thatcherism remade Britain's economy and its society, but when Britain's social fabric also changed in many infinitely more encouraging ways: the response to famine in Ethiopia with the global Live Aid concert; gay rights.

Witty, formidably well-informed, on political intrigue as well as every last soap opera and rock album, this is a piece of genuinely new history.

Dominic Sandbrook, The Sunday Times: http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/non-fiction/article7082806.ece

Size Matters Not Book Signing - Waterstone's Piccadilly 28th April, 7pm

On Wednesday, 28 April at 7pm Waterstone's Piccadilly will be hosting an evening with Warwick Davis.

Tickets are £3 but redeemable against the purchase of the book on the night





http://www.waterstones.com/waterstonesweb/displayProductDetails.do?sku=7005995

Out Now in Paperback: Hercules and the Farmer's Wife by Chris Wadsworth

Chris Wadsworth conjures up people and situations with verve and great
narrative style - an intriguing tapestry of art and personalities.

Penelope Lively

An ode to happiness and creativity and a reminder that we all have the ability to enrich our own lives, Hercules and the Farmer's Wife and Other Stories from a Cumbrian Art Gallery features a range of  heartwarming and at times bittersweet tales that provide a private view into the secret world of art. From Lowry's Fish and Chip Shop and the Cumberland of Sheila Fell, to the transvestite postman, the man who was irresistible to women, the mystery of the purple house, the farmer and the brain surgeon...oh, and a cat called Fedden. 

The owner of the gallery Chris Wadsworth recalls how she came to make art her business and transform the local area with her avant-garde vision. And did I mention its got vicars trying to flog Mick Jagger carpets?!

Available from all good bookstores priced at £8.99, immerse yourself in the contemporary art of Cockermouth!

http://www.waterstones.com/waterstonesweb/products/chris+wadsworth/hercules+and+the+farmer27s+wife/7319866/

Out Now in Paperback: Miss Savidge Moves Her House by Christine Adams

This story will appeal to those who still believe that an Englishman's home is his castle...May Savidge's dream to save a piece of our architectural heritage has been realised.

Daily Telegraph

The British love an underdog. Now available in paperback, A Lifetime in the Building has a new title to emphasise the mass appeal of its rebellious heroine, May Savidge. When confronted with a compulsory purchase notice for her medieval hall house to be bulldozed for a roundabout, May decided it was time to move; but she took her home with her. In what could be described as a real-life version of Pixar's Up, May's experience is more relevant than ever today and her niece Christine Adams tells her heartbreaking and courageous story in a highly personal and nostalgic voice. With extracts from her aunt's numerous letters and diaries which she inherited with the house, Adams paints a vivid portrait of a determined woman and the home to which she dedicated the rest of her life.

With an introduction by Paul Atterbury of the BBC hit Antiques Roadshow, Miss Savidge Moves her House is available in all good bookstores priced at £8.99. Now is your chance to catch the book which sold out two printings!

http://www.waterstones.com/waterstonesweb/products/christine+adams/michael+mcmahon/miss+savidge+moves+her+house/6996180/

April Title-Size Matters Not: The Extraordinary Life and Career of Warwick Davis

Who else can say that they've helped destroy a Death Star? Defeated an evil sorceress? Taught magic to Harry Potter? Become a Jedi Master? Reluctantly hitchhiked across the galaxy in search of the answer to the Ultimate Question? Or embarked (six times, no less) on a psychotic killing spree as a gold-obsessed leprechaun? Been kicked in the face by Ricky Gervais (twenty-three times)?

Despite (or indeed partly because of) the fact that Warwick Davis is three-foot-six, he has enjoyed an incredible and versatile career in film. In his own wise and witty words, Davis recounts his experiences, from his breakthrough role as Wicket the Ewok in the incomparable Star Wars franchise when he was only eleven through to his more recent characters, including Filius Flitwick in the Harry Potter films.

Always focusing on the opportunities that his condition has given him, whilst simultaneously recalling the difficulties that have arisen and how he has overcome them in a relatable and realistic way, Davis' narrative style is engaging, thought-provoking and very funny. With a touching foreword by George Lucas, and anecdotes featuring various famous figures ranging from Michael Jackson to David Bowie to Princess Diana, Size Matters Not proves that good things really do come in small packages...

From the top: At the Harry Potter and the Half-blood Prince premiere; during the shooting of Willow (courtesy of Lucasfilm Ltd); with family as Marvin the Paranoid Android from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy; with Michael Jackson whilst making Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi.

Available now as a hardback priced at £16.99, don't miss out on this Force of nature!

www.warwickdavis.co.uk

Nina Simone - The Biography by David Brun-Lambert

"The greatest female artist of the twentieth century" - Elton John

The flamboyant artist, the tireless warrior, the submissive then forsaken woman, the diffident lover addicted to men, the loose cannon, the breathless fighter, the absolute diva, the visionary creator, the dramatist, the voice of doom. Not to mention the first black classical concert player...

In this revealing biography, well respected music writer David Brun-Lambert reveals the tortured, tragic and awe-inspiring life of one of the greatest singers and musicians of modern times. The High-Priestess of Soul, Nina Simone sang and composed some of the most outstanding songs of the century. A child musical prodigy, she was rejected by the all-white board of an elite classical music school, a setback which would be the fuel that would propel her through an extra-ordinary life which took in the battle for civil rights, the birth of the cool, a fight against mental illness, and a series of intense and impassioned loves and losses.

The complete life story of one of the twentieth-century's brightest and most difficult talents.