Jeremy Paxman

What is the point of Kings and Queens? What do they do all day? And what does it mean to be one of them?Jeremy Paxman is used to making politicians explain themselves – but royalty has always been off limits. Until now. In On Royalty he delves deep into the past and takes a long hard look at our present incumbents to find out just what makes them tick. Along the way he discovers some fascinating and little-known details. Such as: how Albania came to advertise in England for a king which English queen gave birth in front of 67 people how easy it is to beat up future kings of England and how meeting the Queen is a bit scary – whoever you are ...No other book will tell you quite as much about our kings, queens, princes and princesses: who they are and what they're for.

The witty, incisive and frank memoirs of bestselling author of 'The Victorians', Jeremy Paxman, whose career at the BBC included 25 years as the uncompromising presenter of Newsnight. Covering insights on politicians of every stamp over the last half century, reporting from war zones, the state of the BBC, to the role of journalism in our political system and much more, Jeremy Paxman's long-awaited and candid memoirs are packed with opinions and good humour on every page.

The book begins with the first devastating battlefield use of lethal gas in World War I, and then investigates the stockpiling of biological weapons during World War II and in the decades afterward as well as the inhuman experiments conducted to test their effectiveness. This updated edition includes a new Introduction and a new final chapter exposing frightening developments in recent years, including the black market that emerged in chemical and biological weapons following the breakup of the Soviet Union, the acquisition of these weapons by various Third World states, the attempts of countries such as Iraq to build up arsenals, and the use of these weapons in terrorist attacks.

What was life actually like for the British during the First World War? The images we have all reinforce the idea that it was, in the end, an utterly pointless waste of life, and little more. So why did we fight so willingly and how did we endure it for so long? Jeremy Paxman brings vividly to life the day to day experience of the British over the entire course of the war.

Jeremy Paxman knows every maneouvre a politician will make to avoid answering a difficult question, but here he seeks an answer to just one: What makes politicians tick? Embarking on a journey in which he encounters movers and shakers past and present, he discovers:that Prime Ministers have often lost a parent in childhoodwhy Trollope is the politician's novelist of choicethat Lloyd George once hunted Jack the Ripperhow an Admiral's speech in parliament helped win WWII Where do politicians come from? How do they get elected? What do they do all day? And why do they seek power? All these questions and many more are addressed in Paxman's thrilling dissection of that strange and elusive breed – the political animal.