Collection: Biography

In the 1920s, the young J.R. Ackerley spent several months in India as the personal secretary to the maharajah of a small Indian principality. 'Hindoo Holiday' is an intimate and very funny account of an exceedingly strange place, and one of the masterpieces of 20th century travel literature.

Rosemary Ackland began writing her diary in 1945, aged just 15. For the next 58 years, through happiness and heartache, she continued to write. Even after the tragic onset of Motor Neurone disease, which left her mute and immobile, her diary was still an outlet in fact. This book weaves together ...

In this quick-witted portrait, Ackroyd reveals Hitchcock to be: a lugubriously jolly man fond of practical jokes, who smashes a once-used tea cup every morning to remind himself of the frailty of life. Iconic film stars make cameo appearances, just as Hitch did in his own films.

He was the very first icon of the silver screen, and is one of the most recognisable faces in Hollywood, even a hundred years on from his first film. But what of the man behind the moustache? The director holding the camera as well as acting in front of it? Peter Ackroyd's new biography turns the...

He was the very first icon of the silver screen, and is one of the most recognisable faces in Hollywood, even a hundred years on from his first film. But what of the man behind the moustache? The director holding the camera as well as acting in front of it? Peter Ackroyd's new biography turns the...

Edgar Allan Poe served as a soldier and began his literary career composing verses modelled on Byron. Peter Ackroyd's biography of Poe opens with his end, his final days - no one knows what happened between the time when friends saw him off on the steam-boat to Baltimore and his discovery six day...

Have you ever had a strange urge to jump from a tall building, or steer your car into oncoming traffic? You are not alone. In this captivating fusion of science, history and personal memoir, writer David Adam explores the weird thoughts that exist within every mind, and how they drive millions of...