Dead Famous: An Unexpected History of Celebrity from Bronze Age to Silver Screen

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They shouted at each other until I stood between them and screamed for them to stop. Paige stormed out, followed by a few of her crew, and Monro sat at a table, propping up his head with his hands” Jenner aims to define celebrity (and delineate it from fame, acclaim, renown) and discuss its origins, its different types, and explore the phenomenon. Though the latter two of these are explored in a great deal of detail, with plenty of examples and in an intelligent and balanced manner, I thought the author failed to come up with a full and all-encompassing definition of celebrity. The more examples (of what the author considered 'in' and 'out' of this group) given, the more confused I got. The book was flawed because of this, for all that it was full of interesting bits and bobs. A story about doing anything to fit in. Even if that means lying your way to the top and hurting the ones you love.

I also loved the romance, which was slow and buildable but so so pure, especially compared to other books in the genre which tend to shove in the love story as a bit of an afterthought. Without naming names, *some* high school mysteries see the main character falling for the best-looking guy, the coolest guy, like that whole cliché isn't totally overused and predictable. It was so nice to read a book where you didn't see the romance coming right away, where every character had secrets to hide, even Kate. Inspector Coleridge belongs to an amateur dramatics society that is starting rehearsals for a performance of Macbeth, one of Coleridge's favourite plays. He desperately wishes to play the lead, but the director wants someone younger to play the lead part. Coleridge's success in solving the murder wins him the part. The idea of Banquo's ghost is Coleridge's method of forcing a confession out of the murderer. From the first day there are strange events that nobody can explain. We're left under no illusions. that every single one of the characters we're following is less than perfect, and this made it difficult to really care too much about what happened to them. Properly live-in-a-country-house, summer-in-Italy posh’ … Florence Nightingale. Photograph: Florence Nighingale Museum/BBC

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The main protagonist is Kate - or Kate Lynette Jordan-Ferreira as she often likes to remind us - and the story begins as she embarks on her fifth year at Mount Norton boarding school, an institution that specialises in the Arts. At the same time, she and her friends have to deal with Ms Calding, their new housemistress who takes a very strict approach to following the rules. Dead Popular is a YA mystery novel that revolves around prestigious boarding school student, Kate Ferreira. The story follows her as mysterious secrets begin to be pinned to a piece of student artwork in the common room, exposing secrets of the other students. When things take a turn for the worst at a party that Kate has arranged, the atmosphere gets serious and Kate fears her secret past will also be exposed.

Dead Famous: An Unexpected History of Celebrity from Bronze Age to Silver Screen, despite its subtitle, focuses mostly on the period between the early 18th century and the 1950s (and within that, largely people from the UK and US). Greg Jenner argues that celebrity as we think of it today first emerges in the early decades of the eighteenth century, enabled by various technological and societal factors, and that it's distinguished from fame or renown by its focus on the personality/private life of the celebrity and on the kind of economic infrastructure that grows up around them. if you like greg jenner, the podcast host, the pop historian, the witty nerd - you'll like this book.Darwin and other Seriously Super Scientists (formerly Scientists and their Mind-blowing Experiments) (2003) - Dr Mike Goldsmith

It is a book that touches on a number of interesting themes and contains a setting which I really enjoyed getting to discover. A continually steady pace and the engaging writing also helped to make me feel more invested, but despite a major twist and a dramatic increase in tension towards the end, the plot just seemed a tad convoluted. see the thing is, i’ve seen that technique used really cleverly before but this didn’t seem purposeful. it seemed like the writer had attempted writing that section, didn’t like how it had turned out and had just decided to summarise it so we get the idea. so yeah that really annoyed me tw: amazingly alienating alliterations (once you start noticing them, they're everywhere). also greg LOVES a good pun. (but again, if you know him from his other projects you will come prepared) Greg is also a regular voice on BBC Radio 4, and was resident historian on the science and history series THE ORIGIN OF STUFF, hosted by Katy Brand. In 2019 he wrote and presented a 3 hour radio documentary about historical comedy for BBC Radio 4 Extra called HILARIOUS HISTORIES in which he interviewed Stephen Fry and several other guests. He's made numerous other appearances on British national radio, TV, podcasts, and has written in numerous newspapers and magazines. There is a reasonably claustrophobic environment created in the school, and many of the characters have something they'd rather others didn't know. There's the usual school rivalry and a mysterious new teacher who seems just a little too intense in her interactions.This is a perfect young adult story which is set in a 'posh' boarding school. Brilliantly written. Can easily be read in one sitting. I found it an easy read but one I throughally enjoyed and loved. I love the cover too. This book is typical YA it has romance, parties, drama, school, lies, secrets and death! That's what makes this one a little different and a little brilliant. Celebrity, with its neon glow and selfie pout, strikes us as hypermodern. But the famous and infamous have been thrilling, titillating, and outraging us for much longer than we might realise. Whether it was the scandalous Lord Byron, whose poetry sent female fans into an erotic frenzy; or the cheetah-owning, coffin-sleeping, one-legged French actress Sarah Bernhardt, who launched a violent feud with her former best friend; or Edmund Kean, the dazzling Shakespearean actor whose monstrous ego and terrible alcoholism saw him nearly murdered by his own audience - the list of stars whose careers burned bright before the Age of Television is extensive and thrillingly varied. Dervla Nolan, a quiet and mysterious Irish trauma therapist (Revealed to have joined the show in an attempt to gain the prize money to help her family after a recent disaster in her home village) I’m majorly disappointed. This book is not what I was expecting. The synopsis of the book really mis-sold the contents of the story and I feel as though I’ve been cheated. Greg is both a passionate defender and careful critic of the way in which the past is exploited for entertainment. He is an Honorary Research Associate at Royal Holloway, University of London where he teaches on the Public History MA course. He also teaches occasionally at his alma mater, the University of York, where he studied for 4 years before abandoning plans for a PhD to instead go into the TV industry.