This absorbing study surveys the developments in decorative design from the 1830s to the 1950s, showing how the modern age has affected the status of decoration and examining the role of ornament in a rapidly changing industrial society. Arranged in three sections, the book opens with an introductory essay which looks at the cultural background of the discourse of decoration, bringing into play two major strands of decorative theory, and looking at the changing natures of modernism and traditionalism. The central section of the book is composed of pictorial examples, arranged in order of...

David Bret is one of Britain's leading celebrity biographers. He has also published novels, stage plays, and two factual volumes on 15th century history. Additionally he has appeared in around thirty films and television documentaries, and made over 700 radio broadcasts. In this monologue he recalls his grandmother's funeral in February 1972, as seen through the eyes of his much-loved Aunty Kate, who had a peculiar way of looking at the world. It was one of the saddest days of Bret's life, yet upon reflection and when recounted by Kate, it becomes so unintentionally hilarious.

Paris-born David Bret is one of Britain's foremost show business biographers and has spent 30 years writing about the famous and infamous. Now, he dishes the dirt on himself. He speaks affectionately about his long-suffering mother and eccentric family. He recalls celebrities who became mutual confidants: French singer Barbara, Dorothy Squires, Marlene Dietrich. He remembers show business friends with fondness: Damia, Serge Reggiani, Alice Sapritch, Melina Mercouri, Joey Stefano, and recalls his meeting with Greta Garbo. He writes of his friendship with Peter Sutcliffe in pre-Yorkshire Ripper...

This is the first ever biography of Dorothy Squires, for a half a decade one of Britain's most feted singers, by her friend and confidant, David Bret. They met at the height of the BBC Payola scandal, and remained close for 26 years. In this book, much of which is told in Dorothy's own words and confidences, we learn of her triumphs and tragedies, her love affairs-the tempestuous ones with bandleader-composer Billy Reid and the actor Roger Moore, whom she married-and those she kept secret from all but her most intimate circle. Bret and Dorothy Squires never hold back when discussing the ups...