The hidden lives of well-known Birmingham characters

My Life in a Flash

by Kash Gill & Shirley Thompson

Life has never been easy for Kash ‘the Flash’ Gill. Born in Handsworth, in Birmingham’s inner city, he became the first UK Asian World Champion in a contact sport — and he remains the unbeaten four-times World Kickboxing Champion. Standing 6ft 3in tall, he has an impressive line-up of British, European and World titles to his name. His father, a former wrestler, worked 18-hour days in a factory to support the family. Athletic from an early age, Kash discovered kickboxing at 14, fell in love with the sport, and the rest is history.

With a foreword by Tom Ross, Head of Sport at BRMB, this is a biography with international appeal. Its 55 contributors include close family and friends, international musician and entrepreneur Apache Indian, and UB40’s legendary saxophonist Brian Travers. Media figures Tommy Nagra, Phil Upton and Peter Wilson join football icons Kenny Cunningham and Cyrille Regis to recall the highs and lows of Kash’s career, alongside boxing and martial arts experts including Joe Egan, Frankie Gavin, Howard Brown, Master A, Master Toddy, Tim Izli and Alex Tui.

Inside the ring, Kash’s speed, athleticism and flashy showmanship earned him the nickname ‘The Flash’. Outside it, he is a charismatic ambassador for the sport and a positive role model for the champions he trains and the students he inspires.

• ISBN 978-1-85858-499-7
• 240mm x 170mm Paperback
• Fully Illustrated
• £14.95 (free post and packing)

Also available from The Kindle Store, Apple Books and Kobo.

Launch photos

If: The Pat Roach Story

For the first time, wrestler turned film and television actor Pat Roach tells his own remarkable life story, with co-writer Shirley Thompson. The book follows Pat from a poverty-stricken childhood to celebrity, reveals the man behind the image, and covers his considerable achievements in sport, film and television.

Nominated for the James Tait Black Memorial Prize on publication.

• ISBN 1 85858 209 1
• 240mm x 170mm Paperback
• Fully Illustrated
• £10 (free post and packing)

Pat Roach’s Birmingham

A rollercoaster journey from the shady world of ‘duckers and divers’ and illegal drinking clubs to the dizzy heights of Pat’s success in the international world of sport, film and television. The penultimate chapter recounts some hilarious trips abroad.

Recommended by The Bookseller. For collectors’ copies, please contact Shirley.

• ISBN 1 85858 252 0
• Crown Quarto Paperback
• Fully Illustrated
• £10 (free post and packing)

Auf Wiedersehen Pat

by Pat Roach & Shirley Thompson

This inspirational book is Pat’s final goodbye to the world before his tragic death from cancer in July 2004. It includes more than seventy tributes from close family, friends and a host of celebrities: Kevin Whately, Chris Fairbank, Julia Tobin, Noel Clarke, Jimmy Nail and Timothy Spall all feature prominently, and Tim Healy contributes an entire chapter.

Scriptwriters Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais provide a very special foreword, and Auf Wiedersehen, Pet producers Joy Spink and Chrissy Skinns describe the difficulties of filming series 3 and 4 while Pat was coping with cancer. Wayne and Sarah Bridges, Mick McManus, Seamus Dunleavy, Pete Roberts and Killer Kowalski are just a few of the many sporting names who recall life with Pat. Three galleries of very special photographs are the crowning glory of this unique biography.

• ISBN 1 85858 292 X
• 240mm x 170mm Paperback
• Fully Illustrated
• £10 (free post and packing)

Finally Meeting Princess Maud

by Seamus Dunleavy & Shirley Thompson

Seamus’s fascinating life story spans two worlds. One is the old world of Charlestown, County Mayo — of donkeys and fleas, teachers and characters, banshees and fairy forts. The other is the modern, more tangible world of wrestling, nightclubs, pubs, hotels and property development. With all the skill of a traditional Irish storyteller, Seamus relives his childhood and tells how, after emigrating to England at seventeen, he and his brother Mickey became famous wrestlers.

Now a highly successful businessman, Seamus has built a permanent life in England for himself and his family, but keeps in touch with his Irish roots through frequent trips back to Ireland. With a foreword by Professor Carl Chinn MBE, this is a story not to be missed.

• ISBN 978-1-85858-284-9
• 240mm x 170mm Paperback
• Fully Illustrated
• £10 (free post and packing)

King of Clubs — The Eddie Fewtrell Story

by Eddie Fewtrell & Shirley Thompson

Birmingham would not be the city it is today without Eddie Fewtrell. Born in the 1930s, one of ten children in the backstreets of Aston, Eddie spent much of his childhood keeping house and caring for his younger brothers. An alcoholic father and an invalid mother kept him from school and a normal life — a million light years away from the vast nightclub empire he was destined to build. By the 1970s he was the most powerful man in Birmingham’s clubland, and with the support of his large family, especially his seven brothers, he went on to even greater success.

Eddie’s first club was the Bermuda Club in Navigation Street, before he moved on to the Cedar Club on Constitution Hill. Over the next few years he opened Rebecca’s, Abigail’s, Boogie’s nightclub, Boogie’s Brasserie, Edward’s No.7, Edward’s No.8, the Paramount pub and Goldwyn’s, while Barbarella’s became the top showcase for many up-and-coming UK pop groups. In 1989 he sold his clubs to Ansells, only to return three years later with a new wave of clubs. But success came at a high price: Eddie reveals how his millionaire lifestyle and the pursuit of wealth led to tragic consequences.

• ISBN 978-1-85858-406-5
• 240mm x 170mm Paperback
• Fully Illustrated
• 106 pages
• £10 (free post and packing)

The Original Alton Douglas: A Biography

Birmingham-born Alton Douglas is a man of many talents. Compiled with the help of well-known writer Shirley Thompson, this entertaining biography traces his multi-faceted career: National Service in the 5th Royal Inniskilling Dragoon Guards, then music groups, stand-up comedy in theatres and clubs nationwide, and eventually television appearances and radio shows.

With 38 books to his name and sales approaching half a million copies, he is today the Midlands’ best-selling local author.

• ISBN 1 85858 230 X
• 240mm x 170mm Paperback
• Fully Illustrated
• £10 (free post and packing)

There’s More Out Than In: Ellen’s Story

by Shirley Thompson

Shirley Thompson describes life in a working-class family from the 1930s to the 1960s, seen through the eyes of Ellen, the family’s mother. The story begins in Birmingham in 1913 and ends in 1999.

• ISBN 1 85858 141 9
• A5 Paperback
• Fully illustrated
• £5.95 (free post and packing)