Andy Miller – författare

Ignored by virtually everyone upon its release in November 1968, 'The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society' is now seen as one of the best British albums ever recorded. Here, Andy Miller traces the perilous circumstances surrounding its creation, and celebrates the timeless, perfectly crafted songs pieced together by a band who were on the verge of disintegration and who refused to follow fashion.EXCERPT'Big Sky' contains some of the most beautiful, thunderous music The Kinks ever recorded, aligned to a vulnerability and warmth no other group - and I mean no other group - could ever hope to equal. It is a perfectly balanced production. On the one hand, the mesh of clattering drums and electric guitar never threatens to overwhelm the melody; on the other, the gossamer-light harmonies, Ray and Dave's vocal line traced by Rasa Davies' wordless falsetto, are bursting with emotion. When most of the instruments drop away at 1.20, the effect is effortlessly vivid - two lines where Davies' performance is both nonchalant and impassioned. The result is wonderfully, enchantingly sad, made more so perhaps by the knowledge that The Kinks will never again sound so refined or so right.

A working father whose life no longer feels like his own discovers the transforming powers of great (and downright terrible) literature in this laugh-out-loud memoir.Andy Miller had a job he quite liked, a family he loved and no time at all for reading. Or so he kept telling himself. But, no matter how busy or tired he was, something kept niggling at him. Books. Books he’d always wanted to read. Books he’d said he’d read, when he hadn’t. Books that whispered the promise of escape from the 6.44 to London. And so, with the turn of a page, began a year of reading that was to transform Andy’s life completely.This book is Andy’s inspirational and very funny account of his expedition through literature: classic, cult and everything in-between. Crack the spine of your unread ‘Middlemarch’, discover what ‘The Da Vinci Code’ and ‘Moby-Dick’ have in common (everything, surprisingly) and knock yourself out with a new-found enthusiasm for Tolstoy, Douglas Adams and ‘The Epic of Gilgamesh’. ‘The Year of Reading Dangerously’ is a reader’s odyssey and it begins with opening this book…

Difficult pupil behaviour can reflect and exacerbate stresses within a school, increasing the potential for conflicts among teachers, parents and support staff. The need to acknowledge and overcome this in practice is fully recognised and is a central challenge addressed by this book.Challenging Behaviour in Schools describes effective practical approaches that have been developed by schools and support services. It contains chapters on behaviour support in mainstream primary and secondary schools, the organisation of support services and also looks at the ways parents and schools can work together. Other chapters outline whole school approaches to building better behaviour, as well as specific techniques.Challenging Behaviour in Schools will be of direct, practical value to all teachers, senior staff, special needs coordinators and governors in schools, educational psychologists, support teachers and all those involved in policy and planning.

Difficult pupil behaviour can reflect and exacerbate stresses within a school, increasing the potential for conflicts among teachers, parents and support staff. The need to acknowledge and overcome this in practice is fully recognised and is a central challenge addressed by this book.Challenging Behaviour in Schools describes effective practical approaches that have been developed by schools and support services. It contains chapters on behaviour support in mainstream primary and secondary schools, the organisation of support services and also looks at the ways parents and schools can work together. Other chapters outline whole school approaches to building better behaviour, as well as specific techniques.Challenging Behaviour in Schools will be of direct, practical value to all teachers, senior staff, special needs coordinators and governors in schools, educational psychologists, support teachers and all those involved in policy and planning.

First Published in 2000. This handbook is designed to support schools in the process of devising and revising their approach to managing the behaviour of pupils at a whole-school level. It is concerned primarily with the development and implementation of a whole-school behaviour policy. The handbook describes a process of development that, it is suggested, schools will find helpful in achieving good behaviour.

With contributions by: William Boyd, Candice Carty-Williams, Imtiaz Dharker, Roddy Doyle, Pico Iyer, Robert Macfarlane, Andy Miller, Jackie Morris, Jan Morris, Sisonke Msimang, Dina Nayeri, Chigozie Obioma, Michael Ondaatje, David Pilling, Max Porter, Philip Pullman, Alice Pung, Jancis Robinson, S.F.Said, Madeleine Thien, Salley Vickers, John Wood and Markus Zusak'This story, like so many stories, begins with a gift. The gift, like so many gifts, was a book...' So begins the essay by Robert Macfarlane that inspired this collection.In this cornucopia of an anthology, you will find essays by some of the world's most beloved novelists, nonfiction writers, essayists and poets.'You will see books taking flight in flocks, migrating around the world, landing in people's hearts and changing them for a day or a year or a lifetime.'You will see books sparking wonder or anger; throwing open windows into other languages, other cultures, other minds; causing people to fall in love or to fight for what is right.'And more than anything, over and over again, you will see books and words being given, received and read - and in turn prompting further generosity.'Published to coincide with the 20th anniversary of global literacy non-profit, Room to Read, The Gifts of Reading forms inspiring, unforgettable, irresistible proof of the power and necessity of books and reading.Inspired by Robert MacfarlaneCurated by Jennie Orchard