Christopher Bray Book order

The year of the cultural revolution; there is Britain before 1965 and Britain after 1965 - and they are not the same thing

Sean Connery's personification of secret agent James Bond invigorated Britain and its cinema, allowing a cash-strapped, morale-sapped country in decline to fancy itself still a player on the world stage. This title is both a biography of a star and an investigation of what can happen to a man when the images he creates take over his life.

Backgammon is one of the oldest games in the world, the origins of which date back some 5000 years and it s still going strong. It enjoyed a huge resurgence in the 1970s, and then again in the 1990s with the popularity of the Internet, where millions of people play tournaments online every day.

From Alfie and Zulu to Batman Begins, Michael Caine's brilliant career has spanned five decades and over a hundred films. This son of a London fish- market porter made his name as an iconic rogue in classics such as The Italian Job and Get Carter but has also won Oscars working with the likes of Woody Allen.