Secrets of Success

Did you know that Beethoven made every cup of coffee with exactly 60 beans? Or that Shirley Temple always had precisely 56 curls in her hair? Or that the young Frank Sinatra practised underwater swimming as a way of developing his ability to hold long breaths? In Secrets of Success, Charlie Croker brings his proven blend of gripping trivia and incisive humour to the question of how famous high achievers reached those heights. We'll see Chopin sleeping with wedges between his fingers to increase their span, learn how P.G. Wodehouse reminded himself which pages of a manuscript still needed work, and find out why Thomas Edison chose his research assistants on the basis of their soup-eating habits. This revealing and entertaining book provides countless glimpses into the methods - and sometimes madness - of the world's most famous figures. From ancient Egypt to the modern day, you're about to learn the secrets of their success . . .

Charlie Croker is an author and journalist whose titles include Lost in Translation and A Game of Three Halves. He has written for mainstream national media such as The Times and The Independent.