As a detective story, the account can be ponderous, comprising false starts and complaints about relatives reluctant to revisit the past. As a portrait of life in a changing Ukraine, though, the narrative sparkles with details of rural life and Soviet-inherited bureaucratic absurdity. The denouement will be no surprise to anyone familiar with the horrors of Stalinism. Belim describes her family as having “survived more tragedies than should be allotted by fate”, a characterisation just as applicable to Ukraine itself. The Rooster House is a moving account of a still much-misunderstood country, given extra poignancy by the disaster now unfolding. Snooker legend Ronnie O’Sullivan is breaking down the lessons he’s learnt in his formidable career in his new book, Unbreakable. Ronnie is searingly honest, candidly funny, and thought provokingly brilliant in Unbreakable. I devoured it.' - NIHAL ARTHANAYAKE

The deaths of innumerable indigenous Americans from infections brought by the first European colonists left the newcomers short of cheap labour, he notes, Reading this is like watching an O'Sullivan break: hypnotic, dazzling and impossible to tear yourself away from.' - STEPHEN FRY Raised in Essex, O’Sullivan, 47, won his first UK Championship at the age of 17. He is regarded as the greatest snooker player of all time, having won seven world, seven Masters and seven UK titles. He is currently the world No 1. He published his first autobiography, Ronnie, in 2003; his latest, Unbreakable, has just been released. He lives in Essex with actor Laila Rouass and has three children. In a career spanning over three decades, Ronnie O'Sullivan's journey to becoming the greatest snooker player of all time has been filled with extremes.Unfortunately for Francisco Garcia, last year the BBC ran a documentary and a podcast series revisiting the case, and so there is little in We All Go into the Dark that feels truly new: reclaiming the stories of the victims; the 1996 exhumation of the suspect John McInnes for DNA testing (spoiler: it wasn’t him); the possibility that Bible John was actually the serial killer Peter Tobin (a theory here discredited by the detective who caught Tobin). Most interesting are Garcia’s interviews with those directly involved in the case over the decades – crime reporters, detectives, a pathologist – and the underlying social history of how bogeymen come to be. I put a lot of work into it,” he shared. “Obviously when you do a book, you want it to be authentic and people have got to read it, so we wanted to do the best job we and Tom did, we put our heart and soul into it.” Ronnie O’Sullivan is planning to skip UK tournaments to concentrate on playing in Asia. The seven-time world champion has swung between preferring to play at home and abroad and, in an interview on TalkSport to promote his new autobiography, Unbreakable, O’Sullivan said he is now looking to travel more. O’Sullivan has been described as “the most naturally gifted player ever”. He was potting balls from age seven and had scored his first century by 10, beating all in his wake before turning professional at 16.

Framed around the many lessons Ronnie has learned from his extraordinary career, Unbreakable takes us beyond the success and record-breaking achievements to share the reality - and brutality - of making it to the very top, whatever your field. Ronnie is the first to say he doesn't have all the answers, but in sharing the experiences that have shaped him and mistakes that have made him, he hopes to help readers navigate their own personal challenges and obstacles, and in turn reach their maximum potential. He praised the Belgian, saying: “I thought Luca was unbelievable. You talk about talent – [in football] you look at someone who does things with the ball and you think: ‘How does he do that?’ And Luca is that player. Now it feels a lot better: everyone is just in a better place. I just want to see her and her daughter [Rouass has a teenage daughter from a previous relationship] and her family, who are like my family, happy.” In his second autobiography, Ronnie O’Sullivan describes his biggest challenge: “To become someone I could look at in the mirror and not turn away from.” Such vulnerability might not be what you’d expect to hear from a snooker legend. But Unbreakable adds to a growing subgenre of sports media that goes beyond surface-level accounts of an athlete’s career highs, instead focusing on the psychological tolls of elite sport and daily life – and how they often overlap. Reaching a new stage in his snooker career, Ronnie admitted his love of the game, and his incredible talent, is beginning to outweighing his need to win.Now, though, he is able to separate his snooker life from his other interests, and the balance has helped him love the sport again. I said, ‘I feel guilty sometimes for just enjoying the game, because I know it takes something away from being a winner. But if I tried to be a winner, I think I just wouldn't want to play anymore because it's too stressful at my age.’ He went, ‘you're doing the right thing. If you can just enjoy it and have fun.’” In the new tome, Ronnie writes about his 31-year career, from being a teenage snooker prodigy and winning titles within a year of turning professional to becoming the greatest snooker player of all time and breaking world records. I’ve not mellowed, in that I’ve changed my personality, but I’ve learned to just not take myself too seriously. I’m much more philosophical.”

Boris Johnson said that the pandemic was “nature’s way of dealing with old people”, the Covid inquiry was told yesterday as his former aide laid bare the chaos and toxic in-fighting at the heart of government. Dominic Cummings said that “pretty much everyone” referred to the former prime minister... Boris Johnson said that the pandemic was “nature’s way of dealing with old people”, the Covid inquiry was told yesterday as his former aide laid bare the chaos and toxic in-fighting at the heart of government. Dominic Cummings said that “pretty much everyone” referred to the former prime minister... Boris Johnson said that the pandemic was “nature’s way of dealing with old people”, the Covid inquiry was told yesterday as his... He has a good relationship with both his parents, who are divorced (his father was released from prison in 2010 after serving 18 years), and has been with his partner, Holby City actress Laila Rouass, for a decade (although they briefly split last year). Purchasing a book may earn the NS a commission from Bookshop.org, who support independent bookshopsStaying on the straight and narrow. I know I am an addict – I’ve got an addictive personality – but as long as it’s not affecting my life or people around me then I think it’s OK. The Tom he’s referring to is sports journalist and co-writer Tom Fordyce, and Ronnie admitted their love of running helped to build the bond before sitting down to write. In some ways, he is looking forward to his snooker career coming to an end — he predicts he may continue for another couple of years, or longer — but while he’s still doing well, he won’t quit. Marc writes (main picture): I specifically focused on the South Africa captain Siya Kolisi, far left, as he sung the national anthem, Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika, as he sings with so much passion and emotion. and was a major driver of the transatlantic slave trade. Conversely, during the American War of Independence, British troops in the South were badly afflicted with malaria while American soldiers suffered far less because they had long lived with the disease. Elsewhere, the haemophilia endemic in Europe’s interrelated royal families – the “curse of the Coburgs” – led to the fall of both the Spanish and Russian monarchies. Biology determines more than personal destiny.