Dead Famous: An Unexpected History of Celebrity from Bronze Age to Silver Screen

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Jenner is an engaging tour guide who smuggles some thought-provoking points about our culture into his zippy pen-portraits.”

Queen Victoria and her Enormous Empire (previously Queen Victoria and her Amusements) (2002) - Alan MacDonald When a new house mistress starts, her friend's artwork starts to get misused to reveal secrets about the girls one by one including a secret of Kate's... Shakespeare and his Dramatic Acts (formerly William Shakespeare and his Dramatic Acts) (2004) - Andrew Donkin Celebrity, with its neon glow and selfie pout, strikes us as hypermodern. But the famous and infamous have been thrilling, titillating, and outraging us for much longer than we might realise. Whether it was the scandalous Lord Byron, whose poetry sent female fans into an erotic frenzy; or the cheetah-owning, coffin-sleeping, one-legged French actress Sarah Bernhardt, who launched a violent feud with her former best friend; or Edmund Kean, the dazzling Shakespearean actor whose monstrous ego and terrible alcoholism saw him nearly murdered by his own audience - the list of stars whose careers burned bright before the Age of Television is extensive and thrillingly varied. Celebrity/fame etc is such an interesting topic to read about. From Clara the Rhino (a literal rhino) to Dr Henry Sacheverell a churchman (arguably the first celebrity) to the more obvious celebrity names like Rita Hayworth and Shirley Temple, you’re sure to find an interesting person (and animal, sorry Clara) and discussion on the varieties of fame and what it meant then and how’s that developed.

What’s the book about?

Furthermore, the book feels slightly muddled when it comes to explaining the concept of celebrity. The author explicitly states that Romans are not celebrities, yet they are mentioned throughout the book as examples of a particular aspect of celebrity culture. This inconsistency made it difficult for me to fully grasp the author's perspective on celebrity and left me feeling a bit confused. However, that is not to say the book was not highly enjoyable. mk so i have very mixed feelings about this book. on the one hand, i found the plot quite interesting, as well as the characters and the way that although kate didn’t want people to know she had had plastic surgery, she wasn’t ashamed of it. She liked the fact she was beautiful, was fully aware of it. Our main character has a seemingly charmed life, and is returning to her exclusive school as house prefect. This brings with it its own challenges, and there is an added sense of unease created by the fact that we know someone is going to die. Elizabeth I and her Terrible Temper (formerly Elizabeth I and Her Conquests) (2001) - Margaret Simpson then the ending (spoilers) . ugh i really hated it. like i like this book as a book but not as a thriller if that makes sense. I really had no interest in finding out who pushed clemmie, and there was nothing there that made it all come together in the end. like yeah, it being calding made sense, but there were no hints that made you suspect her but then you ruled her out bc of one assumption that was made but then you notice something you missed and it all comes together and makes sense now. that would have been great. but it was more like, nobody really knew who it was, there weren’t really any suspects so the reader didn’t start to build their own theories and get into the mystery of it. and then you find out it’s calding and you’re just like ok yeah that makes sense. so yeah that was disappointing.

I don't know, I just feel really let down by this book as I was expecting a lot more. I was hoping that Sue Wallman would be a new YA thriller/mystery author whose work I could get into, but I’ll be a bit hesitant to read any of their other works.Dead Famous is an exuberant exploration… Jenner expands these vignettes, weaving academic theory and rich analysis into his tales of stardom’s past. The result is not a comprehensive history — Dead Famous focuses largely on the U.K. and the U.S.— but a wonderfully illuminating one” David, the actor, has the first four lines of Hamlet's soliloquy " To be, or not to be" tattooed around his ankle. This allows both Kelly and the police officers to identify him as a porn star who starred in a movie in which Kelly was an extra. This threatens his reputation, as he wishes to become a serious actor again. I loved this book. I read a lot of thrillers and the building up of the characters and the setting made it unputdownable. (Is that a word? It should be). I grew up with the Chalet School books by Elinor Brent-Dyer set in a boarding school in the Austria / Switzerland and Dead Popular reminded me of some of their adventure.