Amazing Composers: A2-B1 (Collins Amazing People ELT Readers)
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Amazing Composers: A2-B1 (Collins Amazing People ELT Readers)
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Narrated by:
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Collins
About this listen
The inspiring stories of 6 people who changed history.
Contents:
Johann Sebastian Bach who wrote the Brandenburg Concertos
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, the child genius
Giuseppe Verdi who wrote the operas Aida and La Traviata
Johann Strauss, ‘The Waltz King’
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky who wrote the ballet Swan Lake
Irving Berlin who wrote There’s No Business Like Show Business
This book is Level 2 in the Collins ELT Readers series.
Level 2 is equivalent to CEF level A2-B1.
About the Amazing People series:
A unique opportunity for learners of English to read about the exceptional lives and incredible abilities of some of the most insightful people the world has seen.
Each book contains six short stories, told by the characters themselves, as if in their own words. The stories explain the most significant parts of each character’s life, giving an insight into how they came to be such an important historic figure.
After each story, a timeline presents the most major events in their life in a clear and succinct fashion. The timeline is ideal for checking comprehension or as a basis for project work or further research.
Created in association with The Amazing People Club.
About Collins ELT Readers:
Collins ELT Readers are divided into four levels:
Level 1 – elementary (A2)
Level 2 – pre-intermediate (A2–B1)
Level 3 – intermediate (B1)
Level 4 – upper intermediate (B2)
Each level is carefully graded to ensure that the learner both enjoys and benefits from their reading experience.
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 174
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 146
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Story5 out of 5 stars 146
Thelonious Monk is the critically acclaimed, gripping saga of an artist's struggle to "make it" without compromising his musical vision. It is a story that, like its subject, reflects the tidal ebbs and flows of American history in the 20th century. To his fans, he was the ultimate hipster; to his detractors, he was temperamental, eccentric, taciturn, or childlike. His angular melodies and dissonant harmonies shook the jazz world to its foundations, ushering in the birth of "bebop" and establishing Monk as one of America's greatest composers.
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5 out of 5 stars
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The definitive bio of Monk
- By ricardo on 12-27-17
By: Robin DG Kelley
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Outlaw Marriages
- The Hidden Histories of Fifteen Extraordinary Same-Sex Couples
- By: Rodger Streitmatter
- Narrated by: Christopher Hurt
- Length: 7 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 169
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 147
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 148
For more than a century before gay marriage became a hot-button political issue, same-sex unions flourished in America. Pairs of men and pairs of women joined together in committed unions, standing by each other "for richer and for poorer, in sickness and in health" for periods of 30 or 40 - sometimes as many as 50 - years. In short, they loved and supported each other every bit as much as any husband and wife. In Outlaw Marriages, cultural historian Rodger Streitmatter reveals how some of these unions didn’t merely improve the quality of life for the two people involved but also enriched the American culture.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Sames Sex Couples Through History
- By Susie on 12-11-12
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Something Wonderful
- Rodgers and Hammerstein's Broadway Revolution
- By: Todd S. Purdum
- Narrated by: Todd S. Purdum
- Length: 10 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 452
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 382
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 379
They stand at the apex of the great age of songwriting, the creators of the classic Broadway musicals Oklahoma!, Carousel, South Pacific, The King and I, and The Sound of Music, whose songs have never lost their popularity or emotional power. Even before they joined forces, Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II had written dozens of Broadway shows, but together they pioneered a new art form: the serious musical play.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Fabulous book about Rodgers & Hammerstein!!!
- By BigWally on 06-27-18
By: Todd S. Purdum
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A Century of Wisdom
- Lessons from the Life of Alice Herz-Sommer, the World's Oldest Living Holocaust Survivor
- By: Caroline Stoessinger, Vaclav Havel - foreword
- Narrated by: Linda Korn
- Length: 6 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 33
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 30
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 30
Before her death at 110, the pianist Alice Herz-Sommer was an eyewitness to the entire last century and the first decade of this one. She had seen it all, surviving the Theresienstadt concentration camp, attending the trial of Adolf Eichmann in Jerusalem, and along the way coming into contact with some of the most fascinating historical figures of our time. As a child in Prague, she spent weekends and holidays in the company of Franz Kafka (whom she knew as “Uncle Franz”), and Gustav Mahler, Sigmund Freud, and Rainer Maria Rilke were friendly with her mother.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Inspiring
- By Janet on 01-17-20
By: Caroline Stoessinger, and others
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Afterlives of the Rich and Famous
- By: Sylvia Browne
- Narrated by: Hillary Huber
- Length: 9 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 123
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 94
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 95
For decades—on television, in consultations,and in packed auditoriums across the country—renowned psychic Sylvia Browne has beenasked one question again and again: “What ismy favorite celebrity doing on the Other Side?” Now, for the first time, you can follow the redcarpet into the heart of the spirit world. Browne reveals intimate details of how some of our most cherished actors, musicians, and public figures have fared since their deaths, giving us one more glimpse into the personalities we loved and lost.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Very entertaining book!
- By Crusader on 11-06-11
By: Sylvia Browne
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Jenni Rivera
- The Incredible Story of a Warrior Butterfly
- By: Leila Cobo
- Narrated by: Alma Cuervo
- Length: 5 hrs
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 70
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 60
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 60
In Jenni Rivera: The Incredible Story of a Warrior Butterfly, Leila Cobo - pianist, TV host, and executive director for Latino content and programming at Billboard - brings us Jenni Rivera’s intimate and moving biography, reflecting on the party girl, the elegant woman, the great diva, the friend, the mother, and the grandmother. Discover the humble beginnings of Jenni’s life and career, as well as the emotional and sometimes turbulent moments that defined her persona and spirit.
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4 out of 5 stars
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I love Jenny 😘
- By Margaret Martinez on 01-23-17
By: Leila Cobo
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When Paris Sizzled
- The 1920s Paris of Hemingway, Chanel, Cocteau, Cole Porter, Josephine Baker, and Their Friends
- By: Mary McAuliffe
- Narrated by: Saskia Maarleveld
- Length: 11 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 97
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 88
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 89
When Paris Sizzled vividly portrays the City of Light during the fabulous 1920s, les Annees folles, when Parisians emerged from the horrors of war to find that a new world greeted them - one that reverberated with the hard metallic clang of the assembly line, the roar of automobiles, and the beat of jazz. Mary McAuliffe traces a decade that saw seismic change on almost every front, from art and architecture to music, literature, fashion, entertainment, transportation, and, most notably, behavior.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Informative, but no sizzle
- By OzEnigma on 06-01-17
By: Mary McAuliffe
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Who Is Dolly Parton?
- By: True Kelley
- Narrated by: Dorothy Dillingham Blue
- Length: 55 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 34
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 25
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 25
Born in a little cabin in Tennessee, Dolly Parton always dreamed big, and she was right to! She wrote her first song at age five and became a country music star by the time she was in her early twenties. Of course, her success didn't stop there. Dolly Parton is also an actress, author, businesswoman, and philanthropist whose "Imagination Library" reading initiative reaches children throughout the US, Canada, and the UK. There is simply no one like Dolly Parton!
By: True Kelley
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Bright lights dark shadows
- The real story of Abba
- By: Carl Palm
- Narrated by: Adrian Mulraney
- Length: 26 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 121
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 102
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Story4 out of 5 stars 100
An exploration of all aspects of the Abba member’s lives and careers. Amazingly detailed, it examines the group member’s family backgrounds, the pre-Abba days, the legendary 70s, the marriages, the divorces, the business ups and downs, and the post-Abba solo careers.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Awesome! -- All the Swedish words pronounced!
- By Howard_a on 06-18-12
By: Carl Palm
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Being John Lennon
- A Restless Life
- By: Ray Connolly
- Narrated by: Jonathan Keeble
- Length: 16 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 57
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 47
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 47
What was it like to be John Lennon? What was it like to be the castoff child, the clown at school, the middle-class suburban boy who pretended to be a working-class hero? How did it feel to have one of the most recognizable singing voices in the world but to dislike it so much he always wanted to disguise it? Being John Lennon is not about the whitewashed Prince of Peace of “Imagine” legend - because that was only a small part of him. The John Lennon depicted in this book is a much more kaleidoscopic figure, sometimes almost a collision of different characters.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Stars taken off for inclusion of MDC’s story
- By rob on 12-09-22
By: Ray Connolly
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Bedtime Inspirational Stories
- 50 Amazing Black People Who Changed the World, Volume 1
- By: L. A. Amber
- Narrated by: Tanya C. Brown
- Length: 2 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 48
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 37
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 37
Bedtime Inspirational Stories celebrates the achievements of the amazing black heroes who have paved the way for future generations. In today’s world, it can be a challenge to raise positive kids. More than ever, parents and teachers need to create a positive atmosphere for our children in order to help them believe in themselves. That’s why we’ve proudly created this inspiring audiobook, Bedtime Inspirational Stories: 50 Amazing Black People Who Changed the World, which highlights the achievements and stories of 50 notable women and men from the 18th century to today.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Disappointed
- By T on 06-18-20
By: L. A. Amber
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Fryderyk Chopin
- A Life and Times
- By: Dr. Alan Walker
- Narrated by: Corrie James
- Length: 23 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 86
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 75
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 76
Based on 10 years of research and a vast cache of primary sources located in archives in Warsaw, Paris, London, New York, and Washington, D.C., Alan Walker's monumental Fryderyk Chopin: A Life and Times is the most comprehensive biography of the great Polish composer to appear in English in more than a century. Walker's work is a corrective biography, intended to dispel the many myths and legends that continue to surround Chopin.
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5 out of 5 stars
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This book is a masterpiece
- By Carpe Diem on 02-09-19
By: Dr. Alan Walker
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The Story of Motown
- By: Peter Benjaminson, Greil Macus - foreword
- Narrated by: Sean Crisden
- Length: 5 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 67
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 57
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 57
In January 1959, Berry Gordy borrowed $800 from his family and founded the Detroit-based record company that in less than a decade was to become the largest Black-owned business in the United States. It also became one of the most productive and influential producers of popular music anywhere in the world. The Story of Motown is the story of Berry Gordy's triumph over powerful, established financial interests, entrenched popular taste, bigotry, and racism.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Check Your Facts
- By Marie on 11-24-18
By: Peter Benjaminson, and others
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Manifesto
- On Never Giving Up
- By: Bernardine Evaristo
- Narrated by: Bernardine Evaristo
- Length: 6 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 30
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 22
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 21
From the best-selling and Booker Prize-winning author of Girl, Woman, Other, Bernardine Evaristo’s memoir of her own life and writing, and her manifesto on unstoppability, creativity, and activism.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Glorious performance and inspiring story
- By Maggi Morehouse on 01-25-22
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Gabriel Garcia Marquez: A Life
- By: Gerald Martin
- Narrated by: Sean Crisden
- Length: 22 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 75
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 58
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 62
In his novels and short stories, Gabriel García Márquez has transformed the particulars of his own life and the lives of his fellow Colombians into wondrous fiction. While telling the story of the sloppily dressed, skinny young man who rose from obscurity as a provincial journalist to international fame as the progenitor of a new literature, Gerald Martin also considers the tensions in García Márquez's life between celebrity and the personal quest for literary quality, between politics and writing, and between the seductions of power, solitude, and love.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Great content, somewhat disappointing narrator.
- By Paola Herrington on 01-08-13
By: Gerald Martin
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Kicking and Dreaming
- A Story of Heart, Soul, and Rock and Roll
- By: Ann Wilson, Nancy Wilson
- Narrated by: Ann Wilson, Nancy Wilson
- Length: 8 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 940
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 847
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 841
Two sisters. Two voices. One Heart.
The mystery of "Magic Man." The wicked riff of "Barracuda." The sadness and beauty of "Alone." The raw energy of "Crazy On You." These songs, and so many more, are part of the fabric of American music. Heart, fronted by Ann and Nancy Wilson, has given fans everywhere classic, raw, and pure badass rock and roll for more than three decades. As the only sisters in rock who write their own music and play their own instruments, Ann and Nancy have always stood apart - certainly from their male counterparts but also from their female peers.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Good Behind-The-Scenes Look At "Heart"
- By Kathy on 11-13-12
By: Ann Wilson, and others
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Toksvig's Almanac 2021
- An Eclectic Meander Through the Historical Year by Sandi Toksvig
- By: Sandi Toksvig
- Narrated by: Sandi Toksvig
- Length: 9 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 59
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 50
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Story5 out of 5 stars 50
Let Sandi Toksvig guide you on an eclectic meander through the calendar, illuminating neglected corners of history to tell tales of the fascinating figures you didn't learn about at school. From popes who gave birth during papal processions, to the inventor of Scrabble, to pioneering civil rights activist Ida B. Wells, who refused to give up her seat on a train decades before Rosa Parks was born. As witty and entertaining as it is instructive, this is an essential companion to each day of the year.
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5 out of 5 stars
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simply one of my favorite people
- By Rae on 06-05-22
By: Sandi Toksvig