Paul Connolly

The latest book from bestselling author Paul Connolly. An uncensored account of his extraordinary true life story and his lifelong struggle to overcome an abusive childhood and build a 'normal' life for himself and his family. Put out with the rubbish at 2 weeks old and into the care of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, Paul Connolly was sent to the notorious St Leonard's home in Essex, where he heard that he was 'Not Normal' almost daily amongst years of mental, physical and sexual abuse. Childhood friendships made and lost. Total Neglect. Starvation. Sending an illiterate, very angry young man out into the world.After years of extreme violence in London during the 1980's and 90's mixing with gangsters and a dark underworld, Paul confronted memories and demons from his past in the most shocking ways - eventually discovering that six from eight of the childhood friends he grew up with in St Leonard's were no longer alive. Great friends and a loving heart transformed Paul's world and Paul has gone on to help thousands of people as a specialist conditioning coach, sports injury expert, celebrity personal trainer, presenter and best selling author. He works with various charities and is a core participant in the historical child abuse enquiry providing a voice for many of those no longer able to speak up. Above all else, Paul is now most proud of being a loving father to his two sons.Life has been anything but normal and the demons will never go away, but Paul has learned to smile at them as many of the people that predicted the worst for him are now where they told this vulnerable little boy he would end up.This is Paul Connolly's story and it is Not Normal

The Uncensored Account of an Extraordinary True Life Story

Not Normal

Abandoned at just two weeks old, Paul Connolly came of age in the infamous St Leonard's Children's Home in East London. Angry and frustrated at the way the kids were treated, Paul challenged his rage into boxing, becoming a successful trainer. This is his story.

The Most Amazing True-Life Story You'll Ever Read

Against All Odds

Bog snorkelling, dwile flonking, wife carrying — these might sound like the newest entries in a dictionary of euphemisms, but they are in fact sports. Strange sports, yes, but actual sports nonetheless. And there are dozens more, as you'll discover in this fantastic, witty and oddly compelling round-up of the world's strangest events held in the glorious name of competition. How about Chess-Boxing? It features 11 alternating rounds of chess and boxing and you can win by either a knockout or a checkmate. Or what about the Afghani sport of Buzkashi? This translates as goat grabbing and is like a surreal version of rugby on horseback, with a 55kg goat carcass instead of a ball and up to 100 competitors who are allowed to whip other riders to get the carcass off them and into their own scoring circle. Then there is the very Australian annual Goanna Pulling Championships, held every June. The competitors are actually consenting adults, who put large leather collars around their necks, hitch the collars to a chain that runs between the two of them, lie down on their stomachs, facing each other, with chests lifted off the ground, and attempt to drag their opponent backwards across the winning line. There are 50 very weird but very real sports in the book and you will find yourself chuckling on every page as you learn about them.

The World's Weirdest Sports

'She'd done more to belittle, undermine and scar me, with her ten years of scorn and hatred, than Starling with his brutal physical batterings or any of the others with their attempts at forced sexual contact. But no-one gets jailed for what they say, even when it amounts to deliberate mental torture...'As Paul Connolly struggled to leave behind his painful, humiliating childhood in the notorious St Leonard's children's home, the ghosts of his past would not let go. The paedophiles and sadists had damaged so many kids. Some had died, from suicide or heroin. Others, like Paul, had emerged, battered and illiterate, to try to find a place in the world. When a fall from a roof shattered his boxing ambitions, he survived in a brutal underworld of routine violence, before eventually building a career as a celebrity fitness trainer, working with the stars of fashion and film.After Against All Odds became a surprise bestseller, everything changed for Paul. He found himself speaking at the House of Lords, appearing on TV and getting involved in projects with abused kids and illiterate adults. But a rare heart infection almost killed him, and the old demons still haunted him.Four years later, Paul has made a new world for himself, centred on his young family and a successful training business that mends broken bodies, builds confidence and changes lives for the better. His story is a remarkable tale of endurance and survival - vivid, disturbing, but ultimately uplifting, as the beaten child who was once told 'You're rubbish; you'll never be worth a thing' becomes a man with the heart to love, live and embrace the future.

Beating the Odds - From shocking childhood abuse to the embrace of a loving family, one man's true story of courage and redemption

This book offers a fascinating yet disturbing account of the significance of racism in the lives of five and six year old children, drawing upon data from an in-depth study of an inner-city, multi-ethnic primary school and its surrounding community. It represents one of the only detailed studies to give primacy to the voices of the young children themselves - giving them the space to articulate their own experiences and concerns. Together with detailed observation of the children in the school and local community, it provides an important account of how and why they draw upon discourses on race in the development of their gender identities. The book graphically highlights the understanding that these children have of issues of race, gender and sexuality and the active role they play in using and reworking this knowledge to make sense of their experiences.

Social Relations in a Multi-Ethnic, Inner City Primary School

Racism, Gender Identities and Young Children

Boys' underachievement in education has now become a global concern, taxing the minds of governments across the Western world. Boys and Schooling in the Early Years represents the first major study of its kind to focus specifically on young boys and achievement. It makes a powerful argument for the need to begin tackling the problem of boys' lower educational performance in the early years. This book includes one of the most detailed and up-to-date analyses of national evidence regarding gender differences in educational achievement - from the early years through to the end of compulsory schooling. Together with original and in-depth case studies that vividly capture the differing experiences and perspectives of 5-6 year old boys, the book sets out the nature of the problems facing them in education and highlights a number of practical ways in which these issues can begin to be addressed. This is essential reading for all those working in the early years, who are concerned about boys' lower levels of achievement, and want to know what they can do about it.

Boys and Schooling in the Early Years

Sarah Miller

Andy Biggart

Allen Thurston

Liam O'Hare

This book examines the controversial aspects of Randomised Controlled Trials (RCT) in education and sets out the potential and pitfalls of the method. Drawing on their own extensive experience of running RCTs, the authors provide a thorough, practical introduction to the use of RCTs in education.

Using Randomised Controlled Trials in Education

Jim Pavlidis

A collection of one hundred illustrated vignettes from the much-loved Kitchen Sink Drama series, as seen in Good Weekend

Kitchen Sink Drama

It had been years since I had seen any of the children with whom I had grown up. When I left the children's home, I promised myself that I would have nothing to do with them, I was sure that my only chance of living a good life would be to put the past behind me, even though that meant saying goodbye to some of the people I loved the most - as well as the ones I hated...it turned out that six of us had died, several by slow suicide in the form of heroin abuse, and at least two by faster means. When two police officers arrived out of the blue at Paul Connolly's door, he learned the shocking news that, out of the eight children with whom he shared a dormitory in care, only two were still alive. The revelation unearthed painful memories of a childhood that, until this point, Paul had tried desperately to put behind him. Abandoned at two weeks old, Paul came of age in the infamous St Leonards's Children's Home in East London. The children there were routinely abused, often over the course of many years. All were underfed and unloved and told that they would amount to nothing. Angry and frustrated, Paul channelled his rage into boxing - but when an accident shattered his ambition to turn professional, he found his true calling and became a successful trainer, even working as a consultant on the pilot of a top model's fitness video. Paul has finally found peace and fulfilment beyond anyhing he could have imagined all those years ago. He has found happiness with his wife and children and now helps to heal broken bodies, build confidence and transform lives - but he will never forget his past and the unnecessary victims of broken society...

Paul Connolly

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