NO ANGEL: The Secret Life of Bernie Ecclestone

Born into poverty, Bernie Ecclestone has made himself a billionaire by developing the world's second most popular sport - Formula One racing. Private, mysterious and some say sinister, the eighty-year-old criss-crosses the globe in his private jet, mixing with celebrities, statesmen and sporting heroes. His success is not just in creating a multibillion-pound global business but in resisting repeated attempts to snatch the glittering prize from his control.

Ecclestone has never fully revealed how he graduated from selling second-hand cars in London's notorious Warren Street to become the major player he is today. But he has finally decided to tell his life story: the deals, the marriages, the disasters and the successes on race tracks, in Downing Street, in casinos, on yachts and in the air.

Surprisingly, he is disclosing his secrets to Tom Bower the biographer described by Ecclestone as 'the Undertaker' - the man who buries reputations. Formula One drivers, team owners, rival car dealers, bankers, ex-girlfriends, politicians, royalty and critics are for the first time volunteering the unvarnished facts. Ecclestone has said to all, 'Tell him the truth, good or bad.'

'No Angel' is a classic rags-to-riches saga, the unique story of a unique man.

Hardbound | 417 pages | 24 b&w and color photos