Reviews
How the Girl Guides Won the War
"This lovely book transports us back to St Trinian's time, with the young heroines digging shelters and providing First Aid." - Sunday Express
"Invaluable, sobering and inspirational" - Mail on Sunday
"A real revelation to read quite how those principles of guiding established by Baden Powell came to the fore." - Dove Grey Reader
"A stirring, surprising, story." - Saga Magazine
"A fascinating oral history… As the government gropes for some substance to add to its vague talk of the Big Society it could do worse than to look at this prelapsarian tale of duty, teamwork and cheerfulness." - Sunday Times
"…absorbing and unexpected story… packed with heart-breaking stories of the girls' courage in extreme situations… the descriptions linger long in the mind." - The Times
"Remarkable for casting a glorious light on the oddest corners." - Telegraph Books of the Year
The Austerity Olympics:
"Janie Hampton vividly brings alive the cast of key characters and circumstances that shaped the 1948 Games." - Sebastian Coe
"Marvellously rich…" - The Financial Times
"This worthy offering is a perceptive and jaunty account which also manages to whet the appetite for London 2012." - The Times
"Janie Hampton has successfully interviewed many survivors to cleverly depict a cut price Games." - The Spectator
"This is a gold medal performance which deserves success." - Journal of Olympic History
"For those who abhor the bloated, cheat-dominated, winning-is-everything monster of the Olympics, I recommend you switch off the television when the Beijing Games begin and open this splendid book instead." - The Oldie
"How London contrived in 1948 almost by accident, to create one of the friendliest games in history" - Best holiday reads, Sunday Times
"Janie Hampton's new book wonderfully evokes the atmosphere of post-war Britain. A fine account which places in context the orgy of cash, angst and celebration which we can confidently anticipate in 2012." - History Today
"Hampton has hit upon a rich subject matter." - Scotland on Sunday
"Hampton has researched her subject with an awesome thoroughness, interviewing many people who attended and competed in 1948. She has an illuminating sense of detail, and her books tells a story that goes beyond that of a sporting event. A schoolgirl remembers the thrill of holding Fanny Blankers-Koen's cardigan as she strode off, in driving rain, to unleash one of her easy joyful runs." - Daily Telegraph
"Hampton's excellent book should be compulsory reading for everyone - organisers and competitors - involved in the 2012 Olympics. It is the vividness of the first-hand accounts that she has so painstakingly gathered from people who were actually there that make her book particularly fascinating" - Daily Mail
Letters from Aldeburgh:
"Joyce remains an unforgettable example of just how extraordinary a human being can be" - Clive James
"Grenfell captures all the joy and excitement of past festivals, making this a wonderful memento" - This England
"These letters evoke wonderful memories of long, leisurely summers past and bring Joyce Grenfell's warm, witty personality to life again" - The Lady
Joyce Grenfell, The First Biography:
"Hampton has produced a winner. She writes with attractive redolence of that period and circumstances." - Daily Telegraph
"This delightful biography, written as freshly as one of Grenfell's lightest monologues." - The Catholic Herald
"A proper biography was overdue and the gap has now been admirably filled by Janie Hampton." - Reading Evening Post
"Janie Hampton's biography reveals a complex character and gets under the skin of Grenfell. Far from 'warts and all' - there seems to have been very few warts - it does reveal the human frailties of a great entertainer." - Manchester Evening News
"Fortunately it [writing this biography] has fallen into the hands of Janie Hampton to write what is, without question, the definitive biography. The result is an absorbing and fascinating insight into the very private life of a very public person. Janie Hampton has brilliantly opened up whole incidents." - Ham & High Express
"This is undoubtedly the definitive life of Grenfell." - Literary Review
"Reading this full and surely definitive biography by Janie Hampton, I was filled with nostalgia." - Mail on Sunday
"Hampton gives us a flavour of acid Grenfell, intolerant, repressive and even angry. Although generally affectionate, her book provides a glimpse of a bigoted, spinsterish Little Englander. With many memorable characters that enhance the book, including Grenfells nanny, 'a stickler for bowel habits'." - Review of Reviews, The Week
"Janie Hampton's painstaking and comprehensive biography makes clear, there was far more to Joyce than the public persona." - Church Times
"This book tells the story of her life as uncovered by careful research, warts and all." - Oxford Times
"Like her subject, Hampton is well organised, with an excellent eye for detail." - Sunday Times