The Dragon Entertains is a reference book with a difference - a highly readable, informative account of the lives of 100 Welsh Stars, the first of its genre. Within its pages the reader will find one hundred concise mini-biographies, word pictures detailing all the relevant, basic facts of the entertainer's career.

For a small country on the western fringe of Europe, a nation of only three million people, Wales' contribution to the world of entertainment is immense. Actors and actresses, playwrights and directors, singers and musicians, composers and comedians - Wales has produced them all. And what other nation of comparable size can boast four Oscar winners?

The first Welsh film star, the Welsh influence on the James Bond movies, Monty Python, Doctor Who, The Goon Show, the Beatles films and the original 'Angry Young Man' can all be found in the pages of this new book by Alan Roderick of Newport.

Stars of Broadway and the West End stage, the Silver Screen, television, radio, the worlds of opera and contemporary rock music - The Dragon Entertains has them all. Welsh-speaking and non-Welsh-speaking, North Wales and South Wales - Welsh showbiz life in all its many facets can be found here.

The Dragon Entertains also features stars with Welsh connections and at least one Welsh-born parent including Bob Hope, Glenn Ford, Petula Clark and Alan Rickman.

Containing forty black and white photographs, The Dragon Entertains is one hundred biographies for the price of one, and a celebration of Welsh talent in all its vibrant variety. Stars of the calibre of Richard Burton, Anthony Hopkins, Tom Jones, Shirley Bassey, Catherine Zeta Jones, Jonathan Pryce, Tommy Cooper and many, many more throng its pages. Prepare to be entertained!

Popular Singers - Charlotte Church, Ivor Emmanuel, Mary Hopkin, Harry Secombe, Allan Jones, Peter Karrie, Dorothy Squires, Donald Peers.

New Actors - Ioan Gruffudd, Rhys Ifans, Christian Bale, Timothy Dalton, Matthew Rhys, Michael Sheen

Actors - Rupert Davies (Maigret), Windsor Davies, Hugh Griffith, Donald and Glyn Houston, Ronald Lewis, Phillip Madoc, Desmond Llywelyn, Ray Milland, Sir Stanley Baker, Hywel Bennet, Emlyn Williams

Presenters - Carol Vorderman, Wynford Vaughan-Thomas, Sir Huw Weldon, Delia Smith.

Rock Bands - Manic Street Preachers, Catatonia, The Alarm, Badfinger, Super Furry Animals, Stereophonics

Composers - Ivor Novello, John Cale, Karl Jenkins, Joseph Parry.

Entertainers - Max Boyce, Sir Lewis Casson, Rolf Harris, Tessie O'Shea, David Jason.

Actresses - Gwen Ffrangcon-Davies, Maudie Edwards, Sian Phillips, Glynis Johns, Sarah Siddons.

Comedians - Ryan Davies and Ronnie Williams, Paul Whitehouse, Griff Rhys-Jones, Terry Jones

Classical Singers - Clifford Evans, Bryn Terfel, Dennis O'Neill, Gwyneth Jones.

Film-Makers - Peter Greenaway, Richard Marquand, Kenneth Griffith.

Writers - Dylan Thomas, John Ormond, Saunders Lewis, Arthur Machen, John Osborne.