Harry H. Corbett rose from the slums of Manchester to become one of the best-known television stars of the 20th century. Having left home as a 17-year-old Royal Marine during the Second World War, he fought in the North Atlantic and the jungles of the Pacific and witnessed first-hand the devastation wrought by the Hiroshima bomb. On his return home he wandered into the local theatre company and landed a starring role – The Front Legs of the Cow. Soon becoming a le...

A comprehensive collection of dramatisations of Daphne du Maurier’s works'Containing performances from well-known actors from past and present, Daphne du Maurier: The BBC Radio Collection is a rich feast for all fans of the writer's work.' - Entertainment FocusDaphne du Maurier was one of the 20th century’s most popular writers. Extraordinarily prolific, she produced a string of bestsellers, many of which were adapted as a...

The hardback of this first and authorised biography received very good reviews and immediately reprinted. It tells the story of one of the heroines of post-war British comedy, on radio, film and TV.Hattie Jacques is known as the billowing, imposing Matron in the Carry On films, as the star of such BBC radio classics as ITMA, Educating Archie and Hancock’s Half Hour, and as the fictional sister of Eric Sykes in his long-running TV sitcom.But the formidable, frumpy galleon-in...

Margaret Rutherford was without a doubt one of Britain’s best-loved comic actresses. But behind the kindly, serene front Rutherford presented to the world lay a life of trauma and repeated nervous breakdown – the legacy of the legacy of family tragedy that saw her father murder her grandfather during a bout of mental illness and her depressive mother later kill herself.Andy Merriman’s acclaimed biography intrigued and shocked readers with these revelations when it was published in ...

DIVING HEADLONG INTO RIB TICKLING SITUATIONS, WITH HILARIOUS CONSEQUENCES. THIS BOOK WILL MAKE YOU LAUGH OUT LOUD!! Leading up to retirement, authoress Patti Trickett and her husband Chris bought a 2 berth motor home. Enjoying regular short breaks in the U.K; they eventually had an extended tour of Scotland to celebrate their retirement. Learning the necessary skills of touring, the experienced some hilarious situations! Returning home, they decided to do extensive planning, and drive thei...

THE HEART-WARMING AUTOBIOGRAPHY BY BARBARA WINDSOR CHRONICLING HER EARLY CHILDHOOD IN LONDON'S EAST END TO RECEIVING A DBE IN 2000'A whopping, no-holds-barred rollercoaster of a book' Mail on Sunday`Barbara Windsor emerges from these pages as a personality both strong and sunny' Sunday TelegraphBorn in the East End of London just before the war, Barbara Windsor made her first stage appearance at th...

The author's half sister Pamela was James Mason's first wife and Diana de Rosso enjoyed a close friendship with the actor throughout his life. Drawing on her own experience and interviews with those who knew him, including Alec Guinness, Margaret Lockwood, Deborah Kerr and many other actors, directors and writers, Diana de Rosso lets us into the real life of a truly great Englishman.

The autobiography of true national treasure LESLIE PHILLIPS, an actor who has featured in more British Number One box office smashes than anyone else and was the voice of The Sorting Hat in Harry Potter'A lively book full of amusing anecdotes and insights into the life of a zestfully ambitious actor' SPECTATORLeslie Phillips's story begins with a poverty-stricken childhood in north London, made all the worse when his father...

Les Dawson: a comedian who, more than any other, spoke for the phlegmatic, resigned, sarcastic, glorious British way of life. This is his story.A Northern lad who climbed out of the slums thanks to an uncommonly brilliant mind, Les Dawson was always the underdog, but his bark was funnier and more incisive than many comics who claimed to bite.Married twice in real life, he had a third wife in his comic world - a fictional ogre built from spare parts left by ...

'At sixteen I was very interested in palmistry. The fate line on my right palm had a distinct break at the age of thirty. It broke into two parts that ran for a quarter of an inch on parallel tracks. I used to look at it and wonder, 'What will happen to me when I am thirty that will change my life?'Of course, it was Johnny's death. But, in fact, my life was changed twice by death.'June Brown, who died in April 2022 aged 95, was an institution - a classically trained actress...

The long awaited story of one of Britain’s greatest comic legends.'Some people walk on stage and the audience warms to them. You can't explain it, and you shouldn't try. It's an arrogant assumption to say you 'decide' to become a comedian. The audience decides for you.' Eric Sykes, December 2001From his early days writing scripts for Bill Fraser and Frankie Howerd through decades of British radio and television comedy – ‘Educating Archie’, ‘Sykes And A …’, ‘Curry and Chips’...

This is the first complete biography of the last of the great British comedians, published to coincide with his 80th birthday in November 2007.