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 ...

In January 2012, one of EastEnders' longest-serving and best-loved characters breathed her last when Pat Butcher succumbed to cancer. Her departure from the show gave actress Pam St Clement time to reflect, not only on almost 26 years playing a role that she loved, but also on her whole life.Pam's mother died when she was a baby, leaving her with a father whose life didn't really have space for a child. What followed was an itinerant childhood, with various stepmothers and foster f...

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...

Norman Wisdom's early years could easily have come straight from the pages of a Dickens novel. Left by their frightened mother, ill-treated by a brutal father, Norman and his brother were forced to fend for themselves, sleeping rough in London and stealing food to survive. This is a rags to riches tale of the man Charlie Chaplin said would take his mantle and who went on to make millions laugh around the world for over five decades. Here are the hardships, tragedies and triumphs that gave ...

With his sly little moustache, broad gap-toothed grin, garish waistcoats and ostentatious cigarette holder, Terry-Thomas was known as an absolute bounder, both onscreen and off. Graham McCann’ s hugely entertaining biography celebrates the life and career of a very English rascal.Born in 1911 into an ordinary suburban family, Thomas Terry Hoar-Stevens set about transforming himself at a very early age into a dandy and a gadabout. But he did not put the finishing touches to his pers...

David Jason is Britain's best-loved star. From his wonderful characterisation of Del Boy in Only Fools and Horses to Detective Jack Frost and Mr Micawber, he has captured the heart of a nation. This remarkable biography traces the life of Britain's favourite actor from his humble roots in north London through his days as an electrician to Sir David Jason, the icon we all know and love. Recruited to an early Monty Python project for his masterful sense of timing, David soon attracted the at...

The World was my Lobster tells the story of George Cole's more than 70 years in the acting profession that began with a walk-on part at the age of 14 in the stage musical The White Horse Inn in 1939, and continues today having included such roles as David Bliss in the radio and television versions of A Life of Bliss, Flash Harry in the St. Trinian's films, and Arthur Daley in television's Minder.Adopted when he was only 10 days old, George Cole grew up in south London in the 1920s. On the ...

'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’...