‘I could turn very nasty – I was an egotistical brute’, says Anthony Hopkins
Judging by his autobiography, it’s no wonder the actor was in such demand to play devils, killers, bullies, werewolves and ruthless kings
The slow delights of an OAP coach tour
Early on Monday mornings, in service stations across the country, armies of the elderly are mustering. These are the OAPs…
A year to forget: good riddance to 2024
January. When the assisted dying bill comes in, I’ll be first in the queue. Non-stop nosebleeds, Covid-esque symptoms, leg cramps,…
What prompted Vivien Leigh’s dark journey into madness?
Did her many miscarriages so unhinge the beautiful actress that she ended up a sex-crazed harridan, screaming obscenities at those she loved?
The bald truth about Patrick Stewart
The actor best known for his role as Star Trek’s Captain Picard comes across as pompous, chippy and point-scoring as he reminisces about directors and fellow stars
To have and to hold
Lauren Bacall was 25 years younger than Humphrey Bogart. Unlike his previous wives, she stayed – though Roger Lewis finds something creepy about their relationship
Braggart and bully
Brawling, boozing and womanising, those vaunted hell-raisers of the 1960s – Peter O’Toole, Oliver Reed, Richard Burton and, of course,…
Dogged by disaster
Norman Scott’s long-anticipated memoir reveals the British Establishment at its worst, says Roger Lewis
Unwelcome news
A character in David Hare’s Skylight claims she has at last found contentment by no longer opening newspapers or watching…
A sly old fox
Rumours reach me that the libel report for Stephen Bayley’s forthcoming biography of Terence Conran was longer than the book…
A tendency to intolerance
Though the indefatigable Gyles Brandreth met and interviewed Prince Philip over a 40-year period, His Royal Highness managed to give…
Tears before bedtime
I met Jane Birkin’s parents, who flit across these pages. Her mother, Judy Campbell, was an actress in Noël Coward…
Antisocial distancing
Rudeness is spreading like a virus
Homage to Clement and La Frenais, the writing duo who transformed British comedy
Ray Galton and Alan Simpson remain pre-eminent as writers of television comedy, but their closest rivals Dick Clement and Ian…
Biography is a thoroughly reprehensible genre
I saw a biopic about Morecambe and Wise recently. The actors impersonating the comedians were not a patch on the…
Broken dreams
In the expensive realm of musical comedy, it’s impossible to predict what will take off and what will crash and…
A perfect nightmare
Dylan Evans, the author of this book, was one of those oddballs who rather looked forward to the apocalypse, because…
Angry old woman
If Stalin had been a theatre director he’d have resembled Joan Littlewood. What an outstandingly unpleasant woman she was —…
Boastful and bored
Has there ever been a nun or a priest who wasn’t a bent sadist? Because here we go again. At…
Bachelor girl
Call me a crazy old physiognomist, but my theory is that you can always spot a lesbian by her big…
The little dictator
No actual birth certificate for Charles Spencer Chaplin has ever been found. The actor himself drew a blank when he…
No dumb waiter
Comedians always like to claim that they started making jokes after childhoods made harsh by poverty; that at a formative…
A touch of Frost
Is there any such thing as abstract art? Narratives and coherent harmonies seem to me always to emerge from the…
An elegant command
Alan Bennett once overheard an old lady say, ‘I think a knighthood was wasted on Derek Jacobi,’ and I know…
Relish — and cultivate — your grievances
Roger Lewis 15 December 2018 9:00 am
Grudges make the world go around, according to Sophie Hannah. They are ‘an important and fascinating part of human experience’,…