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Old Rage: 'One of our best-loved actor's powerful riposte to a world driving her mad' - DAILY MAIL Hardcover – 9 Jun. 2022
Sheila Hancock (Author) See search results for this author |
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**THE SUNDAY TIMES TOP TEN BESTSELLER**
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'I want to be Sheila Hancock when I grow up' Lorraine Kelly
'Wise, witty, kind and true' - Sunday Times
'A sparkling memoir as funny and insightful as it's moving' - Daily Mail
'A captivating memoir' - Mail on Sunday
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A gloriously irreverent memoir from the frontline of old age - by the Sunday Times-bestselling author and legendary actor
Sheila Hancock looked like she was managing old age. She had weathered and even thrived in widowhood, taking on acting roles that would have been demanding for a woman half her age. She had energy, friends, a devoted family, a lovely home. She could still remember her lines.
So why, at 89, having sailed past supposedly disturbing milestones - 50, 70 even 80 - without a qualm, did she suddenly feel so furious? Shocking diagnoses, Brexit and bereavement seemed to knock her from every quarter. And that was before lockdown.
Home alone, classified as 'extremely vulnerable', she finds herself yelling at the TV and talking to the pigeons. But she can at least take a good long look at life - her work and family, her beliefs (many of them the legacy of her wartime childhood) and, uncomfortable as it might be to face, her future.
In Old Rage, one of Britain's best loved actors opens up about her ninth decade. Funny, feisty, honest, she makes for brilliant company as she talks about her life as a daughter, a sister, a mother, a widow, an actor, a friend and looks at a world so different from the wartime world of her childhood. And yet - despite age, despite rage - she finds there are always reasons for joy.
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'The much-loved actor candidly shares the fear, joy and frustration she has found in her ninth decade' - Guardian, Books of the Year 2022
'Sheila Hancock reflects upon her life and career with all the winning candour and warm-heartedness we have come to expect from the legendary actress' - Waterstones
- Print length272 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherBloomsbury Publishing
- Publication date9 Jun. 2022
- Dimensions16.26 x 2.79 x 24.13 cm
- ISBN-101526647443
- ISBN-13978-1526647443
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Review
A sparkling memoir, as funny and insightful as it is moving. Hancock is brilliant company as she looks back on her life as a daughter, mother, widow and still an excellent performer, while railing against much of the modern world. In the end, all that matters is love. A wonderful read ― DAILY MAIL, The perfect companion on your sun lounger (non-fiction summer reads)
This book should be required reading for EVERYONE! I was belly laughing but also reduced to tears. Sheila is the wisest of women ... I want to be Sheila Hancock when I grow up -- LORRAINE KELLY
Sheila Hancock reflects upon her life and career with all the winning candour and warm-heartedness we have come to expect from the legendary actress ― WATERSTONES
Sheila Hancock's memoir Old Rage promises to be funny, feisty and honest ― IRISH INDEPENDENT, BOOKS OF THE YEAR 2022
A warm and thoughtful memoirist ... Hancock discovers many reasons for joy and optimism - and you're quite likely to find yourself nodding in agreement with her. ― WOMAN & HOME, The best non-fiction books to read in 2022 to inspire and enthral
Praise for Sheila Hancock: 'Her writing is starkly honest. she is never less than courageous and often desperately moving ― Daily Telegraph
Terrific . shining through it is the spirit of Sheila herself: brave, indomitable and full of a desire to change the world for the better
-- Judy Finnigan ― Daily ExpressEntertaining ― SPECTATOR
Glorious -- Paul O'Grady
Emotionally wrenching . captures her heartfelt grief as much as it does her bittersweet philosophy that life goes on, and there are adventures to be had yet
-- Arifa Akbar ― IndependentHeartbreakingly moving wise, funny and deeply touching ― Daily Mail
A naturally gifted writer ― Sunday Times
Her gift for directly communicating the open-heartedness and spirit of adventure with which she confronts her life . is the stuff of bestsellers -- Joan Bakewell ― Guardian
Book Description
About the Author
Sheila Hancock is one of Britain's most highly regarded and popular actors, and received an OBE for services to drama in 1974 and a CBE in 2011. Since the 1950s she has enjoyed a career across Film, Television, Theatre and Radio. Her first big television role was in the BBC sitcom The Rag Trade in the early 1960s. She has directed and acted for the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre.
Following the death of her husband, John Thaw, she wrote a memoir of their marriage, The Two of Us, which was a no. 1 bestseller and won the British Book Award for Author of the Year. Her memoir of her widowhood, Just Me, also a bestseller, was published in 2007. She lives in London and France.
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Product details
- Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing (9 Jun. 2022)
- Language : English
- Hardcover : 272 pages
- ISBN-10 : 1526647443
- ISBN-13 : 978-1526647443
- Dimensions : 16.26 x 2.79 x 24.13 cm
- Best Sellers Rank: 904 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- 11 in Individual Directors
- 37 in Women's Biographies
- 50 in Theatre & Performance Artist Biographies
- Customer reviews:
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This book was written over a period from 2016 to 2020 and promised much as a gentle record of her later years. However while I learned a lot about the author that I had not gleaned from reading her previous memoirs and found the writing very funny at times, I was rather disappointed in its contents. I really was not expecting the vast majority of the content being focused on political comment and rants about Brexit and while it was interesting to read from the perspective of an older person and their experiences living in Europe through the decades from the 1940's onwards, I would have preferred more of her experience in lockdown and perhaps musings on humanity and society during the Covid 19 pandemic possibly even encompassing life lessons or advice..
If you are at all interested in the topic of Brexit and the thoughts of someone who is passionate about their political beliefs then this would be an entertaining and engaging read . However if like me you are more curious about this author. her career and her personal life then I would suggest you pick up Just Me and The Two Of Us instead.
She went on about her childhood too much, I lost interest in the book after I had read about 30percent.
I'm sad writing this, because I enjoyed her earlier works of autobiography and I was on my feet cheering when she spoke against Brexit - on the grounds that the EU is a work of peace - but there's no 'there' there.
My wife bought this as she liked John Thaw and thought it looked interesting.
I started to hear mumbles: 'She's not a fan of Brexit', culminating in swearing, and regret at buying it.
Why do actors think they have the right to lecture us about politics? About anything, in fact? They're nothing special at all.
It's pretty obvious Mrs H's ownership of a second home in France might have something to do with her wanting us to remain in the EU.
You have to love a socialist with two homes. The hypocrisy is unbelievable.
If you voted Leave, don't buy this book. If you voted remain and now regret it, don't buy this book. If you voted remain and would do so again, you'll love it.
Amazon's free returns process was fortunately as efficient as ever.
It is full of common sense observations about life that are relevant to all of us.
Sheila Hancock knows how to write - her previous books have already established this - and here we have notes on the challenges of the last few years , presented with great humour, honesty and frankness that is sometimes disarming.
Yes, growing older is an important, central feature of the book, but after all, bearing in mind the age of the author, that is not surprising. However, here we are constantly reminded that age (hopefully) bring with it wisdom and understanding. Qualities that this book possesses in spades!
I am a Sheila Hancock fan, and I am happy to admit that, but I believe that if I had read this book "blind" without knowing the identity of the author, I would have found it equally compelling.
A natural story-teller, a sharer of experiences - I laughed a lot, and cried a bit as well.