Author:Barry Johnston,Barry Johnston,Guests
During the lunch interval on the Saturday of every Test in England, BBC Radio’s ‘Test Match Special’ used to invite a well-known guest into the commentary box for a chat with Brian Johnston about themselves and their passion for cricket. Some turned out to be able cricketers, but they all had stories to tell about matches they had seen and cricketers they had met. Barry Johnston - Brian Johnston’s son - has selected five chats from the series ‘A View from the Boundary’, beginning in 1980 with the playwright Ben Travers, and his vivid recollections of W.G. Grace and other characters from the golden age of cricket. He is followed by Michael Charlton, the political broadcaster and former cricket commentator, who covered the great Australia v West Indies tied Test in 1960, and John Cleese, a lifelong Somerset supporter, who tells some funny stories about ‘Monty Python’ and ‘Fawlty Towers’. Hollywood film star Sir Christopher Lee recalls watching the legendary Jack Hobbs and Don Bradman, and Sir Michael Parkinson talks about opening the batting at Barnsley with Dickie Bird and how he nearly played for Hampshire. Publisher’s note: This recording was taken from part of the cassette release of ‘A View from the Boundary’.
A book of titanic achievement
—— Daily TelegraphSimon Callow's brilliant account of the early years is the best Welles book yet
—— David HareCallow is not just that rare phenomenon, an actor who can write. He is a superb biographer. His description of the making of Kane is masterly... This is an extraordinary book with extraordinary insights
—— Godfrey Hodson , IndependentA knock-down, brass-bound, copper-bottomed triumph...tremendous fun to read... It is Simon Callow's triumph that at the end of this book Orson Welles comes before us just as Oscar Wilde did at the end of Richard Ellmann's superb biography
—— Keith Baxter , Daily TelegraphWelles might seem a difficult subject for a new biography. The legend is already pretty much written in stone. Callow's achievement is threefold: he embraces his subject with such gallumphing energy that the extraordinary power of his subject is conveyed as if for the first, fascinating time; he attempts a sober reassessment, trying to get an honest measure of someone who seemed larger than life...and he provides a genuinely interesting actor's view of the actor
—— Nigella Lawson , The TimesAs a writer,novelist and award-winning screenwriter and director of films such as When Harry Met Sally and Sleepless In Seattle, she has had the ability to surf the zeitgeist and make whatever is on her mind... seem fascinating and cool... her book is essential reading for anyone who hopes to grow old elegantly and perhaps a little disgracefully
—— Jane Shilling , Mail on SundaySo clear-eyed, so free of vitriol and sarcasm and artifice that we believe everything she says... If a theme runs beneath the wit and cleverness of I Remember Nothing, it is about the difficulty of coming to terms with one's mortality
—— Jane Juska , San Francisco ChronicleEphron's voice helped launch a whole new way of writing, and I still love to hear it
—— Mary McNamara , Los Angeles TimesWitty and carefree... She remains the neighbor we all wish we had. Someone to share a cup of coffee with. Or better yet, a glass of wine. Maybe two... Listen... If we're all headed to the old folks home, we couldn't have a better guide than Nora Ephron
—— USA TodayRich with self-deprecating humor at its finest... so much so that you can almost hear her laughing as she pounds away at the keyboard... a full pleasure to read
—— New York Journal of BooksShe can write an entertaining riff about practically anything or everybody
—— Janet Maslin , The New York TimesFabulous... tremendously talented... She'll dazzle you with strings of perfect prose
—— Washington PostSophisticatedly smart, freshly wide-eyed
—— The TimesCheerfully wry collection... It's witty and, contrary to the title, Ephron remembers much
—— Daily ExpressFull of anecdotal gifts you will never forget... Ephron reflects on the early days of her career-memories of her time working as a mail girl at Newsweek and writing for Esquire-while taking every opportunity to get real about her life at the time she was penning this memoir.
—— Oprah Magazine