Intense and richly evocative . . . An infectious delight . . . Yardley has concocted a tonic . . . A good-humoured and rollicking read

A biography as huge as if it had been fed a Welles-style diet of roasted chicken and foie gras

Callow continuously strikes to the quick and the essential in Welles

Impeccably detailed research peppered with anecdotes and […] his witty conversational style

Compulsive reading.

The third volume has a tremendous panache, matching Welles’s own bravura and extraordinary energy, giving a vivid account of his personality and his productions.

A novel as exhaustive and exhilarating as it’s subject.

Simon Callow probes in comprehensive and penetrating detail into one of the most complex artists of the twentieth century.

A pretty epic survey about his [Welles’] stupendous life.

Callow probes in detail into one of the most complex artists of the twentieth century.

Epic survey of Welles’ life and work, Simon again probes in comprehensive and penetrating detail into one of the most complex artists of the twentieth century… The book shows what it was like to be around Welles, and, with a precision rarely attempted before, what it was like to be him.

It’s a great story in print and Callow’s passion made it riveting on stage… Somehow conjuring up all the extravagance that flowed from Orson Welles’s gifted imagination.

In every way, Callow has captured his subject as he wants him.

Biographical subject and author have found their perfect match.

One Man Band rumbles along… Welles in his middle years is a more engaging prospect than most artists at a similar point. He has been lucky to have Callow as a biographer, balancing warmth with skepticism, fondness with reproof.

This richly detailed and revelatory biography presents the most frank and intimate portrait yet of Ray Davies

Rogan does an excellent job of trying to work out what makes The Kinks’ enigmatic frontman tick whilst charting the tumultuous career of a band whose idiosyncratic but brilliant hits are currently enjoying a renaissance

This book is a good, solid, factually based read throughout… I imagine nearing six decades of recording history to be squeezed into one book is a task beyond the scope of a lot of authors, but this has been done rather well by Johnny Rogan… Excellent and complex.

An engaging and very accessible history book about our modern artistic achievements that, provocatively, also debunks some of the very icons it praises.