Newest Entertainment Reviews
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Entertainment
Twenty Thousand Roads: The Ballad of Gram Parsons and His Cosmic American Music by David N Meyer
Gram Parsons was in effect rock music's James Dean. He died too young to have achieved much, but in going to an early grave he seems to have achieved this iconic status of one of the 20th century's legendary might-have-been-greats if only he had lived longer. Full review...
For Your Eyes Only: Ian Fleming and James Bond by Ben Macintyre
This may be one of the hardest books I've had to review so far; I don't think anyone who's been alive and conscious in Britain any time in the past fifty years, can approach anything James Bond related without bringing an extreme amount of prejudice with them. Full review...
Spellbound by Beauty: Alfred Hitchcock and His Leading Ladies by Donald Spoto
I came to this biography knowing very little about Alfred Hitchcock, and with only a fairly skeletal knowledge of his films. In itself, that was probably an advantage, as I had no preconceptions about the man and therefore hardly knew what to expect. Full review...
Dawn French: The Unauthorized Biography by Alison Bowyer
While reading this book, it struck me that being one of the nation's funniest people often means there's a desperately unhappy or at least rather troubled soul behind the public face. George Formby, Tony Hancock, Wilfrid Brambell and John Cleese are probably the most obvious examples. While Dawn French has generally managed to present a smiling face to the world, this thoughtful biography reveals that she too has had her difficult times. Full review...
Prince Caspian: The Official Illustrated Movie Companion by Ernie Malik
Who would have thought that Prague in the Czech Republic could so convincingly masquerade as 1940s London, complete with authentic Routemaster buses and the lions of Trafalgar Square? This sleight of hand and many more are revealed in the Official Movie Companion to the forthcoming CS Lewis adaptation, Prince Caspian. Full review...
Mike Leigh on Mike Leigh by Amy Raphael (Editor)
Mike Leigh on Mike Leigh is an intimidatingly chunky book. The director himself stares out of the cover, holding a camera lens up to one eye. It's a fitting image for Mike Leigh, a simple representation of a man in love with the cinematic medium, but who has never sacrificed his emphasis on characterisation and human emotion within his films. Full review...
Ronnie by Ronnie Wood
As a member of the Rolling Stones for over thirty years, Ronnie Wood has become virtually synonymous with the term 'hellraising'. Despite a burning-the-candle-at-both-ends lifestyle, though, he has reached his sixtieth birthday intact. Moreover, unlike Pete Doherty and the late Sid Vicious, he will always be remembered for his music than for merely making the wrong sort of headlines. Full review...
Stage Presence: The Actor as Mesmerist by Jane Goodall
So this is a book called Stage Presence, by Jane Goodall (no, not that Jane Goodall), reviewed by John Lloyd (no, not that John Lloyd). Although, come to think of it, which John Lloyd might you be expecting? For, over the past four years I have been employed as a professional actor, and have taken on the task of becoming someone else. Full review...
Primeval: Shadow of the Jaguar by Steven Savile
One of the benefits, or otherwise, of being a committed Bookbag reviewer is that one misses all the TV that other people seem to enjoy. As a result, I am turning to this book, apparently the first novel to tie-in with ITV's Primeval series, having not seen hide nor hair of the thing, nor having any idea what it is about, save for dinosaurs roaming the modern-day world, and such things needing being put to rights. Full review...
Dear John by Joan Le Mesurier
I really enjoy reading biographies and always find I learn a lot about the subject that I didn't know before. Recently, I read the Hattie Jacques biography by Andrew Merriman. Hattie was once married to Dad's Army star John Le Mesurier and I had a biography on him in my ever-growing 'To Be Read' pile, so I chose that to read next. I felt it would add an extra dimension to what I had learned about Hattie's life – and indeed it did. Full review...
Anne's Song by Anne Nolan
To most of us, the Nolans probably conjure up wholesome cheesy visions of TV light entertainment shows, 'I'm In The Mood for Dancing' (top three early in 1980), and the wholesome image of a squeaky-clean family act – rather like an Irish female version of the Osmonds, perhaps. But scratch almost every showbiz legend and somewhere there's going to be darkness. Full review...
The Autobiography by Johnnie Walker
When I was in my late teens and early twenties, the Radio 1 lunchtime show presented by the man formerly known as Peter Waters Dingley was essential listening. It wasn’t non-stop chart music, neither was it too arty and Emperor’s-new-clothesness for art’s sake. It always seemed to be a healthy mix of much of the best Top 40 stuff around, plus a few interesting new names who weren’t getting the exposure on other shows that they deserved – and it was all presented by someone who communicated his enthusiasm for the music instead of sounding like an aspiring games show host. Full review...
