High Hopes

"This is my autobiography, the exciting story of how I, Ronald Corbett, the son of an Edinburgh baker, became convinced that I had to seek my fortune and become an actor, of how I pursued that goal, found fame on television as one of The Two Ronnies, and managed to meet a fabulous cast of extraordinary people along the way.

First I'll take you back to my schooldays and reveal the technique I developed for estimating the height of a girl before daring to ask her to dance. Then, for the first time, I'll fearlessly tell of my arrival in London and of my job of night club barman. I'll explain how I first met David Frost, John Cleese and Michael Palin, and shamelessly reveal how I once played Othello to Danny La Rue's Desdemona, having just had dinner with Laurence Olivier.

And then there was The Two Ronnies, an incredibly successful television show with a man in glasses who, rather spookily, had the same first name as me. You can find out about how we tried to avoid becoming a double act, and why it was always goodnight from me and goodnight from him, but never ever goodnight from us. I'll also tell you about the time I was suddenly struck down by a mysterious illness which destroyed my sense of balance and prevented me from going on stage for several years.