Old Rage
'One of our best-loved actor's powerful riposte to a world driving her mad' - DAILY MAIL
Published on 9. June 2022
Book
Paperback/Softback
272 pages
978-1-5266-4745-0 (ISBN)
Description
**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.
_______________
'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
_______________
'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
_______________
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.
_______________
'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
Reviews / Votes
The much-loved actor candidly shares the fear, joy and frustration she has found in her ninth decade * GUARDIAN, BOOKS OF THE YEAR 2022 * 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 Express * Entertaining * 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 * Independent * Heartbreakingly 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 * She scorns the idea she's a national treasure and insists that wisdom doesn't come with age . . . But every page of Sheila Hancock's new memoir shimmers with laughter, defiance and profound insights into life as an old RAGE pensioner * Mail on Sunday *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Product notice
Paperback (UK-trade)
Dimensions
Height: 234 mm
Width: 153 mm
ISBN-13
978-1-5266-4745-0 (9781526647450)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Sheila Hancock, one of Britain's most highly regarded and popular actors, received a Damehood for services to drama and charity in 2021. 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 number one 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, followed by her bestselling novel Miss Carter's War. She lives in London and France.