Character Parts

By John Mortimer

Book Overview

This is a collection of interviews the author has conducted with famous men and women including Christine Keller, Lauren Bacall, Neil Kinnock, Andre Previn and Lord Scraman. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0140089594
• ISBN13: 9780140089592
• Release Date: April 1988
• Publisher: Penguin Books
• Length: 224 Pages
• Weight: 0.30 lbs.
• Dimensions: 7.1" x 0.5" x 4.3"
• Age Range: 6 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 1 and higher

Customer Reviews

A collection of interviews from the 'Sunday Times'

This is a series of interviews John Mortimer did for 'The Sunday Times'.Most of the people are British but he throws in a few visiting Americans, Billy Graham, Lauren Bacall, Raquel Welch,Hal Prince, Andre Previn, Katharine Graham for good order. Among the home-team he interviews Sir Alec Guiness, Edward Heath, The Bishop of Durham, Christine Keeler, Lord Shinwell, The Duke of Westminster, Ruth Rendell, William Golding. The interviews are light and quick with the witty opening and witty conclusion by Mortimer. I had always wondered a bit about Lord Shinwell and learned the peppy nonagenarian was a through- and- through fighter for the working man, an old - time Socialist, who apparently took little from his Jewish parents and background. Lauren Bacall talks about her happy eleven years with Bogey and the early anti- Semitism she encountered in her career, including from the director who discovered her Howard Hawkes who greatly resented her taking up with Bogey. She sounds wise, smart and realistic with the years. William Golding speaks about the way his experience in teaching gave him a sense of the inherent evil in children, and led to the writing of "Lord of the Flies". Mortimer is an intelligent interviewer and these waters flow smoothly and pleasantly- if not especially deep.