Backing into the Spotlight by Michael Whitehall

Backing into the Spotlight by Michael Whitehall

'Backing into the Spotlight is a hilarious and an unashamedly non-PC memoir . . . Now in his eighth decade, Whitehall is a fine raconteur, gloriously unreconstructed and still deeply suspicious of modernity' Daily Mail Standing in front of a full-length mirror in my dressing room at ITV studios, waiting to go on to the set of Backchat, I had a brief conversation with my reflection. 'Michael, what the f*** do you think you're doing?' Theatrical agent Michael Whitehall spent a career pushing others into the spotlight. He had been involved behind the scenes with the careers of many prominent actors, including Colin Firth, Richard Griffiths, Daniel Day-Lewis, Tom Courtenay, Ian Ogilvy, Judi Dench, Edward Fox, Michael Fassbender, Angela Thorne and Nigel Havers. But then, much to his surprise, his son Jack becomes a successful comedian and actor and decides that his new comedy partner should be his father. Whitehall Snr. finds himself reluctantly appearing on stage and then television, cast as the archetypal grumpy old man and thrust, in his early seventies, into a whole new career in front of the camera. Minor fame comes at a sedate pace: one of the highlights being a record £300,000 win for charity with Jack on Channel 4's The Million Pound Drop. In this enchanting memoir Whitehall looks back on his life, from growing up in suburban London in the 1940s and '50s with his saintly father and social climbing-mother, who coined the phrase 'à la carte' to describe people who were posher than she was and whose company she craved, to falling into a career as a successful theatrical agent and producer. As he says, 'Actors can be egotistical, greedy and vain, but they're not half as bad as agents and producers.' Charming, gossipy and above all very funny, Backing Into The Spotlight is no ordinary show business memoir.

Backing into the Spotlight is a hilarious and an unashamedly non-PC memoir. . Now in his eighth decade, Whitehall is a fine raconteur, gloriously unreconstructed and still deeply suspicious of modernity * Daily Mail *
Hugely entertaining -- Neil Armstrong * Mail on Sunday *
This excellent memoir stands on its own merits, full of great stories told with Michael's dry wit * Choice *

Michael Whitehall was a leading theatrical agent and producer whose clients included Nigel Havers, Daniel Day-Lewis, Edward Fox, Michael Fassbender and Colin Firth. He appeared with his son Jack Whitehall on BBC 2's Backchat and more recently with Jack on Travels With My Father for Netflix. His books include Shark Infested Waters and Him & Me with Jack.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9781472127099
ISBN 10	1472127099
Title	Backing into the Spotlight
Author	Michael Whitehall
Condition	Unavailable
Binding type	Hardback
Publisher	Little, Brown Book Group
Year published	2017-10-26
Number of pages	240
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.
Note	Unavailable