![]() As an older woman who shares so many of the author’s viewpoints this was a sheer delight. Views about Brexit, universal education, decent pay for NHS staff…punctuate memories of the author’s life, her family, her life on stage and the actors and mortals she has met along the way. This might be called a memoir but it is more than that.not for nothing is the title, ‘Old Rage.’ Sheila has something to to say…quite a lot in fact. Unconstrained by order, or real structure it flows like thoughts from the mind…which can appear random and sometimes the thread is difficult to grasp. It is an outpouring…sometimes a rant, sometimes a reminisce, fuelled by emotions and memories.I could hear Sheila’s voice throughout and I would love to hear her actually reading this.Īt first I was a little unsettled by the format - it is loose and fluid like a conversation which switches backwards and forwards between dates and ideas. Old Rage would probably make a better audiobook than a physical book. I have loved Sheila Hancock in her many guises - in tv drama, on radio comedy shows…for many years.and as the partner of the beloved and wonderful John Thaw. ‘Old age should burn and rave at close of day.” '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 'The much-loved actor candidly shares the fear, joy and frustration she has found in her ninth decade' - Guardian, Books of the Year 2022 And yet – despite age, despite rage – she finds there are always reasons for joy. 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. In Old Rage, one of Britain's best loved actors opens up about her ninth decade. ![]() 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. Home alone, classified as 'extremely vulnerable', she finds herself yelling at the TV and talking to the pigeons. 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. She had energy, friends, a devoted family, a lovely home. She had weathered and even thrived in widowhood, taking on acting roles that would have been demanding for a woman half her age. Sheila Hancock looked like she was managing old age. 'A sparkling memoir as funny and insightful as it's moving' – Daily MailĪ gloriously irreverent memoir from the frontline of old age - by the Sunday Times-bestselling author and legendary actor ![]() 'Wise, witty, kind and true' – Sunday Times 'I want to be Sheila Hancock when I grow up' Lorraine Kelly ![]()
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