PLAYING UNDER THE PIANO

Sub-titled 'From Downton to Darkest Peru' and described as 'Comedy gold' by the Sunday Times, we have got hold of this glamorous hardback just in time for the release of the new Paddington film. Hugh Bonneville is one of Britain's most accomplished actors whose credits include Downton Abbey, W1A and the Paddington films. With his urbanity and wit, charm and revealing anecdotes, he tells his story from getting his big break as the Third Shepherd in the school nativity play to mistaking a Hollywood star for an estate agent. His career on stage and screen describes what it is like working with Judi Dench, Julia Roberts or playing Robert de Niro's right leg, or not being Gary Oldman, twice. Other starry names include Juliet Stevenson, Celia Imrie, Ralph Fiennes, Jeremy Northam, Tom Hollander, Kenneth Branagh, and he describes what it is really like to work with the greats of British stage and screen, about the perils of corpseing or drying up on stage, about acting superstitions, rep theatre, the Royal Shakespeare Company to Notting Hill and the big screen. And there are stories from his childhood and about his friends and family told with fondness and great warmth and love, and he writes poignantly about his father's dementia and of his mother whose life in the Secret Service emerged only after her death. Remainder mark. 372pp, 16 pages of fabulous colour photos. Well done Mr Brown!