An excellent book which is good therapy if you need a good rant along with some interesting stories and anecdotes about her past and present. I right away looked up the movie "Edie" which gutted me in the first few minutes (if you watch nothing else see Edie's confrontation with her midlife daughter) and what came after was awfully sweet. Some topics I didn't know, like her late husband actor John Thaw, her daughters, her bolt-hole home in France, and many luvvie friends (her words) mentioned in lively anecdotes. In her gut, though, she knows where she belongs: “If I see a gang of kids in the street I’m not a bit frightened.

As raindrops plopped on Hancock’s umbrella, Pinter turned and asked her: “Are you still angry, Sheila? I was a little disappointed overall, but there were some interesting passages and it definitely gives you a feel for the changes in the industry and in the world.For actors, however, retirement is rarely on the cards: most want (and need) to keep working, and Hancock is no exception. What I loved most of all though was the sense of a long life, the witness to events - a world war, and to stars of the stage from long ago…Kenneth More, Kenneth Williams, James Mason. I wish I wasn’t obsessionally work-oriented; that I didn’t feel guilty when I don’t work, or that my life is over. Absolutely brilliant book and certainly reflects many of the feelings I and my friends felt (and are still feeling) during Covid and even now.

I would have preferred more about her as a person and her life and career, but maybe she’s done that in her previous books. Names familiar and less familiar all get mentions into how their paths crossed and the impact those others have had on the arts.In my opinion, I did feel there was too much ranting about politics and Brexit for my taste, but it’s clearly a passionate topic for her.