Jasper Rees - Böcker

'There was none like her before and there's been none like her since' Dawn FrenchIn the five years since Victoria Wood's death, one great sadness has been the realisation that we will never again be surprised by new material from her.But as part of the research for Let's Do It, the critically acclaimed Sunday Times bestseller, her official biographer Jasper Rees uncovered a treasure chest of unseen work. From her first piece of comic prose, for the school magazine, through to material written for the great TV shows of her maturity, this joyful hoard of unreleased material spans nearly half a century.Victoria Wood: Unseen on TV is a unique and intimate insight into the working of an irreplaceable genius of comedy.From the first to the last, here are sketches, songs and stand-up monologues that no one else could have written, which will make you laugh in the way that only she could.'He was a lovely man he had a lovely gap between his two front teeth. I specially noticed it cos he had a mushy pea stuck in it. He said can I take you home I said hang on I haven't finished my Tizer. So, we get home he says can I come in for a coffee. I said I haven't got any coffee but you can come in for a Horlicks if you don't mind sucking your own lumps.'Praise for Let's Do It:'Rees pulls off the trick of writing a brilliant tribute while also - somehow, almost - bringing Victoria Wood back to life in all her complicated glory.' Guardian'An immersive, authoritative book' Spectator'Impeccable' Daily Telegraph'A must-read' Daily Mirror'A joy' Daily Mail

THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLERA Times, Sunday Times, Daily Telegraph, Daily Mail, Radio Times, Daily Herald and FT Book of the Year'I was born with a warped sense of humour and when I was carried home from being born it was Coronation Day and so I was called Victoria but you are not supposed to know who wrote this anyway it is about time I unleashed my pent-up emotions in a bitter comment on the state of our society but it's not quite me so I think I shall write a heart-warming story with laughter behind the tears and tears behind the laughter which means hysterics to you Philistines...'From 'Pardon?' by Vicky Wood, Aged 14. Bury Grammar School (Girls) Magazine, 1967In her passport Victoria Wood listed her occupation as 'entertainer' - and in stand-up and sketches, songs and sitcom, musicals and dramas, she became the greatest entertainer of the age. Those things that might have held her back - her lonely childhood, her crippling shyness and above all the disadvantage of being a woman in a male-run industry - she turned to her advantage to make extraordinary comedy about ordinary people living ordinary lives in ordinary bodies. She wasn't fond of the term, but Victoria Wood truly was a national treasure - and her loss is still keenly felt.Victoria had plenty of stories still to tell when she died in 2016, and one of those was her own autobiography. 'I will do it one day,' she told the author and journalist Jasper Rees. 'It would be about my childhood, about my first few years in showbusiness, which were really interesting and would make a really nice story.' That sadly never came to pass, so Victoria's estate has asked Jasper Rees, who interviewed her more than anyone else, to tell her extraordinary story in full. He has been granted complete and exclusive access to Victoria's rich archive of personal and professional material, and has conducted over 200 interviews with her family, friends and colleagues - among them Victoria's children, her sisters, her ex-husband Geoffrey Durham, Julie Walters, Celia Imrie, Dawn French, Anne Reid, Imelda Staunton and many more. What emerges is a portrait of a true pioneer who spoke to her audience like no one before or since.

People may say that I couldn't sing. But no one can say that I didn't sing.'Despite lacking pitch, rhythm or tone, Florence Foster Jenkins became one of America's best-known sopranos, celebrated for her unique recordings and her sell-out concert at Carnegie Hall.Born in 1868 to wealthy Pennsylvanian parents, Florence was a talented young pianist but her life was thrown into turmoil when she eloped with Frank Jenkins, a man twice her age. The marriage proved a disaster and, in order to survive, Florence was forced to abandon her dreams of a musical career and teach the piano. Then her father died in 1909 and, newly installed in New York, she used a considerable inheritance to fund her passion. She set up a prestigious amateur music club and began staging operas. Aided by her English common-law husband, St Clair Bayfield, she worked tirelessly to support the city's musical life. Many young singers owed their start to Florence, but she too yearned to perform and began giving regular recitals that quickly attracted a cult following. And yet nothing could prepare the world for the astonishing climax of her career when, at the age of seventy-six, she performed at the most hallowed concert hall in America.In Florence Foster Jenkins, Jasper Rees tells her extraordinary story, which inspired the film starring Meryl Streep and Hugh Grant, and directed by Stephen Frears. This remarkable book also includes Nicholas Martin's funny, moving and inspirational screenplay.

*Available for Pre-order now * A major and definitive portrait of Sir Michael Gambon, one of the greatest actors of the last fifty years.Jasper Rees, the acclaimed Sunday Times bestselling author of Let’s Do It: The Authorised Biography of Victoria Wood, interviewed Gambon more than any other journalist alive. In this deeply personal, moving, and funny biography, Rees has been granted exclusive access to Gambon’s personal archive and effects. Rees has interviewed over one hundred actors, playwrights and directors who, over a career that spanned more than half a century, witnessed some of Gambon’s most magnificent performances. With touching accounts from Penelope Wilton, Alan Ayckbourn, Brian Cox, Eileen Atkins, David Hare, Judi Dench, Christopher Hampton, Simon Russell Beale, Richard Eyre, Patricia Hodge, Simon Callow, Stephen Poliakoff and his closest friend in theatre, Oliver Cotton.The biography spans Gambon’s epoch-defining roles on stage, television and screen: the early years as a spear-carrier in Laurence Olivier’s newly formed National Theatre, his pre-eminence as an interpreter of Harold Pinter and Alan Ayckbourn, the triumphs in The Life of Galileo and A View from the Bridge, and the screen roles that won him global fame, from Philip Marlow in The Singing Detective to Dumbledore in the Harry Potter films. Both heart-warming and surprising, this is a book that enriches our understanding of an acting legend who was as hilarious and elusive off stage – renowned for spinning mischievously tall tales – as he was mesmerising and chameleon-like on stage. _______________________________________________________________Praise for Sir Michael Gambon:‘Michael Gambon was one of the most brilliant, effortless actors I’ve ever had the privilege of working with, but despite his immense talent, the thing I will remember most about him is how much fun he had doing his job’ – Daniel Radcliffe‘Michael was a wonderful man in addition to being an outstanding actor, and I absolutely loved working with him, not only on Potter but also The Casual Vacancy. The first time I ever laid eyes on him was in King Lear, in 1982, and if you'd told me then that brilliant actor would appear in anything I'd written, I'd have thought you were insane’ – J.K. Rowling‘He was hugely amusing, and such a tremendous guest, we even named a corner after him’ – Jeremy Clarkson ‘He was such a magnificent human being and the impact he had on my life – and that of many others – was profound’ – Daniel Craig