Old Rage

Reviewed By  Grasshopper2       August 26, 2022

 

Author  Sheila Hancock

Distributor:      Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN:                 9781526647481
Publisher:         Bloomsbury Publishing
Release Date:    

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SHEILA HANCOCK

Old Rage is the fifth book Sheila Hancock has written and the fourth one to follow her life’s journey. In her 80’s, Sheila begins this story by sharing an invitation just received. It is an invitation for her to be presented for consideration to be a Dame of the Realm, for her contribution to the Arts. This shows the respect she has gained for a memorable career on the stage and screen. Indeed, she is a woman of great thoughtfulness, and unafraid to voice her opinions on politics, and social conditions.

In January 2016, the actress began this diary. She has written her thoughts and memories down all her life and is now using the diary format to present this book. Her thoughts on aging disgracefully and unpredictably are memorable.

Sheila’s opinions on her aging body and slowing mind are fierce and humorous. She bitterly resents her inability to complete tasks which once would have been easy. But she doesn’t give up without a fight. Climbing a mountain and sleeping rough for a film shoot is what you do at 80!

Politically Sheila is aware of her country’s decline in political rigour and she laments leaving Brexit. She attributes her passion and thinking to her early childhood, growing up in war torn Britain, and playing as a child in bombed out sites. Her Quaker faith also dominates her thinking.

Old Rage is often difficult to read, as Sheila grapples with an aging body, a political scene she abhors, and a family’s perception of her frailty. She is forthright in the appraisal of her life. An excellent, if somewhat challenging, read.

Sheila Hancock.

“Sheila Hancock is one of Britain’s most highly regarded and popular actors, and received an OBE for services to drama in 1974 and a CBE in 2011. Since the 1950s she has enjoyed a career across Film, Television, Theatre and Radio. Her first big television role was in the BBC sitcom The Rag Trade in the early 1960s. She has directed and acted for the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre. Following the death of her husband, John Thaw, she wrote a memoir of their marriage, The Two of Us, which was a no. 1 bestseller and won the British Book Award for Author of the Year. Her memoir of her widowhood, Just Me, also a bestseller, was published in 2007. She lives in London and France.” Courtesy Bloomsbury Publishing.