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The long-awaited autobiography of one of
Britain's best-loved actors.
Born the son of a
Billingsgate market porter at the height of the Second
World War, David Jason spent his early life dodging
bombs and bullies, both with impish good timing. Giving
up on an unloved career as an electrician, he turned his
attention to acting and soon, through a natural talent
for making people laugh, found himself working with the
leading lights of British comedy in the 1960s and '70s:
Eric Idle, Michael Palin, Bob Monkhouse and Ronnie
Barker. Barker would become a mentor to David, leading
to hugely successful stints in Porridge and
Open All Hours.
It wasn't until 1981, kitted
out with a sheepskin jacket, a flat cap, and a
clapped-out Reliant Regal, that David found the part
that would capture the nation's hearts: the beloved
Derek 'Del Boy' Trotter in Only Fools and
Horses. Never a one-trick pony, he had an
award-winning spell as TV's favourite detective Jack
Frost, took a country jaunt as Pop Larkin in the
Darling Buds of May, and even voiced a
crime-fighting cartoon rodent in the much-loved
children's show Danger Mouse.
But life hasn't
all been so easy: from missing out on a key role in
Dad's Army to nearly drowning in a freak diving
accident, David has had his fair share of ups and downs,
and has lost some of his nearest and dearest along the
way.
David's is a touching, funny and warm-hearted
story, which charts the course of his incredible five
decades at the top of the entertainment business. He's
been a shopkeeper and a detective inspector, a
crime-fighter and a market trader, and he ain't finished
yet. As Del Boy would say, it's all cushty.
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