What goes on when the stars are off screen?
A YEAR AT THE CHATEAU by Dick and Angel Strawbridge (Seven Dials £20)
WITH affectionate bickering and endless creativity in their C4 series, Escape To The Chateau, Dick and Angel have captured the imagination of everyone who dreams of a new life abroad.
This is the story of their first year at the 19th century Chateau de la Motte Husson with its 45 rooms, bats, neglected gardens and its rooms full of abandoned treasures. From the moment they first saw their fairytale castle, to their gloriously unconventional wedding, it’s all huge fun.
A DEL OF A LIFE by David Jason (Century £20)
FOR a man who used to insist he’d never write an autobiography, D av i d Jason has certainly found a taste for it. This follow-up to his 2013 memoir, My Life, is crammed with stories he forgot to tell last time round, including a detailed account of how he came to play Del Boy Trotter in Only Fools And Horses (he was the producers’ fifth choice). It’s chatty, full of quips and disarmingly modest. He’s still chuffed the Daily Mail compared his talent as a slapstick comedian with Buster Keaton, 30 years ago. Every page is a pleasure.
LIFE’S WHAT YOU MAKE IT by Phillip Schofield (Michael Joseph £20)
THE veteran TV presenter has been jotting down thoughts to go in his autobiography for decades. One line he wrote aged 14 is incorporated in this book, he says — and he’s now 58. But it was only this year that the married father-of-two felt able to come out as gay, live on TV. That bold step is described in the final pages of this volume, which for the most part is an ordinary celebography, full of anecdotes about onscreen mishaps and meeting the famous. The looming revelation makes it different from other books: Schofield describes himself as ‘someone who has sat on the very edge and looked over’.
BEHIND THE SEQUINS by Shirley Ballas (BBC Books £20)
DANCE is everything to Strictly judge Shirley Ballas. Descriptions of life growing up poor on the Wirral during the Sixties and Seventies are thin, as though she’s struggling for things to say — she even resorts to describing her front door (it was wooden, with glass at the top).
But once she gets on to the fierce ambitions of her youth, and the successes that took her all over the world, her passion shines through. She remembers every step and every dress. And she hides nothing, especially not the heartbreak of her brother’s suicide.
QUITE by Claudia Winkleman
(HQ £16.99) HIDDEN between the lines of this light-hearted collection of observations from the Strictly presenter with the big fringe is a good deal of hard-earned life advice. Don’t date a man with no friends (he’s either a weirdo or he’s married), don’t let any man tell you how much lipstick you can wear, and don’t believe the promises about Botox. Claudia writes as if she’s confident no one she knows will ever read her book — the way she analyses her friends’ personality traits is more than frank, it’s ruthless.