Nominate a Biography: on the box quotes
David Attenborough
"His [Roger Jose] post as librarian was not simply a device to get an unearned official wage - though it was certainly that. He had a genuine love of books and literature. He said he had read every one of the three thousand books he once had charge of. 'Just managed to keep ahead of the termites,' he said. But the termites had won in the end. We found the last surviving volume on the floor in the hotel. It was, I could see from the binding, The Imitation of Christ by Thomas à Kempis. But Borroloola termites, it seems, had a particular taste for printer's ink, for when I opened the front cover, I found that they had eaten every one of the holy man's words, leaving only the white margins of the pages intact. Roger mourned its loss. 'Now' he said, 'I just have to read anything I can find - jam labels, sauce bottles, anything.' " p.180
Life on air, by David Attenborough, 2002.
Cilla Black
"Cilla's film reviews have long been 'lost' from her CV and are now buried in the BFI archives. It has always been a naïve assumption that by putting popular young stars into a movie you will automatically have a box-office and critical success. It is entertainment-world thinking which persists - look at Madonna in the late 1980s and 1990s who only with the musical Evita won kudos. The experiment rarely works. It certainly failed with Cilla, but it was in this British showbusiness environment that she was turning herself into a household name - and a millionairess." p.73-4
Cilla: the biography, by Douglas Thompson, 2002.
Norman Beaton
"I returned to London to finish off the second series of The Fosters. It was to prove to be the last one. The untimely death of Cyril Bennett, the Controller of Programmes at London Weekend Television, was causing an inevitable shake-up there. A new comedy department was formed. New brooms sweep clean, and The Fosters was unfortunately swept away. Although it had consistently high viewing figures the series had been lambasted by the press. There may have been some justification for this. None of the plays presented an accurate record of life in the black ghetto. But then why should they? Situation comedy has never been the vehicle for dealing with serious political or social issues. It is simply pure, unadulterated entertainment. It seemed to me a hypocritical short-sighted decision, when the show was the only series which not only had high ratings but filled a serious gap in television programming." p.196
Beaton but unbowed: an autobiography, by Norman Beaton, 1986.
Trevor McDonald
"In one breathtaking sweep the B movie actor had achieved the starring role of his life. With a panorama of stirring images and against a backdrop of the Kremlin's golden domes, the Reagan presidency was passing into legend. It was the kind of happy ending the old man sought all his life. He had finally starred in Russia. His own, real life version of Hollywood had gone to Moscow and triumphed.
The legacy of Reaganism in the USA was much less glamorous. In his determination to make Americans feel good about themselves and their country, Reagan avoided difficult issues and unpleasant truths. He led the country by pandering to its prejudices and by encouraging the belief that Americans had a right to consume without thought and to spend as much as they wanted. As the budget deficit continued to rise to unprecedented levels, the President talked about a costly Star Wars programme to protect America from the danger of intercontinental ballistic missiles, refusing to face up to the economic, scientific or diplomatic ramifications of such an idea. All of this might have encouraged Americans to grow smug, insensitive to some of their own problems and those of more fallible peoples. More than any other President, Reagan and his managers became obsessed by how their policies played rather than the effects they had." p.81-2
Fortunate circumstances, by Trevor McDonald, 1993.
