- Hardcover: 336 pages
- Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton Ltd; 1st Edition edition (13 Oct 2003)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0340823100
- ISBN-13: 978-0340823101
- Product Dimensions: 23 x 16.2 x 3.4 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 285,542 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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More About the Author
Product Description
Caroline Gascoigne, Books of the Year, Sunday Times
'Mesmerising'
The Times
'Wise and wry'
Inside This Book
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
24 of 24 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Joan Bakewell writes a beautiful account of her life, from her birth in 1933, which runs parallel to the incredible and turbulent history of the 20th century. She has also lived through significant social changes, from the Education Act which enabled her to get to university, to the very gradual shift from gender discrimination which caused her mother (and thousands like her)to live a melancholic and disappointed life. We follow Joan's life through marriage, children, divorces and her reporting arts work at the BBC - this organisation also going through something of a revolution. I was a bit muddled with the chronology about the middle of the book - when and who she was married to and when she had divorced - the dialogue seemed to jump back and forth somewhat. Despite that however, still an absorbing, jolly good read.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
It's so great to read a well-written autobiography and be in no doubt that the subject really did put pen to paper themseleves. As one of the most well-known and respected journalist of her generation, Bakewell has a great command of the English language. The tale of her life is both informative and entertaining. There is no sensationalism here - even when we are learning about her extra-martial affairs - she is restrained without being secretive and it seems that at all timees she is considering the thoughts and feelings of everyone else involved in her story. Bakewell's experiences put her at the centre of so many social changes - the rise of feminism, the fall of communism and the decline of public broadcasting are all chartered through her personal experiences. Never self-indulgent or apologetic, this is a mature look at a well lived life. A welcome change from all those autobiographies of so-called celebrities who have achieved nothing and have even less to say.
Format:Paperback
Joan Bakewell's book,The Centre of the Bed is a must for those old enough to have watched BBC2's flagship
news review programme in the late 1960's.
Joan was a masterly vision in her mini skirt and she made the programme unmissable. I will never forget an overwhelmed male interviewee who all of a sudden exclaimed ''my God you're beautiful !''even Joan, the ultimate professional, was visibly moved.
At the time it would have been great fun to have known even some of what was going on in her private life but it's all so well described in this autobiography.
news review programme in the late 1960's.
Joan was a masterly vision in her mini skirt and she made the programme unmissable. I will never forget an overwhelmed male interviewee who all of a sudden exclaimed ''my God you're beautiful !''even Joan, the ultimate professional, was visibly moved.
At the time it would have been great fun to have known even some of what was going on in her private life but it's all so well described in this autobiography.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
book by Joan Bakewell
Very well written by an extremely erudite lady. The chapter on BBC politics is fascinating.
Published on 23 Aug 2009 by E. Yuille
Reflections on a thoughtful and fulfilling life
Joan Bakewell has been an iconic figure on radio and TV since the 1950s and 60s. Her autobiography gives considerable insight into the person behind the public face we know so... Read more
Published on 30 July 2009 by Mr. R. Lapthorn
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