In this account of a year in his life, John Mortimer remarks that 'the real trouble with old age is that it lasts for such a short time'. As though driven by an unremitting awareness of this shortness, he clearly packed, an old man in a hurry, a phenomenal amount of activity into the 12 months under record.

He collaborated with Zeffirelli (an entertainingly preposterous figure, like so many others portrayed in the book) on the script for the film Tea with Mussolini. He was largely instrumental in raising the Lottery-matching cash to rebuild the Royal Court Theatre. He chaired the committee set up to decide who or what should top the empty Trafalgar Square plinth. He repeatedly toured the provinces in the company of two actresses and two musicians, telling stories and reading snippets of poetry and plays. He completed an American book-tour, and met a host of celebrities ranging from Maggie Smith and Muriel Spark to the Kinnocks and Norman Tebbitt.

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