The art of letter-writing being in terminal decline and with precious little romance in emails or mobile-phone texts, this fascinating collection of Dirk Bogarde’s letters is a rare gift to those who think nostalgically of a less mechanical way of life. Puffing on 60 cigarettes a day, Dirk bashed out some two million words in missives to friends, fans and professional colleagues. This enigmatic and complex man was a natural letter- writer, his thoughts and emotions fragmented onto the page like mercury from a broken thermometer. Tapping out often libellous opinions on his ancient typewriter, he spared neither himself nor his enemies, but with scant regard for correct spelling he poured his personal sorrows and pleasures onto paper. His voluminous correspondence, now meticulously edited by his biographer, John Coldstream, was in addition to a baker’s dozen of published books, the volumes of autobiography providing a deserved late-life triumph, although the novels were less successful and somewhat wooden by comparison. He confessed he was never happier than when writing, and in his twilight years inclusion in the bestseller lists gave him a new lease of life.

After 18 years as Rank’s biggest in-house star, feeling that he was not fully appreciated as an actor, he first kicked against the traces by playing a homosexual in the watershed film Victim, before upping sticks and removing himself and his lifelong companion, Tony Forwood, to Europe. They eventually bought Le Haut Clermont, a former farmhouse, in Chateauneuf de Grasse and Dirk spent his happiest years there before Forwood’s last illness dictated a return to England. To the new owners Dirk wrote: ‘Please don’t send me any more photographs. Every time I see Clermont it breaks my heart.’    

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