Spares you the agony and full details of John's illness
Disadvantages:
Too "Theatrical" in places , a real "luvvie" book
Recommend to potential buyers:
no
Full review
" Just the two of us - we can make it if we try, just the two of us, you and I". I cannot help it but each time I reach for the cover of this book that darn song appears in my head. Don't let that start of my review fool you though, this is not a story to put a smile on your face.
It's a pity that the book isn't as cheery as the song as there is no happy ending. The book is a true story about John Thaw of The Sweeney and Morse fame written by his wife, Sheila Hancock. As I have just finished reading it I decided to share my thoughts on this book with you if you are deciding on what next to read.
********The Cover*****************
First impressions are good, 302 pages of what looks to be a compulsive read. A black and white picture of John on the front in what looks like it was taken in one of his Morse episodes.
*******How does the story begin? *********
Sheila starts the book as talking about the main characters, her and john as "the girl" and "the boy". The girl was born on the Isle of Wight in 1933, nine years before John. Her mother was Ivy, was English but her father was from Milan, Enrico Hancock. Doesn't quite sound right does it? Even Sheila admits that herself in the story. Because there was known smuggling in the area it was not a safe place to bring up children so the family (Sheila had a seven year old sister) moved to Kings Cross, London. It makes you realise how times have changed and given that option about where to move now between Kings Cross and the Isle of Wight, I bet I know what most people would say!
The boy was born in 1942 to his parents Dorothy and John Thaw in Manchester. His father was mostly known as Jack to his friends. John was one of ten children and he had a hard up bringing. All his siblings and his mother were wary of his paternal grand father who was strict beyond words. Johns grandfather had a withered leg and walked with a limp, John apparently copied him and also walked with a limp all his life and being involved in a car accident only exaggerated the fact.
Sheila goes on to compare the two lives separately, detailing the countries history more so than the family's story. World War II played a huge part in this story and this I found quite irritating. If we had wanted history we could have gone to Britannica.
After Kings Cross, the family soon moved onto Kent and Sheila attended many schools in her youth. For a brief spell, both the Hancock sisters were sent away as evacuees, something she did not relish.
Comparing the two sides though, Sheila had a relatively normal upbringing apart from the odd hiccup due to the War.
John however had to grow up with the knowledge that his mother had deserted the family and when he tried to find her, she sent him away with a sixpence. John vowed he would never live like this again.
The girl as she calls herself, went onto Rada after a varied education; it was her Quaker head mistress that spotted her potential. John mean while was putting his talent on the street and earning a few pennies for his family by comedy acts and impersonations. John's head master knew this boy was destined for more than cotton spinning in Manchester and pushed him into the classics. This was his forte and he progressed from strength to strength.
As the book progresses both John and Sheila venture into stage work as this seems to be their forte and you get the impression that they are both "stage luvvies" at heart. A far cry from the character in the Sweeney that John signed up for later on.
*********The First Time****************
Please do not misunderstand that title. This certainly was not the first time for either of them as both had been married before.
Sheila had married Alec Ross who she met doing a stage play. Alec was ten years older than Sheila, quite ironic that John was the opposite. Alec and Sheila had a turbulent romance with Sheila giving him a good run for his money and Alec retaliating by having a fling here and there. It wasn't easy for the married couple, even though the war was over, money was tight but Sheila was still appearing on various stage productions so they managed. The couple went on to have a daughter and were married 16 years until Alec died of cancer.
John in the mean time was a bit of a ladies man having a few flings, he fell for a French actress but that didn't work and then a girl called Jennifer who broke his heart. Eventually he married a rich socialite called Sally and the two families couldn't have been different. John's home was the poor area of Manchester and Sally lived in the Home Counties. The wedding was lavish and paid for by her family. They had a daughter Abigail and had three years of marriage before Sally's affair ended what little trust John had left of her.
John returned to his bachelor days until he was asked to fill in for a character in the stage play "So what about love". Sheila Hancock was the female lead and though she was late on his first night and they didn't exactly hit it off straight away, apparently he didn't take his eyes off her after she did a Sharon Stone on him when crossing her legs. Unlike Sharon, Ms Hancock kept her knickers on.
Both went their separate ways, Sheila was still happily married to Alec and Johns career was flourishing. Sheila had already felt grief in the loss of her father Enrico and now her mother died, she was heartbroken. Months after that she lost Alec to cancer of the oesophagus.
Sheila goes on to say she cant really remember how her and John became an item, but they just did, it all seemed to come together and before they knew it, they had a love nest set up. The press bombarded them, especially with the age difference but John always said it worked in their favour.
They had a daughter in 1974 (Joanna) and John also adopted Sheila's daughter from her first marriage to Alec. With John's daughter Abi Gail, they were soon an enlarged family. They married on 5th December 1973.
Sheila continued her stage work and John was signing up with Granada which went onto become Carlton. It was The Sweeney that catapulted him to fame and also to drink addiction and compulsive smoking. Unfortunately Sheila too liked her ciggies but not as much as John.
John went onto seek help for his addiction. However it was odd sounding cough that brought their happy world crashing down. Shortly after the horrific events of 9/11 and the twin towers, John was given the awful news that he too had cancer.
Sheila did not go into full details of John's treatment only that it didn't work obviously but John never knew he was dieing. John thought and Sheila let him believe it, that the treatment was working and he was "on the mend". He passed away lying in their bed with Sheila holding him and their daughters playing outside.
********Worth a read or don't bother buying *****************
To be blatantly honest and that's what reviews are all about, I found it sad and quite boring.
So please God forgive me for saying this as this poor woman has had a good career but an awful personal life, she has had her fair share of sorrow.
It was just that the story was all over the place, there was no substance to it and as well as the annoying history lesson, Sheila mixed the old in with the new. With this I mean her diary of John's cancer, one minute you have a paragraph about the latest stage play in the west end in the 1960's, then you are moved to a section about how John is coping with his illness. Why not write from the beginning to the last day, not combine the two ……….?
Sheila spared the gory details of his treatment, not really saying much about that part of their lives. I suppose she's shielding his dignity but not being morbid, but isn't that what half the people want to read about.
It sounds like a sick fascination, but I was riveted with John Diamond's life story (Nigella Lawson's husband). This book I found dull to be honest and skipped a good percentage.
I know its sad we have lost a terrific actor and after 28 years together, they seemed ideal for each other but I wouldn't recommend this book unless you are really into the arts and wartime history. It doesn't give much away about their real life so the book title is misleading somewhat.
If you still want to buy it and judge for yourself the price has dropped drastically. I paid £14.99 when it was first published but now you can pick up the hard back for £7 and the paper back for £3.99. Asda, WH Smith, Book World, www.amazon.co.uk all stock it to name but a few. It is published by Bloomsbury and the ISBN no is 0747570205.
There is a small selection of family photos but the majority being the stage ones. Boy did he look good in the Sweeney though. With Dennis Waterman as his sidekick, us teenage girls used to drool over these tough macho officers. There was always a great divide at school with which one us girls fancied most, Dennis Waterman did it for me. They were the first "Bodie and Doyle" and before I give too much away about my age I'll say thank you for reading and yes, I do feel bad for not giving this book a thumbs up!
PS: I'm about to start my new book - THE OSBOURNES . : - )
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