Once in a while, you come across a biography of a film star written not by an accredited film historian, or a professional writer on an assignment, but an uberfan. You can tell them by the copious illustrations sourced from "Authors Own Collection", a tendency towards hagiography, and a tedious writing style, such that you imagine meeting the author in the pub; he starts to tell you of his subject, you feel compelled to edge away before escaping through the toilet window. Well, while Graham … [Read more...]

Lewis Chester hasn't got a background in Film or TV History; he's an old-fashioned proper investigative journalist, an ex-member of the Sunday Times' Insight team; this background gives him two things....an ability to tell a story well, and an inherent sympathy towards the subject matter, whose generosity towards journalists was the stuff of legend....and that legend, amongst others, is the story that Lewis Chester is telling. At the centre of the legend is Lew Grade, the eldest of - in … [Read more...]