BOOK OF THE MONTH

Anne Robinson, the celebrated British journalist and television presenter, whose chat show My Life in Books is currently showing on BBC2, gives her recommendation.

The Diaries of Kenneth Tynan, by John Lahr and Kenneth Tynan "It's a wonderfully funny and frank account of Tynan's life, and the only diaries that come anywhere near to giving the same enjoyment as Simon's."

An engaging and intimate look at one of the most feared and respected critics of our time.

'Be light, stinging, insolent, and melancholy' were the words hanging over the desk of Kenneth Tynan in his early days as a critic for the London Observer, and his journals were just that. For Tynan, arguably the greatest critic of the twentieth century, all life was theatre and demanded to be conveyed as such. Whether he is feverishly recording his impressions of the historic fight between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman, recounting a scandalously successful meeting between Marlene Deitrich and John F. Kennedy, or venting his frustrations about working with Laurence Olivier, Tynan's wicked observations are consistently clever and inspired.

Tynan's journals are an intoxicating mix of aesthetics, theatre, love, sex and politics from the perspective of a man who often served as confidant to the glittering personalities of his age. They offer not only an uncensored glimpse into the man himself but also an informed and irreverent view of our time. 

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