John Geilgud - An Actor's Life by Gyles Brandreth (Sutton Publishing, £12.99).

IN his preface, the author admits that this is but a brief account of the long life of the giant of 20th Century theatre.

Indeed, how could such a lengthy, distinguished and dazzling career be squeezed into a mere 161 pages of far from tiny type?

What Brandreth does is give a flavour of the man and as an hors d'ouevre it spurs the reader on towards sniffing out a deeper, more involved biography. But it is doubtful if a heavier tome would be touched by such personal reminiscences.

Drawn from over 30 years of conversations between Geilgud and Brandreth, a picture soon emerges of an actor with a naughty sense of humour who thrived on gossip; a warm, vital man, who probably didn't realise his extraordinary gifts, but acted the socks off all around him, anyway.

Geilgud, of course, died in May, this year, at the age of 96.

He once told Brandreth: I have had a very lucky life.

Like Brandreth, I think it was we who were the lucky ones.

David Chapman