Product Description

When John Thaw, star of The Sweeney and Inspector Morse, died from cancer in 2002, a nation lost one of its finest actors and Sheila Hancock lost a beloved husband. In this unique double biography she chronicles their lives - personal and professional, together and apart. John Thaw was born in Manchester, the son of a lorry driver. When he arrived at RADA on a scholarship he felt an outsider. In fact his timing was perfect: it was the sixties and television was beginning to make its mark. With his roles in Z-Cars and The Sweeney, fame came quickly. But it was John's role as Morse that made him an icon. In 1974 he married Sheila Hancock, with whom he shared a working-class background and a RADA education. Sheila was already the star of the TV series The Rag Trade and went on to become the first woman artistic director at the RSC. Theirs was a sometimes turbulent, always passionate relationship, and in this remarkable book Sheila describes their love - weathering overwork and the pressures of celebrity, drink and cancer - with honesty and piercing intelligence, and evokes two lives lived to the utmost.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #567 in Books
• Published on: 2005-06-06
• Released on: 2005-06-06
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 320 pages

Review
'A book of exceptional emotional candour' Sunday Telegraph 'Wise, witty and at times unbearably moving' Glasgow Herald 'Startlingly good Hancock is remarkably good at evoking period and place' Sunday Times 'Her honest, graceful account leaves nothing out - Thaw's alcoholism, his depression, their separation, their love' Dublin Sunday Independent

Glasgow Herald
‘Wise, witty and at times unbearably moving’

Hugh Massingberd, Spectator
‘An impressive and affecting work of art’

Customer Reviews

the two of us, my life with john thaw, by sheila hancock
beautifully written by Sheila Hancock! Reduced me to tears on many occassions! If you didn't know the man before reading the book, you certainly will after! highly recommended read!

Thoroughly enjoyable book
I did not know what to expect with this book, and on the whole, I enjoyed it and would recommend it. It is really a double biography of both Sheila Hancock and her beloved husband John Thaw. It is well written with considerable warmth and feeling, describing the highs and the lows of their lives both separately and together. A real life love story.

The Two of Us by Sheila Hancock
I have just listened to the audio version of this book and was deeply moved. It was very interesting to hear about her life and John Thaws life in the industry, but the sections inbetween when she documents his illness, death and her life after was so moving. My father died last year and my mother was married for over 50 years during which they were inseperable. This book has given me some idea how she is feeling at the moment and I intend to buy it for her as birthday present. Sheila has gone through such sorrow all her life with the spector of cancer destroying many people close to her. Sheila read the book and you can feel the strengh of feeling through her words. Grumpy old woman you are not Sheila.