Product Description

This biography of James Roberston Justice celebrates the secret life and glittering career of one of British cinema's finest and most recognisable screen personalities. With his unforgettable presence and his trademark bulk, whiskers, and fierce bark, James Robertson Justice made a treasure chest of classic British movies. He is best remembered as the bombastic Sir Lancelot Spratt in Doctor in the House (1954), but also starred in many wonderful films, both comedies and drama, often portrayed as a domineering (if frequently soft-centred) ogre. His on-screen temper tantrums often resembled those of a gigantic, irate toddler. This book unravels for the first time, through detailed research and original interviews with those close to him, the myriad complexities of one of Britain s finest actors. The book is fully illustrated with many rare photos. A must buy for fans of classic British films. Throughout the fifties and sixties he built a career on scene stealing performances in comedies and action thrillers. A bittersweet fling with Hollywood even landed him the enigmatic role of Vashtar, architect of the Great Pyramid, in Howard Hawks historical epic Land of the Pharaohs (1955). However, for his many fans, Justice's true metier remained farce. A pivotal role in the creation of his recognisable screen persona was the punctilious, 'thrash happy' Dr. Grimstone in Vice Versa (1948). It was from this seed of a condescending Victorian headmaster that a succession of characters flourished, epitomised by Lord Scrumptious in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968). Woe betide anyone who attracted his beetle-browed displeasure. From Dirk Bogarde, through Stanley Baxter and Dick Van Dyke, JRJ was the towering authority figure par excellence, releasing a hilarious barrage of vitriolic slap downs and insults. His recurring role as fathers to beautiful ingénues, such as Sir Beverly Grant in Father Came Too! (1963) and Charles Chingford in Ken Annakin s The Fast Lady (1962), offered older cinema goers a reassuring bulwark against the (would be) excesses of the 'permissive society'. James Robertson Justice was a "brilliant raconteur, indifferent to money" -- part Walter Mitty, part Sir John Falstaff. There is no actor we can think of with a life story that screams so loudly for a biography. This is the definitive story of one of Britain's greatest actors.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #18513 in Books
• Published on: 2008-03-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 207 pages

Review
"...this is a book you must read...Tomahawk Press, one of the best independent publishing houses of niche market title books in the world, are to be applauded for bringing this excellent tome to add to our library of movie books. Superbly researched, handsomely illustrated...I cannot highly recommend this enough." -- Cinema Retro, March 2008. Featured in The Spectator, November 2008

www.motorbar.com, April 2008
With a complete filmography, as well as both colour and black-and-white photographs throughout, 'What's the Bleeding Time?' is a superb biography. As Ken Annakin says in his Afterword: "...this book is a fine tribute".

TV Cream, April 2008
We've mentioned this book before, but shamefully it's only now we've got round to reading the blighter. And we're delighted to report that James Robertson Justice: What's the Bleeding-Time? is no disappointment.

This biography of the bibulous falconer, wildfowl nut, huntsman, wine bibber, friend of the Duke of Edinburgh and sometime accidental actor is a straight-down-the-middle factual account, but then with such a rich and
hitherto unexamined life as JRJ had, that's exactly what you want.

It's a life well worth recounting. Hunter, falconer, socialist, best mate of Prince Philip (who provides the book's foreword, no less) and, last and (by his own estimation) least, actor, the man led one of those ebulliently demented, incident-packed lives actors seemed to stop bothering with some time during the early 1980s, preferring to spend more time cultivating their
portfolio of share options. You wouldn't get a tenth the anecdotal goodness out of Whiffy Day Lewis as you would from Jimmy. Justice fights in the Spanish Civil War! Justice bests Diana Dors in a speed typing contest!
Justice plays the bagpipes in the nude! It's all duly documented here, in a fantastic job of research.

Dammit man, we give What's the Bleeding Time? four punt guns out of five!

Customer Reviews

And Justice for All...
I am a huge fan of the 'Doctor' series of films. Indeed, they inspired me to pursue a career in medicine. To discover that someone had, at long last, written a biography of JRJ was an absolute joy. He is one of those actors that everybody recognises instantly yet, bizarrely, knows precious little about.
Mr. Hogg and his co-authors have done a fantastic job of researching and collating this extraordinary life. Here is the story of someone who seemed to treat his 'profession' with a degree of disdain, preferring to fly his hawks on the Scottish moors, stand for Parliament under an assumed Gaelic name or belittle Barbara Cartland at social functions!
I cannot recommend this work highly enough. As a record of a truly underrated legend of British cinema, and of the British film industry itself, it is without equal.

Great Read
This book is one of those rare books that made it difficult for me to put it down, JRJ had many jobs and interests and he never classed himself as an actor, he said he never acted just played himself on screen and thankfully this book focuses more on the man and not the movies, what a life he had, well worth reading and I strongly recommend this book.

Brilliant man, brilliant book
This is a long overdue biography of an eccentric and highly enigmatic man whose acting abilities wre only a relatively small part of a hugely complex multi talented human being. James Hogg has made a superb job of researching every aspect of Jamesa Robertson Justice's life, which cannot have been easy since he was so often a closed book and a law unto himself, and many people only ever knew whatever part of them he chose to make available at any given time. The result is a very full account which is also very readable. Highly recommended.