Book info

• Title Only Fools and Stories
• Author David Jason
• Year 2018
• Genre Memoir

In his first book David Jason told us about himself from his early years training as an electrician through to making it as one of Britain's greatest actors. This autumn, in a follow up autobiography, he tells us about the many other lives he has lived – his characters. From Del Boy to Granville, Pop Larkin to Frost, he takes us behind the scenes and under the skins of some of the best loved acts of his career. And in the process he reflects on how those characters changed his life too. The result told with his characteristic charm and wit is both funny and poignant, honest and heart warming.

Thoughts

David Jason has written quite a few autobiographies and I’ve read a couple I think, but I enjoyed this one nevertheless. Rather than working chronologically through a life, this one focused on the characters that Jason has played in his career - how they came to be, how he developed them, and what they mean to him. Of course that means Del Boy, but also Pop Larkin, Inspector Frost, and Granville in both the original series but also the later revival. If you’re a fan of any of these characters then there will be something for you in the book, and it’s all told with great humility and humour from start to finish.

Rating: 4 / 5