To Stewart the discovery was a breakthrough. I ask now if becoming aware of his father’s illness made it easier to comprehend, if not excuse, his actions?

Making It So by Patrick Stewart | Waterstones

Much of the first two thirds is dedicated to his formative years living in very humble, and at times harrowing circumstances, in northern England as well as starting out as a classically trained Shakespearean actor in the UK and beyond, so don't let the title mislead you into thinking this is a book with a lot of emphasis on his years working on Star Trek: The Next Generation in California.This disclaimer aside, Stewart is a fabulous raconteur and I found the book delightful, neither overly triumphalist or self-deprecating, with moments of true humour and pathos along the way. Mr Dormand was tall and handsome, with an informal manner that put us kids at ease. He wasn’t too informal with us – if he caught a pupil glazing over with an inattentive stare, he wouldn’t hesitate to nail this pupil in the head with a piece of chalk. We actually loved him for this. If you somehow managed to think fast enough to catch the piece of chalk he’d aimed your way, you received a “Bravo!” from Mr Dormand and a round of applause from the rest of the class. So if you are on the fence about reading or, better yet, making the 18+ hour commitment to listening to this memoir I can only hope this silly review helps you decide which side to come down on. Now, he presents his long-awaited memoir, Making It So, a revealing portrait of a driven artist whose astonishing life – from his humble and hardscrabble beginnings in Yorkshire, to the dizzying heights of Hollywood and worldwide acclaim – proves a story as exuberant, definitive and enduring as the author himself.

Stewart, Patrick: 9781982167738 Making It So: A Memoir: Stewart, Patrick: 9781982167738

Highly entertaining... You don't need to be a fan of Stewart the man of stage and screen to be as beguiled by the decades of professional acting that follow' - The Times Even now, Stewart’s age hasn’t quite caught up with some of the walk-on parts he played as a novice – an 85-year-old butler, or someone’s ancient American father in an obscure Shaw play. “I was dreadful and everyone knew it,” he recalls of the latter. He describes some of these early humiliations with the self-deprecating wisdom only 60 years’ hindsight can bestow. He comes off as extremely unlikeable. Talking about how as a teen, he used to make a disabled boy beat his stump of a hand into a wall until it bled, and then bragging just a few lines later about how his empathy for a dying squirrel must have been an early sign he'd be a great actor because he had so much empathy? Oof. It is fascinating to read an 83 year old man have an almost childlike wonder and awe at the world around him and the people he meets. From 1st July 2021, VAT will be applicable to those EU countries where VAT is applied to books - this additional charge will be collected by Fed Ex (or the Royal Mail) at the time of delivery. Shipments to the USA & Canada:The subject that most captivated me was English literature. In my second year at the Mirfield Secondary Modern School, I was assigned to the Eng-lit class of Cecil Dormand, who was also my form master. He was to have a transformational impact on my life. Making It So is dedicated to Dormand and another teacher, Ruth Wynn Owen, once an understudy to Peggy Aschcroft and later a voice coach, who developed Stewart as an actor and is responsible for his received pronunciation. When I ask if he would have achieved what he has done without the confidence given to him by these adults, he says, “I think something would have happened, but it would have taken much longer.” I wonder if that underplays their impact. Had he not been advised to apply for a scholarship to drama school, he would not have gone – there was no other money. “Here I was, a secondary school boy, getting everything paid for,” he says. “My schooling, the goods I needed, tights, ballet shoes, work clothes, scripts, all of that. [The scholarship] paid for everything.” His time at drama school went well, but still Stewart didn’t walk into a job. At repertory auditions early in his career he would turn up in a wig, then whip it off halfway through to reveal his bald head, hoping to impress on directors that if they hired him into their company they were getting two actors for the price of one. (It worked, eventually.)

Making It So: A Memoir (Audio Download): Patrick Stewart

All right,” said Mr D, “start reading.” We all bent our heads over the strange-looking columns of print and started reading. Silently. A moment passed before Mr D erupted: “Not to yourselves, you idiots, out loud! This is a play, it’s action, it’s drama, it’s life. Start again.” I also wasn't as thrilled with the episodic recaps of TNG. I enjoyed his takes on the episodes on later viewing, but more on the actual production would have been nice. He glosses over the very real conflicts with Roddenberry, the mess with Gates McFadden and the clear inability to connect as an actor with Diana Muldaur.

In his memoir, Stewart describes his relationship with his children as “a work in progress”. When I ask how things are now he looks briefly rattled and casts his eyes downwards. “It’s very sad,” he says. “I love my children. But our relationships, they haven’t worked out.” Stewart maintains strong links to his grandchildren – less so their parents, though in the book he seems on good terms with his son, Daniel, who followed him into acting. He goes on, “It will always be a place of sadness in my life.” I would have liked to have said to him, ‘Dad, there were so many aspects of you and your life that have taken me by the hand and led me on my way through adulthood and into old age. You are, in many respects, an example to me. And in other respects, you are still a bad man.’” I’ve got ideas. I’d like to do more comedy. Laughter is glorious’: with his wife Sunny Ozell. Photograph: Jeff Spicer/Getty Images