Ask Me If I'm Happy

by bowles-peter

'Ask Me If I'm Happy' is a wonderfully funny and colourful memoir from one of our best-loved television actors, Peter Bowles.

Genres: Biography

310 pages, Paperback

First published April 23, 2010

Reviews

[Denis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Unusual autobiography in that it's not really a journal, more an accumulated collection of stories in vaguely chronological order.

I'd always been a fan of Peter Bowles but rather taken him for granted, as a very good comedic actor in English series. I never knew there was so much to him! A very interesting read.

[Richard1955 · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fine autobiography - no holds barred - by an actor who came up the ladder rung by rung - with certainly no favors given - until all realized what a splendid actor he was - in classics on the stage, in drama on television or movies, in the great comedy series for which most Americans know him (To the manor Born).

Time and again, we read Bowles blaming himself (or sometimes others!) for misfortunes - and he can tell a rollicking great story - whether it's about appearing frequently on The Avengers or Secret Agent - or the movie Charge of the Light Brigade back in the 1960s.

Bowles has great intelligence, distinctive taste (e.g., cars), ambition, an amusing way of looking at certain things in life - and stirring ambition. This is a highly enjoyable book - not least because it inspires anyone who doesn't feel successful in their 20s or 30s - to realize it may yet come.

[Malcolm Davis · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wasn't too aware of Bowles till I saw him in Rumpole when shown on TPTV.The book is a typical lobbies book.Some.Interesting anecdotes and a lot of uninteresting backstage drama.

[Maureen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book - mainly because I grew up and watched the programmes he was involved with plus I had heard of all the people he talks about.

[Marilyn Crosbie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I bought this delightful book when I was visiting a cousin in Eastbourne. Peter mentioned that he had visited the Eastbourne Pier, which made me imagine him sitting on a bench there. I read the book quickly and gave it to my cousin before I returned to Canada.