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Originally published in 1978. Henry Irving achieved an astounding success in Britain and America as an actor; yet he lacked good looks, had spindly legs, and did not have a good voice. He said so himself. Today Irving is regarded as the archetype of the old-time actor, but in his own time he was regarded as a great theatrical innovator. Even Bernard Shaw, who attacked him pitilessly, even unto death, called him modern when he first saw him act.

Irving, the man, with his tenacious, obsessive talent, his human limitations and weaknesses, and his ephemeral glory is brought most...

Originally published in 1971, this book gives the real substance of Scotland at the time of Mary Queen of Scots. It describes in extensive and colourful detail the way people of all ranks of society lived, their homes, their food and amusements, the ways they earned their living, cared for the sick and punished offenders. Family life, religion, the structure and activities of the clans and the state of the arts are all discussed. The book gives a true picture of a disturbed and remote country in the sixteenth century – a picture of contrasts and contradictions, as Scotland at that time...

First published in 1975, Peers and Plebs is about the rise and fall of two families, one aristocratic and the other plebian of origin. It forms a microcosm of a small section of social history during sixty important years, 1878-1938. It shows how British society, though veined with snobbery, has remained fluid enough to adapt itself to change and necessity without, so far, a violent revolution. The author wittily reveals how this was achieved: how when it came to the nitty-gritty no class has been afraid to marry into another, despite snobbery or even religious prejudice. This book...

First published in 1974, Masks and Facades paints an authentic picture of John Vanbrugh as a man of character, talent, wit and charm, moving in an age where patronage held the key to worldly advancement. Yet against a backcloth of theatre, of the great palaces of the aristocracy, and the sycophancy which Court, rank and riches demanded, he always remained his own man. Whether imprisoned in the Bastille as the ‘guest’ of Louis XIV, or in his long contest with the insufferable Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough over the building of Blenheim, he invariably retained his balance and good...

First published in 1972, Sheridan is primarily a rounded, colourful portrait of Richard Brinsley Sheridan, his triumphs and failures, his ferocious duels and sudden romances, and his rise to oratorical fame in the arena of politics. But it is also something more: a wide canvas – sometimes frightening, sometimes amusing – depicting the extraordinarily turbulent and violent theatrical world of London and Dublin in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, when an irate audience could destroy a theatre. In this book, Madeleine Bingham explains why Sheridan relegated to second...