Putting the Rabbit in the Hat

The long-awaited memoir by movie and theatre legend, Brian Cox.

*Featuring a foreword by the executive producer of Succession, Frank Rich*

From Titus Andronicus with the RSC to media magnate Logan Roy in HBO's Succession, Brian Cox has made his name as an actor of unparalleled distinction and versatility. We know him on screen, but few know of his extraordinary life story.

Growing up in Dundee, Scotland, Cox lost his father when he was just eight years old and was brought up by his three elder sisters in the aftermath of his mother's nervous breakdowns and ultimate hospitalization. After joining the Dundee Repertory Theatre at the age of fifteen, you could say the rest is history - but that is to overlook the enormous graft that has gone into the making of the legend we know today.

This is a rags-to-riches life story like no other - a seminal autobiography that both captures Cox's distinctive voice and his very soul. Rich in emotion and meaning, with plenty of laughs along the way, it will be a classic in the vein of The Moon's a Balloon by David Niven and What's It All About by Michael Caine.

Review: A hugely readable memoir from a giant of stage and screen * Mark Kermode *
A life well lived and a story well told. From first page to last Brian Cox the great actor is Brian Cox the great storyteller, and nobody is spared his sharp eye and his caustic wit, himself and some big Hollywood names included. He is brutally honest about who and what he likes and doesn't like, and honest too about his own failings. But what shines through every page is a man who loves being an actor and who has a deep understanding of why culture, and especially theatre and film, really matter. * Alastair Campbell *

Rage and vulnerability, loss and passion, self-doubt, triumphs and laughs. Brian Cox's memoir brings to mind the Blake poem "What is the price of experience ? Do men buy it for a song? Or wisdom for a dance in the street? No, it is bought with the price of all that a man hath: his wife, his house his children'." What a treat and privilege to be invited in. I've never read a book that conveys the joy, grace and pain of the journey of being an actor and a human more honestly and with such straightforward blistering charm.