Dropping Names by David Benedictus (2005-05-03)

At Eton his fag was Jonathan Aitken. He was private tutor to the Rothschilds. At 22 he published a best seller. Within a few years he had story edited BBC's Wednesday Play, interviewed Judy Garland, and watched as the young Coppola filmed his second novel in New York. He organised the early Amnesty Concerts, modelled for Vogue, and assisted Trevor Nunn at the RSC. He was antiques correspondent for the Evening Standard, Commissioning Editor for Drama at Channel 4, a London tour guide, and ran Book At Bedtime for Radio 4. He has taught in both the private and the state sectors, and runs a tipping service for horse-racing fans. What David has to say about the arts and society in Britain is alarming and very, very funny. David Benedictus says he wrote Dropping Names, his memoir of a life in the arts, because he did not want his anecdotes to die with him! Certainly there is a wealth of stories here about just about everyone who is anyone in politics as well as the arts from Olivia Newton-John to Jonathan Aitken, from Anthony Burgess to Judi Dench (David's dog was responsible for Judi getting married), and from the Rothschilds to Mick Jagger and Paul McCartney. What makes this memoir unusually readable is not just his wealth of experience but the relish with which he describes the eccentric and the powerful, the rulers and shakers, the great, the good and the not so good who have made the arts in Britain what they are today. --- 'Life with the Rotschilds was endlessly competitive, and it was made very clear that they were expected to win, while you ought really to come a creditable second.' --- 'At the end of my three years I left Oxford a BA and a virgin, neither of which helped me at all.' --- '"You and you alone are responsible for the downfall of the British Empire" - a fan writes to David Benedictus.'