A Class Act

A Class Act Life as a Working-Class Man in a Middle-Class World

Hardback (14 Oct 2021)

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Publisher's Synopsis

THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER

'Pacy, witty, and affectionate,' Guardian.

'A very funny book,' Jonathan Ross

'A fantastic read…so warm, so honest, so affectionate,' Chris Evans

Rob Beckett never seems to fit in. At work, in the middle-class world of television he's the laddie, cockney geezer, but to his mates down the pub in south-east London, he's the theatrical one, a media luvvie. Even at home, his wife and kids are posher than him.

In this hilarious exploration of class, Rob compares his life growing up as a working-class kid to the life he lives now, trying to understand where he truly belongs.

Will he always be that fat kid who was told he'd never be a high-flyer? Why does he feel ashamed if he does anything vaguely middle class? Will he ever favour craft beer over lager? What happens if you eat 50 olives and drink two bottles of champagne? Why is 'boner' such a funny word?

In search of answers, Rob relives the moments in his life when the class divide couldn't be more obvious. Whether it's the gig for rich bankers that was worse than Matt Hancock hosting the GQ Men of the Year Awards, turning up at a swanky celebrity house party with a blue bag of cans from the offy or identifying the root of his ambition as a childhood incident involving soiled pants and Jurassic Park, Rob digs deep.

A Class Act is his funny, candid and often moving account of what it feels like to be an outsider and the valuable (sometimes humiliating) life lessons he's learned along the way.

About the Publisher

HarperCollinsPublishers

HarperCollinsPublishers

With a heritage stretching back nearly 200 years, HarperCollins is one of the world's foremost English-language publishers, offering the best quality content right across the spectrum, from cutting-edge contemporary fiction to digital hymnbooks and pretty much everything in between. In the UK, the Glasgow-based William Collins & Sons was founded in 1819 and published a range of bibles, atlases and dictionaries, later including classic authors HG Wells, Agatha Christie, JRR Tolkien and CS Lewis. The original Harper Brothers Company was established in New York City in 1817 and over the years published the works of Mark Twain, the Bronte Sisters, Thackeray, Dickens, John F Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. In 1987, Harper & Row, as it had then become, was acquired by News Corporation. The worldwide group was formed following News Corp's 1990 acquisition of William Collins & Sons. Today we publish some of the world's foremost authors, from Nobel prize-winners to worldwide bestsellers recent successes including the Booker-winning Wolf Hall and Bring Up The Bodies by Hilary Mantel, and George RR Martin's blockbusting A Song of Ice and Fire series.

Book information

ISBN: 9780008468187
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Imprint: HarperCollinsPublishers
Pub date:
DEWEY: 792.028092
DEWEY edition: 23
Language: English
Number of pages: 278 , 16 unnumbered of plates
Weight: 636g
Height: 163mm
Width: 242mm
Spine width: 35mm