Blind in One Ear: The Avenger Returns

The late Patrick Macnee left behind a reputation bolstered by a long run as John Steed on The Avengers, as well as a unique claim to featured appearances in The Man from UNCLE (a reunion TV movie) and a James Bond movie. He also had a range of roles in various movies and TV appearances and a claim to one of the early tell-all books. That's this book, with its tales of a childhood raised in a lesbian harem and an indifferent father, the war years in the Channel aboard a Motor Torpedo Boat, three marriages, a lot of guilt, and a long slow-moving career in acting alleviated, thank goodness, by The Avengers. Plenty of movie anecdotes, happily, including some truly hilarious ones involving fellow actors, crazy fans, and crazier friends and show more relatives, not to mention a wry humor throughout the book. He attended Eton with Christopher Lee whom he would meet years later, thrown out of school right before graduation for selling booze and nude photos to fellow students. Excellent book, plenty of good information about The Avengers itself for fans, and even the usual boring story of the star's early years was entertaining reading. What a family! show less

I have read a lot of biographies: I like biographies and, they tend to gloss briefly over real life and spend most of their time telling the reader how wonderful the subject is/was for whatever has made them sufficiently famous to warrant the writing of a book.
This tome is different. Patrick Macnee gives us an insight into his life, both the good and the bad. His time as John Steed is only mentioned as a way to praise the actors and actresses who stared along side. Mr. Macnee has made mistakes in life; who hasn't? I can only take his word for the accuracy of his story, but I would say that his modesty and love of people shines through.
This is the story of a decent chap and a thoroughly enjoyable read: I only hope that the years, since show more publication, have given him some peace. show less

Interesting, bizarre, but rather uncomfortable: he comes over as fairly well-intentioned but a bit of an oaf.