Moon Boots and Dinner Suits

https://fromtheheartofeurope.eu/moon-boots-and-dinner-suits-by-jon-pertwee/

First volume of Jon Pertwee’s autobiography, though he did not write much more apart from an out-of-print account of his time on Doctor Who. It’s an entertaining set of anecdotes about his early life, difficult relations with parents (he did not actually know that his father‘s friend was his biological mother), his wartime service in the navy (which takes up almost half of the book), his love of girls and cars. If I had been editing it, I might have taken out some of the exclamation marks.

Lots of names are dropped, many of them of showbiz figures now long forgotten, though a couple stood out; visiting his father’s friend A.A. Milne as a child, Milne’s show more son “was good enough to introduce me to his toy animal friends, Piglet, Owl, Kanga, Kanga’s son Roo, and best of all, his teddy bear, Winnie the Pooh.” At the other end of the book, when he is assigned to Naval Intelligence, one of his office-mates is future prime minister James Callaghan. (Callaghan, who lost the 1979 election, is the most recent prime minister to have served in the armed forces and the only one to have been in the Navy.)

But Doctor Who fans like me won’t find much to chew on here. Pertwee did not really have hidden depths; what you saw was what you got, and that personality is on display in his book. show less

In Moon Boots and Dinner Suits, Jon Pertwee traces his life from his birth in 1919 through 1945, focusing on his treasured childhood memories, his trouble-making years in private schools, the struggles of his fledgling acting career, and his service in World War II. His manner of writing recalls someone sharing their reminiscences with a treasured friend, so that he doesn’t shy away from embarrassing moments or giving inside information on his encounters with famous writers, politicians, and actors in the early stages of their careers. Though Pertwee has had a lengthy career as an actor, he is perhaps best known for his role as the Third Doctor on Doctor Who from 1970-1974, though he also played Chief Petty Officer Pertwee for 18 show more years on BBC Radio’s The Navy Lark and appeared in three of the low-budget Carry On films. As the book ends in 1945, he never gets to those moments and so fans of his most famous work will likely find more satisfaction reading his second, posthumous memoir, I Am The Doctor – Jon Pertwee’s Final Memoir, published in 1996. Moon Boots and Dinner Suits offers a unique look at English life in the early twentieth century, in particular the private schools and theatre companies on the cusp of World War II, so it will be of interest to theatre historians. show less