Ustinov At Eighty

· BBC Digital Audio · Narrated by John Bird
Audiobook
1 hr 11 min
Unabridged
Eligible
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About this audiobook

In this much-praised interview, octogenarian Peter Ustinov talks to John Bird. The man of many talents has an astonishing range of accomplishments behind him as an Oscar-winning film and theatre actor, author of novels, plays and screenplays. He is also a raconteur, graphic artist, photographer, stage director and designer and the recipient of many humanitarian awards for his work with UNICEF and UNESCO. In this interview he talks about his hectic life and times, about family life, schools sports, the army, spying, Hollywood and radio comedy with Peter Jones, Nero and Pol Pot, God and Andre Agassi. Originally broadcast on Radio 4 in April 2001, unheard material and an introduction by John Bird is included, making it equally attractive to those who heard the original radio broadcast and new listeners alike.

About the author

Peter Ustinov (Author)
Sir Peter Ustinov was an Academy award-winning actor, writer and director. Born in 1921, Ustinov’s career started in London and led him to the stage and the screen in Hollywood, New York and Rome. He is best known for his roles in Quo Vadis, Spartacus and as Agatha Christie’s Poirot. Ustinov was also a humanitarian and served as a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador. He was the Chancellor of Durham University from 1992 until his death in 2004.

John Bird (Reader)
John Bird was born just after the Second World War to a London Irish family in slum-ridden Notting Hill. Homeless at five, he went on to spend three years in an orphanage before, at the age of ten, embarking on a spree of shoplifting, house breaking, vandalism and arson. Periods in jail were followed in his twenties by the birth of three of his children and his metamorphosis into a successful businessman. At the age of 45, using his own life and professional experience, he founded the Big Issue and over the last fifteen years has overseen its development into an international movement which stretches from Tokyo to Totnes.

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