Looking Back: Never Explain, Never Apologise

by John Osborne

e single-volume edition of Osborne's two autobiographical works, "A Better Class of Person: 1929-1956" and "Almost a Gentleman: 1955-1966". The book also contains a review of the former by Alan Bennett entitled "Bad John", and David Hare's eulogy delivered at Osborne's memorial service in 1995.

626 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1999

About the author

People best know British playwright John James Osborne, member of the Angry Young Men, for his play Look Back in Anger (1956); vigorous social protest characterizes works of this group of English writers of the 1950s.

This screenwriter acted and criticized the Establishment. The stunning success of Look Back in Anger transformed English theatre. In a productive life of more than four decades, Osborne explored many themes and genres, writing for stage, film and television. His extravagant and iconoclastic personal life flourished. He notoriously used language of the ornate violence on behalf of the political causes that he supported and against his own family, including his wives and children, who nevertheless often gave as good as they got.

He came onto the theatrical scene at a time when British acting enjoyed a golden age, but most great plays came from the United States and France. The complexities of the postwar period blinded British plays. In the post-imperial age, Osborne of the writers first addressed purpose of Britain. He first questioned the point of the monarchy on a prominent public stage. During his peak from 1956 to 1966, he helped to make contempt an acceptable and then even cliched onstage emotion, argued for the cleansing wisdom of bad behavior and bad taste, and combined unsparing truthfulness with devastating wit.

Reviews

[M.R. Dowsing · Rating 5 out of 5]

This contains both volumes of Osborne's autobiography. I bought it over the internet and regretted not buying them separately as this edition is like a brick with very small print. That grumble aside, however, the books themselves were both brilliant and fun. Volume one goes up until the time of Osborne's first success with 'Look Back In Anger' in 1956, and contains a lot of pretty funny misadventures as an actor in a touring company, as well as some more moving reminiscences of his father, who died at an early age. Volume two concentrates on his ten years of incredible success, with a little bit about the inevitable fall from grace at the end. Osborne is very harsh on many people, including his own mother and his fourth wife, actress Jill Bennett, but this did seem to come from his uncompromising insistence on telling the truth no matter how unpleasant, rather than mere vindictiveness for the sake of it. And he DOES speak well of some people, most notably George Devine. Osborne has an impressively venomous vocabulary, inimitable turn of phrase, and plenty of great stories to tell. Highly recommended, not just to those interested in British theatre, but to anyone interested in England during the post-war period or, indeed, to anyone who appreciates great writing.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Possibly the most vitriolic autobiograhy ever written! Yet laugh-out loud witty and possibly a bit slanderous. Highly recommended to those interested in the new drama that hit Britain in the late fifties and sixties.

[Johnny · Rating 5 out of 5]

There has been a lot written about John Osborne over the years but John in his own words can't be beaten. The sheer braggadocio of writing about himself seems to set Osborne free. This is a truly exceptional two-part autobiography with the third never completed because of Osborne’s death. Volume 1 was definitely stronger than the latter which feel down with bitterness and what felt like painful memories. The prose is startlingly good. I would opine it's the best writing in English in the latter of half of the Twentieth Century. Elegiac but cutting like much of his stage plays. The acerbity and wit on display is very often on a par with Samuel Johnson. I have never laughed out loud so many times as reading this autobiography. Osborne is shockingly brutal at times but the honesty is addictive. This autobiography should be better known and Osborne considered a national hero. Why? He came from nowhere and revolutionized theatre. Native intelligence they call it.

[Hazel · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the second time I've read these two autobiographies fuelled in part by John being a relative of sorts.

His recollections and portraits of himself and others are at once both fascinating and shocking. A truly unique individual.

[Pippa · Rating 3 out of 5]

He’s a right old misery

[Kalwinder Dhindsa · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a life...upto 1966.

It was a shame it didn't go up to 1994 when he died.