autobiography

Growing up in rural Northern Ireland in the 1970s, Martin Doyle glimpsed few signs of the Troubles. There were no peace walls, he never walked in a victim’s funeral cortege and only once did he spot soldiers patrolling his village. Yet his life was saturated by the conflict. It was like an invisible pandemic, one that he knew was striking down his neighbours, but had not yet visited his home.When his parents went shopping, he was expected to sit in the parked car: in order to deter car bombers, no vehicles were permitted…

When the South African middle-distance runner Caster Semenya won her first 800m gold medal at the Berlin world championships in August 2009, her achievement was marred by controversy. Rivals and commentators alike speculated openly on the “masculinity” of her build and the ease with which she dominated the race.A month later, the results of a gender test she took at the event were leaked. Poignantly, scandalously, she discovered along with the rest of the world that she had been born with “differences in sex development”…

“All I ever wanted to do was play Shakespeare, nothing else. It was a kind of zenith for me,” says Judi Dench, discussing her first professional role (Ophelia with the Old Vic) straight out of drama school in 1957. Despite the book’s jokily disparaging subtitle – “the man who pays the rent” is how Dench and her late husband,Michael Williams, used to refer to the Bard when they both worked for the Royal Shakespeare Company during the 1970s – her passion for Shakespeare shines through every conversation reproduced here.The…

“There is some doubt about the fact that this person is a lady.” It was 2009, and 18-year-old Caster Semenya had just won a gold medal in the 800m at the World Championships in Berlin. The general secretary of the International Association of Athletics Federation (now World Athletics) was addressing the media, announcing that Semenya was clearly “a woman, but maybe not 100%”.Semenya has, to this day, not watched this press conference: “I’ve heard about it, but I don’t care to see it,” she writes in her memoir, The Race to…

The fan is a necessary but ambiguous figure in sport. A vital part of the spectacle as well as a source of financial support, he (and it’s most often a he) can be a dutiful follower, fierce critic, passive spectator, possessive adulator, worshipful and entitled, and not infrequently all at the same time.This tribal dependency, with all its pain, disappointment and fleeting moments of triumph, has made for some powerful memoirs, such as Frederick Exley’s (loosely fictionalised) A Fan’s Notes and Nick Hornby’s Fever Pitch.…

Liz O’Riordan is a consultant breast surgeon who was forced to retire from practice six years ago after her own breast cancer diagnosis. Like many, I knew her story, having followed her on social media since my own sister passed away from breast cancer. Online, she comes across as both candid and joyful, sharing adventures, advice and pictures of her bright handmade dresses.I had assumed her memoir would be the straightforward tale of a doctor turned patient. However, the experiences of illness, both depression and…

I know that may be hard to believe. I talk passionately about games to anyone who listens whether it is about programming techniques, upcoming games and consoles, or the latest game I am into. Softdisk even had a conversational atmosphere.Still, on September 20th, 1990, I was at a total loss for words. But my silence wasn’t the real story. The reason for my silence — that was the real story.In the space of about one second, at the age of almost 23, I had glimpsed my future, my colleagues’ future, and the future of PC…

Medics thrive on feeling useful: testing abnormalities, forming a differential diagnosis, providing treatment and tracking improvement. But for many conditions, the story is one of uncertainty, setback and management rather than cure. While clinicians busy themselves with visible and measurable signs of disease, the patient’s hopes, despair and wavering sense of self may go untended, leaving them with the feeling that they are descending into darkness alone.This is particularly true when the patient is going blind. Andrew…

By her own admission, Miki Berenyi was not a woman itching to write a memoir. Even if she had been, she says, why would anyone have been interested? Her band, Lush, were “never that big”. They enjoyed cult alt-rock success in the early 90s, scored three Top 30 singles in the Britpop era, and broke up in 1996. They briefly reformed in 2015, but broke up again after less than a year, keen “to return to our families and homes”. When a publisher approached her with the idea of an autobiography, she says, “I literally laughed…

In this unflinching memoir, Joe Gibson recounts the affair he had as a schoolboy with his 35-year-old teacher, whom he calls Miss P. The year is 1991 and 17-year-old Gibson, who has chosen to protect his identity by using a pseudonym, has been awarded a bursary to an elite private school to study for his A-levels. Since the school is 150 miles away, his parents arrange for him to stay with friends who allow him use of their spare room, but otherwise leave him to his own devices.Gibson initially settles in well, falling in…