An Autobiography in Six Acts
Jack Rosenthal
Robson Books £17.99, pp368

By the time he died in May 2004 after a two-year battle with multiple myeloma, Jack Rosenthal had written most of an autobiography. He tackled it as a screenplay, but don't let that put you off. He describes a life defined by writing, Manchester United and family, in a style that is both entertaining and engaging.

Mostly he wrote about, as wife Maureen Lipman put it, the 'common man'. His career started with scripts for Coronation Street and moved on to drama such as Bar Mitzvah Boy, P'Tang,Yang, Kipperbang and London's Burning. He's very funny about work, about his agent, Peggy Ramsey, who seemed more likely to talk his fee down than up, about clashing with Hollywood and mostly losing. Martin Scorsese once asked him to write a screenplay, but rang to change his mind before Rosenthal had even arrived home from their meeting by bus.

He's also very good on his devoted family. Your heart goes out to Lipman, his wife of 35 years.