Richard Attenborough and Diana Hawkins have been friends and colleagues for nearly 50 years.They have now teamed up to write this frank and funny account of their unlikely partnership and his extraordinary life.

Together, laughing and squabbling, they have travelled the world, meeting people and making films. Among the eclectic cast of characters who appear in this two-handed memoir are Steve McQueen, Mother Teresa, Charlie Chaplin, Robert Mugabe, Edward G Robinson, Ronald Reagan, David Lean, Margaret Thatcher, John Mills, Steven Spielberg, Noel Coward, Indira Gandhi, Gordon Brown and Nelson Mandela.

Prompted by his adventures in the movie business, Attenborough reflects on the highs and lows of a long life, both in and out of the public gaze. He writes revealingly of his passion for football and politics, of his avuncular relationship with Princess Diana and finally about the tsunami tragedy which engulfed his family in December 2004.

Famous for more than sixty film performances, beginning in wartime withIn Which We Serveand continuing with such classics asBrighton Rock,The Angry Silence,10 Rillington Place,The Great Escape, Miracle on 34th Streetand Spielberg'sJurassic Park, Richard Attenborough has always fought tenaciously for the survival of British cinema. As a producer/director he has also been the driving force behindGandhi,Oh! What a Lovely War,A Bridge Too Far,Cry FreedomandShadowlands. He was knighted in 1976, appointed a Goodwill Ambassador for UNICEF in 1987 and became a life peer in 1993. He has chaired numerous professional organisations including Channel 4 Television and the British Film Institute and, over the years, has worked tirelessly for a wide range charities. Lord Attenborough died in August 2014 at the age of 90.

Diana Hawkins, formerly a broadcaster and latterly a film producer, wrote the storyline forChaplinand, as Diana Carter, three novels and a children's book. She is currently an executive director of Dragon International Studios, a company chaired by Richard Attenborough, which is building a new film making facility in South Wales.