Backcloth

In this book written in about 1985 and first printed in hardback in 1986, Dirk Bogarde cements his modus operandi, to write another autobiography covering the same general range of years as earlier ones, but this time using detail that he'd previously decided to withhold. This one begins with his first childhood memory and closes with the death of his original publisher and friend Norah Smallwood of the Chatto & Windus firm. He reveals more about the Provence farmhouse he restored and loves as a refuge from public life. Photographs unseen until this edition are included of his family and there are shots of him in WW2 uniform. The important thing about this volume is that Bogarde overtly intended it to be the final entry in his series, after which he might write novels (he did) but would not do any more autobiographical work (that was not to be). He went so far as to burn over 95% of his personal papers in a large bonfire on his estate after completing this book, in an effort to deny information to those he felt would misinterpret it. Fortunately, events conspired to cause Bogarde to produce four more autobiographical works plus a collection of magazine and newspaper articles (this last called "For The Time Being").