Peter Ackroyd: ALFRED HITCHCOCK - (US)

Fat, lonely, burning with fear and ambition-- Hitchcock's childhood was an isolated one. As an adult, Hitch rigorously controlled the press's portrait of him, drawing certain carefully selected childhood anecdotes into full focus and blurring all others out. Ackroyd reveals a jolly man fond of practical jokes, who smashes a once-used tea cup every morning to remind himself of the frailty of life. The result is a gripping biography of one of the most respected directors of the twentieth century.