These memoirs of the literary life and theatrical times of Giles Gordon - agent-to-the-Royals, ex-publisher and theatre critic. They recount his life from priggish adolescence in Edinburgh to the wider shores of publishing, agenting and theatre criticism in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. He pricks egos and literary pretensions, brings theatre to life, and paints pen-portraits of the great, the good, the brilliant and the monstrous, from Prince Charles and Andrew to Fay Weldon, Carmen, David Godwin, Stevie Smith, Ackroyd, Unsworth, Maxwell, Gielgud, Orton, Amis pere et fils and Bernard Ingrams. Giles Gordon is the editor of Best Short Stories.