The Centre of the Bed: An Autobiography

Mesmerising - Caroline Gascoigne, Books of the Year, Sunday TimeA beautifully written, fascinating glimpse into the childhood and personal life of the woman who was one of the pioneers for equality for women in the BBC. - Lesley Pearse, Daily MailShe has the rare ability to observe her life from a semi-detached position and to lace her own story into the social history of our times - Michael Cockerell, Daily MailFew can match Bakewell for the qualities that abound in her book: class and composure and a deeply unfashionable concern for more than her own career. - Lesley White, Sunday TimesWise and wry - The TimesBakewell's level-headed discussion of her ambivalent response to the tag (the 'thinking man's crumpet') makes fascinating reading...as does her calm but moving account of her lengthy affair with Harold Pinter. - The Sunday TimesLike the devil in the Rolling Stones' song, Joan Bakewell was everywhere at every stage: reporting on the Cuban missile crisis, interviewing Allen Ginsberg and Vaclav Havel, taking chunks out of the Berlin Wall when it fell...draped in the kaftan of Sixties sophistication...her evocations of grief [are] powerful and honest. - Independent on Sundayvividly believable and tinged with sadness...a tender, unshowy memoir - Casilda Grigg, The Telegraph