Much like his acting career, Hugh Bonneville’s new memoir, Playing Under the Piano, took a long time to get going and then suddenly exploded. It began on a family holiday in St Moritz six years ago, when the Downton Abbey star asked his son to take a photo of him in front of a keyboard, which he sent to publishers to gain their interest. Five years later the book was still largely in his head until he gave into pleading, tried pressing some keys and found it hard to stop.
Bonneville told the Petworth Festival that he delivered 160,000 words, far more than wanted. “I thought they might pay more,” he said. The publisher insisted he cut from the top. “I’m on page 100,”
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