Anybody with an interest in ballet needs to read this book. Sir Peter Wright is about to turn ninety and is still active in the world of ballet. His varied career as a dancer, choreographer, producer and manager spans the entire postwar era. He’s worked everywhere, he’s known everybody, and although he’s never held any of the top positions or created work of lasting importance, his influence and reputation in the business are second to none.

Devoid of literary pretension, his prose reads like the unedited transcript of an oral history interview, and it won’t win any prizes for style or subtlety. No matter: what counts is Wright’s astonishingly fresh and detailed memory, which he mines with uninhibited candour. Without fear or favour, he tells