Gregor Fisher at Assembly
Rab C. Nesbitt star launches biography
Gregor Fisher made his household name as BBC Scotland’s Rab C. Nesbitt, now he is launching a biography at the Assembly Rooms which reveals his early life.
The book is fascinating for the real characters from Fisher’s past it portrays. Those on whom he built his own fictional characters – the taciturn father figure John Leckie and simple Uncle Wull. Yet it goes much deeper than that.
Gregor Fisher
Growing up in the Glasgow suburbs, the BAFTA-winning star was 14 when he asked where he was christened and was told that he was adopted. But it wasn’t quite that simple. And so began an unfolding of truths, half-truths and polite cover-ups from his various families.
In 2014 Gregor approached Times columnist Melanie Reid to help him tell his story. Together they travelled through the mining villages of central Scotland to uncover the mystery of Fisher’s birth and early life.
What emerged was The Boy from Nowhere: An Expedition To Find My Family. It’s a story of secrets, deception, tragic accidents and early death, coldness and rejection from the very people who should have cherished him most, but a welcome from the most unexpected of quarters.
The event at Edinburgh’s Assembly Rooms, on Wednesday 28 October is organised by Blackwells bookshop with publisher Harper Collins. It will see Fisher and Melanie Read talking about the book, followed by a signing session.
blunt Scottish humour
It’s an intriguing read, as the blurb says: “From the squalor of industrial Coatbridge after WW1 to his own 1950s Glasgow childhood, via a love letter found in the wallet of a dead man and meeting his sister outside lost luggage at Glasgow Central, Gregor shares his family story with warmth and blunt Scottish humour.”
Fisher is best known for an extensive TV career which includes ten series of Rab C Nesbitt and Scotch & Wry and five series of Naked Video as well as BBC dramas such as Blood Red Roses, The Tales of Para Handy and Gormenghast. He also has numerous stage appearances to his name, ranging from Chekhov and Shakespeare to Pinter, not to forget the title role in this spring’s tour of Yer Granny from the National Theatre of Scotland.
His co-writer on the book is Melanie Reid. Since 2010, when she fell off her horse and broke her neck, she has written Spinal Column in The Times Saturday magazine. She previously held positions at The Scotsman, Sunday Mail and The Herald.
Listings
An Evening with Gregor Fisher
Assembly Rooms, 54 George Street, Edinburgh EH2 2LR
Wednesday 28 October 2015, 7pm.
Tickets £8 (unreserved seating).
Ny Phone: 0131 622 8229
In person from the main counter at Blackwells’ Southbridge bookshop, Edinburgh.
Online booking via Eventbrite:
http://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/an-evening-with-gregor-fisher-tickets-18435873193
ENDS
