A slice of hishtory from 0077

Published on Tuesday 11 March 2008 20:54

IN TODAY'S celebrity-obsessed culture, pop stars and models publish tell-all life stories when they're barely out of their teens. At 77, Sir Sean Connery has chosen to take his time.

More than five years after he floated the idea of an autobiography, the James Bond star's book, Being a Scot, is complete, The Scotsman has learned. It is due to be published in the autumn.

The book mixes a frank account of Connery's life with an esoteric take on Scotland's history and culture. Over 300 pages long, it draws on 400 photographs from his collection.

According to a publishing brief seen by The Scotsman, it ranges from his childhood in a gaslit Fountainbridge tenement to learning golf from Gert Frobe, his Goldfinger co-star, and weekending with Billy Connolly, "the funniest man alive".

The book's story is a saga in itself. In 2003, Sir Sean pulled out of an agreement with Meg Henderson, a Scottish writer, to pen his memoirs. Later, he cancelled a deal with Beatles biographer Hunter Davies and publisher HarperCollins.

Being a Scot, co-written by his old friend, the film-maker Murray Grigor, was due to be released by Scottish publisher Canongate. After months of working on early chapters, however, Connery and Grigor are said to have clashed with the publisher, Jamie Byng. The book is now to be published by Weidenfeld and Nicolson. "I'm very excited about this book," said publisher Alan Samson. "There's a book called England Made Me. This is really how Scotland made me.

"We can't pretend it's something it isn't. It is not a book of titillating revelations about the women in his life, nor will it be sold that way."

Mr Grigor said: "The book really reflects the life and film achievements of this extraordinary man. It reflects topics of Scottish culture, high and low."

Sir Sean recalls Fountainbridge as a grim industrial no-man's land with the "porridge-like and pungent" smell of Auld Reekie's "huddled chimneys". The family lived at the top of a tenement, opposite McCowan's toffee factory, with the communal toilet four floors down.

The book tells how he became an actor "by accident". Despite what many accounts say, he never won a bodybuilding prize. Instead, Connery was spotted in a contest and was told a show of South Pacific was casting for a chorus line. He was hired, got 14 a week – more than ever before – and "got a taste for it".

He also tells how he was taught golf for the scenes in Goldfinger. "I began to take lessons on a course near Pinewood and was hooked," he writes. "Soon it would take over my life. I began to see golf as a metaphor for living."

IN SEARCH OF SCOTLAND

SIR SEAN Connery and Murray Grigor look in the book for the roots of Scots' "psychotic humour", the "Gothic tendency in Scots writing" and the "Scottish cringe".

Sir Sean sings the praises of Scottish architecture and film, and the country's penchant for inventing great games. But he laments the fact that while Vienna's historic 19th-century ferris wheel was built entirely with parts from Glasgow's steel mills, the London Eye was built by European firms.

"What became of Scottish innovation?" he asks.

Bond's favourite shoe shop gains a toehold in Scotland

IT MAY soon be easier to follow in James Bond's footsteps, as the suave spy's shoemaker of choice opens its first branch in Scotland.

Church & Co, which was formed in 1873 and whose clients have included Winston Churchill, will be the latest big-name arrival on Edinburgh's George Street.

Church has stores across London and abroad: in Paris, Milan and New York.

Ian Fleming's famous superspy wore their Presley-style shoes in a number of novels, and the footwear has featured in a several Bond films.

The George Street store is set to open in time for this year's Edinburgh International Festival in August.

Stephen Etheridge, group chief executive, said: "Edinburgh is one of the UK's top retail locations. We are very excited about opening up there."

Leading Edinburgh retail expert Niall Macdonald, director of agents Jones Lang LaSalle, said: "Church's decision to come to George St would not have been hard. It's the ideal location for a retailer of their quality."

In another boost for George Street, The Scotsman has learned that the fashion chain Jack Wills has clinched a deal to move into the former Bonhams auction rooms on the thoroughfare.