Shark Infested Waters

Michael Whitehall contrasts the glamorous image of theatrical life with the mundane realities of the business, while passing on some startling trade secrets along the way.
A laconic raconteur of refreshingly unstar-struck theatrical anecdotes, Whitehall deftly sketches the social comedy of his eccentric background: growing up in suburban London in the 1950s, his schooldays at Ampleforth and his subsequent adventures as a prep schoolmaster - worthy of Evelyn Waugh himself - before becoming an actors' agent.
Shark-Infested Waters is a charming, funny and piquant view of a world that continues to fascinate.
Praise for Shark Infested Waters:
"The funniest show-business memoir I've read since David Niven's The Moon's a Balloon." - Nigel Havers
"One of the year's funniest memoirs." - Daily Express

Theatrical agent, Michael Whitehall, has been involved with the careers of many eminent actors from Kenneth More, Tom Courtenay, Colin Firth, Dorothy Tutin, Edward Fox, Jack Davenport, Judi Dench, Ian Charleson, Peter Bowles, Elaine Stritch and Donald Sinden to Nigel Havers, James Fox, AngelaThorne, Richard E Grant, Stewart Granger, Anton Rodgers, Patrick Macnee, John Le Mesurier, Daniel Day-Lewis, David Hemmings and Richard Griffiths.
Whitehall represented some of the most famous names in British film, theatre and television, though he writes about them not as 'celebrity icons' but as idiosyncratic human beings, rejoicing in their foibles with a deliriously dry wit. Whitehall has an acute eye for the vanities and absurdities of show business.
Educated at Ampleforth, Michael Whitehall worked as a film reporter for the Catholic newspaper the Universe; as a preparatory schoolmaster in the Home Counties; as an articled clerk with Crown solicitors Williams & James in Grays' Inn; as a copywriter in an advertising agency; as a public relations consultant; and as a fundraiser for the National Association of Boys' Clubs, before becoming an actors' agent. Now a television and theatre producer, he lives in south-west London with his wife and three children, trying to keep one step ahead of the school fees. Shark-Infested Waters is his first book.