My Festive Tales from Life and Only Fools

The Twelve Dels of Christmas

You'll be chuckling your Christmas socks off by the end...A merry memoir linked to the festive episodes and the life lessons to go hand in hand with them

Full of the actor's characteristic down-to-earth warmth, wit and wisdom, this is the perfect book for Del Boy fans

Spills all the behind-the-scenes gossip and heartwarming tales from the show's festive specials

Sir David Jason was born in 1940 in North London. His acting career has been long and varied: from his theatre work in the West End to providing the voices of Mr Toad from The Wind in the Willows, Dangermouse and The BFG. From Open All Hours to The Darling Buds of May to his starring roles as Detective Inspector Frost in A Touch of Frost and, of course, Derek 'Del Boy' Trotter in Only Fools and Horses. 
 
The 1996 Only Fools Christmas special 'Time on Our Hands' was seen live by 24.35 million viewers and to this day is the UK's most-watched comedy show of all time. 
 
David Jason is the author of three No.1 Sunday Times bestselling books: My Life; Only Fools & Stories and A Del of a Life.

"What a brilliant Christmas gift" Chris Moyles 
 
"Like sitting down by the fire with [Sir David] and hearing your stories ... Full of surprises" Lorraine Kelly 
 
Think of this memoir as a Christmas special in book form, from someone who has been involved in a few of those and understands a bit about the concept. But a Christmas special very much like Only Fools and Horses, in the sense that the stories will be always heading outwards, ranging far and wide and well beyond the traditional festive gags involving giblets left in turkeys. 
 
As I sift through various festive-related episodes in my career, loosening the ribbons, parting the wrapping paper, I'll be doing my best to reach any relevant conclusions about life, work and the meaning of it all that I can usefully pass on to you - baubles of wisdom if you like. Or certainly baubles. You'll learn why I have the perfect face to play Scrooge. And if you're lucky I'll also share what it's like to fly in a helicopter with my old mucker Tom Cruise. Merry Christmas, you plonkers.

The hilarious #1 bestseller from the national treasure

A Del of a Life

A hilarious and heartfelt new autobiography from the national treasure Sir David Jason

THE #1 SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER: a hilarious and heartfelt new autobiography from the national treasure Sir David Jason 
 
'There are British telly icons and then there is Sir David Jason. This book is such gold . . . an absolute delight' ZOE BALL 
___________________________ 
 
'During my life and career I have been given all sorts of advice and learned huge amounts from some great and enormously talented people. I've been blessed to play characters such as Derek Trotter, Granville, Pop Larkin and Frost, who have changed my life in all sorts of ways, and taught me lessons that go far beyond the television set. And I've worked a few things out for myself as well, about friendship, ambition, rejection, success, failure, adversity and fortune. 
 
With any luck, some of these thoughts and observations will chime with episodes and challenges you have faced, or are facing, in your own life. And if they don't. . . well, hopefully, at the very least you'll get to have a good old laugh at my expense. 
 
So lean back, pour yourself a glass, and try not to fall through the bar flap . . .' 
___________________________ 
 
'An absolute delight . . . a romp with so much detail. Offers wisdom in difficult times . . . like being invited into his living room' BBC BREAKFAST 
 
'It's beautifully written . . . so conversational and chatty . . . it's so lovely and warm' CHRIS MOYLES

The book is such gold [...] David writes with this wonderful sense of humour and has so many incredible stories [...] The book is an absolute delight

Your book is lovely, it's beautifully written [...] your style of writing is so conversational and chatty [...] it's so lovely and warm

The former trainee electrician shares heartfelt and hilarious wisdom[...] With his characteristic warmth and wit, Jason shines a wonderful new light on the charactersand shows that fans have come to love him for

Hilarious and heartfelt new autobiography from the national treasure Sir David Jason

A man who's been a star for over 50 years

As David Jason recalls, in a memoir as joyous as any episode, you'd have to be a plonker not to realise Only Fools was TV gold

Showbiz royalty, one of the greatest actors this country have ever produced [...] to celebrate his 80th birthday Sir David Jason has written a third volume of his autobiography, it looks back on his acting career of over 50 years and counting with all the experiences and lessons he has learnt along the way

From the very first page of A Del of a Life, David Jason's distinctive warm patter sounds in the mind's ear and he'll have you laughing from start to finish.

From Del Boy to Granville, Pop Larkin to Frost

Only Fools and Stories

The follow-up autobiography to one of Britain’s best loved actors and national treasures

A terrific storyteller … An essential purchase.

Told with candour and wit, a fascinating insight into some of television’s most memorable creations.

A memoir that's as entertaining and warm as Only Fools and Horses

Hugely entertaining. I ripped through it in about three days and I’m sure you’ll do the same

What a great read and who would not want this as a Christmas present? I urge you to buy it early before they run out. Several copies

What I love most about [the book] is that, when I read it, I hear your voice speaking every word … that’s what make it, for me, really, really special. Darling Buds of May was a favourite in my household. There are so many wonderful memories and that’s what the book is all about

Jason tells his tales entertainingly and is particularly interesting on the technicalities of comic acting

A poignant, honest and heartwarming story

*** The Hilarious Number One Sunday Times Bestseller! *** 
 
The follow-up autobiography to one of Britain’s best loved actors and national treasures 
 
*As seen in David and Jay’s Touring Toolshed on BBC Two* 
 
In his first book David Jason told us about himself from his early years training as an electrician through to making it as one of Britain's greatest actors. 
 
This autumn, in a follow up autobiography, he tells us about the many other lives he has lived – his characters. From Del Boy to Granville, Pop Larkin to Frost, he takes us behind the scenes and under the skins of some of the best loved acts of his career. 
 
And in the process he reflects on how those characters changed his life too. The result told with his characteristic charm and wit is both funny and poignant, honest and heart warming.

David Jason: My Life

The long-awaited autobiography of one of Britain’s best-loved actors, and the star of Only Fools and Horses.

As good as it gets ... so much on every page ... a great, great book.

It's a romp of a chronicle, a life according to Del Boy, the ultimate cheeky chappy.

Jason's account of his 'busy and fulfilling life' is as genuinely genial as the man himself ... his hugely likeable memoirs reveal he's had the last laugh.

How the son of a market porter gave up a career as an electrician to become one of Britain's most successful and best loved actors ... the long awaited story...

It really is a life story, I thoroughly enjoyed it.

He comes across as hugely likeable and approachable.

Touching and funny ... it really is a top read.

I absolutely loved reading this because it was just like [he] were talking to me.

An exceptional man who’s led an exceptional life…The book is wonderful ...  It made me laugh a lot and then it made me quite weepy at times as well

Now his autobiography is out in paperback and reading it is like having the man himself talk to you from the comfort of his armchair. It’s a fascinating insight into a lost world … A true gent.

Sir David Jason was born in 1940 in North London. His acting career has been long and varied: from his theatre work in the West End to providing voices for Mr Toad from The Wind in the Willows, Danger Mouse and The BFG; and from Open All Hours and The Darling Buds of May to his starring roles as Detective Inspector Frost in A Touch of Frost and, of course, Derek ‘Del Boy’ Trotter in Only Fools and Horses. 
 
He lives with his wife, Gill, and their daughter, Sophie, in Buckinghamshire.

Winner of the National Book Awards Autobiography of the Year 
 
The long-awaited autobiography of one of Britain's best-loved actors 
 
*As seen in David and Jay’s Touring Toolshed on BBC Two* 
 
Born the son of a Billingsgate market porter at the height of the Second World War, David Jason spent his early life dodging bombs and bullies, both with impish good timing. Giving up on an unloved career as an electrician, he turned his attention to acting and soon, through a natural talent for making people laugh, found himself working with the leading lights of British comedy in the 1960s and '70s: Eric Idle, Michael Palin, Bob Monkhouse and Ronnie Barker. Barker would become a mentor to David, leading to hugely successful stints in Porridge and Open All Hours. 
 
It wasn't until 1981, kitted out with a sheepskin jacket, a flat cap, and a clapped-out Reliant Regal, that David found the part that would capture the nation's hearts: the beloved Derek 'Del Boy' Trotter in Only Fools and Horses. Never a one-trick pony, he had an award-winning spell as TV's favourite detective Jack Frost, took a country jaunt as Pop Larkin in the Darling Buds of May, and even voiced a crime-fighting cartoon rodent in the much-loved children's show Danger Mouse. 
 
But life hasn't all been so easy: from missing out on a key role in Dad's Army to nearly drowning in a freak diving accident, David has had his fair share of ups and downs, and has lost some of his nearest and dearest along the way. 
 
David's is a touching, funny and warm-hearted story, which charts the course of his incredible five decades at the top of the entertainment business. He's been a shopkeeper and a detective inspector, a crime-fighter and a market trader, and he ain't finished yet. As Del Boy would say, it's all cushty.

David Jason

'Sir David Jason is one of the UK's best loved actors ... the theme that (he) keeps coming back to in the book is that (he) feels immensely lucky in life ... that sense of positivity sounds very like a certain Derek Trotter'

'David I love your books! This has the perfect title… an absolute hoot'

‘[Sir David Jason's] journey has been just as chaotic as a drive in Del Boy’s three-wheeler. And his latest memoir This Time Next Year tells us all about it ... still lovely jubbly’

A Life Of Positive Thinking

Sir David Jason's career, from the outside, might seem like one glorious procession to national treasure status. But the truth is that he's had more knockbacks, more ups and downs, and more roundabout routes along his bumpy journey in life than one of Del Boy's get-rich schemes. 
 
David's north star for navigating life's challenges has always been his positive outlook and his resilience. 'This time next year, we'll be millionaires' was what Derek Trotter once said. This certainly wasn't always the case for David, growing up in a working class family in London in the rubble of the Blitz. Before he was making us laugh on TV he was a jobbing electrician. But with every challenge he has faced in life, he's always looked forward, and has never give in. 
 
In this latest volume of memoirs, told in his characteristically warm and funny style, David reveals the hard-won wisdom of a life lived doggedly getting through one day, looking to the next, and always chasing what's new on the horizon. It will touch, entertain and inspire readers, and might even teach them a thing or two about living a good life.

David Jason

Praise for This Time Next Year

'Sir David Jason is one of the UK's best loved actors ... the theme that (he) keeps coming back to in the book is that (he) feels immensely lucky in life ... that sense of positivity sounds very like a certai ...

'David I love your books! This has the perfect title… an absolute hoot'

‘[Sir David Jason's] journey has been just as chaotic as a drive in Del Boy’s three-wheeler. And his latest memoir This Time Next Year tells us all about it ... still lovely jubbly’

'Sir David Jason is one of the UK's best loved actors ... the theme that (he) keeps coming back to in the book is that (he) feels immensely lucky in life ... that sense of positivity sounds very like a certai ...

'David I love your books! This has the perfect title… an absolute hoot'

‘[Sir David Jason's] journey has been just as chaotic as a drive in Del Boy’s three-wheeler. And his latest memoir This Time Next Year tells us all about it ... still lovely jubbly’

'Sir David Jason is one of the UK's best loved actors ... the theme that (he) keeps coming back to in the book is that (he) feels immensely lucky in life ... that sense of positivity sounds very like a certai ...

'David I love your books! This has the perfect title… an absolute hoot'

‘[Sir David Jason's] journey has been just as chaotic as a drive in Del Boy’s three-wheeler. And his latest memoir This Time Next Year tells us all about it ... still lovely jubbly’

Books by David Jason

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