'The theatre's not in my family... and I knew nobody at all.'
When in 1943, as a young officer in the Coldstream Guards, Peter Daubeny lost an arm at Salerno, his hopes of an acting career were abruptly shattered. Instead, after the war, he embarked on a new career as an impresario, a career which culminated in the celebrated World Theatre Seasons at the Aldwych Theatre. He died on 6 August last year at the age of 54 from a brain tumour from which he had been suffering for some considerable time.
His story is told by his widow Lady Daubeny, with the voices of Antonio, Sir Richard Attenborough, Kitty Black, Richard Buckle, Alfred Davis, Martin Esslin, Edwige Fruillere, Lynn Fontanne, Hermione Gingold, Peter Hall, Terry Hands, Harold Hobson, Karolos Koun, Alfred Lunt, Micheal Mac Liammoir, Yehudi and Diana Menuhin, Roland Petit, Dame Marie Rambert, Paul Scofield, Sir Christopher Soames, Peter Ustinov and the recorded voice of Sir Peter Daubeny.