Indian brave, courtesan, slave and the world's loudest snorer: MANY LIVES: AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY BY STEPHANIE BEACHAM

It takes a while to get into this book because first you have to navigate a prologue and not one but two forewords, the first by the author’s 11-year-old grandson, who reveals that at 4 a.m. without make-up Stephanie Beacham has green skin, witch-like hair and gives him nightmares, muses JOHN HARDING