Book excerpt: This long-awaited biography tells the story of a working-class Sydney boy who left Australian shores in the 1940s and went on to an extraordinary and renowned acting career. In England he become a major Shakespearean actor and made many films. Yet it was the gravelly-voiced, potato-faced Horace Rumpole in the long-running series Rumpole of the Bailey that made him a household name in Britain and Australia.