Perhaps the most brilliant and feared theatre critic of his generation, Kenneth Tynan was responsible for 'Oh! Calcutta!', and was also a notorious eccentric, who enjoyed wine, literature and women and the first person to say the 'f' word on television. A larger-than-life character, he "combined the soul of a artist with the descriptive skill of a journalist". His diaries, as edited by John Lahr (senior drama critic of the New Yorker and writer of a definitive study of Joe Orton), have been eagerly awaited and, sure enough, they prove as colourful and controversial as the legendary figure who originated them. He knew everybody, and everyone wanted to know him, on both sides of the Atlantic. He was at the centre of the theatre and film worlds. Such was - and is - Tynan's stature and influence that the publication of this collection must rank as something of an event. Whether talking about the National Theatre, psychoanalysis, his much-talked-about sado-masochistic relationships, or just watching Muhammad Ali fight on TV, he is never less than riveting. For many this will be an essential purchase - Tynan still wears well.
