Some extracts from the book:
My father, unlike my mother, was a risk taker. During the second world war, we lived in a flat on Whitechapel Road in the East End of London. At one point during the blitz, the air-raid sirens went off every night for 30 nights, and each time my parents would grab my sister and me and take us to the shelter beneath Whitechapel underground station. On the 31st night, my father said: "Look, the kids are sleeping soundly, it's two in the morning, for God's sake let's take a small risk and stay put." But my mother, being extremely cautious, said: "Let's be on the safe side." So again we were dragged out of bed and carried down to the underground. When we came out, a bomb had destroyed our house...
My sister Beryl, who passed away a few years ago, was seven years older than me, which inevitably led to conflicts... In adulthood, we drifted apart...
My mother was almost entirely responsible for my cultural education. She took me to the library once a week and by the age of seven I was reading 100 books a year. She also took me to the theatre regularly– always to see variety acts, not plays– and that, coupled with the adventurous, albeit hand-to-mouth, upbringing I experienced sparked my development.
I have a
daughter from a relationship I had in my late teens or early 20s. Because I felt it wasn't the kind of pukka behaviour my family or relatives would admit to, I denied it for many years. But now I see my daughter from time to time and she's a fabulous woman. She has two sons and I much enjoy being a grandfather to them...
The extracts are from The Guardian "Steven Berkoff: My family valuesThe actor talks about his family", Nick McGrath 18 Sept 2010
www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2010/sep/18/steven-berkoff-my-family-values