'At the top of the field the cottage roof stuck up with its chimney, and then the flint walls and the two rather surprised looking windows in the gable looking down to the farm. Round the cottage was a rickety wooden fence with bits of wire and an old bedstead stuck in it, and some apple trees and the privy with its roof of ivy and honeysuckle' A Postillion Struck by Lightning was a bestseller on first publication and marked Dirk Bogarde's transition from star of stage and screen to a bestselling and internationally acclaimed author. This vivid and engaging memoir traces the first steps of Dirk Bogarde as a young actor before he became world famous as well as his childhood amidst the enchanting beauty of rural Sussex. Here is the delightful harmony of summer days spent fishing with his young sister, a hunt for an escaped tortoise, the discovery of the biggest mushroom in the world, and the quest to win a pet canary at the local fair. Then came the plays he and sister used to put on in their barn, followed by the local amateur dramatic society, all a prelude to his growing desire to join the world of the stage.