TERENCE STAMP’s first title role, in Peter Ustinov’s Billy Budd, earned him a Golden Globe and an Academy Nomination. He was the face of the Sixties, and then, abruptly, the Sixties ended. Out of work and out of fame, he traveled east, to Egypt, India, and Japan before settling in Ibiza, where he helped transform a friend’s hectares into an organic food farm.

Stamp’s acting career was resurrected in 1977 with the portrayal of General Zod in Superman I and Superman II, but the true turning point in his life came with the passing of his mother Ethel during the shoot in New York of Legal Eagles, compelling him to write his first autobiography, Stamp Album, followed by his meditation on the Sixties, Double Feature. Heralded as “a born writer” by the Sunday Times, Stamp went on to write a novel, The Night, followed by a wheat- and dairy-free cookbook with Elizabeth Buxton.

Although acting keeps him busy, with his award-winning performance in Priscilla, Queen Of The Desert and the title role in Steven Soderbergh’s The Limey, plus recent work beside Jim Carrey, Tom Cruise, and Matt Damon, he has never stopped writing.