Wrestling with Elephants

How do you get from the poverty of London''s East End to the glitz and glamour of the Oscars? From doing stand-up comedy at strip joint to writing hit songs for the likes of Michael Jackson, Barbra Streisand and Tom Jones? From Hackney to Hollywood? Wrestling With Elephants is the real-life adventure of a working-class London boy who wanted to write songs. Born to humble beginnings in the 1930s, over the last 40 years Don Black has written hundreds of lyrics for some of the most enduring hits of screen and stage - classics such as The Italian Job, Diamonds Are Forever, Born Free and Sunset Boulevard.

With frank and entertaining tales of Black''s experiences as one of 007''s regular songwriters, the trials and triumphs of musicals such as Tell Me On A Sunday and Bombay Dreams, and featuring fascinating accounts of his collaborations with Andrew Lloyd Webber, Michael Jackon, Elaine Paige, John Barry, Denise Van Outen and many more, Wrestling With Elephants chronicles the astonishing life of the first British songwriter ever to win an Oscar.