Colin Baker: My Six Best Books
COLIN Baker, 67, is best known for his role as the sixth Doctor Who but he's now playing an equally iconic figure, Inspector Morse, on the stage.
Visit Calibre Productions' website (calibreproductions.co.uk) for tour dates. The actor's latest book, Second Thoughts, is published by Hirst, £9.99.
THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO
by Alexandre Dumas
Penguin, £9.99
A terrific tale of revenge which I first read as a teenager and still love today. In hindsight, the count's not a particularly pleasant person but you empathise with him entirely because of what he has been through. An epic story in every way.
WINNIE THE POOH
by AA Milne
Egmont, £6.99
I adored this as a child and identified totally with this little bear who's simple and amiable and just muddles along in life, desperate to get his hands on a jar of honey. There's something eternally lovable about Pooh.
THE LORD OF THE RINGS
by JRR Tolkien
Harper Collins, £19.99
I suspect some people are probably too embarrassed to include this on such a list but I read it many years ago, long before the films and am a huge fan. The author was not only a lover of language but a genius.
MOTHER TONGUE
by Bill Bryson
Penguin, £9.99
I'm a big Bryson fan and being a lover of the English language, I've got to choose this, the perfect loo book. It's cheeky and irreverent but also packed with fascinating nuggets of information and, ironically, it's written by an American.
THE REMORSEFUL DAY
by Colin Dexter
Macmillan, £6.99
I read every Morse book while researching my current role but I think the last in the series is the best. Like all Colin's books it leads you up several false paths but it has also got such a poignant, powerful ending. Even on his deathbed the old rascal gets it right.
HIS DARK MATERIALS
by Philip Pullman
Scholastic, £25
I guess choosing this trilogy nails me as a lover of the fantasy genre of literature, which for a long time wasn't quite respectable. The fantastical world in these books is an allegory for the world we live in but what helps to make the books so special is the author's bitingly sharp eye.