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Native son Jeremy Huggins was more than an actor

In the autumn of 1933, there was a new arrival at the Grange in Berkswell, by name

Peter Jeremy William Huggins, who joined three older brothers, John, Michael and

Patrick, sons of Major and Mrs. Bill Huggins. Perhaps readers will know the history: how

Peter Jeremy grew up there on Truggist Lane, a happy childhood despite the war years;

how he went off to Eton like each of his brothers, then lived his dream to become an

actor, under the tutelage of none other than his idol Sir Laurence Olivier in the

National Theatre Company. He had a brilliant career on stage and screen as Jeremy Brett,

in the end becoming best known for his definitive portrayal of Sherlock Holmes in the

long-running Granada Television series beginning in the 1980s.

It was in this role that I first saw him, perhaps like many fans; and I was nonplussed to

learn that he had already died - in 1995. In the age of the internet, there is a good deal of

information available, especially about a celebrity, and the more I discovered about

Brett’s life the more compelling his story became. To me it seemed indeed unfortunate

that the better part of his fame related to the years playing Holmes, when he had

performed brilliantly throughout his career - in My Fair Lady, Rebecca, The Merry

Window, The Good Soldier, to name but a few. Ironically, Holmes had hijacked Jeremy

Brett in much the same fashion that he had his creator, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

A further surprise to me was that more than two decades after Brett’s death no one had

written a creditable biography of this remarkable man, whose life was a story begging to

be told. When I retired from my profession and had the luxury of time, I took it on, and

the result is the recently published More Than an Actor, The Story of Peter H. The title

reflects my emphasis on the man himself rather than his career. In 2014, as I began

research on the book, I has happily able to make contact with the very kind and helpful

people of Berkswell, especially at Saint John the Baptist Church, including Parish

Administrator Janet Roberts, Wendy Burns at the museum, and Julie Bramley at the

school, who gave me the address of John Webb. When I heard back from John, I knew

the book would be doable.

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I am not a fiction writer, but in the case of this biography I chose to flesh out Brett’s early

years and personal life with fictional narrative, endeavouring at the same time to make

clear what was fact, what fiction, and what were my sources. I had great pleasure writing

about his childhood in Berkswell—Parish Sunday at the Grange, Archery Week, the Hunt

Breakfast. In winter I envisioned hoar frost on Carol Green, and snow dusting the

headstones in the churchyard, in autumn the burnished hedgerows and small-leafed lime

trees. Such images and local characters like Skinner Horn, Colonel and Mrs.

Wheatley, Sir Charles Hyde, along with a succession of rectors, brought the story to life

for me in a most moving way.

The biography is now out, published by Page Publishing, New York, and available from

Amazon and other sites online in soft cover or ebook.

My fondest hope has been to write a book that Jeremy himself might have loved. If it

honours his memory, I will celebrate it’s success. He was more than Sherlock Holmes. As

an actor he was more than a pretty face - attractive as he was - because as a man he was

more than an actor.