Terence Rattigan: A Biography, by Geoffrey Wansell (Fourth Estate, £9.99 in UK)

It is tempting to call Rattigan the Poor Man's Noel Coward, but he deserves better than that. Coward's plays, however, still hold the stage (or at least, some of them do) while Rattigan's appear to be joining those of Pinero or Galsworthy as museum pieces. The Rattigans' originally came from Ireland (Co Kildare) and Terence's father was a not too successful diplomat. The young Rattigan went through Eton and Oxford, making his mark as a cricketer, and showing the social charm and adaptability which oiled his quick rise as a playwright. He was famous by his mid twenties, and became a wealthy international socialite - two of his plays ran in West End theatres for over 1,000 performances. Yet Rattigan was tormented by his homosexuality, which he kept a state secret, while the advent of critics such as Kenneth Tynan signalled the downward slide of his reputation. There is a poignant photograph of him in 1956 with Margaret Leighton, attending the premiere of Osborne's Look Back in Anger - the work which, however dated it seems today, marked the beginning of a new age in the London theatre.