This excellent biography of the British film star David Niven (1910-1983) describes the life of a man who personified the words "dapper'', "debonair'', "witty'' and "charming.'' He was always the toff whom everyone loved to love.

But his consistently cheerful persona, both in public and privately, masked a lifelong sense of insecurity and a desperate need to be liked.

He was a compulsive womaniser, in which area he behaved like a cad at times, and a lifelong heavy boozer with an astonishing capacity to hold his liquor well.

Born into an affluent upper-class family in London's Belgravia, Niven was the youngest of four children. Their father was killed in the First World War, and their mother got married again to a man whom David loathed.

He made a few excellent films, but his breezy persona on screen brightened millions of lives.

NIV by Graham Lord is published by Orion, priced £18.99 (hardback)

Anthony Looch