A few weeks before Kristallnacht inNovember 1938, Andrew Sachs looked on as Nazi officers arrested his fatherwhile the family was eating in a restaurant. The son of a Jewish father and alapsed Catholic mother, a few days later he watched as the Nazis burned andlooted Jewish shops on the streets of Berlin. The boy who witnessed theseevents before he and his family escaped to London would later become famous forbeing the butt of comic cruelties in Fawlty Towers. However, the journey toTorquay, where the iconic series was set, was a long and unexpected one.

I KnowNothing recounts anecdotes of a bizarre adolescence, the author's oftenhilarious struggle to come to terms with all things English, including thefood, the schools and the perils of the language (rude words especially!), hisearly days in rep, and later working with a galaxy of stars including RexHarrison, Norman Wisdom, Noel Coward, Alec Guinness, Richard Burton, PeterSellers and Dame Edith Evans. It tells of how he eventually came to team upwith John Cleese on the show that would make him famous as the hapless waiterfrom Barcelona, and tells the true story of how the classic series was made andthe personalities involved in its creation.