'Circus kids' inspired Bonneville's children's book
BBCActor Hugh Bonneville has spoken about his debut children's book and how it was inspired by his childhood in south-east London.
The story, Rory Sparkes and the Elephant in the Room, follows a schoolboy dreamer whose life is turned upside down by the arrival of the circus.
The Paddington and Downton Abbey actor, who was appearing at the Charleston Festival in Lewes, said: "It's based on true incidences of when I was growing up.
"The circus used to come to town and circus kids sometimes came to school on the elephant, which is about the most exotic mode of transport ever seen in south-east London."
Bonneville started writing the story after his agent read his memoir and said his childhood was really unusual.
He was joined other writers and actors, including Rose McGowan, at the literary and art festival.
The actor said he was a huge fan of Sussex and referred to it as his "stomping ground".
"All of it's beautiful. I really genuinely think the whole of Sussex is God's own county," he said.
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