IT'S been a lifelong labour of love.

Distinguished actor, author and director Simon Callow first discovered the work of Orson Welles during his time at drama school.

He's now written three three best selling books on the great man's life and will be discussing his latest work Orson Welles: One Man Band during an appearance at Theatre Royal Winchester next week.

"I discovered a book, which described the extraordinary work he did in theatre in New York in the '30s. It was a surprise to me, I didn't really know he was such a huge figure in theatre," Callow tells Lorelei Reddin.

"I found him an incredibly exciting character as he seemed to break all the rules. I thought he was wonderful and it really inspired me.

"I thought I'd do some research and write about his work in the theatre. That was 25 years ago and I'm still writing about him! I just find him inexhaustibly fascinating, one of those extraordinary personalities and a creative genius."

The new book begins at the point when Welles, following his success with Citizen Kane and The Magnificent Ambersons, had exiled himself from America, having realised that he could only function happily as an independent film-maker, a one-man band.

By 1964, he had filmed Othello, which took three years to complete, Mr Arkadin, the biggest conundrum in his output, and his masterpiece Chimes at Midnight, as well as Touch of Evil, his sole return to Hollywood.

Simon will look at Welles’ triumphs and failures and how his radical approach opened up new directions and hitherto unthought-of possibilities in the arts.

"It's rare I discover anything new about him these days as I've been very thorough in my research. But at one of the shows someone did come up to me and give me a tape of actress Fay Compton talking about the film Othello. It was like giving me a gold bar! That's what I really want - the inside story of him and what it was like to be around him, what it was like to be him - then I can reveal this to the world.

"I don't wish I'd met him. I couldn't have written the book if I had. I feel like then I'd be a defender of his rather than an analyst."

Callow's appearance as much-loved Gareth in the film Four Weddings And A Funeral brought him to a wider audience than his many critically acclaimed stage performances, including Mozart.

He is also the successful author of over a dozen books and has won the Sheridan Morley Prize for Theatre Biography.

His current projects include a new Wagner biography, acting in The Rebel and a new sit com based on The Oldie's cartoon script.

"Since childhood, I’ve been addicted to biography. I’m fascinated by my fellow human beings and long to know what makes them what they are.

"Orson Welles was one of the most completely, improbably, extravagant human beings who ever lived. I’ve tried to make the reader feel as if they’d met him. On the reading tour I can convey that even more vividly, and look forward to sharing what I know about Welles with people."

Tickets for Simon Callow's date, on Thursday, are available online at theatreroyalwinchester.co.uk or by calling 01962 840440.