Advantages: A biased account of the life of this Irish comic genius and lunatic! Disadvantages: Perhaps too revealing and not to everyone's taste.
...In writing this review I am keenly aware that Spike Milligan may not appeal to everyone as an icon of British comedy. I only became interested in him through his improbable wartime memoirs, his various books of comic verse and his insane novels, Puckoon a ...
Advantages: Good for those interested in Milligan Disadvantages: Not for the casual reader
...The biographer as protagonist? I had read reviews claiming Humphrey Carpenter’s style was too intrusive in this biography of the late Goon Spike Milligan and I can see where that came from. I do not feel a biography of a comedian should be funny, at least ...
Advantages: A solid, straightforward account from a likeable enough cricketer Disadvantages: Little to grip the average reader, the odd factual mistake
Ready, Steady, Cook (I thought "Cooking the books" might be an unfortunate subtitle in the light of the current allegations surrounding the Pakistan team!) I don't have a particularly good track record when it comes to identifying future England cr ...
Advantages: Compelling, penetrating biography of Barrett and the cultural age he lived in Disadvantages: None
..."I don't think I'm easy to talk about, I've got a very irregular head," Barrett said at the end of what turned out to be his final interview with the music press in 1971. Roger Barrett, who later acquired the moniker 'Syd' (let's call him Syd from now ...
