Product Description

George Melly is 79 nudging 80. You'll probably think, ‘That’s not old these days’. And it’s true, George is still swinging and singing, fly-fishing, flirting, and for now just playing at senility. But it’s not as if he were the Queen Mother. He walks very slowly nowadays. He’s losing control over his bladder, and his bowels. He no longer, being quite deaf, enjoys noisy parties. He’s been seriously ill once, and not quite well often. And he's constantly being probed and tinkered with at St Mary’s Hospital: like an old car in and out of the garage. Sex has walked out on him, but Irish Whiskey, in only slightly diminished quantities, remains a good friend. This remarkably cheerful book is his diary of it all. An extraordinary, darkly funny, frank, and larger-than-life account about how feels to be growing old and irresistibly Slowing Down.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #356287 in Books
• Published on: 2006-07-27
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 240 pages

About the Author
Wit, jazz institution, writer and raconteur, George Melly made his name in the trad scene of the 50s, singing with Mick Mulligan’s band. In the 60s he became one of the UK’s most ubiquitous critics, writers and TV personalities. His acclaimed three previous volumes of autobiography are published in Penguin in one volume, under the title Owning Up. In the 70s George returned to music, and today he can be found singing with John Chilton’s band.

Customer Reviews

Rhapsodical Bohemian
George Melly has been around...for quite a while. He's done quite a lots of things (much more than most of us will manage in our own lives), and has written some fairly decent memoirs. This is certainly, for my money (yes, I bought the book with money), the best of them. Growing old may not be glamorous, but Mssr Melly does it well by his own account.

From his anecdotes, he really ought not to be alive at all; but, he is, and for this we are grateful. A genuinely bohemian voice in this very charisma-free age deserves readership and respect (at least for making it this far). This is a fine memoir about growing older after having lived a colourful life.