Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #199899 in Books
• Published on: 1998-06-04
• Binding: Paperback
• 528 pages

Synopsis
In this biography the rise and fall of Peter Cook is analyzed. The ups and downs of his life are explored including his partnership with Dudley Moore, his television fame, and ultimately his alcoholism.

Customer Reviews

Peter Cook Biog- Harry Thompson
Wonderful book,always gripping. I have read many biogs of TV Comics/Film Stars etc and my interest has waned with irrelevant,wandering facts but not with this book ! Compelling reading, could not put it down.Always thought of Peter Cook as satirical,wordy clever genius and this book balances this part of him with the sad, dark side as well.One of the best,if not the best, biographies I have ever read.A must have.
Alexandra Ellis

Very Well Researched
Most people will be aware both of just how funny Peter Cook was and how his life fell apart in the late 70's and never really recovered. This excellently researched biography provides us with a great deal of detail about his entire life and the author has clearly spent a great deal of time interviewing various people who knew him.

For myself I did not realise just how many people he influenced and worked with in the early part of his life. There is a good amount of transcribed scripts which make the book extremely funny to read in places. It does however become moving towards the end as it is covering the times when Cook's life fell apart. It is truely tragic just how much of a mess he got himself into.

The one thing that slightly lets the book down is that the author is clearly somewhat in awe of Cook and seems unable to be critical of the bad aspects of his character. There were several instances of Cook being truely horrible to various people (frequently to Dudley Moore) and the author seems determined to make excuses for Cook when the fact is, he was just being horrible.

All in all though this is a great biography of one of the funniest men there has ever been.

Triumphal
Do you want to know an interesting fact? I thoroughly enjoyed this absorbing biography of a truly individual Englishman.
Notwithstanding the other interesting fact that I was born on Peter Cook's 30th birthday, I have always felt a sort of detached connection to his life and comedy. This excellent biography removed that feeling completely. Thoroughly researched would be an understatement. I had to check the cover to ensure it was indeed only written by Harry Thompson.
Full of humour, full of pathos, full of Cook. Fantastic.
Buy it, read it and enjoy it. Oh, and do you know the one I placed on my bookshelf? I think I saw it move!!!