Product Description

The long awaited story of one of Britain's greatest comic legends. 'Some people walk on stage and the audience warms to them. You can't explain it, and you shouldn't try. It's an arrogant assumption to say you 'decide' to become a comedian. The audience decides for you.' Eric Sykes, December 2001 From his early days writing scripts for Bill Fraser and Frankie Howerd through decades of British radio and television comedy -- 'Educating Archie', 'Sykes And A !', 'Curry and Chips', 'The Plank' -- to his present day ventures into film and theatre, starring in 'The Others' with Nicole Kidman and appearing in Peter Hall's recent production of 'As You Like It', Eric Sykes has carved himself an enduring place as one of Britain's greatest writers and performers. In his much anticipated autobiography, Sykes reveals his extraordinary life working alongside a generation of legendary comedians and entertainers, despite being dogged by deafness and eventually virtual blindness. His hearing problems began in the early days of his career in the 1950s, around the time he wrote, directed and performed in the spoof pantomime 'Pantomania' for the BBC. Undeterred however, Sykes learned to lip-read, going on to write and appear in a number of BBC productions including 'Opening Night' and Val Parnell's 'Saturday Spectacular', the first of two shows he made with Peter Sellers, a great life-long friend. From 1959 until her death in 1980, Syke's starred with Hattie Jacques in one of Britain's best loved sitcoms 'Sykes and A !' Throughout the two decade run of this show he continued to work alongside a host of stars including Charlie Drake, Tommy Cooper, Tony Hancock, Spike Milligan, Johnny Speight, Ray Galton and Alan Simpson. Eric Sykes's comedy has always sported an essential core of warm humanity and this, along with his genuine creative genius, continues to prove an unforgettably winning combination.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #36860 in Books
• Published on: 2006-05-02
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 502 pages

Review
'Eric Sykes, now 82, is a splendid survivor. Recently the subject of a charming South Bank Show, the indefatigable Lancastrian is still working, with blithe disregard for his deafness, blindness and heart bypass operation. Characteristically, Sykes ends this engagingly artless autobiography with the news that he has been cast as Frank Bryce in the latest Harry Potter film. The tone throughout is warm-hearted, though occasionally there are welcome blasts of asperity. And there are joyful pages devoted to what is surely Sykes's finest hour -- his glorious riot of ad-libbery with Jimmy Edwards in "Big Bad Mouse".' Hugh Massingberd, Daily Telegraph 'His prose is crisp and dry, with a poetic, vernacular lilt!Candid, erudite and most of all cheery. Warm and comforting.' The Times 'A charmed life!and one does not begrudge him an ounce of his success!Sykes's career is far from over.' Guardian 'A chatty, always amiable memoir. A far better testament to this game old trouper than the normal ghost-written guff.' Daily Express 'A wonderful slice of life, full of warmth and revealing the humanity and creative genius ! Just grand.' Manchester Evening News

Word
'Britain’s deafest actor remains, in his eighties, amongst our deftest comic craftsmen.'

Manchester Evening News
'a wonderful slice of life, full of warmth and revealing the humanity and creative genius...Just grand.’

Customer Reviews

Sykes and an autobiography
Given his contribution to postwar British comedy - writing for the Goons and developing Frankie Howerd's comic persona being the least of it - Eric Sykes is entitled to write his memoirs any way he pleases, and the result is a warm book, rich with anecdotes: according to this, the real-life Sykes has had about as many mishaps as his screen persona.

It has to be said, however, that the book is thinner (if that's what you're looking for) on comic (or personal analysis), but perhaps that's appropriate: he once talked in an interview of having to reassure a puzzled and angry Tommy Cooper that he shouldn't try to pull apart his gift but simply be grateful; and as Sykes has, in any case, already written elsewhere about his own comedy heroes, it's not too difficult to sit back and accept this book for what it is. What comes over when watching the Sykes sitcom is the warmth of the perormers and that is faithfully conveyed here.

Read Graham McCann's biography of Frankie Howerd if you want a more detailed account of the innovation that Sykes' scripts represented, or try David Nathan's The Laughtermakers (long out of print) for material about Sykes. Or just watch The Plank (with Sykes and the instinctive Cooper) and marvel - probably the wisest course of action.

Eric Sykes. A writer's writer.
What a wonderful insight to a great man. From very humble beginnings to the very pinnacle of his profession. The cobbled streets of Oldham with the clip clop of horse's hooves, the enthralling world of the Mucky Broos, and a clear and nostalgic picture of an era from the past. When I was a kid I remember my father telling me about his similar working class surroundings, when permanent hunger was the norm, and I remember him speaking fondly of beef dripping on toast, a great delicacy, the caviar of its day. Along the journey of life, Eric has experienced the good times and the bad times and also some very near misses, when fortunately fate took over the controls and steered him away from the crash. Fate of course was in the form of the guiding hand of his late mother, the mother he never met in this world. His Guiding Angel throughout his life. I think most of us have a Guiding Angel watching over us but I also think that most of us are unaware of her presence. Our lives are usually so blanketed with noise, both externally and internally that we can't always hear what she has to say.

Probably the greatest comedy writer and performer of our time he is no stranger to tragedy, in fact one the most tragic and levelling stories in the book, which will always be imprinted on my mind is the graphic image of Eric's dying friend. But, at the other end of the scale there was the night he spent constantly visiting the toilet after an iffy evening meal on safari in Kenya. The following morning miraculously cured by a potion administered by the wife of one of our leading actors, he enjoys a tour of a Masai village. The guide informs him that the huts are all made of cattle dung to which Eric replies as only Eric can, `They should have told me this yesterday, I could have built them a town hall'. Ah, pure Sykes.

Being a comedy writer myself I can relate to the all consuming passion he has for the business. Eric has worked with them all, in that golden era and what is unfortunately sad but true, is that there's only a small handful of them left. There is an incredibly rich history within this book and I have read a lot of biographies and I have to say that this is richest and most colourful, in fact my all-time favourite. Thank you Eric, live long and prosper, we all need you for many more years to come.

Fascinating story, flawed delivery
This is a strange book, even by the uneven standards one might expect from autobiographies. Eric Sykes is undoubtedly one of the giants of post-war light entertainment, and whilst this book serves as a useful reminder of the scope and breadth of his contribution, it is possibly this very factor that makes it essentially somewhat unrewarding.

Dividing effectively into three sections; his pre-war upbringing in Oldham, his wartime army career and the post-war break via repertory into a career in writing and comedic performance, it almost evokes a feeling of having been written by three different authors. For me, the first section is by far the best. This provides a wonderfully evocative description of 1930’s northern childhood and a window onto far simpler times. It also seems to provide the greatest insight into Sykes’ personality, albeit mainly by inference.

Where the book moves on from his childhood, there seems to be a problem; having joined the army, the naïve unworldly youth somehow seems to metamorphosize into a jack the lad character, involved in all sorts of shady scrapes culminating in his recruitment to the concert party on the back of a series of bare faced lies. Whilst there’s no disputing that this is how things actually happened, the text provides little or no analysis of how such a change was brought about in this callow lad or indeed what engendered such a desire for a theatrical career that he was driven to such transparent untruthfulness.

Where Sykes deals with his subsequent career, which constitutes the bulk of the book, the lack of self-analysis or contextualisation of events runs rampant and is accompanied by a puzzling choice of balance in discussing different subjects. Hence, an anecdote about a parking ticket being waived occupies similar space to references about Hattie Jacques, whom he describes as “like a sister”. Potentially major characters with whom Sykes has worked, such as Frankie Howerd or Tommy Cooper, are frequently described merely as “mates” or “friends” rather than being subjected to any deeper character analysis or insight. He talks about his love of Rhodesia and frequent visits to the country during the 60’s, but any press comment on this is treated merely as a personal affront rather than offering any acknowledgement of the overall political context. Where there are disputes with colleagues or producers, there seem to be only two opinions – his and the wrong one. Perhaps worst of all, there is no clear sequencing or chronology for this part of the book and it is subsequently difficult or impossible to tell whether given events are happening now or ten or twenty years ago.

Overall, there is a lot of fascinating information here, the book is written in a very readable style and Eric Sykes comes across as a likeable and talented comedy writer who made a huge contribution to post-war light entertainment but has, perhaps, been by-passed by his own industry. Ultimately, however, the book largely fails as an autobiography due to its lack of candour and rigour. Maybe it is time for someone else to do it.