Product Description

Ronnie Barker is one of the best-loved and most celebrated entertainers in British television history. As well as starring in the ever popular and critically acclaimed sitcoms "Porridge" and "Open All Hours", he was, of course, one of the bespectacled "Two Ronnies", who topped the TV Charts for more than 15 years and are returning to our screens in spring 2005. A celebration of Ronnie's life and career, published to coincide with Ronnie's 75th birthday, this book contains original contributions from people who have worked with and know him best including John Cleese, David Jason (who provides the foreword), David Frost, Eric Idle, Michael Palin. Written with the full consent and collaboration of Ronnie himself, this biography is full of interviews and unseen personal illustrations from his own collection. Bob McCabe is a respected author and journalist and contributes regularly to film magazines and BBC radio arts programmes. He is the author of several books.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #27099 in Books
• Published on: 2005-05-26
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 256 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
"Fifty-eight is a funny age for an actor to retire", notes Bob McCabe in this highly enjoyable biography. "They just go on don't they? Nobody really thought he meant it". But Ronnie Barker did mean it and apart from a couple of walk-on appearances the last we saw of this multi- talented man was the Two Ronnies Christmas Show of 1987.

Barker had been a leading comic writer and actor for over 30 years and created some of the most memorable characters seen on British television. The man behind Fletcher, Arkwright, and dozens of others comes across as a shy, self-contained and un-showbizzy man, who nevertheless knew the scale of his own talent. David Jason provides a touching introduction--he always called Barker "guv'nor" and was particularly moved that Barker said when he retired, "you're the guv'nor now"--and Ronnie Corbett recalls his sadness at the ending of their partnership. "But I'd done everything I wanted to do", said Barker, "I had no ambition left". And while this gently absorbing book reminds us of what we are missing, it equally depicts a man enjoying a tranquil retirement, a simple pleasure denied to so many other comic heroes.--Nick Wroe

About the Author
Bob McCabe is a respected author and journalist and contributes regularly to film magazines and BBC radio arts programmes. He is the author of several books.

Customer Reviews

Not recommended
Badly written and badly edited. The book teaches us nothing about Ronnie Barker except that he's a gifted actor and a lovely fellow; but these things we already knew or we wouldn't be buying the book. There are no interviews with his family so as to protect his private life and most of the lauded contributors comment only on his career, not the man. Indeed, the book as a whole is merely a chronology of his career and more of a biography of each project than of Ronnie himself. The author contradicts himself (his ambition was to be in movies/he was never bothered with movies, he didn't really learn from other actors, just enjoyed being entertained/he watched them and learned from them); the content is jumbled and out of sequence; and many (albeit amusing) anecdotes are squashed in with no point to them. At one point the author lifted a whole block of text from one chapter and repeated it a couple of chapters later (when telling us that the Ronnies upped and offed to Australia for a year). I can, at a stretch, forgive the writer for repeating himself, but this, and many other flaws, should have been picked up and resolved in the editing process.

I've given it an extra star because it included the text of the "Four Candles/Fork Handles sketch" otherwise it's only worthy of one star.

Ronnie
I've been a great fan of Ronnie Barker for years and admired his work. The book contains fascinating insights into the man behind the comedy from himself and the people around him. Of course, you always expect contributors to be nice about people in an authorised biography, but you get the feeling that here these comments are genuine. I'm really looking forward to the return of the Two Ronnies next year especially now my perception of him remains a good one!

Excellent, well designed, lots of pics and substantial text
What a great book. It's glossy, it's well laid out with lots of large-print quotes and there's loads of pictures as well.

Don't think that this is a book that's all style and no content though, there's lots of detailed text taken from Barker's work and interviews, so there's plenty to go at.

Well worth getting, highly recommended.