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| Editorial Reviews: | |  |  | | Paul O'Grady, apart from being one of Britain's best loved entertainers, is a classic example of reinvention, as At My Mother?s Knee demonstrates. The young Liverpool entertainer, an altar boy from Irish Catholic Birkenhead, becomes the acid-tongued and outrageous drag queen Lily Savage, and moves from gay pubs to national television, creating something of a British comic institution en route (O'Grady's caustic drag character was a world away from safer predecessors such as Danny La Rue). But O'Grady (like other comic performers such as John Cleese) realised that comic creations can have a limited shelf life, and reinvented himself as ?Paul O'Grady?, coming out from behind the false breasts and towering wigs as a toned-down (but still camp), more audience-friendly TV presenter (wisely, he retained the abrasive voice and a Scouse accent that could be cut with a knife). At My Mother's Knee and Other Low Joints is an entertaining autobiography from someone who really does have a life that is worth writing about. Gossipy, sharp and colourful, the cast of characters in Paul O'Grady's life includes rogues and rascals galore, all of whom are evoked here with great comic skill. O'Grady was variously a boxer, a civil servant, a conman and even a cat burglar - all of these failed careers are on display here, as is a surprisingly pungent picture of the Liverpool nightclub scene. When so many showbiz autobiographies these days are written by people who have a barely had a life outside of their fame, it's refreshing to encounter one by somebody whose story would be interesting even if he were not a major TV star. --Barry Forshaw | |
| Custom Reviews: | |
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| Absolutely 100% fantastic and engrossing read" | |
| | I was given this book as a gift, my sister knowing what a great fan of Paul's I am and I was not disappointed! Having started the book I could not put it down. It feels as though Paul is talking you through his early life and there are excruciatingly funny moments when I laughed out loud and also very emotional moments which brought tears to my eyes. I really enjoyed reading about his family and would have loved to have met his mum - who reminds me so much of my own - very stoical, deeply loyal and very loving.
I would highly recommend this book and many congratulations to Mr Paul O'Grady MBE for an excellent, witty and emotional account of his early life. Please, please hurry up and write a second instalment and please include Buster and Olga who, I am sure would be very 'put out' if not included!!
| | Five stars? Without question! | |
| | I started reading this in trepidation, worrying that my expectations would be set too high. I needn't have worried. It's a wonderful book, very honest, very moving and very funny. So many of Paul's recollections of being brought up in a 60s council house without central heating rang true. I'd forgotten about how much of our lives in winter revolved round keeping warm- Paul hasn't!
I made the slight mistake of reading this in bed very late at night. A mistake, because stifling my laughter nearly choked me. Two particularly funny passages were 'fast-forwards' from the period not generally covered by the book, which bodes really well for the sequel. This memoir is on a par with Peter Kay's The Sound of Laughter - in fact, Paul's honesty makes it better, as he doesn't pull a single punch. Yet he manages to do this without offending - there are no sordid revelations that have you turning pages in haste, but thoughtful evocations of time and place.
This will make a fantastic audiobook - Paul writes as he speaks and you can hear his voice on every page. Wonderful, just wonderful.
| | | I'm a great fan of Paul's and could not wait for his second book but I feel let down.Too much nauseating information of gay exploits , a lot of which should have remained private. Very funny in places but it was spoiled for me by graphic details of various love affairs with gay partners.Don't read this before your tea or just after it as you won't hang on to it!! Left me with a nasty taste and a different slant on Paul O' Grady. You have to have a strong stomach to get through this book!
Joy King
Neath South Wales
| | | Brilliant picked it up and read till finished cant
wait for his own book from 18yrs on
wendy
| | | well, this is the best book i have read and i have read a few! paul is a natural. you have got to buy this one, it will make you laugh so much. when you are reading this, you can hear paul telling you the stories of his childhood in his own way. very good, can't wait for the next chapters!
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