Got some good stuff at this year's BEA.  My summer is fully booked. 

 

This book is lazy and dated, although it's almost certain communist humour was a lot funnier in 1980's Soviet countries, where people didn't believe in communism quite as much as Sayle.

Regardless of communist politics -- of which I am indifferent and always have been -- Sayle phoned in 98% of the mock-absurdist humour, probably to his co-writer, who equally probably wrote the only (laugh-out-loud) moment in the book. I was writing better absurdism when I was 16, but that's because I didn't have a message.

I bought this used, despite the pretend-funny cover, because it didn't cost anything (hmmm...) and desperately wanted to drop it ever second but plodded on to the end, where it gets worse, because I looked up who this "fat ugly git" ever could have been, and he was loosely affiliated with the Young Ones, whom I now wonder if I'll ever watch.

blurb - Lionel Bart was a unique musical talent. He found fame with the hugely successful musicals Oliver! and 'Fings Ain't Wot They Used T'Be', but he was also a hit-making machine for some of Britain's first rock'n'roll stars - Tommy Steele, Marty Wilde and Cliff Richard, as well as giving the James Bond movie franchise its first song. He socialised with figures from both serious and populist culture, and experienced a downfall that was as spectacular as his theatrical triumphs. David and Caroline Stafford's new biography of Bart draws on previously unseen archive sources and interviews with those closest to him. Read by Alistair McGowan.The book is published by Omnibus Press.Abridged by Julian Wilkinson Produced by Emma Harding.