This autobiography has no appendix quoting all Barry Cryer's achievements, skips lightly over his career in a mere 202 pages and probably doesn't contain enough information about its subject to allow one to pass a GCSE in 'Cryer'.
So, why is this such a thoroughly good read? Simply because it is a pleasure, even at a remove, to be in the great man's company. He is a real 'glass half full' man. He suffered from psoriasis as a young comic but, instead of a claim for sympathy, he makes the reader laugh, without belittling current sufferers. The little gems, which he liberally inserts about the comics with whom he has worked, are always kindly interpreted and the book adds greatly to my understanding of British comedy since the second World War.
Anybody interested in Mr Cryer, comedy, or just wanting to affirm their belief in the innate 'goodness' of humankind, should get a copy of this book.
200 pages of sunshine. ( )