Nothing blank about this! (At My Mother's Knee... - Paul O'Grady)

Member Name: AmyAmy

Product:	At My Mother's Knee... - Paul O'Grady
Date:	23/03/09 (80 review reads)
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"Fill in the missing blank...
The latest autobiography Amy has read is that of (blank) O' Grady"

Did you guess right? If you said 'Paul', then you would be correct! Indeed, I am a lover of celebrity autobiographies, and having finished one, I delved right into the next, being 'At My Mother's Knee...and other low joints', by the TV legend Paul O' Grady. Being an ambitious future-TV Presenter (if you are looking for a TV Presenter then please stop reading, and contact me instead!), I am always keen to read up on their lives. For that reason I was interested to start this! I am also a fan of Paul O' Grady, both in the form of Lily Savage and the man we see 'live at Five on Four'!

This book was released back in September 2008, but it was not until Christmas of that year that I received it. Every time I saw the book in the shop I would pick it up, and somehow read the same opening paragraphs over and over again, never thinking to carry on to the next part with each visit! I had studied its cover many times from its position on shelves and display tables, but somehow when I unwrapped it it seemed more magical. The main cover of the hardback book is white, with a large photo of Paul positioned on the front. Underneath the book title is written in black italic lettering, with his name in gold. This makes him seem just all the more wonderful! If you flip over to the back you will find another photo of Paul, though this time he is just a 'wee lad', no more than eight years old! He still has the same cheeky grin, which is made apparent from the spine when both images are seen together! Now we have discovered its exterior, it's time to explore the interior...

Oh, great! I just turned the first page to find a little nibble out of the top corner. Tish has managed to climb on top of the wardrobe now...nothing is safe! Anyway, I'll have to let that pass for the meantime! We start right in with Chapter One, the first of eighteen. Straight away you can see that the text is a good size. There is about ten words on a line so you're looking at around size 16 font. Each chapter has about fifteen pages, with a total of 339 in the book. That certainly seems like a lot of reading to get through, but I promise you, once you start the pages will fly by!

I was looking forward to enjoying Paul's tales of his Presenting career from past to present, but before I bought this I discovered (thanks to another review!) that this book barely touched upon his television career. At first I thought this would not be as interesting as I had hoped but I still turned the first page with an open mind...

Turns out this story was actually quite interesting! Paul takes us right from his birth in 1955 and growing up in Birkenhead, right up to just about that crucial decision which changed his career path forever! On this journey we learn a lot about his family and their background, as well as his school days. This was a part I found most interesting, and the several schools he went to I thought were rather amusing indeed, those chapters well worth the read on their own! As Paul gets older and begins to branch out into the big wide world we learn of many fascinating jobs and troubles he has to overcome, as well as his journey to discover his sexuality (for all those curious about whether he is or is not actually gay, then this is definitely worth a read!). I definitely learned a lot about Paul, and despite the lack of up-to-date tales, I still found it fascinating!

I read a chapter a night, which took about twenty minutes each, so it took me a few weeks to get through this. It can be quite a challenge at times to understand, with a lot of strong vocabulary. This does make me wonder just how much of this exactly Paul wrote! Nonetheless as long as it is an official autobiography I am happy, I can't stick biographies, especially unofficial ones! They're full of such lies and accusations!


If you are a fan of Mr O' Grady, enjoy a good celebrity autobiography or simply want to read something interesting, then this is definitely for you! To break up all that reading you intend to do, there is a total of forty five pictures throughout for you to enjoy, many of which are quite laughable! The book is published by Bantam, who I had not heard of before, though I am sure to check out in the near future! You can purchase this for around £10 depending on where you go, and is available in most good book stores and sites.

Paul O' Grady is a wonder, and only can you begin to understand his uniqueness in this amazing autobiography...

© Amy 2009

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