Biography of Peter Cook - Harry Thompson

"Peter Cook was perhaps the most dazzling product of his generation, a comedian and iconoclast who had conquered Broadway, the West End and British television by the time he was twenty-eight. Twenty years later, his partnership with Dudley Moore long dissolved and two marriages in tatters, Cook had become a recluse, severly addicted to alcohol and uninterested in work. Harry Thompson has produced the first ever comprehensive biography of this influential and fascinating subject who came up with some of the funniest sketches and greatest jokes of all time." Peter Cook: A Biography was first published in 1997 and my paperback copy runs to 482 pages ...  Read the complete review

I first became aware of the genius of Peter Cook when my mother bought a copy of the newly released VHS cassette 'The Best of Whats Left of Not Only But Also', It was a collection of the remaining video left from the vaults of the BBC - the ones that hadn't been wiped. This book tells the whole story, from Cook's humble beginnings being left at boarding school by his parents who worked overseas right up to his premature death at the age of 57. He was destined for the foreign office, but Cook's insatiable wit brought him many new friends and admirers so by the time he reached the giddy heights of Cambridge Footlights he was on the brink of the big time. With ...  Read the complete review