A frank life story of an ordinary bloke (Frank Skinner - Frank Skinner)

Member Name: misterwriter

Product:	Frank Skinner - Frank Skinner
Date:	21/04/06 (132 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Entertaining, honest, friendly book, very readable, how someone from humble beginnngs made it big

Disadvantages: His humour may offend some

IN A SENTENCE WHAT'S IT ALL ABOUT?

Frank Skinner's first autobiography - an entertaining, deeply candid laddish trawl through the ups and downs of his life and career from his working class background in the West Midlands to his notoriety as a popular entertainer.



WHAT MADE ME BUY IT?

It was through The Frank Skinner Show in the nineties that I first became aware of Frank Skinner (born Chris Collins). This was probably the first chat show I had seen that had an ordinary bloke chatting to stars as if they were ordinary themselves. Which of course they are (but try telling some of them that!) The only person who had got anywhere close to his down-to-earth informal interviewing style was Chris Evans on TFI Friday. Although I thought he was missing something Frank had. The talent for natural acerbic wit mainly, I think. Since then Jonathan Ross has stepped into his shoes becoming the nation's (highly paid!) favourite.

There are a couple of sides we see of Frank Skinner. The comedian and the football fan. I didn't buy the book because I am particularly a big fan of either of his personas. It was a bit of intrigue about how someone from his background became famous that did it for me and it didn't seem to be a long-winded self-congratulatory pat on the back like many autobiographies are. And to be honest this was a keenly priced weighty book that would provide many an hour of bedside /train journeyed reading.



A BOOK OF REVELATIONS

Although this book doesn't spill the beans on some big celebrity scandal, it reveals a side to Frank that we previously hadn't seen. Under that confident (slightly cocky) comedy character is a thoughtful deeply philosophical side which comes through as he recounts anecdotes and looks back on periods of his life as if they are separate. Which I suppose they are. This is his life story - honest but never dull.

He starts off with life growing up on a tough council estate and his developing passion for football as an ardent West Bromich Albion supporter. Then his dark decent into alcoholism which resulted in him being kicked out of school. Followed by various jobs he took on - like the one at the drawing office which he would skive off to the pub from with no one apparently noticing. Leading to the life changing moment when he gained an MA in English Literature. He goes on to describe his first stand up gig in 1987 and his first television appearance a year later. Also the time he shared a flat with David Baddiel as they dreamt up Fantasy Football - the show which changed Chris Collins into Frank Skinner - the celebrity we know today.

Born from quite a rough family background, he tells of his dad a typically man's man who once said, "there wasn't one working class, there was two. And we should see ourselves as being in working class division one."

This is a melting pot of various experiences perhaps many of us have faced like bullying and being bullied and forming a band (although he was completely unable to play an instrument), as well as others only he could have had - like an ode he wrote and performed to DH Lawrence to the tune of 'When I'm Cleaning Windows.' He also shares some entertaining tongue-in-cheek prayers he once wrote to God.

As well as a taste of his wit we get to read about local idiosyncrasies like dwarf wrestling and newspaper called the Smethwick Telephone. What stands out though is the ease of which he comes out with revelations such as lying to his local authority about the length of a course when applying for a grant. Something, in fact, he never told his parents.



WRITING STYLE

Whilst he goes through an experience from his past, the next paragraph of the book may suddenly fast-forward to his time of writing the book. The juxtaposition can be strange at times like when he tells of his dad in a fit of rage throwing their rented telly out of the window and the next: a journal which starts with "Unplanned live at the Shaftesbury seems to be going pretty well, but we had a bit of a hiccup just before the second show…"But I think it helps break up the book into something manageable.

He didn't set out to do this, explaining, "but thought it would help you because celebrities' pre-celebrity lives aren't necessarily all that interesting to read about and I hoped regular helpings of showbiz-glitter would help you through it".

The book certainly doesn't focus on the fame of celebrity stardom. That doesn't matter to me - it would bore me to tears. In fact his life as a performer is not properly covered until late on in the book. What are more entertaining are the trials and tribulations he goes through in his youth with such clarity they must be etched in his mind.



EMBARRASING SNAPS

While some stars would keep their family snaps firmly locked away with only those which show them at their best seeing the light of day, Frank has thought to hell with that. Over a few pages we get an album of him as a bonny baby growing up into a typical scrawny long curly-haired youth from the 60s, into a troubled rebel hidden by copious amounts of facial hair and into his present incarnation.

Everything from one of those photos taken in a Photo-me booth on a Passport to Leisure (whatever one of those is), issued by the City of Birmingham's Department of Recreation and Community Services…. to him on the back of his mate's scooter… to posing as Eminem with the skinnerettes.



MY IMPRESSIONS

Impressions (if you've watched The Frank Skinner Show) you'll realise Frank is not very good at them. But that doesn't matter they are funny nonetheless.

Anyway, sorry gone off a tangent there. Now to my impressions of the book. I would recommend this book, even if you are not a big Frank Skinner fan just to read the peculiar laugh-out-loud-funny experiences from his childhood in the black country. The book isn't all about football either.

He writes very crisply and succinctly (perhaps gained from studying English) in a style that's very readable. Conversational, I suppose you could call it. He attempts to write, and he has pointed this out in the book, as though you are one of his friends.

As individual and personal an autobiography can be. It can be summed up in his premise - when he says he will tell you more about himself than he has ever told a best friend - believe it, he will.



OTHER INFO

* Published by Century London
* 1st published 2001
* Hardback
* 327 pages
* Original price £16.99 - I managed to pick mine up for £5.99 in a discount book store a couple of years ago.



*This review was previously published ny myself, aka simoncjones, at Ciao

Summary: Frank reveals his entertaining experiences of growing up in the black country to celebrity stardom