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The third volume of Danny Baker's autobiography is as much of a rip-roaring read as the previous two, with more laugh-out-loud tales from the ludicrous world of showbiz.
This time we get the TFI years and the wild adventures (thanks to a big budget) that Danny, Chris Evans and crew got up to during the heady years of Britpop and “Cool Britannia” (what a distant age that seems to be now). From an impromptu trip to New York to track down John Cleese to finally getting to meet his hero David Bowie and, for probably the only time in his life, being tongue-tied!
Baker is a great raconteur and he intersperses things with brilliantly funny stories from his past. Baker has been bulletproof up to now, but this volume has the shadow of mortality about it, with the death of his larger-than-life father. It also has to, of course, address his battle with cancer.
Baker goes into detail about the ravages of the illness, the treatment, the utter tedium of the battle. But it is always tempered with Baker's patented outlook on life - namely the ability to step back and think “What do you look like, Baker?”. It's that acknowledgement of the absurdities of life that runs through all three volumes, and yes, Baker has been lucky. Indeed he's landed on his feet more times than a cat. That he survived relatively unscathed is a minor miracle.
The final part of the book tells of his poor treatment by Radio London, who canned his show with no warning after he'd won awards and helped save local radio. He won't forgive or forget.
So, another great read, from one of the great writer/broadcasters of the modern era (even if he does admit to making it all up as he goes along!).