Frank Skinner [Paperback]

Frank Skinner is well known for his quick wit and biting humour. Both appear in spades in his eponymous autobiography. It is hardly a traditional, chronological work. Instead Frank, (or to give him his childhood name, Chris Collins) takes an offbeat approach to the life story genre. It is an approach which, on the whole, works well. Here, the writer takes an intimately personal tack. Like the man in the pub with tales to tell, the story jumps from childhood to middle age, failed romances to huge successes, with little or no pause to explain or sign post. In the opening chapters this organisation can be confusing. From a lesser writer, it would have been a mistake. For Frank Skinner, whose ability to relate to an audience is everything, it is a clever device to draw the reader in. In fact, this on the hoof, deadline-looming, almost stand-up style of thinking on the feet (or indeed, the page) makes the reader a confidante. Frank chats and asks questions. Pages fly past amid a string of intriguing hook lines, such as "Johnny Cash made me an alcoholic"; "English literature changed my life"; "Zola Budd was my saviour and spiritual guide"; and "My first ever professional show was as Julian Clary¹s straight man (leave it)".

In reality, Frank Skinner's factual life isn't that remarkable, but the quality of the writing lifts it way above its competitors. Besides the history told comes the most interesting, insightful stuff, wrapped up in stylish telling; reasons and justifications, irrelevant asides and rhetorical questions, insecurities and studied nonchalance, plus a grey area where there are a of loads of swear words, darker thoughts, deep hatred of journalists from The Sun and of course the blackest of humour. --Helen Lamont --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

"Hilarious...often shocking." -- "Mirror"
"Skinner has written his own life story -- and it's a minor masterpiece...although his stand-up revelations are far more fun than anything in the tabloids, it's his poignant portrait of his working-class youth that makes it a classic of its kind." -- "Guardian"
"Skinner tells this amazing story in a rapid and mucky manner." -- "Evening Standard"

‘...it's his poignant portrait of his working-class youth that makes it a classic of its kind'

‘A rattling good read, written with humour and honesty'

'Skinner tells this amazing story in a rapid and mucky manner'

'Hilarious-often shocking' Mirror

Frank Skinner is undoubtedly one of the funniest and most successful comedians appearing on British screens. Born Chris Collins in 1957 he grew up in the West Midlands where he inherited his father's passion for football, a West Bromich Albion supporter, along with a liking for alcohol. Expelled from school at 16 Frank held various jobs later going on to gain an MA in English Literature. Nurturing a serious drink problem from the age of fourteen, Frank eventually turned to Catholicism in 1987 and hasn't had a drink since. He performed his first stand up gig in December 1987. His first television appearance in 1988 met with fits of laughter from the audience and 131 complaints, including one from cabinet minister Edwina Currie. He met fellow comedian David Baddiel in 1990 and the two went on to share a flat throughout the early 90's and to create the hit TV series Fantasy Football League. Winner of the prestigious Perrier Award at the Edinburgh Festival, Skinner's is a unique mixture of laddish and philosophical humour which has won him the prime time ITV show - The Frank Skinner Show. Here, for the first time, Frank candidly tells us of the highs and lows of his fascinating life and career.

Born in January 1957 Frank grew up in Oldbury and Smethwick; West Midlands. After various jobs, he performed his first stand up gig in December 1987 and went on to win the Perrier Award at the Edinburgh Festival. He is currently enjoying success with his own TV chat show. (20011221)

IF I'M CONSIDERING buying a book, I always take it off the shelf and read the first paragraph. This, I think, gives you a pretty fair inkling as to whether you'll like it or not. So, imagine the pressure I'm feeling at the moment. I suppose this has ended up in the Biography section and you are probably already eyeing-up my competition: stuff like 'My Life in Music' by David Hasselhoff or 'Fish in my rear-view mirror' by Teddy Kennedy. So, I know I have to work fast. I've never written a book before. In fact I've barely written a letter in the last ten years and even e-mails have become a bit irksome. I quite like text-messaging on my mobile phone, but it's not much of a warm-up for a 120,000 word autobiography. I even had text-message sex on one occasion. It was a long-winded but ultimately rewarding experience. At one stage in the proceedings I asked my fellow texter what was under her pants. The answer took the form of a vivid portrait in words that was three parts Jackie Collins and two parts Gray's Anatomy. I hadn't really expected such a wealth of detailed information. In short, I could almost smell it. Her message ended: 'What's under YOUR pants?' I replied, in all honesty, 'My knees.' According to my own methods of purchase, if you are still with me at this stage, then the book is bought. Don't imagine this will lead to any falling away of standards. As far as I'm concerned, your outlay has forged a bond between us and I'm going to spend the rest of these pages telling you more about myself than I've ever told a best friend. You see, what I really like about the text-message story is that it's true. I really like true stuff. This is why I never read novels. I'm constantly plagued by the knowledge that they aren't true. If a novel begins, 'Martin lit a cigarette and considered the situation', I'm thinking to myself, no, he didn't. There is no Martin. So, I'm offering you the truth. The story of my life. This throws up a couple of problems. Firstly, and I am not inclined to false modesty, I find it hard to imagine the kind of person who would be even slightly interested in my life story. I never stood toe-to-toe with Saddam or struck a power-chord at a stadium gig. I'm a nondescript bloke from a working class family in West Bromwich, who got lucky. I've always been lucky. A friend of mine used to say that if I fell off John Lewis's roof, I'd drop into a new suit, and I know what he meant. On my thirtieth birthday, a mate's girlfriend asked me what it was like to be thirty and 'on the scrapheap'. Ten years later, I was doing a stand-up gig in front of five and a half thousand people, had my own chat show, and was at the core of a national phenomenon when me and two other blokes decided that football was coming home. How did all that happen? This leads to the other problem. I've read the odd biography and I usually give up after about fifty pages because we're on chapter four and he's still at school.!
I hate all that early-life stuff. Who wants to know where his grandad was born and that his earliest memory was of staring at a stained-glass window at his auntie's house in Sudbury? By this stage I'm shouting, 'Hurry up and get famous, you bastard, or I'm switching to Hasselhoff.' But, as Wordsworth said, 'The child is father to the man', so I feel I need to stick in a bit of relevant stuff from my pre-shaving years, just not in a big lump at the front. In fact, I don't see why the story needs to be in any particular order. We're mates now. You'll have to take me as you find me. I also like books with lots of short little sections, bite-sized to suit the busy life style common to so many people in this, the twenty-first century.

Can I just make a brief point about modesty? I really like modesty. I respect it. Modesty in others draws me to them. A lot of people would regard me as a winner but, for the first thirty years of my life, as my mate's girlfriend instinctively recognised, I was a loser. Thirty years is a long time. I still think like a loser. I still move like one. I'm OK with that. Losers are often very nice people, well, compared to winners.