The Wedding Singer

Sparks & son

Freddie at the Memorial Theatre, Broadstairs

For those who weren't lucky enough to be there in person, Freddie was in great form at the Memorial Theatre in Broadstairs last night. As cowriter of his autobiography Funny Bones I can hardly write an unbiased review, but seeing as how Michael Billington was inexplicably absent from the proceedings here are a few notes about the show - which was, as they say, a game of two halves.

Radio documentary provides backdrop to career of Freddie's grandad

The blog post which started it all*

For any Freddie fans who haven't come across it yet, here is the piece I wrote in June 2011 for my personal blog which led to my working with the great man on his autobiography.

In Praise of Freddie "Parrotface" Davies or We'll Always Have Didsbury

Ex Nihilo or ex-Parrotface? a note on the tangled origins of Monty Python's Parrot sketch

The origins of Monty Python's Parrot Sketch have been well documented, most recently in John Cleese's sober but enjoyable autobiography So Anyway ..., but as cowriter of Freddie "Parrotface" Davies's autobiography Funny Bones permit me to add a footnote.

The essence of the joke has been traced back to Ancient Greece, according  an article in the Telegraph, although I'm not entirely sure I'd go along with that:

Comedian Plugs Comedian Shock

Belated thanks to Roy Hudd for this cheeky mention of Funny Bones in his column for the August 5th edition of Yours Magazine:

Unsolicited testimonial

Freddie has passed on this message sent to his website:

I have just finished your book and I loved it. I bought from Amazon even though I am a manager with WH Smith and I can't believe how much I enjoyed it. Loved the "I miss them" comments and I had a tear in my eyes many times. Thank you because above all I was smiling at your wonderful anecdotes and I bet there's another book in you which I would buy. Brilliant.

Freddie interviewed by Martin Kelner

Freddie was interviewed by Martin Kelner for his One on One interview programme on Radio Leeds in November 2013. Note that his autobiography still had the working title Off My Perch:

Review of Funny Bones by Stuart Pedlar

Many thanks to Musical Director Stuart Pedlar for this review.

Funny Bones is not just, as it title suggests, an entertaining and amusing autobiography, but an informative one as well. What makes it so readable is the well balanced mixture of personal narrative with background information relating to the best of English comedy during the sixties and seventies both in theatre and television. Anecdotes there are aplenty, but these never swamp the general sweep of the book, which recalls with fond nostalgia a different age from the one we now live in, yet nonetheless one still relevant to those of us interested in the likes of Davies, let alone the myriad of other fine entertainers of the time such as Morecambe and Wise et al.