To the Palladium today for the Society for Theatre Research's Theatre Book Prize presentation. Those in attendance included STR president Timothy West, and I found myself sitting behind Oliver Ford Davies and Fenella Fielding, which may give an idea of the diversity of the audience.
Funny Bones got a mention in the introduction by chairman Howard Loxton, who described it as "a real up and down showbusiness story":
Afterwards one of the judges,Viv Gardner, told me that Freddie's autobiography was "important to our understanding of the whole period he worked in", which reminded me of Martin Kelner's description of Freddie himself as "a living history of variety".
A note about the winner has now been posted on the STR website here - it's Marc Napolitano's book about Oliver! - and as in previous years audio plus a transcript of the speeches is likely to follow.
A prize in itself, some would say, Funny Bones: My Life in Comedy by Freddie Davies with Anthony Teague is available from amazon (paperback) or direct from Scratching Shed Publishing (paperback or limited edition hardback). Read an extract here.