Freddie was interviewed live today by Bob Fischer of Radio Tees - it will be available on iplayer here at some point but in the meantime you can listen to an edited version (musical inserts shortened) below.
In the event the scheduled hour ran over by about twenty minutes, thanks partly to questions people had texted in, but mostly because of Fischer's obvious enthusiasm for both Funny Bones the film and Funny Bones the book.
Freddie's autobiography was, he said, "Not just the story of a fascinating life but one of the most detailed accounts of that club and variety scene of the 1960s that I've ever read ... A fabulous read - I can't recommend it highly enough."
At the end, Bob told Freddie the interview had been "one of the most enjoyable things I've ever done on the radio," and there is certainly a lot of laughter in the studio. Even I, his battle-hardened Boswell, was not above the odd chuckle as I listened several hundred miles away. But why not try it for yourself?
Find links to other radio interviews, and articles and reviews, on the Press/Publicity page here. And many thanks to Bob Fischer for reminding me of something which has been both frustrating and gratifying about the book. Making people aware of its existence has been uphill work - but without exception those who have come across it have been highly enthusiastic.
Incidentally, another recent attempt at promotion yielded unexpected results. On 1st August, the 51st anniversary of Freddie's Opp Knocks appearance (and a year since the publication of Funny Bones), I tweeted a videocap which has been retweeted and favourited (forgive the jive jargon) umpteen times.
Unfortunately the character limit meant I couldn't actually mention Funny Bones by name nor provide a link, which isn't exactly the best business practice; I tried to rectify that with later missives but that first tweet, more than any other, seems to have caught the twitterati's imagination.
Who knows why, but feel free to retweet re Tweet if you too feel minded to thpread the word:
Oh, and let's not forget the obligatory hard sell: if the Radio Tees interview has made you eager to purchase a copy of Funny Bones for yourself so that you can read the full story of Freddie's grandad Jack Herbert and the ups and downs of Freddie's own career as comedian, producer and actor, the book is available from amazon (paperback) or direct from Scratching Shed Publishing (paperback or limited edition hardback). I believe there is a single copy on display in Foyles in London, but I haven't checked.Freddie will be doing his one man show, also called Funny Bones, at the Princess Theatre, Hunstanton in September - details in Live Show News here. You can buy a copy of the book there, but why wait?
Read an extract from Funny Bones here.