The long awaited story of one of Britain's greatest comic legends. ' Some people walk on stage & the audience warms to them. You can't explain it & you shouldn't try. It's an arrogant assumption to say you 'decide' to become a comedian. The audience decides for you.' Eric Sykes December 2001 From his early days writing scripts for Bill Fraser & Frankie Howerd through decades of British radio & television comedy
- ' Educating Archie' ' Sykes & A.. .' ' Curry & Chips' ' The Plank'
- to his present day ventures into film & theatre starring in ' The Others' with Nicole Kidman & appearing in Peter Hall's recent production of ' As You Like It' Eric Sykes has carved himself an enduring place as one of Britain's greatest writers & performers. In his much anticipated autobiography Sykes reveals his extraordinary life working alongside a generation of legendary comedians & entertainers despite being dogged by deafness & eventually virtual blindness. His hearing problems began in the early days of his career in the 1950s around the time he wrote directed & performed in the spoof pantomime ' Pantomania' for the BBC. Undeterred however Sykes learned to lip-read going on to write & appear in a number of BBC productions including ' Opening Night' & Val Parnell's ' Saturday Spectacular' the first of two shows he made with Peter Sellers a great life-long friend. From 1959 until her death in 1980 Syke's starred with Hattie Jacques in one of Britain's best loved sitcoms ' Sykes & A.. .' Throughout the two decade run of this show he continued to work alongside a host of stars including Charlie Drake Tommy Cooper Tony Hancock Spike Milligan Johnny Speight Ray Galton & Alan Simpson. Eric Sykes's comedy has always sported an essential core of warm humanity & this along with his genuine creative genius continues to prove an unforgettably winning combination.