This book is an masterpiece of literary genius. It's as if he can't quite believe the enormous affection with which the nation regards him but it seems likely that this book will increase that affectionate admiration even more. The self-deprecation that emerges in this book reveals the astonishing fact that Stephen Fry too lacks inner self-assurance - in spite of his cultured, funny, 'Renaissance Man' persona. He says that it cannot be wondered at that his own rather shy hero, Alan Bennett, is so greatly loved. In an audio book this is a special delight. It's rare to find a book where every sentence is satisfying, funny or moving. You can hear their voices and each is treated with affectionate glee. Nearly all the radio and television heroes of that era are there. It's also an insider's look at the way comedy changed and grew in the eighties. He always brings himself (and us) back from the brink with a throw-away line of such ludicrous self-mockery that, if most react as I did, the loudness of your own laughter comes as quite a shock.
None of this is solemn or toe-curling though. In the course of telling the part of his story that stretches from Cambridge to the fame and fortune of his later twenties, he shares with us some of the thoughts and inner fears that he says still haunt him. It makes the price of this book seem far too low. He confides, entertains, shocks, confesses, delights, enlightens - rather than merely narrates. To say that an extra dimension is given by Stephen Fry's voice would be an understatement.
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