I read the first volume of his autobiography a while ago but when struggling for items to add to my xmas list I put the next two parts down as an afterthought.
Honestly if you even vaguely know who Danny Baker is or ever watched and enjoyed Cradle to Grave the TV series then you need to read his autobiographies.
I eat up the pages just trying to get to the end of whatever mad story I’m in the middle of and it makes me laugh out loud. It’s hard to believe that one person could live such a crazy and hectic life with so little in the way of planning and so much in the way of luck but he makes no bones about the honesty in it.
He openly calls out the people who would disbelieve the tales as works of fiction and deals with the haters by saying he understands how people can have strong feelings about how he lives his life but it’s his life and he’ll live by his own rules.
I think that’s one of the things that draws me to the books most, he is someone who is living their life without fear of other people’s opinions of him and I think we’d all like to be able to do that a bit more. I don’t really know what called me to read the first book, it was a present and I heard about it after following him on Twitter and watching the TV show (which I think has a second series out this year) but I couldn’t say I’ve ever been a fan of his work.
I was probably too young in the 90’s to watch most of his TV shows, if I ever did I can’t recall now. I’ve obviously seen and long forgotten his TV adverts from the time, given that we couldn’t fast forward the ads back then! I’ve never been an avid radio listener and don’t recall hearing his shows at all. Hence why I can say I’m not really a fan of his work.
However, I read about his life with a touch of jealousy that my own isn’t littered with more exciting stories worthy of 3 volumes. I could probably condense all the good stuff into a pamphlet, there was the time I sung on TV to 15 million viewers in my school choir, the time I got on a plane with strangers I met online and flew to the USA to watch two Kings of Leon shows, the time I literally bumped into Gloria Jones in the foyer of the Shepherds Bush Empire before the start of the 30th Anniversary Marc Bolan concert, numerous footballing high jinks stories and quite a few random celebrity sightings with the odd conversation thrown in. I can probably conjure up a few tales of high jinks from my school days, mostly running from my friends older brothers. The romance side is light of interest given I’ve only fallen in love once and now he’s blocked me from his life. I was infatuated with a colleague for 4 years but even though at times there were flashes of something there nothing more than a pre-xmas hug that lasted too long ever happened between us.
2018 was to be my year, inspired by some of the tales in this book to cast off the doldrums and stuck routine that my life has slipped into and go out in the world and have more fun and adventures. It’s time I started thinning out my bucket list, but given I started the year being blocked by the love of my life, I don’t think the universe is ready to cut me slack yet.
I’ll just have to start volume 3 and see what inspiration I can get from that book! Maybe 2019 will be my year of fun!
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