What’s It All About? joins Bob Geldof’s Is That It? and Auberon Waugh’s Will This Do? on a shelf of wryly self-questioning autobiographies, although, unlike the other two, it doesn’t make even a ghost of an attempt at answering the question. For this is Cilla Black, beloved popular entertainer, mighty-lunged singer of the 1960s and full-time professional Scouser for 40 years. Her book has been scheduled to coincide with nationwide celebrations of her 60th birthday (preparations for our street party are well advanced). It’s also the first autumn in living memory when she hasn’t been on TV every weekend presenting Blind Date. So it may be that after all this time her career is finally winding down. A good moment to write it all up, then.
The showbiz autobiography, of course, is a mature art form. From the front-cover shot of the artiste today to the back-cover shot of the artiste in her not very wild youth, it’s as predictable and comfortable as Cilla herself.
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