Interesting read about someone I grew up seeing on TV but never knowing much about the man behind the TV persona.

Well researched, particularly about the period Sid was vague/shady about - his early life in South Africa. Written in an easy style, I came away knowing the subject a lot better - and probably liking him a bit less in some ways. A man of many faults but many of those talking to the author profess to still think well of him despite him fleecing them of money to feed his gambling and the inevitable shenanigans with other women throughout his several marriages...I never quite got WHY they still thought of him so fondly, but there must have been a lot of good in him too; alongside the apparent lack of ego, the fact that he was very professional and took the time to make others feel welcome.

Probably a bit brief in some areas - it was only revealed in passing while talking about his infatuation with Barbara Windsor that his own marriage had been loveless for years (no real sense of whether that was true or not - it was just what Sid claimed at the time). In fact there wasn't a lot about his 3rd marriage other than his wife tried to keep control of the money to stop him gambling it all away.

Its a good book, I enjoyed reading. You want a biography to tell you things you didn't know - and this does that. But its not so in depth that you get to understand Sid - its noted that he kept people from his past at arm's length or just ignored them altogether. Bearing in mind he probably knew some shady people in his youth, you can understand that. But no real explanation is given, leaving you to form the impression he was just heartless, cold and selfish - but that seems at odds with what most that are interviewed actually say about him. ( )