ALL OF ME: MY EXTRAORDINARY LIFE by BARBARA WINDSOR

ALL OF ME: MY EXTRAORDINARY LIFE

BY BARBARA WINDSOR

THE BLURB:-

Barbara Windsor- Carry On star and EastEnders favourite- here reveals all about her colourful life.

All Of Me details the highs and lows of an extraordinary career spanning fifty years. From her lonely childhood in London's East End, to her troubled first marriage to Ronnie Knight and her much-publicised affair with fellow Carry On actor Sid James, Barbara emerges a strong woman with nothing to hide.

Now happily married to Scott Mitchell, the son of a childhood friend, she looks back at the extraordinary events in her life, culminating in the proud moment in July 2000 when she received her MBE. It was a fitting tribute to a much-loved actress- the fun-loving cockney with the smile and the giggle, the walk and the wiggle, who has become an adored British icon.

THE REALITY:-

I whizzed through this book, which was by no means short, at 588 pages long- and that's with quite small print. It was very interesting and I flattened it in a week.

Whilst not the world's biggest fan, I do like this saucy little bird with the sexy, curvy figure, but I've only ever known about the most obvious parts of her life. I'm a Carry On fan and my own day-to-day life is peppered with saucy double entendres! I watched Eastenders for many years, although my once almost obsessive interest has faded in recent times. I also remember going to Butlins Minehead in 1985 and she was performing there with Jack Smethurst but I think the show was adults only and I was only 14 (although, with the right amount of make-up on my face I easily passed for 18 and could get served at the bar!)  I think you also had to pay to see her show- in an otherwise all-inclusive holiday camp- and I wouldn't have had the kind of money required for the entrance fee. This would have been at around the time her career was on the decline. I saw the very enjoyable and poignant show about her life, 'Babs' televised recently, and when I found this autobiography in a charity shop shortly afterwards, could not resist giving it a go as I didn't know much about her life, especially her illustrious stage career, which would have taken place before I was born.

This is one lady who has certainly been very busy. It would seem that she's constantly been in demand (even during the bleaker years) and has had a real WOW of a career with not an awful lot of resting time. She's met -and shagged- some very well-known people and I'm quite glad that she was a bit of a slapper as I've never been an admirer of sexually precious, morally self-righteous people. Maybe it's because my mother was quite rigid about such things yet also of Barbara's generation, being born only a few years previously, much older than myself, and I was a bit of a naughty rebel... and I'm proud of it. If it's sex you want to read about then you won't be disappointed as there's a hell of a lot of it in this book, along with gritty happenings such as the illegal abortions Barbara went through.  A few gorier, salacious details would have been a wonderful addition, though.

Barbara's first two marriages sounded really unhappy, with carryings-on (sorry, I couldn't resist that!) on both sides.  These men appeared to use her and then sell personal and sordid details of their life together to the newspapers. She seems to have a penchant for toyboys and, whilst I'm very sure that I wouldn't want a man more than a couple of years younger than me, bloody good luck to her. The photographs in the book are taken at various stages of her life and are a nice addition.  They tell the story in their own way.

This is only one person's account of Barbara's life so you have to take it with a little pinch of salt. As it's an autobiography, you have to wonder about the parts she has chosen to leave out, but then I suppose that if I was writing my memoirs (I wouldn't, I'd put them into novel form!) then I'd maybe write the bulk of it like a curriculum vitae; i.e. me on a very good day.  I kind of got the impression that there's more to her dealings with London's criminal underworld than first meets the eye- by that, I don't mean that she's a criminal herself, but maybe she thought it best not to draw too much attention to that side of her life.  After all, it was a long time before she was awarded her MBE and many thought it was long overdue.  I think her associations held her back, in this respect, for a long time.

I found this work quite heartfelt and you also get to find out about the quirks and nuances of some of her former, well known, co-stars such as Kenneth Williams and Sid James, and get to learn the extent of the latter's obsessive infatuation with Barbara.   Her childhood was very interesting, and I'm glad she opened her heart about her difficult and complicated relationship with both her parents.  This was a good enough read.