When most people of note write their Memoirs, they make sure that they go into every single detail about all their major achievements. They often paint themselves as a martyr and their parents as saints. They describe their work is if it is the single most important contribution to mankind. That is, people other than comedian, writer, actor, director and “comedy jack of all trades” Tony Martin. He has instead chosen to write about the little things in his life that are really quite ordinary. Fortunately, he has the ability to write in a style that gives these memories a distinctive twist that injects humour throughout. It also helps that he often seems to find himself in the company of many colourful characters in these situations.This book contains stories covering topics such as his childhood, working behind the scenes in amateur theatre, working as a Shit-kicker in an Advertising Agency, living in a Boarding House owned by an eccentric German couple and dealing with Haemochromatosis.
Being of about the same vintage as Mr. Martin, I found I could relate to some of the details of his childhood stories, even though they occurred in New Zealand. I especially related to his lifelong exposure to various video games (being the geek that I am!). His story about his treatment for Haemochromatosis (a condition of having a dangerous amount of Iron in your blood) could have easily been a serious and depressing tale, but the way he dealt with it was with constant humour. In fact so much humour (he even rewrote a Peter Sellers song “Any Old Iron” so that it told the story of the condition) that he gave the nursing staff and fellow patients the shits every time he went in for Blood Letting.
Each story is pretty much self contained, so you don’t have to force yourself into reading it in huge chunks in order to keep yourself abreast of the story (particularly when you have terrible short term memory). Even so, I found myself zipping through the book at quite a rapid pace, even though I’m usually notorious at taking my time to read a book. I found it to be highly entertaining from cover to cover.
“Lolly Scramble” is published by Pan Macmillan.