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Sorry, but this (cod) autobiography didn’t do it for me. Purporting to be the memoirs of misanthropic would-be thespian Count Arthur Strong, creation of the British actor Steve Delaney, the story begins with “Wah, Wah” (the Count as a baby) and proceeds through parenting (“Dad goes to War – the one Hitler did”), joining his parents on stage, his parents leaving for Austria (or was it Australia?), a recipe for wine, a children’s book about a magic cat, and meetings with celebrities. Having moved to television recently (scripted by “our” Graham Linehan), the Count has many loyal fans who see him as a tragicomic genius. Curmudgeon that I am, I prefer the sound of his 2003 act when the Count was genuinely fierce and spent five minutes with his back to the audience slugging red wine. Now that is funny.
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