"What an insight! Amanda Barrie has lived one hell of a life and not only gives a warm welcome to her nine decades, she also shares her heart and soul."
It feels as though Amanda Barrie has flung open the doors to her life and allowed full unfettered access, from her heady successes through to her emotional traumas. Amanda Barrie is a theatrical legend, since a tot she has starred on the stage and screen, including the West End, sitcoms, films, soaps, pantomimes, and reality TV shows. In her autobiography she comes across as a wonderful mix of contradictions, she can be feisty, bright, funny, and larger than life, yet also reflective and incredibly thoughtful. She was born in 1935 and details her life from her mother ushering her onto the stage, her expulsion from schools, and leaving the West End for the stage and screen, and the years since finishing her 20 year stint on Coronation Street. She is open and frank and willing to not only share stories but also divulge her thoughts and feelings. It undoubtedly helps that her wife Hilary Bonner has written this with her, there is a natural flow, and it feels like a conversation. I found this to be a fascinating read, and for me it was all the smaller very personal tidbits of information that I so loved to read, even more so perhaps than the Hell’s Kitchen revelation (the attempted ‘swipe’ has 16.2 million views on You Tube). There is of course far more to learn about that particular moment than the few seconds of the incident itself. I’m Still Here is a celebration of not only 90 years of stage and screen, but also a fascinating insight behind the scenes, of much loved actress.
| Primary Genre | Biographies & Autobiographies |
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'I have 90 years to share: 90 years of joy and sorrow, triumph and disaster, love and loss, laughter and tears; 90 years of watching the world change around me beyond my wildest imagination. Ninety years and still counting...'
Amanda Barrie, the iconic Cleo in Carry on Cleo and much-loved Alma in Coronation Street, was born in 1935, above her grandfather’s tailor’s shop in Ashton Under Lyne, during a ferocious thunderstorm. And ever since her journey through life has been a stormy one.
This book will tell the whole story for the first time, from her expulsion from two schools and running away from home aged 13 to be a Soho showgirl, to rising from the chorus to star in the West End, to Carry On Cabby and Carry On Cleo, to Corrie, Bad Girls and more. Amanda has become something of a national treasure, entertaining us all, whilst not hesitating to speak up for herself and others on national television, including on celebrity editions of Hell's Kitchen and Big Brother.
Having performed in her teenage years alongside fellow national icon Barbara Windsor, Amanda’s life has in many ways followed a similar trajectory to become a huge household name.
Amanda will pay particular attention to the whole new life she has led since she left Coronation Street in 2001. Packed with anecdotes and memories of her nine decades on stage and screen, she will share the moments that came to define her life.
She will fully explore her struggle to come to terms with who she was, relating in painful detail the traumas faced by a young gay woman in the 1950s and early 60s. She will explain why she kept that side of her a secret for most of her adult life, and how she feared that she would lose her job and her home if the truth became known.
For the first time, she will tell the full story of how she met her wife, novelist Hillary Bonner, fell in love, overcame all manner of difficulties, and built a new life together.
I'm Still Here: My 90 Years features in the following genres: Non-Fiction Books of the Month, Biographies & Autobiographies, Autobiography: arts and entertainment, Memoirs, Biography, Literature and Literary studies, Biography: general, Biography: social media, Autobiography: social media
I'm Still Here: My 90 Years is available in Hardback
I'm Still Here: My 90 Years was written by Amanda Barrie and published by Mirror Books
I'm Still Here: My 90 Years has 288 pages
£19.80
