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Going to Sea in a Sieve: The Autobiography
by
Danny Baker
Danny Baker was born in Deptford, South East London in June 1957, and from an early age was involved in magazine journalism, with the founding of fanzine
Sniffin' Glue
alongside friend Mark Perry. From there he moved to documentary series for LWT and over the years worked on a variety of quiz shows (
Win, Lose or Draw
,
Pets Win Prizes
,
TV Heroes
), as well two television com
...more
Hardcover
,
266 pages
Published
November 1st 2012
by Orion Publishing
(first published October 1st 2012)
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Community Reviews
(showing
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Danny Baker is a great story teller and someone with many great stories to tell. The first thing to confess is that I am very biased in favour of Mr Baker. I am frequently amazed to discover that not everyone shares my enthusiasm. What's not to love? One of the most consummate radio presenters and raconteurs I've ever come across. Needless to say "Going to Sea in a Sieve" the first memoir (of hopefully many more), which takes us from his birth in the last 1950s to the very early 1980s, is - to u
...more
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This is a rollicking good read. If you have had no previous exposure to the constantly inventive master of lightweight banter then you are in for a treat. Those of us who have been fortunate enough to catch his radio shows will find many of his funniest anecdotes here. I first came across him on Radio 5's 606 football phone-in during the 1980's and was, and still am enormously cheered by his ability to find nuggets of gold in the seemingly mundane experiences of football fans. The atmosphere of
...more
If you have ever listened to a Danny Baker radio show, you'll be used to his style - fast, chatty, always witty, and seemingly effortless on his part. The first instalment of his memoirs reads in exactly the same way.
He's helped in that he's got such an interesting background - he's one of those people to whom interesting things just seem to happen all the time, and as a result, this book is a great read from start to finish.
I wonder if there is another broadcaster working today with as fantasti ...more
He's helped in that he's got such an interesting background - he's one of those people to whom interesting things just seem to happen all the time, and as a result, this book is a great read from start to finish.
I wonder if there is another broadcaster working today with as fantasti ...more
It took me more than two decades to realise that Danny Baker isn't a chattering imbecile but is in fact a genius. This revelation came through spending an hour a day listening to the gloriously surreal inventiveness of his BBC London radio show.
Despite being co-founder of the legendary punk fanzine Sniffin' Glue and a major writer at New Musical Express in the late 70s and 80s, where conformity to 'correct' opinions was almost Maoist in its intensity, this is a man who has never denied his love ...more
Despite being co-founder of the legendary punk fanzine Sniffin' Glue and a major writer at New Musical Express in the late 70s and 80s, where conformity to 'correct' opinions was almost Maoist in its intensity, this is a man who has never denied his love ...more
Wonderfully engaging and entertaining autobiography. Being of a similar age to the author there were so many musical and cultural references that I could relate to that I found myself regularly thinking, 'Yes, I remember thinking/feeling like that'. He even unashamedly owns up to liking Tommy Steele's 'Little White Bull', which was the first record I ever badgered my parents into buying for me (Ike and Tina Turner's 'River Deep Mountain High, also referenced in the book as having a major impact
...more
While for some Danny Baker is a slightly annoying type who has made a career in UK broadcasting out of being a sort of professional semi-intelligent oik, for me he is a personal favourite, and a welcome and irreverent bastion of intelligent quippery, good musical taste, and most of all how to have complete fun with the British people who tune in to his (now) weekly radio show. Trading in a charming blend of amusing audience contributions with a cheeky repartee backed by a musical bed of cartooni
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Jul 15, 2013
Jules
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Shelves:
autobiography
,
britain
,
british-eccentrics
,
contemporary-figures
,
cultural-analysis
,
english-nostalgia
,
entertainment
,
london
,
memoir
,
music
,
music-autobiography
,
rock-and-roll
If you like your autobiographies to be honest in tone and full of banter than you could do far worse than to read this one by Danny Baker. Baker himself is a certified ‘chatter’ (or 'chatterer') and I’m sure he could talk for London/England/ UK in that order if this book is anything to go by. He quickly introduces himself in the book without any airs and graces and what you see is pretty much what you get with Baker – a self-made South London lad who has rolled with the punches in life and who s
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I thought the Rod Stewart autobiography was pretty good, easy-going and written with a joie de vivre and chatty style that drew you closer to the person and the life being recalled. Danny Baker, however, comes along and shows Rod how it’s really done. Frankly, I could never really be bothered with Danny Baker on the TV or radio, but the good reviews of this book attracted me to it. He always struck me as some sort of wannabee Cockney wide-boy who probably in reality spent most of his youth in hi
...more
Danny Baker is one of the funniest writers around. There's no rose tint, just honesty in his recount of growing up in South London in the 60s and 70s. The early days of punk were that mundane - this was what it was really like in Britain at that time. All chaos, not really having a plan and just getting on with life. And Mr Baker did, becoming a successful journalist and TV presenter, not without hiccup - but that's how you learn, from mistakes. Some of these stories are laugh out loud. There ar
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Oh Danny. Danny, Danny, Danny. What a life you've lived. I wish I worked in a record shop in Soho through the 60s and 70s.
Sick of oh-woe-with-me autobiographies? Then you've really come to the right place as, Baker, jumping over men and horses hoops and garterslastly through a hogshead of real fire and with his hat on the side of his head, takes us through the opening years of his life - culminating sometime in the late 80s I think. As Baker tweeted himself once 'As a kid I was captain of the sc ...more
Sick of oh-woe-with-me autobiographies? Then you've really come to the right place as, Baker, jumping over men and horses hoops and garterslastly through a hogshead of real fire and with his hat on the side of his head, takes us through the opening years of his life - culminating sometime in the late 80s I think. As Baker tweeted himself once 'As a kid I was captain of the sc ...more
I must admit that up until a few years ago I used to think Danny Baker was this annoying loudmouthed character who did soap powder commercials and starred in rather naff daytime tv quiz shows. That was until I started listening to his Saturday morning Radio 5 talk show when I found him to be entertaining, fun, humorous and quite knowledgable. This autobiography has been on my radar for some time but I'd never gotten round to reading it until I started watching the TV 'sitcom', 'Cradle to Grave',
...more
For those who have followed the work of Danny Baker over the years, the fact that this is a colorfully vivid read will come as no surprise.
Telling the tale of a charmed life, it takes our ebullient hero from humbly eccentric South London beginnings to the beginnings of a career in the broadcast media, via employment in Elton John's favourite record shop, involvement with the punk rock revolution and a job at the New Musical Express.
Replete with his trademark Wodehouseian turns of phrase, and ca ...more
Telling the tale of a charmed life, it takes our ebullient hero from humbly eccentric South London beginnings to the beginnings of a career in the broadcast media, via employment in Elton John's favourite record shop, involvement with the punk rock revolution and a job at the New Musical Express.
Replete with his trademark Wodehouseian turns of phrase, and ca ...more
I think I could read or listen to Danny Baker recite the phone book or a shopping list. But I have deducted one star from my review. This is entirely sour grapes on my part as I still can't help but feel I was gypped out of winning that game of Chattleships on his BBC Five Live show against the resident scorekeeper and "referee", Gavin. Our foal has never been the same since. Boooo!
A real marmite person Mr Danny Baker. You either love his rambling style or head for the off switch on radio! This is the first book of his memoirs and he recounts tales of meeting the Clash, how punk was overrated and interviewing Michael Jackson. An enjoyable read although if you're not a fan of him I doubt you'd be won over by this book ;-)
The most entertaining autobiography I've ever read. The stuff about music, particularly around the time of the emergence of punk rock and him working for the NME, was really interesting but the best stuff is in the stories about his dad. Can't wait for the second volume.
I'm a bit of a new convert to Danny Baker. My laptop is full of his Saturday morning 5Live show podcasts, and so picking up his book was a great addition.
Being an East London boy, I could understand all of Danny's descriptions of his childhood, especially after hearing all my Dad's stories of his youth.
The narrative follows Danny through his youth, leaving school, working in a record shop, meeting Elton John (and later getting Champagne from EJ), getting Marc Bolan's shirt, getting a video recor ...more
Being an East London boy, I could understand all of Danny's descriptions of his childhood, especially after hearing all my Dad's stories of his youth.
The narrative follows Danny through his youth, leaving school, working in a record shop, meeting Elton John (and later getting Champagne from EJ), getting Marc Bolan's shirt, getting a video recor ...more
I decided to read this against my better judgement. I'm not really a big fan but the new BBC sitcom based on this has been great. Loosely based.
This isn't bad, it's quite interesting in fact, but it's not exactly the 5* LOLocaust that the other reviews make out. It is an honest account of his early life and career but there's no 'oomph'. He sailed through school, landed every job almost by accident and reels of big names like a shopping list.
There's a lot in here that will be bliss for old 70s r ...more
This isn't bad, it's quite interesting in fact, but it's not exactly the 5* LOLocaust that the other reviews make out. It is an honest account of his early life and career but there's no 'oomph'. He sailed through school, landed every job almost by accident and reels of big names like a shopping list.
There's a lot in here that will be bliss for old 70s r ...more
I did really enjoy this first volume of Danny Baker's autobiography. He writes like he speaks, so it's a nice easy read and you can hear Danny's voice coming through loud and clear. This is very much a recollection of times before he became a TV and Radio presenter.
His happy childhood, schooldays, working in record shops, manning the reception and then writing for the NME, becoming a punk and touring with some of rock bands of the era, makes for an interesting and enjoyable book. I do like both ...more
His happy childhood, schooldays, working in record shops, manning the reception and then writing for the NME, becoming a punk and touring with some of rock bands of the era, makes for an interesting and enjoyable book. I do like both ...more
Laugh out loud funny. I could hear Danny's voice telling me the stories. Great slice of the time and place.
Love him or hate him, Mr. Baker is a brilliant raconteur and this first volume of memoirs is a rattling good read.
Baker has lived a life that, if you made it up, would have been thrown out for being just too unbelievable. From a tough, yet happy childhood in Rotherhithe (no tortured childhood here, this is most definitely not a misery memoir), Baker left school at 16 and fell into a series of jobs that only the greatest of good fortune could provide.
Working in a record shop in the early 70's whe ...more
Baker has lived a life that, if you made it up, would have been thrown out for being just too unbelievable. From a tough, yet happy childhood in Rotherhithe (no tortured childhood here, this is most definitely not a misery memoir), Baker left school at 16 and fell into a series of jobs that only the greatest of good fortune could provide.
Working in a record shop in the early 70's whe ...more
First of all, I don’t usually read “celebrity” biographies (though I have another on the go now, Christmas Presents!) but I actually wanted to give this one a go. Danny Baker has reached an age where I think it is acceptable to produce a biography or memoir. He has done a lot, seen a lot and has some interesting tales to tell unlike, for example, a certain spud faced footballer who shall remain nameless. There is less of the usual tales of woe that usually adorn such books since Baker openly adm
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Danny Baker's five live Satruday show is peerless. Baker's broadcasting seems effortless but the real skill he has is only apparent when others stand in. Whimsical and friendly Baker is an ideal broadcaster. This autobiography covers earlier times, his unexceptional schooling, his early working life and reminds us that Danny Baker was not always so loved. Danny Baker writing the singles reviews in late 1970s NME was a thing to dread. I am sure that he gave single of the week to Cliff Richard one
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This book covers Baker's childhood in Bermondsey and his time working as a music journalist from NME, and ends with him starting to get work on the TV. So it's really the pre-celebrity years.
He's not given to introspection; or if he is, he prefers not to do it public, and who can blame him. He's also not big on false modesty. And his approach to autobiography is to cram in the maximum anecdotes per square inch, and leave the overall narrative to take care of itself. So the combined effect can be ...more
He's not given to introspection; or if he is, he prefers not to do it public, and who can blame him. He's also not big on false modesty. And his approach to autobiography is to cram in the maximum anecdotes per square inch, and leave the overall narrative to take care of itself. So the combined effect can be ...more
Im sure that Danny Baker's life as described here cannot have been as charmed as it first sounds but it is refreshing that this autobiography is not one of those that eulogises a difficult upbringing but rather relishes the adventure, joy and warm family life that Baker obviously had when he was growing up. If the book gave me the sense of someone who has received golden opportunities in life mainly due to a case of right place, right time, there is no doubt that he appreciates the chances he ha
...more
As other reviews have mentioned, Danny Baker is an excellent story teller with an astonishing amount of stories to tell; I have always found him a highly entertaining broadcaster.
His book is written in typical Baker style, if you’ve spent any time at all listening to his radio shows, you don’t need an author read audio version, you can hear him speaking as you read the words, which I always find is a plus in an autobiography.
Maybe I built it up too much in my head, I was slightly disappointed, b ...more
His book is written in typical Baker style, if you’ve spent any time at all listening to his radio shows, you don’t need an author read audio version, you can hear him speaking as you read the words, which I always find is a plus in an autobiography.
Maybe I built it up too much in my head, I was slightly disappointed, b ...more
entertaining reading, and I liked that although he was in music in the 1970s and 80s he did not glorify punk, which as any fule kno was just a lot of silly noise and spotty people shouting. He made a few too many assumptions about what people know about him. But I'll read the next one.
My first celebrity autobiography and I quite enjoyed it, but I don't really see the point of knowing the ins and outs of somebody I'm never going to meet (also what's the point of reading a review of an autobiography as you're only likely to enjoy it if you want to know more about that person). Thankfully I enjoy his radio show so I could relate a little and his tales of the famous and not so famous in 60s-70s london are amusing. I'll read the second one, though not straight away.
A very enjoyable romp through Danny's early life at school and then work in a record shop then journalism. Some of the stories will be familiar to people who listen to his Saturday morning radio programme. Many laugh out loud moments. I look forward to reading his next installment.
Volume one of the autobiography, I found the childhood years a little boring, I was struggling to get through it, and ended up skipping a couple of chapters; this turned out to be a good idea. I jumped straight to him leaving school, and that is where the interest started for me, and by the end it had wanting so read on, so will have a go at volume two.
Even though it's about the 1970's and 80's, and a time I can remember some of, it's now a completely different world, and DB's tales of falling i ...more
Even though it's about the 1970's and 80's, and a time I can remember some of, it's now a completely different world, and DB's tales of falling i ...more
I'm generally a fan of Danny Baker so was interested to read this first volume of his autobiography. It was very much like the man himself, verbose, embellished, not always "true" in the strictest sense of the word, but interesting, funny, warm and likeable for all that. Enjoyed it a lot and have added the next volume to my Must Buy list.
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This profile is for the comedian, screenwriter and radio presenter. For the mental-health writer see
Danny^^Baker
and for all others see
Danny^^^Baker
.
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