by Janet Harris

Created on: January 19, 2009   Last Updated: November 18, 2010

I am a huge fan of Peter Kay. I suppose the best thing about him is his real-life' humour. He doesn't stand there and fire jokes at the audience, he tells tales about his own life, his childhood, his family, and observations about normal, every day situations.

He rarely swears and you get the impression that he is a bit of a Mommy's boy' as he frequently apologises to his Mother (who is usually in the audience) if he does manage to slip the odd swear word into his act. He has the rare ability to make you laugh at situations that everyone finds themselves in from time to time, but never previously considered to be funny. He is a cuddly, ordinary looking chap from Bolton, with a strong Northern accent and a love of his home town so much so that he still lives there, despite his fame and considerable fortune. He is happily married, with two children and his refreshing ordinariness comes across so well in his stage act that you feel you know him as a friend, or some-one you would want as your friend. Therefore his book The Sound of Laughter' was very well received and I for one, could not wait to get my copy.

The book did not disappoint me quite the reverse in fact. Peter Kay packed that book with lots of laughter and amusing stories and I found myself actually laughing out loud which indeed is rare. I suppose I recognised myself quite a lot, Peter is close to his family, dislikes being away from home and enjoys a good laugh. His description of the various jobs he has done made excellent reading and I enjoyed learning about his relationships with his family members and his friends.

There was also a selection of photographs of Peter as a young boy, a teenager and later on when his fame started to spread and I enjoyed looking at those too I love photographs, anyone's photographs actually and to see a famous person when they were younger (and in Peter's case slimmer) is fascinating.

I was so sorry when I finished the book. I tried to read slowly but I found that I couldn't because I couldn't wait for the next funny story and I knew that the book was littered with them from cover to cover. I then did something I have never done before, I read the book all over again ! Once again I enjoyed the humour and looking at the photographs and I vowed that I would keep this as one of my special' books.

I read a lot and give most of the books away when I have read them, but I keep a select few books that I have enjoyed so that I can get them out and read them when I am feeling unhappy or low or perhaps when I am ill and they instantly lift me.

The Sound of Laughter' is now on the top of the pile.

A little later I read a book called Peter Kay the unauthorised autobiography' by Johnny Dee. This book told Peter's story in a different way, it was very factual and I was surprised to learn a lot more about Peter in this book about the way his parent's split up for example, which had been totally omitted from The Sound of Laughter'.

I then decided that I was quite glad that these things were left out, because The Sound of Laughter' was just perfect just the way it was.

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