Paul O’Grady – Life At My Mothers Knee and Other Low Joints

Reviewed by Maggie Perkovic on 5th Feb 2009

Not being a fan of this chap, I didn’t look to buy this bestseller but I was lent the book and I am pleasantly surprised by the contents.
He writes so well of life in Liverpool with his family, a very happy and close family whose relations in Ireland prove a fund of many anecdotes which are both amusing and touching.
His description of Auntie Chrissie applying her make-up before leaving for work is a positive work of art in both visual and written metaphor. During the war she was in the ATS but came home just before the Normandy Landings being “in the family way” as was said then. The name of the father was never divulged but the baby was absorbed into the family and much loved. She also worked up to the day of his birth in various jobs to support him.
Paul himself, writes about his Catholic background, his first Communion (after no supper and no breakfast, most of the kids were nearly fainting), the confessions where he had to look up in his Catechism for clues about what sins he had committed. His early Primary schooldays where he began to hate eating in public, his education at the hands of the “Holy Fathers” whose belief in corporal punishment belied their so called religious demeanour!!!
He also mentioned the Magdalene sisters whose cruelty to pregnant youngsters has been documented many times. His mother who passed her eleven plus but was unable to continue with her education due to family finances. Paul himself failed his eleven plus and upset his mother and father very much, he too was dreading going to the Secondary Modern, after the hallowed atmosphere of the Sainted Fathers, he felt he was being thrown to the lions!!!
However, his parents had a word with the education board and he went instead to Blessed Edmund Campion, quite a robust school but religious and a high standard of education.
The book finishes before he becomes famous, with the death of his dad, his mother “at deaths door” as he put it and his girlfriend announcing she was pregnant!!!
Obviously a lot more to come, I look forward to it!!