Roy Hudd loves Music Hall, Vaudeville, or Variety as it was known after the war. His affection for the subject shows through in his writing, especially when he gives accounts of acts he saw as a child. This book covers the days from the end of the war to the period when television and cinema had all but wiped out old-time 'turns'. My primary criticism is that the book doesn't cover a wide enough period.

In the 1980s and 1990s, live comics and speciality acts have come back into vogue, and it would not have been unfeasible for the book to have covered the entire post-war period.

I can only hope companion volumes covering the adjacent periods will follow soon.

David Farmbrough