George Formby: A Troubled Genius

This highly controversial and compelling biography of George Formby presents a very different Formby from the one known to his many fans. His life was fiercely dominated by his wife Beryl, a woman who was single-handedly responsible for his tremendous success as Britain's greatest male entertainer. Bret explores George and Beryl's public and private lives and the results are frequently shocking; there were secret love affairs; they hated their fellow stare and loathed George's family. Bret also describes the sacrifices they made and the danger they put themselves in whilst raising thousands of pounds for the war effort. He also lifts the lid on their controversial trip to South Africa, where they became fervent denouncers of Apartheid and received death threats. Formby's films, all twenty-two of them, are fully analysed along with his songs, and the book contains detailed appendices of these and a full discography.

David Bret is also the author of many other major biographies, including Maria Callas: The Tigress and the Lamb, Piaf: A Passionate Life and Marlene, My Friend