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Harry Hill book index

25 Oct 10 | Re: Invaluable reference aid

Harry Hill’s take on the celebrity memoir, Livin’ the Dreem, is magnificent. Pleasing enough in isolation, it comes into its full glory when taken in the context of all the other celebrity hardbacks that are sold alongside it. I delight in imagining the furrowed brows of unwitting TV Burp fans when exposed to the full-strength version of Harry’s bizarre, inimitable world view.

The book’s a fictitious diary of a year in his life that Hill has simply set out to make as silly as possible. Despite the silliness, though, it’s a major achievement to have realised the concept so well. It’s all very well to write one whimsical diary entry about Graham Norton judging a naked reality talent show, but it’s quite a feat of stamina to keep the pace up for a year’s worth of material (well over 400 pages).

By the end, Harry’s made-up memoirs have taken in Simon Cowell, Mica Paris, Cilla Black, Bryan Ferry, the Pope, the Queen, Robert Mugabe... too many to keep up with, in fact, which brings me to the point of this blog entry. If there’s one thing the book lacks, it’s an index to help you to keep track of which celeb’s done what and when. Therefore, I’ve taken it upon myself to compile one, which I take great pleasure in sharing with you here:

Livin’ the Dreem - Index of famous names (PDF)

In compiling this, I’ve tried to be as comprehensive as possible, although tiny mentions-in-passing are often qualified by a parenthesis indicating that, say, Hitler doesn’t actually turn up and get involved in the action. I’ve indexed the famosos by diary date rather than page number, so this should still work for the paperback edition, if one is published in the future.

(I hope I’m not infringing any copyright with this. If anything, I would have thought it would act as extra publicity for the book, since people will see what a fine array of top personages are included. Still, if Stephen Pagey Page at Faber wants to get in touch, I will be happy to accede to any reasonable demands. Email link in sidebar.)

Posted by COUSIN DENNIS at 14:37

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