Rising to the Surface ('Moving and honest' OBSERVER) - Lenny Henry

The rise and fall and triumphant rise from the ashes of Lenny Henry during the 80s and 90s.''Moving and ebullient'' Daily Telegraph ''Relayed with characteristic exuberance and self-deprecation'' Guardian Rising to the Surface traces Lenny Henry’s career through the 80s and 90s. The 16-year-old who won a talent competition, now has to navigate his way through the seas of professional comedy, learning his craft through sheer graft and hard work.We follow Lenny through a period of great creativity – prize-winning tv programmes, summer seasons across Britain, the starring role in a Hollywood film, and stand-up gigs in New York. But with each rise there is a fall, the most traumatic being the death of his mother. But by the end of the book he has been able to rise through a sea of troubles and breaks out to the surface to accept the Golden Rose of Montreaux for his work in television.