Why would a biography of Lenny Henry be even remotely interesting? Well, as Jonathan Margolis points out in his preface, as Britain's only successful black mainstream comic who became famous for doing impressions of white people, Henry not only straddles the race divide in Britain but does it in an idiosyncratic, inimitable and, of course, very funny manner. Which makes for a fascinating preface. Alas, the rest of the book is bland, flabby stuff, full of adoring testimonials from teachers, relatives and colleagues - in fact, at times you begin to suspect that it's a send up, a la Henry, of itself. Either that or nice guys just don't make good subjects for biographies.
