Smasher!

Everyone thinks they know Sid James – the Carry On star and womaniser, who drank himself to death after the end of his affair with Barbara Windsor – but despite hundreds of scandalous newspaper exposé s the real story of this complex actor has never been told.

Now, this fascinating biography lays bare the life of British entertainment’ s most lovable rogue. Featuring never-before-published correspondence with Sid’ s friends, family and colleagues, and exclusive tales from his inner circle, Robert Ross shows how a Jewish boy from South Africa grew up to become the archetypal wise-cracking cockney, and explores the many facets of a man who was variously a war hero, serial seducer, inveterate gambler and comic icon.