At the Book Shop, South Street this Saturday 5 September come and meet Janice Day, who will be here to sign copies of her new book "Getting It Off My Chest". Then later that day there is a chance to see her one woman show at Marsh Barn. At the age of 39, seven stone overweight, unhappily married and unfulfilled, Janice was diagnosed with breast cancer, and recommended for a full mastectomy.
In her new book, Getting It Off My Chest, she recounts, with wit, frankness and charm, how the gruelling experience of illness, of breast surgery and reconstruction, prompted her to examine what was wrong with her life and radically change it for the better. Along the way, she rejects the unanimous recommendations of her doctors to undergo chemotherapy (thirteen years on, the cancer has not returned), divorces her husband, comes to terms with her unhappy childhood, with her past, loses seven stone and launches a successful career as a cabaret singer, stand-up comedian and writer. The result is a moving, funny and inspiring memoir.
The author is a writer-performer who lives in Surrey with her two teenage children and writes in a shed at the bottom of her garden. Janice had a successful career as a vintage danceband singer before becoming a screenwriter and stand-up comedienne with a 1930s ukulele cabaret. Now a patron of CANCERactive she waves the banner for alternative treatment and passionately believes in the patient's right to informed choices. Despite refusing all chemical treatments suggested for her breast cancer Janice has survived for thirteen years and her book, which came out in July, explores this remarkable woman's journey as she lost a breast and gained a life.
Janice will be at at the shop from 10.00am to 12noon.
DEATH, WHERE IS THY BLING?
Saturday, 5th September 2009, Marsh Barn, 7.30pm-8.30pm
The event is a rare chance to see Janice Day’s one-woman show. With the songs of Billie Holiday, extracts from her hilarious 1960s comedy breast-cancer memoir, 'Getting It Off My Chest', and stand-up for the over-40s on the subject of being old, getting older and eventually dying, this show is a laugh-a-minute. Under-40s are welcome but should not expect any SWEARING or SHOUTING.
Mrs Pinkerton-Lovely and her little stringed instrument could well be involved.
Author of Getting it off my chest, Janice Day is a writer performer, has an alter-ego in the shape of Mrs Pinkerton-Lovely, was lead female singer with the original line-up of both the Piccadilly Dance Orchestra and the Cotton Club Orchestra, has appeared at the Royal Festival Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall and the Purcell Room; Pizza on the Park; Proms in the Park; and the Wigmore Hall (for Radio Three). An award winning stand-up comedian, Janice has performed at festivals and to private audiences in Europe and South East Asia, including the Edinburgh Fringe and Henley, and has enjoyed several TV appearances.
