The game of the name

Two Hitlers And A Marilyn Adam Andrusier

Adam Andrusier is a professional autograph dealer. He has clients who pay thousands for the signatures of Marilyn Monroe or Elvis Presley, while others seek to collect Carry On film actors or, in one case, unsuccessful presidential candidates.

This bittersweet memoir begins with 10-year-old Adam securing an autograph from local celebrity Ronnie Barker. He then becomes obsessed, spending his teenage years writing to famous folk all over the world for their signatures.

If people don’t respond, he bides his time until they visit Britain, then thrusts his autograph book in person at

Elizabeth Taylor, Ray Charles, Nelson Mandela and Boris Yeltsin – with mixed results.

The backdrop for all this celebrity stalking is Adam’s life in suburban London with his Jewish family. He has been blessed with the greatest gift a memoirist can have: a truly eccentric parent. Adam’s father Adrian constantly badgers his family into sharing his obsessions, from the Holocaust to Israeli folk dancing.

Eventually, Adam escapes to Cambridge to study music. His career hopes are dashed when he messes up a public piano recital, so he falls back on his old hobby, becoming a full-time autograph dealer.

There are grimly comic accounts of the autograph fairs where faded celebrities sell their signatures, and wry portraits of the oddball dealers and collectors he meets.

At one point, Adam becomes too big for his boots and is tricked by a forger. The real bane of his life, though, remains his father, who treats Adam’s long-suffering mother increasingly badly.

Adam grows so bitter towards his dad that he buys an expensive signed copy of Mein Kampf because he knows it will horrify him. His account of their difficult relationship is a tragicomic triumph, the emotional heart of the book.

Andrusier writes with an addictive deadpan style and he’s blessed with an ability to evoke the comedy and pathos of everyday life.