Better Late Than Never - Len Goodman’s Story
He has plenty to say about Strictly Come Dancing and the US show Dancing with Stars, but the real story here is in his East End roots. Born into a family of Bethnal Green costermongers, he grew up helping to sell fruit and veg off the barrow and being bathed in the same water they had used to cook the beetroot.
There are echoes too of Billy Elliot. Len was working as a welder in the Woolwich Docks when he broke his foot playing football on Hackney Marshes. The doctor recommended ballroom dancing as an aid to his recovery. Len, though less than keen, soon turned out to be a natural. He made the final of the first competition he entered and the dock workers descended on mass to the Albert Hall to cheer him on. Len soon turned professional and moved from British Championship-winning dancer to teacher and eventually judge. Life had been good to Len, but nothing could ever have prepared him for the event that was Strictly Come Dancing. Suddenly in his sixties he was pronouncing on prime-time television and has become a much-loved star across the globe.
Using all of Len’s trademark gentlemanly charm and humour, Better Late Than Never brings us colourful tales of the old East End and wonderful stories from behind the scenes of the nation’s favourite show.
'In his great autobiography Len tells how he reached 60 before becoming a household name.. I recommend this book' --Kelvin MacKenzie, The Sun
'A rollicking good read' --Yours Magazine, 9 September 2008
