Our Betty: Scenes From My Life
by Liz Smith
Simon & Schuster £14.99, pp227

She plays nutty creatures in eccentric outfits and is most often recognised for her television role of Letitia Cropley in The Vicar of Dibley. Speaking of that part, Liz Smith, now in her eighties, is hardly able to contain her glee: 'I was a real tarty piece and I was loving it.'

The Vicar of Dibley. Speaking of that part, Liz Smith, now in her eighties, is hardly able to contain her glee: 'I was a real tarty piece and I was loving it.'

Our Betty moves from Smith's lonely upbringing in Scunthorpe to life in the Wrens, marriage and children in a prissy Surrey suburb; and then divorce, poverty and the prospect of working in a cellophane factory to fund her practically non-existent acting career. Then, at the age of 50, Liz received a phone call from a director called Mike Leigh and the offer of a part in his first film.

From her memoir, it is hard to tell which she loves more: acting or dressing up. With each description of the latest brilliant job that came her way, she lunges into an excited account of the blonde wig, long white boots or 'fantastically short skirt I got to wear'.

But Betty is not all brassy jewellery and nylon hair. From beneath the rouge and plastic curls emerges a voice of warmth and humour. Her wit is not flashy but arises gently from its context and is often childishly absurd: 'The last incident with my bicycle was when I was deflowered outside Woolworth's ... I braked abruptly and, even more abruptly, sat heavily on the upturned saddle. Wow!'