It may come as a surprise to learn that Bruce Springsteen, a man whose lyrics paint gritty portraits of blue-collar American life, hasn’t done a week’s worth of manual labour in his life, and felt a fraud when he started performing in working-man’s clothes. Not only that, but he describes himself in his new autobiography as an “insecure, weird and skinny white boy” who, as a child, was teased about a nervous twitch and acne.
The book, called Born to Run, is a marathon read to match his marathon stage shows — it took seven years to write. When it is published this week there will be few sharp intakes of breath among dockers and lumberjacks. If you have shares in bodybuilding gyms, sell them