This is volume 1 of 2. "What has Gracie Fields got to do with anything?" -Alan Bennett, The History Boys In this new in-depth biography of the Queen of Hearts of her generation, discover in great detail the answer to Alan Bennett's question. From humble beginnings above a fish and chip shop in Rochdale to the beautiful Isle of Capri, follow the complete story of the Queen of the British Music Halls and her seven-decade career. Discover how a mill girl from a Northern English industrial town conquered stage, screen and radio and became Hollywood's highest paid film star of the 1930s. With hundreds of previously unpublished stories, facts, photographs and interviews, Pride of Our Alley tells the story of Our Gracie Fields for the first time in its honest, factual entirety. Sebastian Lassandro first heard the music of Gracie Fields when a school student. Over ten years later, he is a now a recognised and renowned expert on his subject and tender of the eternal flame of "Our Gracie."