I, Partridge

Author: Steve Coogan
Publisher: HarperCollins UK
ISBN: 0007449178
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 340

Book Description
Journalist, presenter, broadcaster, husband, father, vigorous all-rounder - Alan Partridge - a man with a fascinating past and an amazing future. Gregarious and popular, yet Alan's never happier than when relaxing in his own five-bedroom, south-built house with three acres of land and access to a private stream. But who is this mysterious enigma? Alan Gordon Partridge is the best - and best-loved - radio presenter in the region. Born into a changing world of rationing, Teddy Boys, apes in space and the launch of ITV, Alan's broadcasting career began as chief DJ of Radio Smile at St. Luke's Hospital in Norwich. After replacing Peter Flint as the presenter of Scout About, he entered the top 8 of BBC sports presenters. But Alan's big break came with his primetime BBC chat show Knowing Me, Knowing You. Sadly, the show battled against poor scheduling, having been put up against News at Ten, then in its heyday. Due to declining ratings, a single catastrophic hitch (the killing of a guest on air) and the dumbing down of network TV, Alan's show was cancelled. Not to be dissuaded, he embraced this opportunity to wind up his production company, leave London and fulfil a lifelong ambition to return to his roots in local radio. Now single, Alan is an intensely private man but he opens up, for the second time, in this candid, entertaining, often deeply emotional - and of course compelling - memoir, written entirely in his own words. (Alan quickly dispelled the idea of using a ghost writer. With a grade B English Language O-Level, he knew he was up to the task.) He speaks touchingly about his tragic Toblerone addiction, and the painful moment when unsold copies of his first autobiography, Bouncing Back, were pulped like 'word porridge'. He reveals all about his relationship with his ex-Ukrainian girlfriend, Sonja, with whom he had sex at least twice a day, and the truth about the thick people who make key decisions at the BBC. A literary tour de force, I, Partridge: We Need to Talk About Alan charts the incredible journey of one of our greatest broadcasters.

Alan Partridge: Nomad

Author: Alan Partridge
Publisher: Hachette UK
ISBN: 1409156729
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 270

Book Description
As seen on This Time with Alan Partridge on BBC One. THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER Praise for Nomad: 'Funniest book of the year' Sunday Telegraph 'Alan Partridge's Nomad is almost certainly the funniest book ever written' Caitlin Moran 'Sensationally funny. What brilliant writing' Richard Osman 'Sensational' Jenny Colgan 'Hilarious' Jon Ronson 'Brilliantly funny' Marcus Brigstock In ALAN PARTRIDGE: NOMAD, Alan dons his boots, windcheater and scarf and embarks on an odyssey through a place he once knew - it's called Britain - intent on completing a journey of immense personal significance. Diarising his ramble in the form of a 'journey journal', Alan details the people and places he encounters, ruminates on matters large and small and, on a final leg fraught with danger, becomes - not a man (because he was one to start off with) - but a better, more inspiring example of a man. This deeply personal book is divided into chapters and has a colour photograph on the front cover. It is deeply personal. Through witty vignettes, heavy essays and nod-inducing pieces of wisdom, Alan shines a light on the nooks of the nation and the crannies of himself, making this a biography that biographs the biographer while also biographing bits of Britain.

Easily Distracted

Author: Steve Coogan
Publisher: Random House
ISBN: 1448183510
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 370

Book Description
Steve Coogan was born and raised in Manchester in the 1960s, the fourth of six children. From an early age he entertained his family with impressions and was often told he should 'be on the telly'. Failing to get into any of the London-based drama schools, he accepted a place at Manchester Polytechnic School of Theatre and before graduating had been given his first break as a voice artist on the satirical puppet show Spitting Image. The late eighties and early nineties saw Coogan developing characters he could perform on the comedy circuit, from Ernest Moss to Paul Calf, and in 1992 he won a Perrier award with John Thomson. It was around the same time, while working with Armando Iannucci and Patrick Marber on On The Hour and The Day Today, that Alan Partridge emerged, almost fully formed. Coogan, once a tabloid fixture, is now a respected film actor, writer and producer. He runs his own production company, Baby Cow, has a raft of films to his name (from 24 Hour Party People to Alpha Papa, the critically-acclaimed Partridge film), six Baftas and seven Comedy Awards. He has found huge success in recent years with both The Trip and Philomena, the latter bringing him two Oscar nominations, for producing and co-writing. In Easily Distracted he lifts the lid on the real Steve Coogan, writing with distinctive humour and an unexpected candour about a noisy childhood surrounded by foster kids, his attention-seeking teenage years and his emergence as a household name with the birth of Alan Partridge.

Alan Partridge

Author: Steve Coogan
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Humor
Languages : en
Pages : 464

Book Description
Through a combination of naked ambition, selfishness and insensitivity, Alan Partridge made himself the man he is. But is wasn't always easy. clinically fed up, but he bounced back - to somewhere close to where he was before, but less high profile. He's enjoyed everything a life in broadcasting has to offer, and encountered mentalists, scary Irishmen, lady boys, Scotch eggs, Mick Hucknall and rejection along the way.

We Need to Talk About Kevin

Author: Lionel Shriver
Publisher: Catapult
ISBN: 1582438870
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 416

Book Description
The inspiration for the film starring Tilda Swinton and John C. Reilly, this resonant story of a mother’s unsettling quest to understand her teenage son’s deadly violence, her own ambivalence toward motherhood, and the explosive link between them remains terrifyingly prescient. Eva never really wanted to be a mother. And certainly not the mother of a boy who murdered seven of his fellow high school students, a cafeteria worker, and a much–adored teacher in a school shooting two days before his sixteenth birthday. Neither nature nor nurture exclusively shapes a child's character. But Eva was always uneasy with the sacrifices and social demotion of motherhood. Did her internalized dislike for her own son shape him into the killer he’s become? How much is her fault? Now, two years later, it is time for her to come to terms with Kevin’s horrific rampage, all in a series of startlingly direct correspondences with her estranged husband, Franklin. A piercing, unforgettable, and penetrating exploration of violence and responsibility, a book that the Boston Globe describes as “impossible to put down,” is a stunning examination of how tragedy affects a town, a marriage, and a family.

Small Man in a Book

Author: Rob Brydon
Publisher: Penguin UK
ISBN: 0141970367
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 368

Book Description
Rob Brydon tells story of his slow ascent to fame and fortune in Small Man in a Book. A multi-award-winning actor, writer, comedian and presenter known for his warmth, humour and inspired impressions, Rob Brydon has quickly become one of our very favourite entertainers. But there was a time when it looked like all we'd hear of Rob was his gifted voice. Growing up in South Wales, Rob had a passion for radio and soon the Welsh airwaves resounded to his hearty burr. However, these were followed by years of misadventure and struggle, before, in the TV series Marion and Geoff and Gavin and Stacey, Rob at last tickled the nation's funny bone. The rest, as they say, is history. Or in his case autobiography. Small Man in a Book is Rob Brydon's funny, heartfelt, honest, sometimes sad, but mainly funny, memoir of how a young man from Wales very, very slowly became an overnight success. Rob Brydon was brought up in Wales, where his career began on radio and as a voiceover artist. After a brief stint working for the Home Shopping Network he co-wrote and performed in his breakthrough show, the darkly funny Human Remains. He has since starred in the immensely popular Gavin and Stacey, Steve Coogan's partner in The Trip, and was the host of Would I Lie to You? and The Rob Brydon Show. He now lives in London with his wife and five children.

Lost at Sea

Author: Jon Ronson
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 1594631956
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 498

Book Description
New York Times–bestselling author of The Psychopath Test Jon Ronson writes about the dark, uncanny sides of humanity with clarity and humor. Lost at Sea—now with new material—reveals how deep our collective craziness lies, even in the most mundane circumstances. Ronson investigates the strange things we’re willing to believe in, from robots programmed with our loved ones’ personalities to indigo children to the Insane Clown Posse’s juggalo fans. He looks at ordinary lives that take on extraordinary perspectives. Among them: a pop singer whose greatest passion is the coming alien invasion, assisted-suicide practitioners, and an Alaskan town’s Christmas-induced high school mass-murder plot. He explores all these tales with a sense of higher purpose and universality, yet they are stories not about the fringe of society. They are about all of us. Incisive and hilarious, poignant and maddening, revealing and disturbing—Ronson writes about our modern world, and reveals how deep our collective craziness lies, and the chaos stirring at the edge of our daily lives.

Alan Partridge

Author: Steve Coogan
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780141015262
Category : I'm Alan Partridge (Television program)
Languages : en
Pages : 448

Book Description
Alan Partridge is Britain's most remarkable broadcaster. He's scaled the giddy heights of a short-lived TV chat show, and the crashing lows of twenty-six weeks in a motel equidistant between Norwich and London. He's survived the death of a guest on air, his wife leaving him for a fitness instructor, an encounter with a mentalist fan, being crushed beneath a dead cow and incomplete sex with a woman he was supposed to be sacking. He's suffered a breakdown, Toblerone addiction, weight gain and his autobiography Bouncing Back being withdrawn and pulped. But Alan continues to bounce back - resilience and Gordon are his middle names. He's still playing his eclectic mix of music and hosting phone-ins on subjects as controversial as 'Should the police learn Kung-Fu?' and 'How long could you survive on just crisps?' Alan Partridge: Every Ruddy Word charts Alan's incredible journey - from his first, unforgettable radio chat show, to the recent construction of a house to his own specifications. Why don't you join him? Join him . . .

Quiz My Face

Author: Rich Jepson
Publisher: Independently Published
ISBN: 9781549621703
Category : Games & Activities
Languages : en
Pages : 94

Book Description
Quiz My Face has been created for fans of I'm Alan Partridge. Inside this book you will find 25 quizzes consisting of 15 questions each, questions become increasingly difficult as you advance through the book. There are 15 general knowledge rounds and 10 rounds based on specific subjects or themes, including quizzes on Mid-Morning Matters, Alpha Papa and Knowing Me, Knowing You. There's also a round of tiebreakers designed to help you figure out who really knows the most about Alan Partridge. That's 385 questions covering everything there is to know about Norfolk's most infamous son. So, pour yourself a big fat shot of Directors Bitter, pop on the soundtrack to Black Beauty, break open a Toblerone and let battle commence!...Water-way to have a good time!

Escape the Rooms

Author: Stephen Mangan
Publisher: Scholastic UK
ISBN: 0702310077
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 185

Book Description
A high-energy, laugh-out-loud, fully illustrated adventure story by much-loved actor Stephen Mangan and talented artist Anita Mangan. The last thing Jack expected when he bungee-jumped at the fairground was to go plummeting right through the ground into the weird, wonderful Rooms... There he must face a series of puzzles and traps alongside a mysterious girl called Cally, in order for them to find their way home. Throw in a murderous polar bear, hundreds of tiny yet ferocious lions, some mind-blowing riddles, and get ready for a hilarious, helter-skelter adventure like no other!