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.
'Pure
comic genius.'
The
Independent
'The
funniest book of the year and possibly all time.'
Heat
'This
should be nominated for the Booker prize…it’s a really funny book
but it’s actually more than that…it blows my post-modern mind.'
David
Baddiel
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