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Odd Boy Out

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Odd Boy Out

By: Gyles Brandreth
Narrated by: Gyles Brandreth
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About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.

The long-awaited autobiography from beloved star of Just a Minute, QI, Have I Got News For You and Celebrity Gogglebox.

There are few people Gyles Brandreth doesn't know or hasn't met - from the queen to the Sex Pistols, Mandela and Marlene Dietrich to T. S. Eliot, he's the celebrities' celebrity, as familiar and welcome to us on radio and screens as biscuits are to a cup of tea.

Now a grandparent, looking back on his remarkable life, he traces his steps back to being a three-year-old tearing around 1950s London on his tricycle, to boarding school where he had an appendix removed simply to get out of football, to Bedales, where he met Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall (and became intimate with a matron), to balancing his growing love of theatre with his love for educating, the 'woolly jumper years', the stint as an MP, the years of close friendship with the queen, to becoming a septuagenarian Twitter star and stalwart fixture in British entertainment.

Throughout it all, there are lessons to be learned as Gyles derives wisdom and wit from his extraordinary encounters. Full of stories and full of heart, this is Gyles as you don't yet know him.

©2021 Gyles Brandreth (P)2021 Penguin Audio Entertainment & Celebrities Politicians Politics & Activism Celebrity Funny Heartfelt Thought-Provoking Witty

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it was a brilliant listen. Enjoyed every bit of his story, the asides, the humour, the sentiment.

Don't want to add to the ego but......

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it's read by Gyles Brandreth, and is about his life thus far.
need I say more?

Odd Boy Out

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A wonderful listen, splendidly read by Giles telling the tale of his amazing life complete with all the name dropping one would expect! I feel richer for having listened!

Fabulous!

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Thoroughly enjoyed this book. What a fascinating life and family Gyles has. He seems such a very nice, good man and great fun to be with I’m sure! He’s definitely on my fantasy dinner party list! Loved his voice too. Listened to a chapter each night before sleep and he was very soothing. Thank you Gyles

Excellent book

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I am genuinely sad to come to the end of this Audio book! What an interesting, enjoyable journey I have been on listening to Giles! Cannot recommend this book enough!

Love love LOVED this book!

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I'm vaguely aware of Gyles' TV and radio fame but have read and enjoyed his novels imaging Oscar Wilde and Sherlock Holmes investigating crimes together. He certainly had a varied and eventful life meeting a remarkable number of famous and infamous people. The author writes with verve, honestly and self-deprecation and describes what a charmed life of opportunities he has had from a young age. I enjoyed his story but am left with a feeling that he benefited from a system whereby a small clique of public school, Oxbridge students help each other in later life to exclusion of the rest of us. An old boy (and now old girl) network of the 'right' people who scratch each others backs to get on in life. You just have to look at the present UK government to see the result.

An entertaining and eventful life

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Great book, great life and beautifully read- thank you for sharing for us all to enjoy.

Excellent

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I thoroughly enjoyed listening to Gyles and his hilarious anecdotes. His boundless energy and enthusiasm like Tigger, propel him through life. He is not arrogant, but has a genuine way with him which at the end I found very moving.

Hallelujah for the Odd Boy

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I found during the course of listening to this book that a little of the author goes a long, long way. A casual fan via his appearances on shows such as Q.I, I thought a book filled with his funny stories and a dropped name or twenty would be an easy and enjoyable ride.

However, by about the midway point I was beginning to flag. I found myself unable to listen to more than 20 or 30 minutes at a time. It seems you really can have too much of a good thing.

I'd almost stopped actively listening to the long and seemingly endless parade of 'these are the fabulous people I've met, here are the wonderful plays I can recite from with ease, and oh haven't I had such a maaaarvellous life luvvies' when the last chapter arrived to save the day. The letter to his father that ends the book leaves it a deserving 4 star gem.

Yes, Giles Brandreth can become almost a bore at times, and yes...he would no doubt be tutting and shaking his head at my poorly constructed sentences and use of punctuation (not ro mention my lack of being able to understand a word he's saying when he flexes his French speaking muscles without the merest word of translation for us 'thick folk up north'), but that wonderful letter makes it all worthwhile.

In the end Gyles Brandreth comes across as a thoroughly likeable and quite interesting human being.....in small doses.

Saved By The Ending

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Enjoyable listen. Glad Gyles doesn't take himself too seriously these days, it makes for a more enjoyable book.

Interesting life

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