Bill Bailey (2) (1965–)

This is a book that I would not have chosen myself. It was a birthday gift. And the thing about gifts is that they draw on the gifters own knowledge of both the book and me. Clearly it's something that he thinks that I would like. And, in this way, my horizons are expanded. I'm introduced to literature that I otherwise would not find. Ok........ So what's it like? Well, first up, I have to confess that I know nothing about Bill Bailey (or nothing until I read the book). I've discovered he's show more both comedian and a musician; he's British but has spent a lot of time in Australia. And, above all...(from this book) is his interest...really it's more than interest...it's a LOVE of animals. All sorts of animals. A number of dogs , parrots, fish, a giant rabbit etc. Plus he describes some adventures filming with wildlife in jungles and in the ocean (with a whale shark).
He writes well...maybe a little over-flowery in passages but the book is large font and lots of white space making it seem much longer than the brief read that it actually is. I read it in under a day.
Here are a few extracts that either made me laugh or grabbed my attention for one reason or another.
"Once you venture down this path, a word of warning: be prepared to get inundated. In no time the word will be out: 'Animal soft touch - go go go!' In short order we found ourselves home to a veritable ark of forlorn guinea pigs, oddball cats, stray dogs and homeless parrots.
A bloke turned up at the door with a peacock once.
'I heard you look after animals,' he said shiftily.
'Where d'you get that?' I asked.
‘I... er... found it'
"Where?'
“Er........just up by the pub.”

I imagine the fox was thinking, 'This rabbit is an easy mark ... He hasn't seen me... Ok, always approach from the rear... It's oblivious to my threat... What a loser! Ha!' The fox pounced, but before he got his teeth in, the rabbit had launched itself backwards and kicked back powerfully with its two hind legs. It was like a spring-loaded trap and whacked the hapless fox with tremendous force, full in the face.
It was the fox's turn to leap backwards and slink away....

At one point, however, the road seemed bumpier than before and the rutted road seemed to merge with the desert.
Stop for a minute, I said.
As the car rolled to a halt, we turned off the engine
and got out.
There was no road. That is, we were not on a road.
We had left the road some way back and were now in the middle of the desert.
Kris: 'I thought it was a bit bumpier.'

I'd wrongly assumed the desert would be a bleak and empty place, devoid of life, yet the opposite is true. It is, in fact, quite stunningly beautiful and teeming with life.
All around, a profusion of different desert flora bloomed, stubbornly clinging to life. The striking red of Sturt's Desert Pea, the bluish button grass, the ancient, gnarled mallee trees conjured a captivating landscape of shapes and colours.

After I left school, I travelled a bit, set up a comedy club in Bath and invited acts to perform there. In that same year I was performing with a school friend, Toby, in a double act called the Rubber Bishops and it was after a gig with the Bishops in Edinburgh that I met Kris, who then moved to London. After a brief spell co-habiting on a houseboat on the Thames we moved to Hammersmith in west London and have lived there ever since.

The plan was to be hoisted up that night, spend the night in a hammock high in the canopy and observe the splendour of the dawn chorus the next morning. But not to be too indelicate, I was, as Samuel Pepys might say in his diary, ' much troubled by a looseness'.

‘Simon Pegg to star alongside Tom Cruise in Mission Impossible.’ A photo accompanies the article, in which the two of them appear smiling, tanned and impossibly glamorous.
I glance from the photo to the compacted otter turds
in my hand.
Have I made the right choices in life?

In fact, the great adventurer Redmond O'Hanlon described eating piranha as 'like sucking lard off a hairbrush', which I can attest through my own experience is an accurate description, which made me wonder if once, perhaps in a fit of madness or drug-fuelled experimentation, he actually had sucked lard off a hairbrush.

Am I a better person for reading this? Hmm. Maybe. I appreciate his love of animals; I know a bit more about Bill Bailey; I enjoyed his sense of humour; His self-deprecation and his zest for life. Three stars from me. show less

The songs which Bill Bailey composes and performs for his stand-up comedy shows are not only immensely funny but also insanely catchy and occasionally anthemic, and they are done justice in this modest book. I should point out that I had the songs playing on YouTube as I read it, which no doubt informs my review. The Many Moods is a collection of sheet music (which I cannot read) and lyrics (which I can) with some comments from Bill on their genesis and a few anecdotes (John Entwistle from show more The Who liked 'Insect Nation', don't you know). The songs themselves are all gems, from the early prog-rock pastiche 'Leg of Time' with its Cockney middle-eight right through to the 'Death Metal Lullaby (Nemesis of the Vole)', a hard-rocking song about an owl. 'Insect Nation' is undoubtedly the best, with its epic 'ah-ahh-ah-a-ahh' hook (though the version performed in Cosmic Jam is longer than the book version, with an extra verse). 'Hats Off to the Zebras' is my personal favourite, and 'Midnight in Parliament Square' is a endearingly silly audience-participation song. 'Unisex Chip Shop' has a funny little ending, and 'Beautiful Ladies' has that hilarious 'kill the trolls' bit. Redneck Redemption (better known as 'I Will Not Look at Titties for a Year') is an amusing country-and-western song, whilst 'Love Song' stands alongside 'Insect Nation' as the finest testament to Bill's musical complexity and lyrical imagination. Overall, a short, sweet read that provided me with an always-welcome excuse to revisit and laugh along with some of Bill's fine songs. show less

A pleasing read, simply because it's an entertaining man talking about something he is passionate about. Whilst I am no birdspotter, I was fascinated by this introductory guide to birdwatching. Best known for his comedy, author Bill Bailey manages to identify just why our native wildlife is so special. Contrasting our bird life with the 'gaudy' bright colours of tropical birds, he rightly lauds the muted autumnal shades of Britain and the "delicate, subtle colours of British birds" (pg. 9). show more Some of the things Bill comments on, like the murmurations of starlings ("this sentient cloud, this natural art installation" (pg. 182)) are truly incredible to witness (ahem, even on YouTube).

Bill chooses his favourite and the most common birds and spends a few pages writing about each of them (though pictures often pad out these pages). He is amiable and manages to steer clear of anorak-ish behaviour, simply glorying in the features and personalities of our wildlife. With idiosyncratic illustrations (I particularly liked the magic spoon one on page 124) and keen anecdotes ranging from dedicated trips into the British wilderness to chance encounters over lukewarm cups of tea outside motorway service stations, Bill has that man-in-a-shed mix of intelligence, enthusiasm and oddness that is unique to our group of little islands.

Even if you don't have any particular interest in birds, some of Bill's eagerness is bound to rub off on you. As he says, birds – and, by extension, the natural world – have that "habit of raising the spirits" of those who watch them (pg. 118). We are a nation of animal lovers – even those of us who live in grey cities with traffic and waste in every pore – and a greater awareness of the natural richness of our country makes it "feel a little wilder, like some vital element of our past has been restored" (pg. 204). show less

Most people know Bill Bailey for his amazing performances where he expertly mixes comedy and music with a large dollop of zaniness, or his appearances on various panel games. What most people don’t know is that he loves all things about the natural world and is a massive fan of birds in particular. For this book, he has taken 51 of his favourite birds, from the generally unloved pigeons and herring gulls to the tiny wrens, deadly peregrines and the cheeky corvid family. Each of the show more mini-chapters on birds has facts and details of where to find them or in the case of the bittern, where you can go and look and generally fail to see them.

There is not a vast amount of prose in the book, but what there is, is written with Bailey’s impish humour, amusing anecdotes and razor sharp wit. The design of the book makes it feel that you are reading a notebook full of jottings and his own charming sketches. Not necessarily a book for experts, but perfect for someone who is teetering on the edge of discovering the delights of the natural world. show less