Armando Iannucci

I fucking love Alan Partridge. I often forget that Alan Partridge is a fictional character and that he and Steve Coogan are not two separate people.

I find it hard to pinpoint exactly why Alan tickles me so much. He’s petty, selfish, and ignorant – treats his long-time assistant Lynn terribly – and looks down on others with the politics of a middle-aged middle-Englander and lacks any self-awareness. But, I think there is a childish vulnerability, an insecurity barely beneath the surface show more and enthusiasm to him (“stop getting Bond wrong!“) that just keeps him sympathetic enough to be an enjoyable character. It’s easy to relate to his desire for affirmation and to fit in.

I of course had read this book before! I got it on audiobook when it first came out in 2011. At this time I worked in a quiet university medical library and often would have to close the whole place alone in the evening. While I was doing my rounds, to make sure all the students had gone, and switching off the lights as I went, I accidentally set it playing in my cardigan pocket and scared the shit out of myself! That place was spooky, it had a lot of strange unexplained doors at odd heights.

Now Alan’s third autobiography is out (Big Beacon) I wanted to reread the first two before getting to that one. We also recently rewatched I’m Alan Partridge and Alpha Papa (shout out to Colm “Chief O’Brien” Meaney!). Sadly (stupidly) I got rid of my DVDs of Knowing Me, Knowing You and Mid Morning Matters. We’ve learned the hard way not to reply on streaming platforms to have everything!

Anyway, I, Partridge is everything an Alan fan could want! I really love this one because he covers his entire career to the end of the TV shows, and gives his side of the story which is often quite a different recollection from what we saw… It’s completely written in Alan’s own voice, and it’s just fantastic. It had me howling with laughter. I particularly enjoyed his very deliberate use of literary devices and the need to draw the reader’s attention to them! It was also nice to find out how his relationship with Sonja ended after I’m Alan Partridge (I did enjoy them together – so much I made an embroidery of my favourite line).

I definitely recommend getting the audio of this because it’s read by the man himself. I’ll listen to this again and again and again! show less

Malcolm Tucker is f*cking furious! His dossier of DoSAC dirt has gone missing—and it contains all sorts of news articles, interviews, procedural documents for ministers dealing with the press, and embarrassing and/or incriminating email chains that he’d been saving for a rainy day. Fortunately, you get to have a peek at them. Just make it quick, or you’re in for a bollocking.

This book, put together by the writers of The Thick of It, supplements the TV show of the same name and will show more obviously make a lot more sense if you’ve seen the show. There’s a wide variety of content here, and I was chuckling a fair bit throughout. At some points I was taken by surprise and hooted out loud like a weirdo. My favourite bits involved Julius Nicholson (I could hear Alex Macqueen in my head as I read those), and Malcolm’s bitingly sarcastic email exchanges with people such as Nicola Murray and Jamie Macdonald.

However, there were a few things that I had to nitpick at:
- Terri Coverley’s middle names are given as Thelma Elizabeth, whereas on the show she has only one middle name, Jessica.
- Email addresses changed format from one chain to another—although I just realized that if a character had a dosac.gov.uk email address when the first party was in power, they might have switched to a gov.org.uk email when their party was kicked out.
- Some of the photos looked Photoshopped; the one of Peter Mannion and his wife was the one that really didn’t work. A couple of others could be argued to be deliberate Photoshops (e.g., the concept of Malcolm’s chat show, where he’s Photoshopped behind a desk but he isn’t given any legs that I could see).
- Philip’s home email address is given as Phillip.Smith at Gmail—why would he spell his own name wrong in his email address? If his actual name was taken, he would have added stuff to make a new nickname, like Philip.Smith.Baggins or some LOTR reference like that. (Actually, he’d probably scoff at that reference as being TOO easily guessed—his reference would probably come from deep within the Silmarillion.)

Overall, though, the variety of documents and the attention to detail in most other places (I LOVED how the copyright and cataloguing information was presented) made this a fun book. show less

When I joined the BBC in the heady days of the early 2000s, Alan Partridge was still a legendary figure – pacing the corridors of Television Centre in immaculate flannel slacks, and spoken of in the same breath as the other master-interviewers of the modern era: Parkinson, Ross, Christian, Madeley. In many ways, he even influenced the great American talk-programme hosts like Letterman or Leno. Not in a literal sense, obviously, but perhaps in some other sense.

I only met the great man once, show more when I was just a cub reporter, wet behind the ears, and he was gracious enough to try and pass on some of his knowledge. ‘Let me give you a bit of advice,’ he said. ‘If your heart's set on going in there, for goodness sake avoid the second stall on the left – it quite literally looks like a war zone in there. It wasn't me; I only came in for some basic urination. I take care of everything else back home, thanks to a first-class Hinch VX50 chemical toilet, which genuinely would have made light work of that lot. Apart from that time I had some bad ham, it's handled everything I can throw at it so far. I certainly wouldn't expect work facilities to be up to the job. I mean I'm not a monster. I'm Alan Partridge.’ And then he was gone, like some apparition in a double-breasted blazer.

Over the years his star has waned a little. He left the BBC under something of a cloud (note – I'm not talking about personal hygiene, those rumours were put to bed a long time ago), but now, finally, Alan has a chance to give his own side of the story and set the ruddy record straight. It's all here, from the highs of hospital radio (‘In my time at the hospital, I was broadcasting live during the deaths of some 800 patients. It's a record that stands to this day’) to the lows of Toblerone addiction, which saw him gain an alarming amount of weight (‘Like a good-looking John Merrick, mine was a face that looked really shit’). It's also rewarding for the fans to find out previously unknown details, such as the fact that his deal to return to radio was signed in the Symphony Café, Norwich (‘now, at long last, a Nando's’), or to gain a greater appreciation for Alan's love of the Highway Code (‘people forget that it doesn't just save lives, it's also a damn good read’).

Those of us who love him will be hoping he'll be back in our living-rooms soon. (Not in person – that would be time-consuming and borderline inappropriate – but through the medium of televisual broadcasting.) Until then, we'll keep tuning in to hear his ‘award-worthy’ mid-morning broadcasts covering the whole length and breadth of the North Norfolk area.

Essential reading for anyone who wants to discover the Alan behind the Alan, this handsome volume is taking its place on my shelf nestled proudly between Nelson Mandela's A Long Walk to Freedom and Saint Augustine's Confessions. It really is classic autobiography. show less

What can we say about Alan Partridge that hasn't already been said? True, most of it has been said by Partridge himself, but that's by the by. Bestriding the nineties and noughties like a broadcasting behemoth, he has carved what can only be called a career through both Radio and Television, bringing his own special magic to both mediums.

In this book of words and pictures he tells his life story, from his birth to his current berth (see what I did there?) at North Norfolk Digital (Norfolk's show more Best Music Mix). His start at the Our Price instore radio (short-lived), Radio Norwich, his move to the BBC with On The Hour and on to his own chat show, Knowing Me Knowing You (aha!).

Of course there are lows as well as highs. The unfortunate death by shooting of guest Forbes McCallister. The run-ins with BBC Commissioning Editor Tony Hayes and the subsequent Christmas Special fiasco and failure to secure a second series. Then there is his battle with a debilitating Toblerone addiction.

But above all Alan is a fighter and has an unshakeable belief in his own genius. Modesty is not a word in his vocabulary. One thing is certain, there's only one Alan Partridge.

But seriously folks, this is a brilliantly written, extremely funny book. You can almost hear Partridge's voice in your head. Highly recommended. show less