Going Off Alarming
The Autobiography: Vol 2
Published on 25. September 2014
Book
Hardback
272 pages
978-0-297-87011-1 (ISBN)
Description
Dazzlingly funny memoir of Danny Baker's years in television
'In these memoirs I bounce all about British TV with such success that I wind up in radio. I will also be filling a few holes that I left in the previous decades. For example, I managed to forget in Book One that I had been shot. Twice.'
Danny Baker's first volume of autobiography, GOING TO SEA IN A SIEVE, was a SUNDAY TIMES bestseller, acclaimed for its non-stop humour and anecdotal flourish. It told the exploits of Danny's childhood and the wild living of his teenage years. Now, he is 25 and it is 1982, and he embarks on an accidental and anxiety-induced career in television - going off alarming.
With rollicking good stories from what he describes as 'a frankly crackpot life', Danny continues this stupendous chronicle with irrepressible verve and hilarity. Dozens of TV shows - many of them lousy - give up their backstage stories, and Danny's extraordinary family, particularly his father Spud, react to the ride throughout. Game shows, talk shows, adverts and TFI FRIDAY are but a few of the unplanned pitstops along the way. Not forgetting the tale of Twizzle: the Dog Who Hanged Himself, Died, Then Came Back to Life Again...
Clearly, this will be no ordinary showbusiness-stroll down memory lane.
'In these memoirs I bounce all about British TV with such success that I wind up in radio. I will also be filling a few holes that I left in the previous decades. For example, I managed to forget in Book One that I had been shot. Twice.'
Danny Baker's first volume of autobiography, GOING TO SEA IN A SIEVE, was a SUNDAY TIMES bestseller, acclaimed for its non-stop humour and anecdotal flourish. It told the exploits of Danny's childhood and the wild living of his teenage years. Now, he is 25 and it is 1982, and he embarks on an accidental and anxiety-induced career in television - going off alarming.
With rollicking good stories from what he describes as 'a frankly crackpot life', Danny continues this stupendous chronicle with irrepressible verve and hilarity. Dozens of TV shows - many of them lousy - give up their backstage stories, and Danny's extraordinary family, particularly his father Spud, react to the ride throughout. Game shows, talk shows, adverts and TFI FRIDAY are but a few of the unplanned pitstops along the way. Not forgetting the tale of Twizzle: the Dog Who Hanged Himself, Died, Then Came Back to Life Again...
Clearly, this will be no ordinary showbusiness-stroll down memory lane.
Reviews / Votes
From presenting cheeky trivia on teatime telly to a disastrous panto sting, he's like a living poster of Kipling's If, happily talking over both Triumph and Disaster. ...his own talents, at least as a memoirist, are closer to that other driven south Londoner Spike Milligan. -- Steve Jelbert * INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY * Going Off Alarming is quite simply the funniest book you'll read all year. Seriously....Like its predecessor, the book is a hoot from soup to nuts, easily as funny, as self-deprecating and as worldly-wise as The Moon's A Balloon by David Niven. If you have been unlucky in life, and have spent the bulk of it without coming into contact with him or his work, then this book is a wonderful introduction. What's it like? Well, it's like Tom and Jerry written by a Cockney Roddy Doyle on Prozac. But funnier. -- Dylan Jones * GQ ONLINE * ..great company and a brilliant raconteur. -- Viv Groskop * THE OBSERVER * Volume two of Baker's autobiography rattles along at the same delightful and dizzying pace as its predecessor. ..Baker loves a tale told at his own expense and they come thick and fast. He writes like he speaks, with hyperactive garrulity and a rhetorical flourish. ..there is something about Baker in full flow that is affirming. Book three will doubtless be out for next Christmas but, when it comes to the Pangloss of Deptford, you are happy to forgive him the indulgence. -- Duncan White * DAILY TELEGRAPH * For comic value, go for Danny Baker's latest memoir. The funniest book Dylan Jones has read all year. -- Olivia Cole * GQ * It's the strength of the anecdotes, and welcome digressions from the narrative, that make the book such a delight. * CHOICE MAGAZINE * Any autobiography that opens with the author being shot in the buttocks demands your complete attention. This book made me howl with laughter -- Lorraine Kelly * HERALD SCOTLAND *
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Orion Publishing Co
Dimensions
Height: 241 mm
Width: 156 mm
Thickness: 26 mm
Weight
532 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-297-87011-1 (9780297870111)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
09/2014
Weidenfeld & Nicolson
€4.49
Available for download
Person
Danny Baker is an English comedy writer, journalist, radio DJ and screenwriter. He currently presents daily on BBC London 94.9 and a weekly show on BBC Radio 5 Live.
For more, visit Danny Baker's website at www.internettreehouse.co.uk and follow him on Twitter at https://twitter.com/prodnose.
For more, visit Danny Baker's website at www.internettreehouse.co.uk and follow him on Twitter at https://twitter.com/prodnose.