Erotic Vagrancy
Everything About Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor
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Erotic Vagrancy
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Narrated by:
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Justin Avoth
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By:
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Roger Lewis
About this listen
The comic genius of English writing takes on Hollywood, delusion, celebrity and last century's ultimate glamour couple: Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor.
Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor were a Sixties supercharged couple in an era of supercharged couples. As a pairing they were fantasy figures, impossibly desirable. Liz supple and soft, in perfumes and furs - yet with something demonic and lethal about her. Dick, in turn, with his ravaged, handsome face, looked as though lit by silver moonlight - poised to turn into a wolf.
Roger Lewis uses this glamorous and damaged pair as the starting point to tell the story of an age of excess: the freaks and groupies, the private jets and jewels and the yachts sailing in an azure sea; the magnificent bad taste and greed. It is about the clash of worlds: the filth and decay of South Wales and the grandeur and elegance of Old Hollywood; the fantasies we have about film stars and the fantasies the Burtons had about each other.
©2023 Roger Lewis (P)2023 Quercus Editions LimitedListeners also enjoyed...
Critic reviews
"Brilliantly funny...the book of the year." (Sunday Times)
"By turns, funny, tragic, tender and vicious...a word-of-mouth sensation." (Guardian)
What listeners say about Erotic Vagrancy
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- jack
- 18-02-24
superb reading and voice characterisations togethercwith a wpnderful story by Roger Lewis.
nothing to dislike. an excellent book and performance from all concerned. well done to all concerned in this production.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 26-12-23
Just superb
A really excellent, bitchy book, one of the most enjoyable I’ve ever listened to. Get it and let your jaw drop at the antics of these 2.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Samantha
- 04-02-24
Please re-record this audio
The story is stupendous, but the narration sounds like it was recorded through a damp flannel.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- dinodog
- 10-02-24
excellent biography
Roger Lewis is superb again with this book. He has a unique style which covers the many films roles they were in and just like the Peter Sellers book, he delves into their innermost personalities and troubled lives. The rights have been sold for a film ,I just hope the actors can do it justice.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- caroline
- 04-11-23
Superb from start to finish
Absorbing, brilliant, clever, transgressive writing reflects a couple whose lives were surely indescribable. Brilliantly written..this author has a genius for writing and uses examples and metaphor and other references with flair ..sometimes I laughed out loud..other times I gasped. The reader here brought the whole thing to life..remarkable ear for voices and made the whole listen so engrossing I’m tempted to begin all over again. Whether you like Elizabeth and Richard or not (I do, I think..A lot..have just looked at the film the VIP’s ..they were ravishing…)this is superb writing and excellent listening.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Christobel
- 08-02-24
Superb. A masterpiece. Brilliantly narrated.
This ten-year-in-the-making comprehensive, compulsive, funny dual biography is mind-boggling - an incredible achievement.
I was unaware of so many of the facts: The cost of creating Cleopatra, Elizabeth's 'wear each dress once only' regime, her diamond collection, drug addiction, animal obsession, filthy habitats, excesses and outrages. Neither had I any idea about Burton's rags-to-riches background from his success kicked off by an extremely creepy schoolmaster's staggering intervention, to promiscuity, betrayal, alcoholism, hints at murder, a hidden-away child. I was fascinated by Taylor & Burton's need for one another, hatred of one another, jet-setting lifestyle, bigger-than-royalty celebrity status, the Pope's intervention...
If you love beauty, glamour, Hollywood, sex, A-lister film stars, Italian film sets, true stories of absolute decadence and movies from a bygone age, you'll relish this.
What makes this book a wholly enjoyable Audible experience though, is Justin Avoth's fantastic narration. His impressions of all the stars mentioned in this book (of which there are many) are both camp and spot on. Richard Burton, Elizabeth Taylor, Rex Harrison, Dirk Bogarde, James Mason, Kenneth Williams, John Gielgud... etc etc. I've got the voice of Richard Burton floating around inside my head still. Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon could not have done better.
Maybe this book could have been edited down to... what, a third of it's length? No. The weightiness of it is what makes it the masterpiece it is. Thank you Roger Lewis, for 22 hours and 58 minutes of incredible anecdotes fantastically told. I might just start listening to it all over again.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- mike Horbury
- 17-07-24
Astonishing Detail
No wonder it took 13 years for Roger Lewis to write this epic; incredible research and detail. Not just the lives of Taylor & Burton are revealed but pretty much all the people they came into contact with. The story telling is provoking and at times wildly entertaining. The reading by Justin Avoth is extraordinary as he gives voice to the characters and the author. Just Brilliant!
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- J MYLES
- 04-12-23
The perfect match
No one could have done Burton and Taylor better justice than Roger Lewis and it could not have been better narrated. Richard Burton came uncannily alive in every quote.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Hayley
- 17-02-24
Outstanding
As a fan this book gave me a new perspective - it’s fascinating & so well researched
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- CB
- 18-03-24
A trip
Loved the narrator doing 'the voices' Burton, Taylor, Gielgud, Clare Bloom, various groupies, actors, Hollywood directors and producers.
Lots of colourful phrases which made me snort and guffaw aloud.
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