Odd Boy Out cover art

Odd Boy Out

Preview

£0.00 for first 30 days

Try for £0.00
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Odd Boy Out

By: Gyles Brandreth
Narrated by: Gyles Brandreth
Try for £0.00

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £12.99

Buy Now for £12.99

Confirm Purchase
Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.
Cancel

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 Celebrity Funny Heartfelt Thought-Provoking Witty
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

Listeners also enjoyed...

Philip cover art
Oh Miriam! cover art
Elizabeth cover art
Keep Talking cover art
Between the Stops cover art
Charles and Camilla cover art
This Much Is True cover art
Old Rage cover art
David Attenborough - Life on Air cover art
Small Man in a Book cover art
Will She Do? cover art
Too Much Information cover art
Jigsaw cover art
Myrna Loy cover art
The Kindness of Strangers cover art
The Brigandshaw Chronicles Box Set cover art

What listeners say about Odd Boy Out

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    417
  • 4 Stars
    94
  • 3 Stars
    30
  • 2 Stars
    16
  • 1 Stars
    4
Performance
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    429
  • 4 Stars
    60
  • 3 Stars
    10
  • 2 Stars
    5
  • 1 Stars
    2
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    364
  • 4 Stars
    88
  • 3 Stars
    35
  • 2 Stars
    9
  • 1 Stars
    5

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

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

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

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Odd Boy Out

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

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Fabulous!

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!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Excellent book

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

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Love love LOVED this book!

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!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

An entertaining and eventful life

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.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Excellent

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

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Hallelujah for the Odd Boy

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.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Fascinating audio

So if like me you grew up with Giles on breakfast tv you may only know him for his amazing jumpers and reporting on the royal family but this audio has told me so much more about the man himself and what a fascinating life he has led. It is full of warmth and humour read by the man himself and is well worth a listen.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Enchanting, enthralling, evocative, engaging

Gyles Brandreth - a name dropper extraordinaire, certainly somewhat smug, but all the same appreciative of the life he’s lead. A master story teller. For sure. What a life. His never ending exuberance and zest for life come through in buckets in this book. His ability to keep one engaged by telling story upon story, tale upon tale, memory upon memory is extraordinary. I enjoyed every minute.

I bought the book first, and then the audible version - listening to GB read his own life story certainly added enormously to the experience, I’ve barely opened the book itself, but I will look at the pictures in the book!

Highly recommended.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!