Product Description

The third volume in Andrew Collins' humorous memoirs, after
Where Did It All Go Right? and Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now. This one
traces the story up to the present day, covering the 17 jobs he's had in 17
years since leaving college.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #95311 in Books
• Published on: 2007-05-03
• Binding: Paperback
• 336 pages

Q Magazine, June 2007
'all recounted in a wittily self-deprecating style. As good an
insight into magazine life as you'll get.'

Hot Stars, 5 May 2007
'Film critic Andrew Collins takes us on an amusing journey of how
he got to where he is today - from working in a supermarket to sipping
champers with the stars. Entertaining from start to finish.'

Synopsis
Fast approaching his fortieth birthday, Andrew is cornered at a family gathering by the nine-year-old son of his brother-in-law's sister. Having seen him as a talking head on TV, the boy asks, 'What are you?' It is a question so frank and simple that Andrew doesn't have an immediate answer to hand. So, with hilarious self-deprecation, he sets out to retrace how he got to where he is today. Seventeen precarious jobs in seventeen years: from trolley collector at Sainsbury's to high-flying film critic sipping cocktails with Will Smith and Jerry Bruckheimer on a yacht in Cannes. This is Andrew's tale of rubbing shoulders with the world's biggest stars: pissing off Christini Ricci, having his hairstyle mocked by Noel Gallagher, trying not to wake Clive James from his afternoon nap, having his apple pie eaten by Bob Geldof, and somehow stumbling into the next dream job. Along the way, he's been the world's worst gossip columnist, an almost-hip young gunslinger at the NME, a Radio 1 DJ (enduring a hellish Radio 1 roadshow in a car park in Birmingham), an ITV presenter, "EastEnders" scriptwriter, ghost writer for a major TV personality and much, much more.

It charts a world of hedonism, mundanity, towering egos, shallow idiocy and occasional moments of mind-blowing joy. And, of course, being sent shit in a box.

Customer Reviews

Shame..
I was really disappointed in this, after thoroughly enjoying Andrews other books. I think it's because he moved away from music (and therefore musical references) and into comedy. I never did find his radio shows that funny!

oh no it isn't...
Couldn't help feeling that the theme of this book and the reality of Andrew Collins' life seem somewhat at odds; although he sets out to describe the party from the point of view of the ordinary boy in the kitchen, his CV suggests a rather different location. Self-deprecation is all very commendable but smacks rather more of false modesty as he moves from one high profile editorship to another, taking leading roles in many of the biggest and best-loved publications of the 80s and 90s and then going on to what would, by most yardsticks, count as a pretty successful career in media and entertainment. Not quite the shrinking violet, one suspects.

Highly readable for the most part, however, particularly in his attempts to break into the music press (a dream shared by many who grew up in the 70s regarding the NME as a Bible which arrived in weekly instalments), and worth the admission price for that alone.

An insight into the fascinating career of Andrew Collins
I loved this book. I hadn't read his first two before buying 'That's Me in the Corner' - it didn't matter. Andrew Collins writes with such inspiring modesty, its easy to identify with his character. For anyone who has worked in the local supermarket but dreamed of a much grander life, immersed in the payroll of your interests and dreams. I've worked in both radio and music and Andrew Collins captures both the beautiful and ugly sides of the industries.

Funny, fascinating, endearing. Andrew Collins is now one of my favourite others, man I wish I had his life.