Product Description

Basil Boothroyd takes the reader on a comic journey through an era when the likes of the Women's Institute and the Rotary Club were still the social hubs of the nation and needed a steady stream of guest speakers to keep their members entertained. "Accustomed As I Am" is an intimate portrait and sometime surreal travelogue of his own grim and terrifying experiences on the public speakers' circuit in the wilds of Little England. Addressing everyone from Park Lane black-tie shindigs for corporate clients to the inmates of Pentonville prison and the Edgware Young Women's Mizrachi Society, he is asked to entertain on every subject from the Life-Cycle of the Beaver (with slides) to Transport Through the Ages. While masquerading as a How-to-Book, Boothroyd wilfully loses us in a confusion of slapstick asides and self-effacing comic digressions as he unsuccessfully attempts to navigate the pitfalls of a thankless profession. It's a sordid tale of dingy hotels, bad transport, self-doubts, hecklers, drunks, technical difficulties, misjudged audiences and unsuitable material - instantly and painfully recognizable to anyone who has ever had to sit through a speech or make one themselves.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1138770 in Books
• Published on: 2001-07-12
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 138 pages

Review
"the finest comic writer we have" PG Wodehouse "a man of unusual talent... a wonderful eye for the revealing comic detail... his writing had at times a Faberge glitter." RGG Price

About the Author
Basil Boothroyd was one of the most celebrated Punch writers of the 20th century. He first contributed in 1938 and was assistant editor from 1952-1970. He was equally wellknown for his BBC broadcasts and became a much requested public-speaker on both sides of the Atlantic. He published a number of books including three volumes of his radio talks and five volumes of his Punch articles. He produced much of his writing from a hut in his Sussex garden.