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Believe Me

Believe Me

A Memoir of Love, Death and Jazz Chickens

Summary

A memoir of love, death and jazz chickens, Eddie Izzard's fabulous Believe Me is his one and only autobiography . . .

Penguin presents the unabridged audio CD edition of Believe Me written and read by Eddie Izzard. Including exclusive content from the recording, showcasing Eddie at his comical best, with additional commentary unique to the audiobook edition.

'I know why I'm doing all this,' I said. 'Everything I do in life is trying to get her back. I think if I do enough things . . . that maybe she'll come back.'

When Eddie Izzard was six, he and his brother Mark lost their mother. That day, he lost his childhood too. Despite or perhaps because of this, he has always felt he needed to take on things that some people would consider impossible.

With the same esoteric, surreal, stream-of-consciousness comedy he is famous for in, this audiobook edition of, Believe Me Eddie takes us on a journey which begins in Yemen (before the revolution), then takes us to Northern Ireland (before The Troubles), England and Wales, then across the seas to Europe and America. In a story jam-packed with incident he tells of teddy bear shows on boarding school beds, renouncing accountancy for swordfighting on the streets of London and making those first tentative steps towards becoming an Action Transvestite, touring France in French and playing the Hollywood Bowl.

Above all, this is a tale about someone who has always done everything his own way (which often didn't work at first) and, sometimes almost by accident but always with grit and determination, achieving what he set out to do.

Recorded with the style of delivery and disarming candor of his shows (with occasional digressions), Believe Me tells the story of a little boy who lost his mother yet who has risen to become a star of comedy and drama, a leading advocate of total clothing rights, a British European and extreme runner of marathons, who bestrides the world stage as a world stage bestrider.

'King of the Universe . . . Comic genius . . . Entertainment incarnate' Telegraph

Reviews

  • King of the Universe . . . Comic genius . . . Entertainment incarnate
    Telegraph

About the author

Eddie Izzard

Eddie Izzard is a world-renowned comedian, actor, writer, runner, and activist. She made her West End debut in 1993 in a one-man show called Live at the Ambassadors, for which she received an Olivier Award nomination for Outstanding Achievement. She recently appeared on television as Dr Abel Gideon in Hannibal, and she produced and starred in the FX Networks series The Riches. Her films include Valkyrie; Ocean's Thirteen and Ocean's Twelve; Across the Universe; Mystery Men; Shadow of the Vampire; The Cat's Meow; Lost Christmas; Castles in the Sky; and Whisky Galore! Her stage appearances include David Mamet's Race and The Cryptogram; the title role in Marlowe's Edward II; 900 Oneonta; and A Day in the Death of Joe Egg in London and on Broadway, which garnered her a Tony nomination for Best Actor. Izzard's hit one-man shows include Dress to Kill, Stripped, and Force Majeure. Her performance in Dress to Kill earned her two Emmy Awards. In 2010, the documentary Believe: The Eddie Izzard Story received an Emmy nomination. In 2009, Izzard ran forty-three marathons in fifty-one days throughout the United Kingdom, and in 2016, she ran twenty-seven marathons in twenty-seven days across South Africa in honour of Nelson Mandela's twenty-seven years in prison. By running these seventy marathons she has helped raise £4.8 million ($6 million) for the UK charity Sport Relief.
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