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The Greatest Nobodies of History

Minor Characters from Major Moments

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The Greatest Nobodies of History

By: Adrian Bliss
Narrated by: Adrian Bliss
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About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.

THE
SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER

Narrated by Adrian Bliss, featuring the voices of Beth Rylance, Sebastian Humphreys and Kristin Atherton.

History belongs to the heroes. But to get the full story, sometimes you have to ask the side characters.

The lives of Leonardo da Vinci, Henry VIII and Queen Victoria fill bookshelves and fascinate scholars all over the world. But little attention is given to the ferret who posed for the renaissance master, the servant who oversaw the Tudor’s toilet time, or the famous horse who thrilled the miserable old monarch.

These supporting cast members have been waiting in the wings for too long, and Adrian Bliss thinks it’s high time they join their glory-hogging contemporaries in the spotlight. Fortunately, - thanks to some recently discovered ancient complaint letters, court transcripts and memoirs in bottles - now they can.

Equal parts fascinating and hilarious, The Greatest Nobodies of History is a surreal love letter to life’s forgotten heroes featuring hitherto undocumented accounts from Ancient Greece to the frontlines of the Great Emu War.

All that follows really happened, and some of it could even be true...

'All at once funny, touching, dazzlingly informative and fascinating, brilliantly imaginative and altogether wonderful. Capable of switching between divine silliness and genuinely tender sweetness, tragedy and wonder.' Stephen Fry

©2024 Adrian Bliss (P)2024 Penguin Audio
Historical World Funny Witty Thought-Provoking Royalty

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All stars
Most relevant
How soon can you bring out the next one Adrian??? Honestly, this book is fabulous and you are a truly funny guy! Had a great chuckle listening, and also learnt quite alot about history too which is always great.
Thank you so much ☆☆☆☆☆

AMAZING!! So funny and well read ☆☆☆☆☆

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The way the characters are portrait and the audio is fantastic. I love listening to the voices, full of charisma. really felt like being there and living the stories. I actually felt sad that it finished and looking forward for the next one.

Enjoyable easy read

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No one else could have narrated this book as well... More, more please Adrian Bliss

The stories & facts

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I found the book intriguing and full of thought-provoking content, but I often struggled to separate what was real from what was fictional. The author includes a “facts” segment at the end of each chapter, which is helpful—but in my opinion, it would have made much more sense to place those facts at the beginning of each chapter. That way, I’d have a clearer frame of reference while listening. Despite the confusion, I was intrigued enough to look up some of the events and topics mentioned just to see what was actually true. It’s a compelling listen, but the structure made it harder to fully enjoy or trust what I was hearing.

Interesting, but Hard to Tell Fact from Fiction

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Absolutely loved it. The stories were wonderfully original, though rooted in fact (why can't Hollywood scriptwriters come up with such unusual tales?). Don't get me wrong, there are two annoyances, but the humour, and listening to it over a period of days rather than 'binge-listening', made those annoyances bearable.

Pros: the stories are unlike anything you're likely to have heard before, even if you know the facts of them. And the narration was brilliant. He does sound so much like David Mitchell (comedian) though, and especially with being a bit 'posh' and talking about history, that I sometimes found myself forgetting it wasn't actually Mr Mitchell doing the narration. So if you don't like Mitchell's voice and sarcy attitude (I do) then this may not be overly pleasing to you.

Cons: many chapters, each a different tale, follow a 'diary' format of either actual diary entries including dates and times, or letters back and forth that are only different to a diary in that they're written by two individuals . It becomes rather wearing. The second annoyance was that sometimes, the author just didn't know when to stop. In four cases, I found he'd gone considerably past the point of humour and onto 'this will make you lose interest'. I blame the editor for not doing a better job before publishing the book.

That said, I'd absolutely buy another book/audiobook in the same vein by Adrian Bliss as I found it to be highly entertaining. Me shopping in the supermarket with a serious face on and then suddenly squawking with laughter happened on multiple occasions. Worth every penny.

laughed out loud in public

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