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Call the Ambulance!

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Call the Ambulance!

By: Les Pringle
Narrated by: Gordon Griffin
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About this listen

Exploding pressure cookers, a thwarted wife's deadly revenge and transvestites in distress - manning an ambulance in the seventies kept you on your toes.

Having survived the rites of passage as a probationer, Les Pringle now has to face up to the reality of life as an ambulance man in Thatcher's Britain. He does this with humour and fortitude - two qualities which are essential if he is to cope with cases ranging from the absurd to the heart rending.

From attending murder scenes to delivering babies ... it's quite a life for Les, and one that he and his shift mates tread with warmth and humour in equal measure.

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This was a fascinating look back in to a world from before I was even born. I am very interested in medical things and how people live and cope with what they have to deal with.
SADLY though, I don't think the choice of narrator was right for the book. Gordon Griffin is fantastic but his brummy accents more often than not came out either Irish or neutral.
All in all, a fascinating, evocative read that makes me want to find more memoirs of other people's to read.

Fascinating read but narrator's accents were dodgy

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Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Nice series of short story experiences of a 1970s ambulance station and crew. Very gentle listening. Not too gory!

What three words best describe Gordon Grifin’s performance?

Good with his voices but he's a little slow. 1.25 speed helped!

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

No.

a nice gentle read

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Would you listen to Call the Ambulance again? Why?

Not only would I but I definetly will,it's one of the most enjoyable audio books I've listened to in a long while.

What other book might you compare Call the Ambulance to, and why?

Having read/ listened to the authors previous book I knew what to expect,both books have a style that isn't comparable with any others I can think of

Which scene did you most enjoy?

Any scene with Larry in it was really funny & the incidents with the station cook were good

Did you have an emotional reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

There were scenes that I found moving but my overall reaction to the story was laughter,the sometimes gallows humour of the ambulance crews was often hilarious.The character of Larry was pure genius I could even picture his face.

Any additional comments?

I will be listening to this book again in the future,probably more than once I loved it.The narrator was superb,his range of voices & accents was remarkable.He made an already great book even greater.

Funny,Sad & Sometimes Tragic

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Not my usual download, but I thought it must be a fascinating job to be an Ambulance man, so I thought this might be interesting, and it was. Truthfully I would have preferred a few more emotional scenes. There wasn't a lot of depth to it, and it was a little dated. But still, it made a change from the legion of detective books (yawn), and I enjoyed it.

Glad I tried something different

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This second book contains a stories, well written and well read. I feel as if I was on some of the calls with Les and shared some of his emotions. *****

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