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Sunburn

The Unofficial History of the Sun Newspaper in 99 Headlines

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About this listen

You should buy this book if: a) you dislike the Sun, but have never actually read it to know why and/or b) you're still not sure how we got into this mess.

Using his famed on-the-nose commentary, Twitter legend James Felton has dissected 99 of the most outlandish stories the Sun (for a long time the biggest-selling British newspaper) has run since it became a tabloid in 1969, hoping to answer once and for all whether the press has reflected - or manipulated - the British people over the last 50 years.

Included: joke-riddled and illustrated analyses of the Sun's most infamous stories about celebrities, war, royals, crime, the LGBTQ+ community, migrants, the EU, politics, bacon sandwiches and page 3.

©2020 James Felton (P)2020 Hachette Audio UK 20th Century Elections & Political Process Europe Great Britain Modern Politics & Government Words, Language & Grammar Writing & Publishing Comedy Funny Thought-Provoking Witty United Kingdom

Critic reviews

"An astonishing piece of work." (James O'Brien)

"This book was a delight. Funny, scathing and witty." (Ian Dunt)

"James Felton makes me laugh like a bellend." (Robert Webb)
All stars
Most relevant
Well written and researched and amazingly performed, this look at what could be the world's worst newspaper is perfect.

Fantastic/Horrible

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A trawl through 99 of the Sun's "classic" headlines. Racism, xenophobia, homophobia, Transphobia, classism the gangs all here! Brilliantly read by Alexei Sayle

A righteous rant

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Thank you James Felton for writing what is a light-hearted take on the evil spawn of the malicious conglomerate News International. you really take them to town while providing a gluttony of chortles and belly laughs.

And thank you Alexei Sayle for your unashamed dictation of what most mere mortals would consider cheek reddening prose and unutterable verbal exclamations. I'm glad I listened to the audio book instead of reading the hardcopy purely because of how much your voice adds too and complements perfectly Mr Felton's work.

I hope this book or audiobook lands on the desk of as many people as possible as it really does fantastic job of highlighting the horrors of the hateful miser, Mr Murdoch.

Thank you.

The narration of this book really does it justice.

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my dad ran a papershop during the 80s 90s and 00s and seeing your school teachers buying copies of the S*n was just embarrassing. reliving the experience now. thanks a fucking bunch James :) x

F*n in the S*n

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This is a good book but it is inevitably a bit like Groundhog Day because of the subject. Chapter after chapter of reasons why The Sun is terrible. They’re all good reasons and the tone of the book is pitched very well but it does sometimes feel slightly repetitive. That said, the reading by Alexei Sayle is absolutely brilliant. I can’t imagine anyone ever being more perfectly suited to reading a book. Overall, I enjoyed it and would happily recommend it.

A sober reminder of how bad The Sun can be

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