What Fresh Lunacy Is This? cover art

What Fresh Lunacy Is This?

The Authorised Biography of Oliver Reed

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What Fresh Lunacy Is This?

By: Robert Sellers
Narrated by: Sean Barrett
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About this listen

Oliver Reed may not have been Britain's biggest film star - for a period in the early 70s he came within a hairsbreadth of replacing Sean Connery as James Bond - but he is an august member of that small band of people, like George Best and Eric Morecambe, who transcended their chosen medium, became too big for it even, and grew into cultural icons.

For the first time Reed's close family has agreed to collaborate on a project about the man himself. The result is a fascinating new insight into a man seen by many as merely a brawling, boozing hellraiser. And yet he was so much more than this. For behind that image, which all too often he played up to in public, was a vastly complex individual, a man of deep passions and loyalty but also deep-rooted vulnerability and insecurities. Why was a proud, patriotic, intelligent, successful and erudite man so obsessed about proving himself to others, time and time again? Although the Reed myth is of Homeric proportions, he remains a national treasure and somewhat peculiar icon.

©2013 Robert Sellers (P)2013 Audible Ltd
Entertainment & Celebrities Celebrity Biography Heartfelt Inspiring Thought-Provoking Funny

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All stars
Most relevant

Would you consider the audio edition of What Fresh Lunacy Is This? to be better than the print version?

Have not read the print version....

What was one of the most memorable moments of What Fresh Lunacy Is This??

All of it!

What does Sean Barrett bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you had only read the book?

Gives very amusing distinguishable impressions of each person, which bring real life to the incredible stories.

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

Both....Oliver Reed's life was clearly a roller coaster from start to finish.

Any additional comments?

Reed's antics are truly unbelievable, an absolute must read and the narration is just brilliant...One of the best biographies I've ever read/heard....I strongly advise getting this book....it made my monotonous tube rides rip roaringly funny and the the time flew by!

Thoroughly enjoyable!!

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Just finished this hugely entertaining audio and was a great insight into the man that was "Ollie" The book gives all the accounts of Reeds films in some detail giving a nice timeline of the highs and lows of his career. All the escapades are here from the mischevious boozy tomfoolery to the more darker unpleasant inebriated Ollie antics. The narrator does great voices throughout and really gives you a feel of the man.He was the original "larger than life " character lived life on only his terms and had bloody marvellous ride to a sad but oh so fitting end. ( arm wrestling sailors in the pub after playing an ex gladiator. Climb aboard , highly reccomended .

Highly entertaining , Wonderfully read

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Oliver Reed, We Salute you, what a book, What a Man, What Life. Cheers wherever you may be..

Jolly Ollie.

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Excellent book, well written and superbly narrated. I'd highly recommend it. If you're interested in the actor then this is the right book for you.

Well researched and written

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A brilliant book, probably the best to read if your , like me, an Ollie fan... if your not, take a chance and learn about an awesome man ❤

When he was good!

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