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The Travels of a Fat Bulldog
 
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The Travels of a Fat Bulldog (Paperback)

by George Courtauld (Author)
4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
Price: £8.99 & this item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
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The Travels of a Fat Bulldog + The Fat Bulldog Roams Again + The Last Travels of a Fat Bulldog
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Product details

  • Paperback: 288 pages
  • Publisher: Abacus; New edition edition (1 May 1997)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0349108439
  • ISBN-13: 978-0349108438
  • Product Dimensions: 19.6 x 12 x 2.2 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 247,060 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Product Description

Review

'A diarist almost as compellingly readable as Alan Clark...every page has some passage that makes one want to laugh aloud.' TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT ** 'Excellent... a special pleasure.' SPECTATOR ** 'Lively and hilarious... a thumping good read.' SUNDAY TELEGRAPH 'A witty and at times bad-tempered travelogue that is sterling stuff.' MAXIM 'Up until his recent retirement, George Courtauld worked for the Foreign Office as a Queen's Messenger. If you're not sure what that is, reading this book will leave you none the wiser, for Courtauld--bound by the Official Secrets Act--confines his subject matter to places and people. This adds an air of mystery to the book, and leaves room for more of the Fat Bulldog's tales. Fans of Courtauld's previous books The Travels of a Fat Bulldog and The Fat Bulldog Roams Again will already know the drill, but will be sad to know that this third instalment is to be the last. Reading this book is like reading choice extracts from a most extraordinary diary. In Zambia, Courtauld is taken out to "spot game" at one of the biggest national parks in the world. His host, one Colonel Hawfinch, describes their guide as an "armed incompetent" and his driver as "too stupid to understand my comments on his wretched driving". This is confirmed when the vehicle stalls before 200 charging buffalo and the guard accidentally disconnects the headlamps. As entertaining as these anecdotes are, what really brings them to life is the author's brilliant use of language. The South African wildebeest, for example, is described as "a ridiculous antelope with a long face and a funny little pair of horns perched on the top of its head like a girl's sunglasses pushed up into her hair.' DAREN KING, AMAZON.CO.UK


Product Description

George Courtauld is a Queen's Messenger, a sort or Royal courier who takes Her Majesty's letters (sometimes with kippers and marmalade and other necessities) to British embassies around the world. In the long hours waiting for flights, Queen's Messengers usually take up a hobby- embriodery for example, or water-colour painting- or become world experts on seashells. Not Gerorge Courtauld. Whenever he finds a spare moment, he takes off on a local adventure- white-water rafting in Costa Rica, searching (unsuccessfully) for the Limpopo in the dark, complaining (justifiably) about being installed in a brothel in Liberia and sampling a disco in Ulaan Bataar where he thrills to the sounds of Mongolia's favourite rock group, HONK! Infectiously interested in everything with an acute eye for the absurd, George Courtauld has written one of the funniest travel books to appear for many years.
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The Travels of a Fat Bulldog
87% buy the item featured on this page:
The Travels of a Fat Bulldog 4.5 out of 5 stars (4)
£8.99
The Fat Bulldog Roams Again
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The Fat Bulldog Roams Again 5.0 out of 5 stars (2)
£7.99
The Last Travels of a Fat Bulldog
2% buy
The Last Travels of a Fat Bulldog 4.0 out of 5 stars (1)
£7.19
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Customer Reviews

4 Reviews
5 star:
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4 star:
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3 star:    (0)
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Average Customer Review
4.5 out of 5 stars (4 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Made me laugh out loud - I couldn't put it down!, 3 May 2000
By A Customer
I bought this book only because it was in the travel section, and I like travel books. I was very pleased to find it not just acceptable, not just good, but brilliant! I found it a delight to read - insightful, observant and very witty. Go for it, read it: if you like the humour of Saki's short stories, Lucky Jim or Peter Biddlecombe, you will like this.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars diverse, 23 Sep 2001
By A Customer
This review is from: The Travels of a Fat Bulldog (Travel Literature) (Paperback)
This is one of the most engrossing books I have ever read. It switches frequently between the often bizarre trips abroad and the entries referring to his home life.

The description of the countries he visits is vivid without sounding like a travel brochure. The people that we meet on these trips are as varied as the settings, including characters from all over the world with every trait of personality I can think of.

In contrast, the essex entries have a more gentle interest as we follow the affairs of a farm and it's enhabitants. This has the same basic appeal as a soap opera and contrasts perfectly with the foreign journies.

The net result of these things is a book that is easy to read and a devil to put down.

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1 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Less whiny than Bryson, 21 Feb 2002
By A Customer
If you like reading about other people's travels and travails, this may be a book for you. The author travels to many widely disparate places such as the frozen tundra of Sibiria, Washington DC and Victoria Lake. This is interleaved with episodes from work and holidays at his modest estate in Norfolk.

The obvious object of comparison is Bill Bryson. I'd say that Courtauld is a lot less dissatisfied with things around him. His attitude is more one of acceptance of and wonder at whatever may come his way. That's probably because his travel is incidental to his job and also being paid for by someone else. But he does have Bryson's curiosity, only to a deeper level, being interested in construction, birds, flowers and, of course, people.

All in all this is a cosy book that won't rock anybody's boat but will amuse you for a couple of hours whether you spend them curled up in an armchair or in a plane seat.

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5.0 out of 5 stars Good old fashioned travel tales
I actually bought this book several years ago in the City Airport while waiting for another horrible flight in a little death trap turboprop. Read more
Published on 27 May 2007 by Miran Ali

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