Bearded Tit
  • Published: 1 January 2011
  • ISBN: 9781446408063
  • Imprint: Ebury Digital
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 352

Bearded Tit

A Love Story with Feathers

Formats & editions
EBook
1 Jan 2011
Paperback
15 Feb 2009
Buy from…
Amazon Apple Books Google Play Kobo Booktopia eBooks.com

A poignant but hilarious journey into the arcane world of birdwatching by one of the most popular names in British comedy

Bearded Tit is Rory McGrath's story of life among birds. From a Cornish boyhood wandering gorse-tipped cliffs listening to the song of the yellowhammer with his imaginary girlfriend, or drawing gravity-defying jackdaws in class when he should have been applying himself to physics, to quoting the Latin names of birds to give himself a fighting chance of a future with JJ - the most beautiful girl he had ever seen.

As an adult, or what passes for one, Rory recounts becoming a card-carrying birdwatcher, observing his first skylark - peerless king of the summer sky - while stoned; his repeatedly failed attempts to get up at the crack of dawn like the real twitchers; and his flawed bid to educate his utterly unreconstructed drinking mate Danny in the ways of birding.

Rory's tale is a thoroughly educational, occasionally lyrical and highly amusing romp through the hidden byways of birdwatching and, more importantly, a love story you'll never forget.
  • Published: 1 January 2011
  • ISBN: 9781446408063
  • Imprint: Ebury Digital
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 352
Categories:

About the author

Rory McGrath

Rory McGrath was born in the last century. He studied at Redruth Grammar School and Emmanuel College, Cambridge. He is one of the best-known faces in British comedy, appearing in programmes such as They Think It's All Over, QI and Three Men in a Boat. He was a co-founder of TV production company Hat Trick Productions, and has written jokes for many comedians, including Frankie Howerd. He lives in Cambridge and supports Arsenal.

Also by Rory McGrath

The Father, the Son and the Ghostly Hole
See all

Praise for Bearded Tit

a gentle, warming, nostalgic and gag-ridden memoir... His self-deprecation is not only disarming but occasionally very moving, and he pulls off a romantic twist at the end that will thaw the heart of the coldest Icelandic puffin.

Daily Mail

Funny and surprisingly moving

Griff Rhys Jones

McGrath's tale of fumbled romance and birding evangelism is ultimately a sweet and elegiac read

Mail on Sunday

Rory has pulled off something rather special

Simon Barnes, author of How to be a Bad Birdwatcher

There is far more to Rory McGrath than meets the eye. Yes, he can be very funny, basic and boisterous, but beneath the stubble is a countryman and birdwatcher... lyrical and beautiful

Daily Telegraph