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Let's Do It
- The Authorised Biography of Victoria Wood
- Narrated by: Julie Walters, Jasper Rees, Kate Robbins, Richenda Carey, Jane Wymark, Daniel Rigby, David Threlfall, Anne Reid, Susie Blake, Duncan Preston, Celia Imrie
- Length: 20 hrs and 56 mins
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Let's Do It
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Summary
Trapeze audiobooks presents an extraordinary multi-voice tribute to one of Britain's most talented and most loved entertainers: Victoria Wood.
This audiobook features narration from some of the extraordinary voices who worked with Victoria over her career:
Susie Blake
Richenda Carey
Celia Imrie
Duncan Preston
Anne Reid
Daniel Rigby
Kate Robbins
David Threlfall
Julie Walters
Jane Wymark
With an introduction read by Jasper Rees and two recordings of Victoria Wood's classic Ballad of Barry and Freda.
I was born with a warped sense of humour and when I was carried home from being born it was Coronation Day and so I was called Victoria, but you are not supposed to know who wrote this anyway. It is about time I unleashed my pent-up emotions in a bitter comment on the state of our society but it's not quite me so I think I shall write a heart-warming story with laughter behind the tears and tears behind the laughter which means hysterics to you Philistines....
From 'Pardon?' by Vicky Wood, aged 14. Bury Grammar School (Girls) Magazine, 1967.
In her passport, Victoria Wood listed her occupation as 'entertainer' - and in stand-up and sketches, songs and sitcom, musicals and dramas, she became the greatest entertainer of the age. Those things that might have held her back - her lonely childhood, her crippling shyness and above all the disadvantage of being a woman in a male-run industry - she turned to her advantage to make extraordinary comedy about ordinary people living ordinary lives in ordinary bodies. She wasn't fond of the term, but Victoria Wood truly was a national treasure - and her loss is still keenly felt.
Victoria had plenty of stories still to tell when she died in 2016, and one of those was her own autobiography.
'I will do it one day,' she told journalist and author Jasper Rees when he first met her in 2001. 'It would be about my childhood, about my first few years in show-business, which were really interesting and would make a really nice story.'
That sadly never came to pass, so Victoria's estate has asked Jasper Rees, who interviewed her more than anyone else, to tell her extraordinary story in full. He has been granted complete and exclusive access to Victoria's rich archive of personal and professional material and has conducted more than 200 interviews with her family, friends and colleagues - among them Victoria's children, her sisters, her ex-husband, Geoffrey Durham, Julie Walters, Celia Imrie, Dawn French, Anne Reid, Imelda Staunton and many more.
What emerges is a portrait of a true pioneer who spoke to her audience like no one before or since.
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- crochetdiva
- 25-03-21
It makes you laugh, it makes you cry
It feels like Victoria Wood was a big part of my living room for many years, Losing her was the same as losing Princess Diana, the loss was so deep. Having this book, and hearing from those closest to her, made me realise it wasn't easy for her, but she fought, and won, every battle, except the last one. RIP Victoria. A very moving book.
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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- Michael and Jane Bochenski
- 29-04-21
Back to the dvds
What a life! The love just pours out through the multiple narrators and the author’s finely crafted biography. This has sent us back to the DVD’s, happily and nostalgically. VW we miss you.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Susan Head
- 10-03-21
OK
Love Victoria Wood but found this audio a struggle with different celebs reading chapters
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Julia
- 05-01-21
Wonderful
Joyful celebration of all that made up a real comedy legend. From struggling to success and everything in between.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Kindle Customer
- 22-06-21
A+++++
Listed to it in the car. very long but very informative about Victoria Wood's life. Nice that there was a different person reading each chapter
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Gary Robinson
- 24-09-21
I’ve had mortgages shorter in length than this book … but …
… it’s probably the most detailed account of any performer I’ve read . And what a performer . From Victoria’s upbringing in North Manchester to the pinnacle of being what we call ( and she would hate I’d no doubt bet ) a “ Superstar “ it made me laugh and made me cry and reminded me of some of the funniest writing and performance we have ever been lucky enough to witness .
This book tells it like it was and some may find that uncomfortable . Highly recommended.
Just such a shame Victoria Wood was taken from us too soon .
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- DebM
- 29-10-20
Emotional and eye opening.
I miss Victoria Wood so very much. I soaked in every gag, story, song, performance, had tapes, records, eventually DVDs and CDs. I learned every sketch and delivered them back to friends abs we would call about laughing. Not that I was any kind of actor, not in the slightest. We were worshipping at the feet of the greatest comic genius - and latterly dramatic genius - that ever lived. I remember that when news broke of her sad death, I bawled my eyes out, and when I regained my composure I kept getting set off again abs again as friends were contacting me to see if I was alright. They knew what Victoria meant to me. This book is a stroll, often a rampage, through her life, and not a sanitised one. Victoria did nor suffer fools gladly and her friends and family share stories and remembrances with us that do not paint her as a saint. It seems to be an honest look at her life and one that I greatly enjoyed, all while leading up to the dreaded final chapter. I have just listened to the ending, alone in the room curled up with my cat on my knee. I am so glad that along with buying the book for my Kindle, I got the Audible version as hearing it read out by Victoria’s ‘troupe’ made it all the more meaningful. I identify with Victoria’s dual personality, myself loving my own company and being a bit of a home bird, but then bursting into my alter ego as an entertainer randomly. I feel as if I know her better now, and will watch and listen to her work with a deeper level of understanding. Her humour was what grabbed me in when I was younger, but her understanding of humanity is what made her so special and so able to manipulate our emotions. I do not think there will ever be another Victoria Wood.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Al Hackett
- 06-10-21
None Better
Victoria Wood was a one off. Her success and talent will never be repeated. what an absolute star. This is a great account of her life made even better with a great list of friends taking it in turn to read the chapters.
if you love Victoria Wood then you'll love this book.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Amazonian
- 07-02-23
The greatest performer of the TV age
What a privilege it is to have this authorised biography read by these fine performer friends of Victoria’s- combining those two fine attributes of hers of humour and pathos. I learned so much, laughed and considered a lot.
What a perfectionist
What a treasure
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- D. Baker
- 30-10-20
Great book, amazing selection of readers
As has been said in reviews in press and reviews on Audible / Amazon, a wonderful book about an amazing career - with the details of VW's childhood quite upsetting for fans to deal with.
The book is perfectly paced, with just amount of detail for the many phases of her career. It's certainly not a hagiography, with VW's spikiness and shyness certainly not glossed over. It's particularly sad to realise that the actors that made up her regulars saw the troupe as more of a working relationship than a friendship group, but it's a tribute to VW that so many are assembled for the reading of this book. Hearing David Threlfall 'do' Alan Bennett (and many others) is one of the many opportunities for the readers to inhabit the people they are quoting from as part of the book. And Julie Walters says the 'c' word - I nearly dropped spat out my macaroon.
Lots of laughs, even to the end.
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4 people found this helpful