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I Know I am Rude, but it is Fun: The Royal Family and the World at Large - as Seen by Prince Philip
I Know I am Rude, but it is Fun
160 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 2015
79 people are currently reading
110 people want to read
About the author
Nigel Cawthorne
311 books119 followersNigel Cawthorne is an Anglo-American writer of fiction and non-fiction, and an editor. He has written more than 80 books on a wide range of subjects and has contributed to The Guardian, The Daily Telegraph Daily Mail and The New York Times. He has appeared on television and BBC Radio 4's Today programme.
Many of Nigel Cawthorne's books are compilations of popular history, without footnotes, references or bibliographies. His own web site refers to a description of his home as a "book-writing factory" and says, "More than half my books were commissioned by publishers and packagers for a flat fee or for a for a reduced royalty".
One of his most notable works was Taking Back My Name, an autobiography of Ike Turner, with whom he spent a number of weeks working with him on, taking up residence in Turner's house. The book caused much controversy, resulting in court cases for three years following its release.
Cawthorne currently lives in Bloomsbury, London with his girlfriend and son, Colin (born 1982).
Many of Nigel Cawthorne's books are compilations of popular history, without footnotes, references or bibliographies. His own web site refers to a description of his home as a "book-writing factory" and says, "More than half my books were commissioned by publishers and packagers for a flat fee or for a for a reduced royalty".
One of his most notable works was Taking Back My Name, an autobiography of Ike Turner, with whom he spent a number of weeks working with him on, taking up residence in Turner's house. The book caused much controversy, resulting in court cases for three years following its release.
Cawthorne currently lives in Bloomsbury, London with his girlfriend and son, Colin (born 1982).
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
May 10, 2016
There are plenty of amusing - and/or offensive, depending on where you draw the line - anecdotes between Prince Phillip: I Know...'s covers. Unfortunately, however, Cawthorne's writing is rather amateurish and lets its material down.
There is little evidence of proof-reading or editing. Mistakes are abundant. There are no sources or references and so no way of knowing whether any of the stories mentioned are actually true. To quote Prince Philip, somewhat ironically from this book, "You cannot take quotations in newspapers seriously. It so happens that it is perfectly legal to put anything in a newspaper in quotation marks, and there is nothing you can do about it. You have no copyright on what other people say you said." The anecdotes are grouped under vaguely related themes and Cawthorne makes some very half-hearted attempts at linking them. This mostly consists of a few "on the other hand"s and similar, like an essay written by a schoolchild. The segues are haphazard where they exist at all.
The humour is present:
"On being told that Prince Edward had secured a place at Jesus College, Cambridge with only a grade C and two Ds at A-level, he quipped: 'What a friend we have in Jesus.'"
"On a visit to caves in Australia, he was told 'beware of the drips', to which he replied: 'Oh I've run into plenty in my life'"
After he and the Queen watched the stripping scene from The Full Monty at the Royal Variety Show, he said to biographer Gyles Brandreth, "Don't worry, she's been to Papua New Guinea and seen it all before!"
And so forth. But this is not the best place to find it.
There is little evidence of proof-reading or editing. Mistakes are abundant. There are no sources or references and so no way of knowing whether any of the stories mentioned are actually true. To quote Prince Philip, somewhat ironically from this book, "You cannot take quotations in newspapers seriously. It so happens that it is perfectly legal to put anything in a newspaper in quotation marks, and there is nothing you can do about it. You have no copyright on what other people say you said." The anecdotes are grouped under vaguely related themes and Cawthorne makes some very half-hearted attempts at linking them. This mostly consists of a few "on the other hand"s and similar, like an essay written by a schoolchild. The segues are haphazard where they exist at all.
The humour is present:
"On being told that Prince Edward had secured a place at Jesus College, Cambridge with only a grade C and two Ds at A-level, he quipped: 'What a friend we have in Jesus.'"
"On a visit to caves in Australia, he was told 'beware of the drips', to which he replied: 'Oh I've run into plenty in my life'"
After he and the Queen watched the stripping scene from The Full Monty at the Royal Variety Show, he said to biographer Gyles Brandreth, "Don't worry, she's been to Papua New Guinea and seen it all before!"
And so forth. But this is not the best place to find it.
June 26, 2015
My reading experience was marred by the number of typographical errors in this book. Agreed, that this is the first edition; but that doesn't excuse such sloppiness. That too in a book on a British royal! As for Prince Philip- the man shocks and entertains in equal measure.
August 21, 2024
Found a copy with a photograph of Prince Phillip and the Queen on its cover and thought it might be worth a read. It was just ok and someone really needed to have done some proofreading on it before it was published (and in the case of the copy I read) re-published.
November 17, 2016
I can't help but like the old curmudgeon. He's like an uncle you learn to tolerate because, well, it's not what he says but how he says it.
August 25, 2021
3 Stars as this is mildly amusing.
April 15, 2021
Some real humour and quips of Prince Philip are told here. As well as highly publicised gaffes there are a number of witty one liners. He truly was a man of humour.
Unfortunately the writing and editing leaves a lot to be desired. It is incredibly poorly edited and that really annoys me and completely detracted from my enjoyment of reading.
Unfortunately the writing and editing leaves a lot to be desired. It is incredibly poorly edited and that really annoys me and completely detracted from my enjoyment of reading.
February 8, 2016
96 of 323
July 8, 2020
Most amusing! Although it certainly doesn't spare the occasional blush and gasp.
January 5, 2016
I would love to spend time with Prince Philip and Queen Elizabeth! It would be hoot!
January 12, 2018
Royal Archie Bunker
No doubt the Prince would bristle at the comparison, but he makes the same sort of cringe-worthy, "Ohmigod!!" -sort of comments that Archie did--only be was a sitcom character back in the 1970's, not a figure in English society for decades. Philip never seems to evolve with the times, but I guess that's part of his charm. Among many gems, one of my favorites is when he blandly makes conversation with 2 Irish Catholic nuns during the 1980's by asking whether or not they smuggled bombs in under their skirts to blow everyone up "to bits.".
No doubt the Prince would bristle at the comparison, but he makes the same sort of cringe-worthy, "Ohmigod!!" -sort of comments that Archie did--only be was a sitcom character back in the 1970's, not a figure in English society for decades. Philip never seems to evolve with the times, but I guess that's part of his charm. Among many gems, one of my favorites is when he blandly makes conversation with 2 Irish Catholic nuns during the 1980's by asking whether or not they smuggled bombs in under their skirts to blow everyone up "to bits.".
February 1, 2022
I can generously give this 2 stars just for the quotes and the humour of them. Prince Philip was quite obviously a very witty man who was also of his time in terms of political incorrectness. As for the writing, no evidence of proof reading which affected the reading sometimes as I had to constantly re-read some extracts to make sense of them. The fact that there is no referencing to authenticate any of the statements also means we should take it with a pinch of salt.
Amusing collection of soundbites from a pretty incredible man.
Amusing collection of soundbites from a pretty incredible man.
April 12, 2020
Si tratta semplicemente di una raccolta di aneddoti e citazioni del Principe Filippo, suddivisa per macroargomenti. Una buona lettura per farsi due risate (e, qualche volta, anche per riflettere) e per delineare sommariamente il personaggio, ma niente di più.
Mancano fonti e riferimenti da parte dell'autore, quindi si ha un po' il dubbio circa l'affidabilità del materiale.
Due stellette e mezza.
Mancano fonti e riferimenti da parte dell'autore, quindi si ha un po' il dubbio circa l'affidabilità del materiale.
Due stellette e mezza.
June 8, 2021
Actually really enjoyed to book and Duke's quotes anf humour. This was spoilt by the authors poor spell checker with errors in most paragraphs which would have been fixed hd the book been proof read properly...
Trying to add or remove words to make the start of a sentence make sense or mentally correct hear/here their/there was just purely annoying.
I would have given 4-5 stars but badly written and publisher failures take away the full enjoyment.
Trying to add or remove words to make the start of a sentence make sense or mentally correct hear/here their/there was just purely annoying.
I would have given 4-5 stars but badly written and publisher failures take away the full enjoyment.
January 21, 2017
Amusing and cringeworthy
This is an amusing read but you are left with the sense that an ordinary person would've been "taught some manners" long ago, indeed I began to find it rather depressing in the end, he clearly gets away with it because of who he is..
It is still worth reading to get a real sense of who Phil the Greek really is..
This is an amusing read but you are left with the sense that an ordinary person would've been "taught some manners" long ago, indeed I began to find it rather depressing in the end, he clearly gets away with it because of who he is..
It is still worth reading to get a real sense of who Phil the Greek really is..
September 3, 2023
Oh! to be get away with such utterances today!
High;y entertaining, and very readable. We can all learn about since of humour, off the cuff comments, and maybe learn the ability not to take either ourselves or others so seriously. Brilliant.
High;y entertaining, and very readable. We can all learn about since of humour, off the cuff comments, and maybe learn the ability not to take either ourselves or others so seriously. Brilliant.
June 12, 2021
The writing is appalling with very poor grammar. The author should have employed a reliable proofreader. That said, some of Prince Phillip's reported gaffes made me laugh out loud.
November 16, 2022
Rather amusing.
January 22, 2024
Lots of amusing bits that you think "nooo you can't say that" But he did. Some pages had me yawning . But mostly I was laughing at his puns.
September 11, 2023
This book was terrible on many levels.
"Philip's Life in his Own Words"...this merely a compilation of "quotes" which are either misrepresented or in altogether poor taste. I don't know why I was expecting an authorized biography.
There are so many errors throughout the text (misspelled words, missing letters, repeated words, and repeated sentences) that I have come to the conclusion that this book was not edited. If it had been, then it probably would not have been published.
If the journalists didn't make him look bad enough, this book should do the trick. Only a few of the quotes were actually even funny.
The best thing I can say is that it was under 200 pages. Although I would like both the time and money spent on this book back.
"Philip's Life in his Own Words"...this merely a compilation of "quotes" which are either misrepresented or in altogether poor taste. I don't know why I was expecting an authorized biography.
There are so many errors throughout the text (misspelled words, missing letters, repeated words, and repeated sentences) that I have come to the conclusion that this book was not edited. If it had been, then it probably would not have been published.
If the journalists didn't make him look bad enough, this book should do the trick. Only a few of the quotes were actually even funny.
The best thing I can say is that it was under 200 pages. Although I would like both the time and money spent on this book back.
April 27, 2016
Not Worth Reading
The Prince appears full of himself with a sense of entitlement because of his birth and marriage. His faux pas out of sheer ignorance are appalling.
Carl Roache
The Prince appears full of himself with a sense of entitlement because of his birth and marriage. His faux pas out of sheer ignorance are appalling.
Carl Roache
February 21, 2023
This one took longer to read. It just didn't grab me like similar books have in the past.
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews