UK on a G-String: One bloke, one guitar, and a whole lot of awkward.

by Justin Brown

It was the bet of a lifetime - and if Justin Brown lost, he'd be forced to go to the other side of the world and pay his way home as a door-to-door busker. Sure enough, wannabe musician Brown found himself penniless and freezing. Armed with a duffle coat and a guitar, he travels the country in mid-winter, knocking on doors and singing for his supper. He meets gypsies, drinks with Britain's most famous street singer, harasses carol singers, plucks turkeys, speaks to J.K.Rowling and gets told to beat it 357 times, all in his quest to get home to New Zealand.

Brown delivers an hilarious account of his journey, showing why he's become an award-winning travel writer and bestselling author.

'Brown not only has the gift not only of personal charm but of writing about other people with warmth and insight. A totally engaging read' - The Herald

(Print edition first published by Random House and Summersdale Publishers. The U.S version of this book (One Man, 23 Beers and a Crazy Bet) can be purchased from amazon.com.

Genres: Travel, Nonfiction, Humor

290 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 30, 2004

About the author

‘One of New Zealand’s highest profile creatives’ – The NZ Herald, 2018.

Justin Brown is a bestselling author and creative director. For the past 15 years, he hosted a top rating music radio show in Auckland. He has published 31 books for adults and children. Bowling Through India and Kiwi Speak were two of three bestsellers he had in a single year. In 2012 he won a notable books award for his junior novel Shot, Boom, Score!

In 2010 North and South named him Businessman of the Year.

Reviews

[Discoverylover · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this! I laughed out loud lots of times, and winced a bit too!

[Kris Dersch · Rating 4 out of 5]

Delightful and quintessential Kiwi. I picked this up at a bookstore in New Zealand and it was great fun to follow Justin on his journey through the UK in the dead of winter with nothing but his guitar. Justin doesn't take himself or his journey to seriously and as such...delights.

[Robyn · Rating 1 out of 5]

I just couldn't like this. I tried so hard, but I found it boring and repetitive. Cool concept. See Free Country for how a book about traversing England without money should be written.

[Felicity Terry · Rating 1 out of 5]

Described as 'Travel Writing' which according to about.com is defined as 'a form of creative nonfiction in which the narrator's encounters with foreign places serve as the dominant subject'. On these grounds I suppose UK On A G-String is indeed rightfully categorised but in my opinion it takes more than a writer recalling how much the people of certain places responded to his busking door-to-door, harassing them for money, in order to pass as such.

For a book that could have been a tremendously quirky and very different kind of 'travelogue' I'm afraid I found the whole thing ludicrous, the writing conceited and amateurish, the narrative repetitive (given how many times the author wondered about the possibility of 'being beaten up' though not a violent person by the end I almost wished someone had punched him) and as for it being humorous? Well, lets just say I didn't manage a smile let alone a laugh but then I suspect that this is a book that will probably appeal more to a male audience.

Copyright: Tracy Terry @ Pen and Paper.

[Xanthi · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun and very funny book about a New Zealander who loses a bet with a friend and ends up having to busk door-to-door, in Britain, in winter, to make up enough money for a plane ticket to get him home. All I can say is that Brown must be one hell of an extrovert to have been able to kick this one off. I seriously could have done without the parts about murdering turkeys and hating cats, but the rest was an amusing adventure.

[Jade · Rating 4 out of 5]

so far so good...