About the Author

Bob Mortimer was born in Middlesbrough in 1959, the youngest of four sons. He trained as a solicitor before a chance encounter with Vic Reeves in the 1980s led to a successful career in comedy as half of duo Reeves and Mortimer. His screen credits include Shooting Stars, Big Night Out, Catterick and most recently BBC2's Gone Fishing. His memoir, And Away…, published in 2021. It became the bestselling memoir of the year and was named Times and Sunday Times Humour Book of the Year. His first novel, The Satsuma Complex, was published in 2022 and won the Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse prize for Comic Fiction. The sequel, The Hotel Avocado, was an immediate number one bestseller on release in 2024. His books have now sold over 2 million copies. He's on Twitter and Instagram as @RealBobMortimer.

Reviews

‘It’s probably fairer to say that since his brush with mortality, Mortimer has come into his own. There is this book, which is a triumph… And Away is as good a celebrity autobiography as you could hope to read, and enthusiastically recommend.’
*Daily Mail*

‘…(a) fascinating and often poignant memoir.’
*Daily Express & Daily Mirror*

‘The book, too, grows more confident in talking about serious subjects as it progresses and it’s the honesty and openness that he allows in Gone Fishing that make And Away…, by the end, an unexpectedly moving read’
*The Observer*

‘A glorious collection of stories from an extraordinary life. Once you put it down, you may get the immediate urge to pick it up again. Yes, you couldn’t let it lie.’
*Yorkshire Magazine*

‘Bob Mortimer is pretty much established as a national treasure…So it's great to hear his story of how he got there first-hand…In the end he has become loved for being himself. And maybe that's the best type of success of all.’
*Beyond the Joke*

‘Bob’s recent reinvention via the …Gone Fishing series means a whole new audience might indeed be surprised at how many different things he’s done and will particularly admire the non-showbiz route to stardom in our age of driven but ultimately vacuous and content-free superstars.’ 
*Yorkshire Bylines*

‘It’s a precarious world, but And Away... is a heartfelt testament to the magic of finding your happy place within it.’
*The Sunday Times*

‘(a) touching, funny autobiography.'
*Observer*

‘(a) comic masterpiece of a memoir: melancholically amusing, warm and witty’
*Strong Words*

‘Filled with anecdotes from Mortimer’s life, And Away… contrasts humour with a deeper contemplation of life following his open-heart surgery’
*Radio Times*

‘…deftly combines all the varied aspects of Mortimer’s eventful, fascinating life and paints a fully three-dimensional picture of this much-loved figure’
*Chortle*

‘…it’s everything you would want from the man who is the highlight of every show you see him on’
*The Independent*