Listen free for 30 days

Listen with offer

Sample

£0.00 for first 30 days

Thousands of incredible audiobooks and podcasts to take wherever you go.
Immerse yourself in a world of storytelling with the Plus Catalogue - unlimited listening to thousands of select audiobooks, podcasts and Audible Originals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Book of Obituaries

By: Ann Wroe, Keith Colquhoun
Narrated by: Lucy Scott
Try for £0.00

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically.

Buy Now for £20.99

Buy Now for £20.99

Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.
activate_samplebutton_t1

Editor reviews

Lucky Scott raises the already entertaining collection of obituaries to new heights with her lively performance of The Economist: Book of Obituaries. This work is a brilliant collaboration between editors Keith Colquhoun and Ann Wroe, who have compiled a volume of the most noteworthy obituaries that appeared in the English newspaper The Economist, between the years 1994 and 2008.

Looking to give extra context to the last remembrances of a wide range of individuals, Book of Obituaries is well worth a listen. Learn about the lives of famed persons like Princess Diana, Bip, and Hunter Thompson. Or the less well-known, but equally interesting obituaries of an American gangster, a singing psychic, and the inventor of instant noodles.

Summary

The obituaries that appear in The Economist are remarkable because of the unpredictable selection of people to be written about, the surprising lives they lead - but also for the style in which the obituary is written. The selection for this book ranges far and wide, including Jean Bedel Bokassa and Pope Jean Paul II, Pamela Harriman and Harry Oppenheimer, Akio Morita and J. K. Galbraith, Jean Baudrillard and Syd Barrett, Estee Lauder and Hunter Thomson, Bip (the legendary mime artist Marcel Marceau) and even Alex the African Grey (science's best known parrot).

©2011 Ann Wroe, Keith Colquhoun (P)2013 Audible Ltd

Critic reviews

"The wit is wicked, in the best sense of that ambiguous word, but it is never cruel, and always bang on; as its victims, after serving their million-odd years in Purgatory, would ruefully have to agree." (The Spectator)

What listeners say about Book of Obituaries

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    2
  • 4 Stars
    2
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Performance
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    3
  • 4 Stars
    1
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    2
  • 4 Stars
    2
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.