Alan Partridge: Big Beacon

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In Big Beacon, Norwich's favourite son and best broadcaster, Alan Partridge, triumphs against the odds. TWICE. Published by Seven Dials on 12th October, the book reveals how "Norwich's favourite son and best broadcaster" triumphed "against the odds. TWICE."

Firstly, this month the Norwich broadcaster presides over a further instalment of his hit podcast, From the Oasthouse, another multi-hour marathon of precision-tooled comedy in which he mulls over the topics of the day. Or, as one of its writers describes it, “the ramblings of a lonely man who doesn’t want you to know he’s lonely”. And then, in October, comes Big Beacon, the third instalment of his memoirs. (Did Winston Churchill manage three memoirs?) Big Beacon, so the blurb tells us, will use an innovative “dual narrative structure you sometimes see in films” to tell the story of how he rebuilt his TV career alongside rebuilding an old lighthouse to its former glory, “motivated by nothing more than respect for a quietly heroic old building that many take for granted, which some people think is a metaphor for Alan himself even though it’s not really for them to say”. But then something quite unexpected and moving, because Big Beacon also tells the story of a selfless man, driven to restore an old lighthouse to its former glory, motivated by nothing more than respect for a quietly heroic old building that many take for granted, which some people think is a metaphor for Alan himself even though it’s not really for them to say.* QuotePublished by Seven Dials on 12th October, the book reveals how "Norwich's favourite son and best broadcaster" triumphed "against the odds. TWICE."The two strands will run in tandem, their narrative arcs mirroring each other to make the parallels between the two stories abundantly clear to the less able listener. Get the latest news and insight into how the Big Issue magazine is made by signing up for the Inside Big Issue newsletter But then something quite unexpected and moving, because Big Beacon also tells the story of a selfless man, driven to restore an old lighthouse to its former glory, motivated by nothing more than respect for a quietly heroic old building that many take for granted, which some people think is a metaphor for Alan himself even though it's not really for them to say.*

They’re undiluted Alan, the perfect way to explore the full unreliable narrator comic potential of his complex psyche. Using an innovative 'dual narrative' structure you sometimes see in films, Big Beacon tells the story of how Partridge heroically rebuilt his TV career, rising like a phoenix from the desolate wasteland of local radio to climb to the summit of Mount Primetime and regain the nationwide prominence his talent merits. Big Beacon employs a straightforward dual narrative technique, which Partridge naturally regards as an innovation (he spends most of the prologue needlessly explaining how it works).

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In Big Beacon , Norwich's favourite son and best broadcaster, Alan Partridge, triumphs against the odds. TWICE.