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My Animals, and Other Animals: A memoir of sorts
'I'm always wary of llamas. They're mischievous and smart. I get a sense, when I approach them, that they are conferring . . . as if to say, 'That's that bloke off the telly.'
Bill Bailey has always had dogs in his life, including a Lakeland Terrier called Rocky who would travel with him in the van to his first shows and occasionally join him on stage. Fast forward a few decades and Bill shares his home with a variety of birds, dogs, frogs, chameleons, and an armadillo called Tommy. 'We even had a giant chicken at the house for a while, a huge Malay cockerel, Kid Creole. After a few stand-offs he took against me. He had to go in the end, I was being stalked in my own back garden.'
That chicken apart, animals have always been at the heart of an extraordinary life as one of the nation's favourite comedians, actors, musicians and (thanks to Strictly) from terriers to the orangutans of Sumatra and the parrots that share his breakfast every morning in west London.
As anyone who has ever had a pet knows, animals are a constant source of joy, but they also connect us to the world and to each other, touching on a deeper, older human need for companionship. Full of the leftfield humour, wit and wisdom that has made Bill Bailey such a beloved performer around the world, My Animals, and Other Animals is the story of Bill's life, but more than that, it's the story of how all of our lives are enriched by the animals who accompany us on that journey.
Bill Bailey has always had dogs in his life, including a Lakeland Terrier called Rocky who would travel with him in the van to his first shows and occasionally join him on stage. Fast forward a few decades and Bill shares his home with a variety of birds, dogs, frogs, chameleons, and an armadillo called Tommy. 'We even had a giant chicken at the house for a while, a huge Malay cockerel, Kid Creole. After a few stand-offs he took against me. He had to go in the end, I was being stalked in my own back garden.'
That chicken apart, animals have always been at the heart of an extraordinary life as one of the nation's favourite comedians, actors, musicians and (thanks to Strictly) from terriers to the orangutans of Sumatra and the parrots that share his breakfast every morning in west London.
As anyone who has ever had a pet knows, animals are a constant source of joy, but they also connect us to the world and to each other, touching on a deeper, older human need for companionship. Full of the leftfield humour, wit and wisdom that has made Bill Bailey such a beloved performer around the world, My Animals, and Other Animals is the story of Bill's life, but more than that, it's the story of how all of our lives are enriched by the animals who accompany us on that journey.
304 pages, Kindle Edition
Published October 10, 2024
72 people are currently reading
415 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 86 reviews
September 23, 2025
The title is spot on. This is a book mainly about animals where I learned a bit about Bill Bailey incidentally. In the preface, Bailey writes poignantly, “pets in general – tend to have short lifespans compared to ours. The times we spend with them are often marked as milestones in our own lives.”
We’re about to visit Chester Zoo, which is billed as the UK’s best zoo, as we want to see the snow leopards, so I was interested to read about Bailey’s views on Zoos. He points out that “they allow us to see, hear and smell animals, to get a tangible sense of these creatures that we will never get from watching a documentary.”
Part One: Family
Chapter One – includes the tale of Bailey’s first encounter with a dog and his first pet dog.
Chapter 2 – a caravan holiday in his youth near a nuclear power plant, which features “radioactive giant woodlice.”
Chapter 3 – Life on a houseboat with a dog circa late 1980s.
Chapter 4 – Life in a small flat in London with a dog and a cat who join forces to sneak food.
Chapter 5 – Getting to know neighbors. Bailey describes his cat BooBoo as “a large velvety black rascal, a real handsome devil who was a play-away kind of feline.”
Chapter 6 – A word on relationships and the effort to get a particular type of cat.
Part Two: Home
“Sharing your breakfast with four noisy parrots who love toast … means you start the day with a smile.”
Chapter 7 – about Posh and Becks the chameleons.
Chapter 8 – keeping rabbits safe from foxes.
Chapter 9 – owning a tortoise.
Chapter 10 – Madagascan hissing cockroaches and we learn of Bailey’s son.
Chapter 11 – ‘Teddy in Chelsea.’
Chapter 12 – About chickens.
Part Three: Work. In comedy Bailey “found great freedom, a self-styled life path [he] never knew existed. A haphazard, make-it-up-as-you-go-along, punk style do-it-yourself ethic that felt, not just exciting, but [his] natural home.”
Chapter 13 – bats in Boracay.
Chapter 14 – Filming dormice and Hot Fuzz.
Chapter 15 – Mrs. Speckles the hen.
Chapter 16 – whale sharks in Australia.
Chapter 17 – A back injury at Edinburgh Fringe and adventures in the Australian Outback.
Chapter 18 – Spa time with Koi.
Part Four: Indonesia – A Love Story. “A mirrored lagoon, ringed by tropical islands shadowed by a cloud-wreathed volcano from which emanates a wisp of smoke. A colonial Dutch fort perched on a hill, wooden dugout fishing boats gently puttering home at sunset, a gaggle of excited children, waving and jumping in the water […] confronted with this view, this stunning gem of a place, we decided on a whim to get married.”
Chapter 19 – About birdwatching in Indonesia.
Chapter 20 – “Tarsiers.” Bailey explains that “Tarsiers are a bit bigger than a gerbil and as night falls they emerge from their daytime hidey holes to hunt, pursuing insects through the tree canopy.”
Chapter 21 – A Moluccan or salmon-crested cockatoo named Molly.
Chapter 22 – About Jakobi a Triton cockatoo and friend of Molly. “As all the parrot books say, you never really own a parrot, you are just their companion for a while.”
Chapter 23 – About Tiger the rescue dog, described by Bailey as “a large, ungainly bag of bones, half greyhound, half Indonesian street dog.” This is one of my favorite chapters being all about being a dog’s companion.
Chapter 24 – Hiking with Tiger and another dog in the Lake District.
Part Five: Walk on the Wild Side. Bailey writes of how performing comedy has taken him “to some wild places around the world, from caring for a brood of baby adders in our garden in Devon to a momentous encounter with an enormous minke whale.”
Chapter 25 – all about adders.
Chapter 26 – filming with otters.
Chapter 27 – Listening to and identifying birdsong. Another of my favorite chapters.
Chapter 28 – All about badgers.
Chapter 29 – “The Owl Incident.”
Chapter 30 – Filming in the wetlands of central Brazil. Bailey observes that Redmond O’Hanlon’s description of eating piranha as “like sucking lard off a hairbrush” is accurate. Next, he encounters Jaguar up close and personal.
Chapter 31 – Anacondas and another jaguar.
Chapter 32 – “Baboons: Majestic Rascals of the Cape.”
Chapter 33 – Viewing the white-tailed sea eagle first in Oban, then from the Isle of Mull, Scotland.
Chapter 34 – “The Dwarf Minke Whale.” At the Great Barrier Reef in Australia. Bailey writes about close encounters with animals in nature, “It doesn’t matter how big or small, these moments tend to leave a deep impression on us.” He goes on to explain that “we are losing our connection with Nature and thus the animal kingdom.”
We’re about to visit Chester Zoo, which is billed as the UK’s best zoo, as we want to see the snow leopards, so I was interested to read about Bailey’s views on Zoos. He points out that “they allow us to see, hear and smell animals, to get a tangible sense of these creatures that we will never get from watching a documentary.”
Part One: Family
Chapter One – includes the tale of Bailey’s first encounter with a dog and his first pet dog.
Chapter 2 – a caravan holiday in his youth near a nuclear power plant, which features “radioactive giant woodlice.”
Chapter 3 – Life on a houseboat with a dog circa late 1980s.
Chapter 4 – Life in a small flat in London with a dog and a cat who join forces to sneak food.
Chapter 5 – Getting to know neighbors. Bailey describes his cat BooBoo as “a large velvety black rascal, a real handsome devil who was a play-away kind of feline.”
Chapter 6 – A word on relationships and the effort to get a particular type of cat.
Part Two: Home
“Sharing your breakfast with four noisy parrots who love toast … means you start the day with a smile.”
Chapter 7 – about Posh and Becks the chameleons.
Chapter 8 – keeping rabbits safe from foxes.
Chapter 9 – owning a tortoise.
Chapter 10 – Madagascan hissing cockroaches and we learn of Bailey’s son.
Chapter 11 – ‘Teddy in Chelsea.’
Chapter 12 – About chickens.
Part Three: Work. In comedy Bailey “found great freedom, a self-styled life path [he] never knew existed. A haphazard, make-it-up-as-you-go-along, punk style do-it-yourself ethic that felt, not just exciting, but [his] natural home.”
Chapter 13 – bats in Boracay.
Chapter 14 – Filming dormice and Hot Fuzz.
Chapter 15 – Mrs. Speckles the hen.
Chapter 16 – whale sharks in Australia.
Chapter 17 – A back injury at Edinburgh Fringe and adventures in the Australian Outback.
Chapter 18 – Spa time with Koi.
Part Four: Indonesia – A Love Story. “A mirrored lagoon, ringed by tropical islands shadowed by a cloud-wreathed volcano from which emanates a wisp of smoke. A colonial Dutch fort perched on a hill, wooden dugout fishing boats gently puttering home at sunset, a gaggle of excited children, waving and jumping in the water […] confronted with this view, this stunning gem of a place, we decided on a whim to get married.”
Chapter 19 – About birdwatching in Indonesia.
Chapter 20 – “Tarsiers.” Bailey explains that “Tarsiers are a bit bigger than a gerbil and as night falls they emerge from their daytime hidey holes to hunt, pursuing insects through the tree canopy.”
Chapter 21 – A Moluccan or salmon-crested cockatoo named Molly.
Chapter 22 – About Jakobi a Triton cockatoo and friend of Molly. “As all the parrot books say, you never really own a parrot, you are just their companion for a while.”
Chapter 23 – About Tiger the rescue dog, described by Bailey as “a large, ungainly bag of bones, half greyhound, half Indonesian street dog.” This is one of my favorite chapters being all about being a dog’s companion.
Chapter 24 – Hiking with Tiger and another dog in the Lake District.
Part Five: Walk on the Wild Side. Bailey writes of how performing comedy has taken him “to some wild places around the world, from caring for a brood of baby adders in our garden in Devon to a momentous encounter with an enormous minke whale.”
Chapter 25 – all about adders.
Chapter 26 – filming with otters.
Chapter 27 – Listening to and identifying birdsong. Another of my favorite chapters.
Chapter 28 – All about badgers.
Chapter 29 – “The Owl Incident.”
Chapter 30 – Filming in the wetlands of central Brazil. Bailey observes that Redmond O’Hanlon’s description of eating piranha as “like sucking lard off a hairbrush” is accurate. Next, he encounters Jaguar up close and personal.
Chapter 31 – Anacondas and another jaguar.
Chapter 32 – “Baboons: Majestic Rascals of the Cape.”
Chapter 33 – Viewing the white-tailed sea eagle first in Oban, then from the Isle of Mull, Scotland.
Chapter 34 – “The Dwarf Minke Whale.” At the Great Barrier Reef in Australia. Bailey writes about close encounters with animals in nature, “It doesn’t matter how big or small, these moments tend to leave a deep impression on us.” He goes on to explain that “we are losing our connection with Nature and thus the animal kingdom.”
June 8, 2025
easy going read funny in parts
November 19, 2024
Bill Bailey is described as a National Treasure. Holy sh*t! Nobody wants to be a national treasure. It's like: And here are The Crown Jewels, The Tower Bridge, Big Ben and Bill Bailey.
I'd never heard of this bloke, Bill Bailey, until recently, when I was watching an English sitcom called Black Books. Bill wasn't the main character, but he might as well have been because he stole the show with his trademark mullet and weird facial expressions. Not only does he act, he writes (obviously), does stand-up comedy (and has been coming to Australia every year for quite a while), can play more than 50 instruments, travels the world to weird out-of-the-way destinations to film documentaries and is generally a genius at everything, and of course, collects animals. While he seems to love/appreciate most animals, he especially likes dogs, so he's won lots of brownie points with me right there. Hmm, maybe Bill IS a national treasure.
This is an animal-flavoured memoir with travel story topping, over a nice show-business souffle. It's a great book to pick up when you have some spare minutes to knock over a chapter or two. I can guarantee you'll learn something new. Bill has owned everything from strange looking lizards, to rare parrots. Many times, while reading this, I found myself reaching for Google Maps to learn more about the locations he has visited, be they tiny little islands in Indonesia, or remote places in the Brazilian jungle...you know...where there's piranhas! It took me twice as long to read this book because of all this "looking stuff up" shenanigans.
I reckon this bloke writes a good story, and I'll be reading more of his stuff, plus, I might even go see him perform. Thumbs up, Bill. 🐵🦝🦒🐒🦎🐳
I'd never heard of this bloke, Bill Bailey, until recently, when I was watching an English sitcom called Black Books. Bill wasn't the main character, but he might as well have been because he stole the show with his trademark mullet and weird facial expressions. Not only does he act, he writes (obviously), does stand-up comedy (and has been coming to Australia every year for quite a while), can play more than 50 instruments, travels the world to weird out-of-the-way destinations to film documentaries and is generally a genius at everything, and of course, collects animals. While he seems to love/appreciate most animals, he especially likes dogs, so he's won lots of brownie points with me right there. Hmm, maybe Bill IS a national treasure.
This is an animal-flavoured memoir with travel story topping, over a nice show-business souffle. It's a great book to pick up when you have some spare minutes to knock over a chapter or two. I can guarantee you'll learn something new. Bill has owned everything from strange looking lizards, to rare parrots. Many times, while reading this, I found myself reaching for Google Maps to learn more about the locations he has visited, be they tiny little islands in Indonesia, or remote places in the Brazilian jungle...you know...where there's piranhas! It took me twice as long to read this book because of all this "looking stuff up" shenanigans.
I reckon this bloke writes a good story, and I'll be reading more of his stuff, plus, I might even go see him perform. Thumbs up, Bill. 🐵🦝🦒🐒🦎🐳
October 22, 2024
A charming book, full of good stories, cute illustrations and laugh out loud humour. Bill Bailey, who I know from Black Books and QI, has loved animals since his first dog literally bowled him over. Since then, he’s become an amateur naturalist and rescuer of abandoned animals from parrots to worms. Bailey writes of domestic life as well as visits to all continents with enthusiasm and empathy.
June 28, 2025
This is a lovely book to read - light and funny, like listening to the anecdotes a friend would tell you over a drink, but with a genuine love of animals and care for the natural world that shines through. From swimming with minke whales to being knocked down by a playful jaguar, to sharing his house with a variety of furred, feathered, and scaled friends, Bill Bailey has had some incredible experiences and it makes me miss having animals in my life. The book is also beautifully illustrated with cute little black and white animal sketches that capture so much personality and I was impressed to find out were drawn by the author himself.
September 1, 2025
A classic Bill Bailey, funny and charming.
January 8, 2025
Sounds like he phoned this in. He has more talent than this although I suppose it pays the bills.
July 30, 2025
CAWPILE 9.00
5 STARS
I can't believe how few reviews this book has and that it counts for the Under 10,000 reviews challenge for Week 5 of the Sunrise on the Readathon 2025.
I like Bill Bailey and have seen him on TV countless times but I had no idea that he had such a large love of animals and the wilderness that they live in. I found this series of antedotes and stories fascinating, charming, funny, warm and I adored the illustrations which really made me smile.
5 STARS
I can't believe how few reviews this book has and that it counts for the Under 10,000 reviews challenge for Week 5 of the Sunrise on the Readathon 2025.
I like Bill Bailey and have seen him on TV countless times but I had no idea that he had such a large love of animals and the wilderness that they live in. I found this series of antedotes and stories fascinating, charming, funny, warm and I adored the illustrations which really made me smile.
January 3, 2026
A beautiful snapshot of Bill's time with animals. I love the deeply captivating scene descriptions, humour and humility.
February 7, 2026
I listened to this on audiobook, narrated by the author himself.
Love Bill Bailey’s humour, music, and acting. Seen him live on stage many a time.
And I love animals. So this book was very much one I enjoyed. Interesting, informative, and entertaining to read/listen to. Highly recommended!
Love Bill Bailey’s humour, music, and acting. Seen him live on stage many a time.
And I love animals. So this book was very much one I enjoyed. Interesting, informative, and entertaining to read/listen to. Highly recommended!
November 11, 2024
A thoroughly heart-warming memoir about one comedian's relationship with both domesticated and wild animals.
January 5, 2025
I think I need a category shelf labels “Uplifting”. And this title would certainly be placed there.
Easy reading. Wonderfully humorous tales told in Bill Baileys own distinctive style.
Thoroughly enjoyable as well as full of incisive commentary on we human animals and the lack of balance in the world.
I highly recommend this read to any animal lover or just all round decent human animals
Easy reading. Wonderfully humorous tales told in Bill Baileys own distinctive style.
Thoroughly enjoyable as well as full of incisive commentary on we human animals and the lack of balance in the world.
I highly recommend this read to any animal lover or just all round decent human animals
June 16, 2025
Bill Bailey is an absolute gem of a man, and this book proves to be no exception to just how lovely he is. He has the vibe of a guy who adores any animal he comes across, and who has a natural affinity and curiosity for the world around us. This book reflects that.
Full of fun anecdotes and laugh-out-loud moments, this homage to the animals he’s had throughout his life with his wife, Kris, was lovely. The chameleons in the bathroom sound like a fantastic addition to the ambience of the room. The various dogs who come from the streets of Bali and who knows where else all sound lovely. The chicken who tried to hatch Bill’s head with her fluffy bum? Hilarious.
There is so much delight in this book, and I found it to be so much fun. While it’s not any kind of classic literature or the like, it is fun and sparkles with a kind of genuine appeal to the point it feels like you’re listening to him over a cuppa. A lovely book.
Full of fun anecdotes and laugh-out-loud moments, this homage to the animals he’s had throughout his life with his wife, Kris, was lovely. The chameleons in the bathroom sound like a fantastic addition to the ambience of the room. The various dogs who come from the streets of Bali and who knows where else all sound lovely. The chicken who tried to hatch Bill’s head with her fluffy bum? Hilarious.
There is so much delight in this book, and I found it to be so much fun. While it’s not any kind of classic literature or the like, it is fun and sparkles with a kind of genuine appeal to the point it feels like you’re listening to him over a cuppa. A lovely book.
March 7, 2025
I really enjoyed this would be memoir from Bill Bailey. He tells us stories about his interactions with animals, whether they are stories about his pets, or interactions he has had with animals while on his various adventures around the world, sometimes for work.
Of course it is sprinkled with stories about his life and his family, but he is really here to tell us stories about his love of animals, and I loved it.
I'm a fan of Bill, and this book has only encouraged me to take back out a few of his stand up shows for a re watch. Great stuff.
Of course it is sprinkled with stories about his life and his family, but he is really here to tell us stories about his love of animals, and I loved it.
I'm a fan of Bill, and this book has only encouraged me to take back out a few of his stand up shows for a re watch. Great stuff.
March 13, 2025
A thoroughly entertaining journey through the animals that have enriched Bill’s life. Funny, fascinating and beautifully illustrated throughout, it’s a nature journal with glimpses of his personal life tied into the pets and creatures he has crossed paths with, wonderful.
December 30, 2024
A fantastic memoir of sorts from comedian Bill Bailey. I thoroughly enjoyed it all, including his own pen drawings of the various animals he talks about in each chapter. Wonderful!
July 29, 2025
East read and east to see Bills love of nature and animals . Brilliant stories from around the world.
January 8, 2025
Enjoyable read! This was a memoir of the pets that Bill has kept, and I had no problem with that whatsoever.
Also his sketches were very impressive!
Also his sketches were very impressive!
January 12, 2025
Bill Bailey is hugely underrated imo. This book is a treasure trove. Bill appears to live in a menagerie when he's not working, and all of his weird and wonderful pets appear
September 28, 2025
It is a fantastic book full of Bill's humour but also heartwarming .
February 2, 2025
charming and quaint
May 11, 2025
I really like Bill, but I just found this book dull. I couldn't quite work out whether it was meant to be amusing, or thought- providing, or informative. In the end, I found it was a bit of all of these, but none really convincingly.
January 8, 2025
This is a book that I would not have chosen myself. It was a birthday gift. And the thing about gifts is that they draw on the gifters own knowledge of both the book and me. Clearly it's something that he thinks that I would like. And, in this way, my horizons are expanded. I'm introduced to literature that I otherwise would not find. Ok........ So what's it like? Well, first up, I have to confess that I know nothing about Bill Bailey (or nothing until I read the book). I've discovered he's both comedian and a musician; he's British but has spent a lot of time in Australia. And, above all...(from this book) is his interest...really it's more than interest...it's a LOVE of animals. All sorts of animals. A number of dogs , parrots, fish, a giant rabbit etc. Plus he describes some adventures filming with wildlife in jungles and in the ocean (with a whale shark).
He writes well...maybe a little over-flowery in passages but the book is large font and lots of white space making it seem much longer than the brief read that it actually is. I read it in under a day.
Here are a few extracts that either made me laugh or grabbed my attention for one reason or another.
"Once you venture down this path, a word of warning: be prepared to get inundated. In no time the word will be out: 'Animal soft touch - go go go!' In short order we found ourselves home to a veritable ark of forlorn guinea pigs, oddball cats, stray dogs and homeless parrots.
A bloke turned up at the door with a peacock once.
'I heard you look after animals,' he said shiftily.
'Where d'you get that?' I asked.
‘I... er... found it'
"Where?'
“Er........just up by the pub.”
I imagine the fox was thinking, 'This rabbit is an easy mark ... He hasn't seen me... Ok, always approach from the rear... It's oblivious to my threat... What a loser! Ha!' The fox pounced, but before he got his teeth in, the rabbit had launched itself backwards and kicked back powerfully with its two hind legs. It was like a spring-loaded trap and whacked the hapless fox with tremendous force, full in the face.
It was the fox's turn to leap backwards and slink away....
At one point, however, the road seemed bumpier than before and the rutted road seemed to merge with the desert.
Stop for a minute, I said.
As the car rolled to a halt, we turned off the engine
and got out.
There was no road. That is, we were not on a road.
We had left the road some way back and were now in the middle of the desert.
Kris: 'I thought it was a bit bumpier.'
I'd wrongly assumed the desert would be a bleak and empty place, devoid of life, yet the opposite is true. It is, in fact, quite stunningly beautiful and teeming with life.
All around, a profusion of different desert flora bloomed, stubbornly clinging to life. The striking red of Sturt's Desert Pea, the bluish button grass, the ancient, gnarled mallee trees conjured a captivating landscape of shapes and colours.
After I left school, I travelled a bit, set up a comedy club in Bath and invited acts to perform there. In that same year I was performing with a school friend, Toby, in a double act called the Rubber Bishops and it was after a gig with the Bishops in Edinburgh that I met Kris, who then moved to London. After a brief spell co-habiting on a houseboat on the Thames we moved to Hammersmith in west London and have lived there ever since.
The plan was to be hoisted up that night, spend the night in a hammock high in the canopy and observe the splendour of the dawn chorus the next morning. But not to be too indelicate, I was, as Samuel Pepys might say in his diary, ' much troubled by a looseness'.
‘Simon Pegg to star alongside Tom Cruise in Mission Impossible.’ A photo accompanies the article, in which the two of them appear smiling, tanned and impossibly glamorous.
I glance from the photo to the compacted otter turds
in my hand.
Have I made the right choices in life?
In fact, the great adventurer Redmond O'Hanlon described eating piranha as 'like sucking lard off a hairbrush', which I can attest through my own experience is an accurate description, which made me wonder if once, perhaps in a fit of madness or drug-fuelled experimentation, he actually had sucked lard off a hairbrush.
Am I a better person for reading this? Hmm. Maybe. I appreciate his love of animals; I know a bit more about Bill Bailey; I enjoyed his sense of humour; His self-deprecation and his zest for life. Three stars from me.
He writes well...maybe a little over-flowery in passages but the book is large font and lots of white space making it seem much longer than the brief read that it actually is. I read it in under a day.
Here are a few extracts that either made me laugh or grabbed my attention for one reason or another.
"Once you venture down this path, a word of warning: be prepared to get inundated. In no time the word will be out: 'Animal soft touch - go go go!' In short order we found ourselves home to a veritable ark of forlorn guinea pigs, oddball cats, stray dogs and homeless parrots.
A bloke turned up at the door with a peacock once.
'I heard you look after animals,' he said shiftily.
'Where d'you get that?' I asked.
‘I... er... found it'
"Where?'
“Er........just up by the pub.”
I imagine the fox was thinking, 'This rabbit is an easy mark ... He hasn't seen me... Ok, always approach from the rear... It's oblivious to my threat... What a loser! Ha!' The fox pounced, but before he got his teeth in, the rabbit had launched itself backwards and kicked back powerfully with its two hind legs. It was like a spring-loaded trap and whacked the hapless fox with tremendous force, full in the face.
It was the fox's turn to leap backwards and slink away....
At one point, however, the road seemed bumpier than before and the rutted road seemed to merge with the desert.
Stop for a minute, I said.
As the car rolled to a halt, we turned off the engine
and got out.
There was no road. That is, we were not on a road.
We had left the road some way back and were now in the middle of the desert.
Kris: 'I thought it was a bit bumpier.'
I'd wrongly assumed the desert would be a bleak and empty place, devoid of life, yet the opposite is true. It is, in fact, quite stunningly beautiful and teeming with life.
All around, a profusion of different desert flora bloomed, stubbornly clinging to life. The striking red of Sturt's Desert Pea, the bluish button grass, the ancient, gnarled mallee trees conjured a captivating landscape of shapes and colours.
After I left school, I travelled a bit, set up a comedy club in Bath and invited acts to perform there. In that same year I was performing with a school friend, Toby, in a double act called the Rubber Bishops and it was after a gig with the Bishops in Edinburgh that I met Kris, who then moved to London. After a brief spell co-habiting on a houseboat on the Thames we moved to Hammersmith in west London and have lived there ever since.
The plan was to be hoisted up that night, spend the night in a hammock high in the canopy and observe the splendour of the dawn chorus the next morning. But not to be too indelicate, I was, as Samuel Pepys might say in his diary, ' much troubled by a looseness'.
‘Simon Pegg to star alongside Tom Cruise in Mission Impossible.’ A photo accompanies the article, in which the two of them appear smiling, tanned and impossibly glamorous.
I glance from the photo to the compacted otter turds
in my hand.
Have I made the right choices in life?
In fact, the great adventurer Redmond O'Hanlon described eating piranha as 'like sucking lard off a hairbrush', which I can attest through my own experience is an accurate description, which made me wonder if once, perhaps in a fit of madness or drug-fuelled experimentation, he actually had sucked lard off a hairbrush.
Am I a better person for reading this? Hmm. Maybe. I appreciate his love of animals; I know a bit more about Bill Bailey; I enjoyed his sense of humour; His self-deprecation and his zest for life. Three stars from me.
May 12, 2025
Finished reading: May 12th 2025
"Nature often just needs us to back off for a bit so that it can recover."
REVIEW
April 11, 2025
Bill Bailey is an English musician, comedian, actor and television presenter. He plays a variety of musical instruments and incorporates music into his performances. He is also known for his stand-up comedy work and an author of 3 books. Bill is also a fundraiser for cancer research and cancer awareness. I can't believe I had not heard of him before. This is a memoir of sorts, but deals with how animals have enriched his life.
My Animals and Other Animals is a book that introduces us to various animals but also discusses the environment and endangered species, coupled with his travels and various performances around the world. This book made me laugh, a lot. Bill is able to laugh at himself and things that have happened to him throughout his life. Some of the places he takes us include, Australia, Brazil, China, Indonesia, Philippines, Scotland, and South Africa. If you enjoy humor, animals and armchair travel, then I definitely recommend you pick up this book. I am very curious about his other two books and will be watching for them.
My Animals and Other Animals is a book that introduces us to various animals but also discusses the environment and endangered species, coupled with his travels and various performances around the world. This book made me laugh, a lot. Bill is able to laugh at himself and things that have happened to him throughout his life. Some of the places he takes us include, Australia, Brazil, China, Indonesia, Philippines, Scotland, and South Africa. If you enjoy humor, animals and armchair travel, then I definitely recommend you pick up this book. I am very curious about his other two books and will be watching for them.
February 28, 2025
I enjoyed this collection of Bill's encounters with animals. Some of them are/were pets who enrich his daily life (and undermine it, as pets do), others describe animals Bill met through work. His passion for travel and animals means he has gone to wildlife reserves, zoos, gone diving in Aus etc, and seen baboons, minke whales, snakes, incredible rare Indonesian wildlife, and native critters such as badgers and dormice.
I found the text well written and funny, sometimes a little pompous - obviously Bill is aware he is a clever man and he enjoys showing that off at times, but hey ho, why not?
I think my favourite anecdotes discuss the environment and animal habitats, the effects humans have on the lives of our fellow Earthly inhabitants. I like that Bill is trying to raise awareness about this.
I found the text well written and funny, sometimes a little pompous - obviously Bill is aware he is a clever man and he enjoys showing that off at times, but hey ho, why not?
I think my favourite anecdotes discuss the environment and animal habitats, the effects humans have on the lives of our fellow Earthly inhabitants. I like that Bill is trying to raise awareness about this.
March 3, 2025
Much like many UK comedic celebrities, it is hard to pin down Bill Bailey to one œuvre. I had come across him initially as an actor on Black Books, then a comedian on various UK panel shows, then a presenter, then a musician, a documentarian.
After reading this book, I realize that he is an amateur expert and lover of all things zoological first, with all of those other hyphenates trailing far down the list.
This is a memoir mostly of the animals that he keeps on his homestead (which beggers us all into the double digits), but also animals that he has come across in his travels (see the section on Radioactive Wood Lice in the early chapters).
A strong recommendation for anyone who loved Last Chance to See.
After reading this book, I realize that he is an amateur expert and lover of all things zoological first, with all of those other hyphenates trailing far down the list.
This is a memoir mostly of the animals that he keeps on his homestead (which beggers us all into the double digits), but also animals that he has come across in his travels (see the section on Radioactive Wood Lice in the early chapters).
A strong recommendation for anyone who loved Last Chance to See.
January 31, 2026
Bill Bailey is just a really cool guy. This book is a collection of stories about his various animals encounters over the years. I love his adoration and respect for animals and the natural world. His gentle humour really comes through in his writing and his drawings are charming. I did laugh out loud at several points.
I learned about sea slaters, Moorish idols, nudibranches, tenrecs, and blue tongued skinks among many other animals. He's been to such a lot of different places! I think that's great but there was a tiny bit of cognitive dissonance in that he talks about travelling all over visiting conservation projects, but doesn't mention the impact of all that plane travel; I suppose that wouldn't have gone with the light-hearted nature of the book.
Words I looked up during this book:
Banjaxed
Atavistic
Traduced
Micturition
Fossicking
I learned about sea slaters, Moorish idols, nudibranches, tenrecs, and blue tongued skinks among many other animals. He's been to such a lot of different places! I think that's great but there was a tiny bit of cognitive dissonance in that he talks about travelling all over visiting conservation projects, but doesn't mention the impact of all that plane travel; I suppose that wouldn't have gone with the light-hearted nature of the book.
Words I looked up during this book:
Banjaxed
Atavistic
Traduced
Micturition
Fossicking
March 4, 2025
This is a really fun book. it's light and approachable, and I was pleasantly surprised to find that he really does just go on about his animals in it and it's hardly an autobiography at all- more an in-depth character analysis of some of his companion animals over the years mixed in with a few travel related anecdotes and personal musings on his own biophillia. If you feel like you can relate, you will prolly enjoy the book. It's nice!
It also has some great drawings by the author that I love. I have doled out another star just for this.
Good book for people who love animals and like to be introspective about this. Technically not a good book for a Bill Bailey fan as you do not learn that much about him personally in it, but I suspect they would enjoy it anyway.
Plato's ideal version of this book has the text condensed into short prose form and more of his awesome illustrations.
It also has some great drawings by the author that I love. I have doled out another star just for this.
Good book for people who love animals and like to be introspective about this. Technically not a good book for a Bill Bailey fan as you do not learn that much about him personally in it, but I suspect they would enjoy it anyway.
Plato's ideal version of this book has the text condensed into short prose form and more of his awesome illustrations.
May 22, 2025
Five Stars!
Rarely, have I ever given a book five stars so I must emphasize why. Bill Bailey has captured the relationships between man and animal, wild and domestic. He sees, feels the link between the lost, forgotten and displaced animals and our responsibility to act for the benefit of these creatures. Whether its re-wilding on owl from a restaurant in China, moving baby adders to further afield, or accepting a pair of Madagascar hissing cockroaches as a host gift, he, his wife and son have given us a glimpse into the chaotic whimsical world of rescuing animals. At the same time his worldwide conservation efforts are remarkable to witness. Bravo, Bill! Thank you for this glimpse into your world.
Rarely, have I ever given a book five stars so I must emphasize why. Bill Bailey has captured the relationships between man and animal, wild and domestic. He sees, feels the link between the lost, forgotten and displaced animals and our responsibility to act for the benefit of these creatures. Whether its re-wilding on owl from a restaurant in China, moving baby adders to further afield, or accepting a pair of Madagascar hissing cockroaches as a host gift, he, his wife and son have given us a glimpse into the chaotic whimsical world of rescuing animals. At the same time his worldwide conservation efforts are remarkable to witness. Bravo, Bill! Thank you for this glimpse into your world.
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