A Load of Bull: An Englishman's Adventures in Madrid

by Tim Parfitt

In the late 1980s, Tim Parfitt talked his way into a job at Condé Nast in London and, from there, into a six-week stint in Madrid to help launch Spanish Vogue . But six weeks soon turned into nine years, and helping out transformed into running the company. During his stint, Tim discovered a booming city in hedonistic reaction to years of fascism, where the evenings lasted until dawn, sleep was something you only did at work, and five hour lunches invariably involved a plate of bull's testicles. Frothing with a language designed to make foreigners dribble, hospitalized by tapa-induced flatulence, and constantly frustrated by the unapproachable beauty of the women parading through the Vogue offices, he nevertheless fell in love with a city, a country, and its people—despite the fact he rarely has a clue what they’re talking about. Tim Parfitt's rise from unwanted guest to paparazzi-pursued mover in Spain's glamorous social scene is a hilarious comedy of errors.

Genres: Travel, Nonfiction, Spain

280 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 2006

About the author

My latest book, 'The Madrid Connection', was published in November 2025 - 'a fast, gripping, darkly funny page-turner'. It is a sequel to 'The Barcelona Connection', but also a standalone crime-thriller with black comedy.

These are the first two books in a planned series about an art detective called Benjamin Blake, with the first book already in development for the screen. As an author, journalist, occasional radio guest and comedy host, I am often working on several projects at the same time, but am always happy to hear from anyone who'd like to get in touch.

My non-fiction travel memoir, 'A Load of Bull - An Englishman's Adventures in Madrid', tells the story of being sent to Madrid in the late eighties for six weeks to help launch Spanish Vogue, but staying for a decade and running the company. I am also planning a sequel based on my time living and working in Barcelona since 2007.

On Substack, I write a weekly blog-newletter - 'Letter from Spain' - about my research for 'The Connections' series, their development for the screen, as well as about living, working and writing in Spain in general.

I also post on Substack any events that I am participating in, related to the book. You can also find me on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and Goodreads. Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoy my books!

Reviews

[Randall Wood · Rating 1 out of 5]

Horrendous drivel, less memoir than rant, less insightful than masturbatory. The opportunity to evoke the Madrid's character is lost in the ambling narrative of skirt-chasing told using the vocabulary of a 6th grader ("... with great tits.") The opportunity to portray the gradual self-revelation and coming-of-age of a foreigner in an unfamiliar land is abandoned to titty-kakka jokes about the language. And the opportunity to provide some insight of any sort is abandoned from the beginning. No, not abandoned: completely overlooked.

The irony is, the author works in the publishing business and should know something about writing. This book is an ode to the author's prick. It's not a load of bull. It's pure shit.

[Rosa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Es un libro entretenido que empieza bien, bastante divertido y aunque cayendo en los t��picos espa��oles a menudo, muy acertado en general. La perspectiva de un tipo ingl��s que de repente llega a Madrid a final de los 80 es genial para los que conozcan m��s o menos ambas sociedades (brit��nica y espa��ola). Pero desde la mitad m��s o menos el libro cambia y se convierte en una especie de narraci��n de c��mo el protagonista se adentra en el mundo de la far��ndula a la vez que va ascendiendo en Vogue Espa��a. Algunas de sus an��cdotas adem��s consiguen que el tipo te acabe cayendo francamente mal.

No es mal libro y no me arrepiento de haberlo le��do (sobre todo porque se lee muy r��pido y como digo, es entretenido) pero personalmente no lo recomendar��a.

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this as part of my preparation for moving to Madrid for a 3 year posting. I loved it for its irreverence as much as for its descriptive picture of living and working in Spain. Having been here now for over my 3 year stint, thanks to a lucky chance to extend for an additional year, I can say with a degree of authority that Tim captures the place perfectly. I must read it again now with the benefit of knowing the place. Well recommended, even if you have not or have no intention of coming to Madrid.

[Lara · Rating 1 out of 5]

I gave up on this in the last few chapters. While it had a few interesting tidbits about life in Spain and I'm gobbling almost anything up on the subject in preparation for my trip there next year, mostly it was a lot of name-dropping, boring stuff about the author's job at Vogue Espana, his chauvinistic hunt for a Madrilena girlfriend and way too much information about his toilet habits. Wish I hadn't wasted my time.

[Mad · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my friend Tim's book about his move to Spain in his late 20s to run Spanish Vogue. Hilarious. And a good insight to how Spaniards tick...

[Hannah · Rating 1 out of 5]

Absolutely rubbish, couldn’t bring myself to finish it. Found the fixation on women and the serpent descriptions gross

[Tony Goriainoff · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you are interested in Spanish culture, cuisine, people and anthropology in general then this is for you.

I found the book to be very interesting, aside from funny, and I did learn a lot about Vogue España and the world of publishing, as well as the views of a non-Spanish native on the country's capital, its people and habits.

More of a memoir than a novel, but less of a memoir than a shortened version of certain cherry-picked events, the book shows the more human side of the protagonist and certainly reflects a certain type of British male from the 80s/90s with all the views, jargon, and circumstances that entails. It also displays the mores and views of a certain social class of Brit and how they deal with social challenges abroad.

Yes there is a bit of mysogony and typical British male behaviour throughout, but the writing is the product of its time and only shows the author's views and actions as he faces life's challenges in a foreign country. Anything less would have been a loss of the author's essence.

Read and enjoy at your own leisure, the book is certainly worth a look.

[Bangui Boy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Misogyny and chauvinism throughout, just like Spain. Lots of name dropping but he does hit the nail on the head about a lot of Spanish culture, as well as their behaviours

[Tania Kliphuis · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am currently planning a trip to Spain so this book jumped out at me at my local discount bookstore. It was quite funny and I thoroughly enjoyed it (I took note of places I'd like to go), but I was rather glad I didn't spend a normal book price amount on it.

His adventures (misadventures?) made me even more excited to visit Madrid even though this book focuses on the early 90s. It just seems like a very vibrant and laid back place, and I wonder if their long, boozy lunch followed by a siesta culture has been eroded by the 2000s...

Guess I'll have to see. I just hope that I can keep up with the Spanish (and the Madrilenos): their body clocks seem to be set for the oddest times to this non-Spaniard!

[Ariane · Rating 2 out of 5]

Parfitt has had an interesting life. A job at Vogue led to a move to Spain. Lucky guy! He ends up liking Spain, extending his stay there, meeting a woman, and marrying her. From where I'm standing, his life seems pretty perfect.

[Claudia · Rating 3 out of 5]

strandlektüre, wie erwartet; recht unterhaltsam

[Roy Lotz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Meeting the author of a book cannot but influence your opinion of it. I met Tim Parfitt at a book event in Secret Kingdoms (an English-language bookstore here), a few months ago, where he was promoting his newly expanded memoires. The presentation was thoroughly charming and he was personally kind and welcoming to everyone who came. I left the proud owner of a signed copy of his book.

To start, this memoir is unlike many other visions of Spain by foreign authors. Parfitt gives us nothing of the romantic Spanish countryside; there is no flamenco and only a bit of bullfighting. Instead, he focuses his attention on the great city of Madrid, where he arrived as a young man in the late 80s to help launch Vogue España. His experience was altogether urban, and centered on the world of publishing.

Even so, many of the experiences he recounts are universal for anglophone immigrants. In one of the funnier passages of the book, for example, he recounts his struggles to pronounce the Spanish “r.” He is continually baffled and abused by the Spanish timetable, and throws his entire digestive system out of whack with the regime of huge, late lunches followed by nights of endless drinking. And his view of Spaniards—as excitable, passionate, sensual, disorganized—says just as much about his background as Spain itself.

This could all be very tiresome if Parfitt was not an engaging and genuinely funny writer. Certainly, if you come to this book seeking for a deep insight into Madrid, you will come away disappointed. This is a superficial book, but a highly entertaining one—especially if, like me, you’ve had similar experiences. True, there are times when the book has (to use Parfitt’s own word) a “laddish” tone. A good deal of the young Englishman’s life here was spent trying (and usually failing) to get Spanish women. For my part, I found this to be just another extension of his comic ineptness.

Well, so maybe I just liked the book because I enjoyed meeting the guy. But I do think it’s an entertaining book, which captures some essential experiences of being a young man thrown into the Spanish capital.

[Judy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this for the 2024 52 Books Reading Challenge prompt #49 "set in a city starting with the letter M" (Madrid). The author came to Madrid from England for a quick stint to help get the Spanish version of Vogue set up. Instead he ended up staying for years, and eventually married a Spanish woman and had a family there. The edition I read was a reissue with a few chapters added to tell more about his career in Madrid in later years. I think the beginning when he was new and trying to learn Spanish was the funniest part to me. His way of trying to write how he pronounced Spanish words with his English accent was hilarious. The descriptions of his drinking and partying into the night were less appealing to me since I am not a young man, but I still enjoyed his descriptions of Madrid in the 1990's forward. Part of the appeal to me was the fact that I have lived in Spain for almost 9 years myself now, and like him, I never realized I would live here so long. If you have any interest in how fashion magazines are published, that would be an additional draw to this memoir.

[Andrew Spencer · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was engaging enough at the beginning, being able to relate to the experiences of Madrid in the late 80s, but after a while I found myself pretty much being disgusted by the writer, who in fairness, was probably trying for self-depracating humour, but it came across as icky and uncomfortable. The latter chapters seem a name-dropping boast about the luxurious lifestyle he came to live and it got a little dull.

[Joy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve lived in Spain for close to three years but I’ve only been to Madrid for less than 24 hours. A friend knew he’s get me hooked by recommending this book which by the way, the intro is so funny I couldn’t keep a straight face while reading this on the train. It’s a book I would recommend to anyone with a sense of humor, looking to know about the Madrid lifestyle.

[Rebekah Carter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hilarious & informative all at once. Reminds me a lot of the Merde series & even Bill Bryson. Well worth a read, especially if you need something light hearted but that isn't total "fluff."

[James Birchenough · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted to like this as I had lived in Madrid at the same time, also a visiting Brit.
But it's just too chauvinist and obsessed by eating and drinking ànd girls.
I couldn't get beyond half way.

[Fran Andres · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting book about a foreigner's life in Spain in the 80s & 90s.

[David · Rating 2 out of 5]

Abandoned this early on, thought the writing lacked style

[Adrienne · Rating 2 out of 5]

As I got into the book, I began to realize that I kind of really disliked the protagonist. The way he described and thought of women was pretty gross, actually, and he complained A LOT for someone from an exceptionally privileged background getting to do pretty exceptional things and living an exceptional life pretty much after he'd graduated. I didn't find it funny very often, either, although I don't think I can hold that against the author.

Why I kept reading was simple: I really enjoyed learning about Madrid's culture through his pretty gross narration. Never having been to Spain, it was cool to learn what living there might be like.