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The Fridge-Hiker's Guide to Life: How to Stay Cool in a Heated-up World
The bestselling author of Round Ireland with a Fridge looks back on his trip and explains exactly what he learnt in between pints of Guinness.
Many moons ago, a foolhardy attempt to win a drunken bet resulted in Tony Hawks embarking on a journey around Ireland with his trusty travelling companion-cum-domestic appliance, his fridge. The journey became an inspirational and, at times, downright silly adventure which was chronicled in a book that went on to be an international bestseller — Round Ireland with a Fridge.
In The Fridge-Hiker's Guide to Life , Tony looks back on what he learnt on his quixotic quest. if all you have between birth and death is a journey, then wouldn't it be best to make it fun? Looking back on the many encounters he had along the way — occasionally fraught, frequently hilarious and sometimes poignant — and the colourful cast of characters he met, Tony realizes that following mantras is sometimes as simple as "Do something silly."
Many moons ago, a foolhardy attempt to win a drunken bet resulted in Tony Hawks embarking on a journey around Ireland with his trusty travelling companion-cum-domestic appliance, his fridge. The journey became an inspirational and, at times, downright silly adventure which was chronicled in a book that went on to be an international bestseller — Round Ireland with a Fridge.
In The Fridge-Hiker's Guide to Life , Tony looks back on what he learnt on his quixotic quest. if all you have between birth and death is a journey, then wouldn't it be best to make it fun? Looking back on the many encounters he had along the way — occasionally fraught, frequently hilarious and sometimes poignant — and the colourful cast of characters he met, Tony realizes that following mantras is sometimes as simple as "Do something silly."
192 pages, Hardcover
First published October 2, 2008
3 people are currently reading
111 people want to read
About the author
Tony Hawks
31 books227 followersTony Hawks, is a British comedian and author, famous for his Quizotic travel accounts undertaking bizarre wagers with friends. Hawks performs stand-up comedy, and is a regular on TV and radio panel games in the UK, including I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue, Just a Minute, The Unbelievable Truth and Have I Got News for You, although he first came to prominence as one of two resident performers — the other was Jo Brand — on semi-successful BBC monologue show The Brain Drain.
He first attempted to break into show business as a serious singer-songwriter, but it was with a novelty record that he had his first brush with fame. As leader of the trio Morris Minor and the Majors, he reached number 4 in the UK charts with the Beastie Boys parody, Stutter Rap (No Sleep Til Bedtime) in 1988. It went on to sell 220,000 copies, and was number one in Australia. The follow-up, a pastiche of Stock Aitken Waterman called This Is the Chorus, fared less well.
The full-length feature film version of his book Round Ireland with a Fridge, starring Tony, Josie Lawrence, Ed Byrne and Sean Hughes, was released in Autumn 2010. Filming on the follow-up, Playing the Moldovans at Tennis, with Steven Frost, Angus Deayton, Morwenna Banks and Laura Solon, has just been completed. In March 2011 Tony travelled to Japan to appear at the Okinawa International Film Festival where Round Ireland with a Fridge was nominated for Best Comedy.
Tony Hawks donated half of the royalties from his book Playing the Moldovans at Tennis to a trust fund for Moldova, which was used to open the Hippocrates Centre, a medical centre that provides rehabilitative therapy for disabled children from socially vulnerable families. Hawks continues to support Hippocrates through fundraising and personal involvement. Hawks is the co-founder and public face of the "Tennis for Free" campaign which aims to make Britain's existing municipal tennis facilities available to all.
He is frequently confused with Tony Hawk, largely because the latter's video game franchise uses the possessive apostrophe ("Tony Hawk's"). Hawks maintains a list of emails intended for the skateboarder and his mischievous responses to them on his website. On 2 January 2008 he appeared on an edition of Celebrity Mastermind, with Tony Hawk as his chosen specialised subject. Hawks noted that his correspondents "might be able to do backside varials but they can't spell to save their lives."
In September he will begin his first National Theatre tour since 2003 with a new one man show called Random Fun.
He first attempted to break into show business as a serious singer-songwriter, but it was with a novelty record that he had his first brush with fame. As leader of the trio Morris Minor and the Majors, he reached number 4 in the UK charts with the Beastie Boys parody, Stutter Rap (No Sleep Til Bedtime) in 1988. It went on to sell 220,000 copies, and was number one in Australia. The follow-up, a pastiche of Stock Aitken Waterman called This Is the Chorus, fared less well.
The full-length feature film version of his book Round Ireland with a Fridge, starring Tony, Josie Lawrence, Ed Byrne and Sean Hughes, was released in Autumn 2010. Filming on the follow-up, Playing the Moldovans at Tennis, with Steven Frost, Angus Deayton, Morwenna Banks and Laura Solon, has just been completed. In March 2011 Tony travelled to Japan to appear at the Okinawa International Film Festival where Round Ireland with a Fridge was nominated for Best Comedy.
Tony Hawks donated half of the royalties from his book Playing the Moldovans at Tennis to a trust fund for Moldova, which was used to open the Hippocrates Centre, a medical centre that provides rehabilitative therapy for disabled children from socially vulnerable families. Hawks continues to support Hippocrates through fundraising and personal involvement. Hawks is the co-founder and public face of the "Tennis for Free" campaign which aims to make Britain's existing municipal tennis facilities available to all.
He is frequently confused with Tony Hawk, largely because the latter's video game franchise uses the possessive apostrophe ("Tony Hawk's"). Hawks maintains a list of emails intended for the skateboarder and his mischievous responses to them on his website. On 2 January 2008 he appeared on an edition of Celebrity Mastermind, with Tony Hawk as his chosen specialised subject. Hawks noted that his correspondents "might be able to do backside varials but they can't spell to save their lives."
In September he will begin his first National Theatre tour since 2003 with a new one man show called Random Fun.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
February 1, 2021
This is sort of a cross between a novelty book and a serious instructional guide on how to live your life, framed via the medium of Tony Hawks’ journey around Ireland as he hitch-hiked with a fridge. He previously told that story in Round Ireland with a Fridge.
The biggest flaw with this book is that at times it just reads like a retelling of Round Ireland, because Hawks tells the same story and uses it to outline his version of life lessons. The good news is that I quite enjoyed the original and so even though it feels like Hawks is imitating himself at this point, it was still enjoyable. I guess no one else is better qualified to carry out that imitation.
And even with that criticism in mind, it’s still a decent book and one that I’d definitely recommend if you’re after something light-hearted to get you through a difficult time. But you’d probably be better off reading some of Hawks’ other books before you start this.
The biggest flaw with this book is that at times it just reads like a retelling of Round Ireland, because Hawks tells the same story and uses it to outline his version of life lessons. The good news is that I quite enjoyed the original and so even though it feels like Hawks is imitating himself at this point, it was still enjoyable. I guess no one else is better qualified to carry out that imitation.
And even with that criticism in mind, it’s still a decent book and one that I’d definitely recommend if you’re after something light-hearted to get you through a difficult time. But you’d probably be better off reading some of Hawks’ other books before you start this.
July 18, 2011
A little volume that I polished off entirely during a wait for my offspring to fall off rocks, or not, as the case might be.
I loved Round Ireland with a Fridge. I suppose what this book does is spell out why and it could be considered rather clunky for doing that so explicitly as an evolved, grounded but not exactly radical philosophy of life. No substitute for the original and were this not a vehicle to raise funds for a potentially rather interesting charitable trust, it might seem like cynical cashing in.
Rather in the tradition of books like How to Be a Bad Birdwatcher.
I loved Round Ireland with a Fridge. I suppose what this book does is spell out why and it could be considered rather clunky for doing that so explicitly as an evolved, grounded but not exactly radical philosophy of life. No substitute for the original and were this not a vehicle to raise funds for a potentially rather interesting charitable trust, it might seem like cynical cashing in.
Rather in the tradition of books like How to Be a Bad Birdwatcher.
August 9, 2013
An odd concept: recycling his earlier book "Round Ireland with a Fridge", briefly going over the same stories but extracting some philosophy from them. A pleasant read, some heartwarming if non-earth-shattering wisdom, but not a lot of substance if you've read the original.
December 28, 2021
The Fridge Philosopher! Not quite as good as the original book.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews