Stephen Fry Popular Books
Stephen Fry Biography & Facts
Stephen John Fry (born 24 August 1957) is an English actor, broadcaster, comedian, director, narrator, and writer. He first came to prominence as one half of the comic double act Fry and Laurie, alongside Hugh Laurie, with the two starring in A Bit of Fry & Laurie (1989–1995) and Jeeves and Wooster (1990–1993). He also starred in the sketch series Alfresco (1983–1984) alongside Laurie, Emma Thompson, and Robbie Coltrane and in Blackadder (1986–1989) alongside Rowan Atkinson. Since 2011, he has served as president of the mental health charity Mind. Fry's film acting roles include playing his idol Oscar Wilde in the film Wilde (1997), for which he was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor; Inspector Thompson in Robert Altman's murder mystery Gosford Park (2001); and Mr. Johnson in Whit Stillman's Love & Friendship (2016). He has also had roles in the films Chariots of Fire (1981), A Fish Called Wanda (1988), The Life and Death of Peter Sellers (2004), V for Vendetta (2005), and Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (2011). He portrays the Cheshire Cat in Alice in Wonderland (2010) and its 2016 sequel, and the Master of Lake-town in the film series adaptation of The Hobbit. Between 2001 and 2017, he hosted the British Academy Film Awards 12 times. His television roles include Lord Melchett in the BBC television comedy series Blackadder, the title character in the television series Kingdom and Absolute Power, as well as recurring guest roles as Dr. Gordon Wyatt on the American crime series Bones and Arthur Garrison MP on the Channel 4 period drama It's a Sin. He has also written and presented several documentary series, including the Emmy Award-winning Stephen Fry: The Secret Life of the Manic Depressive, which saw him explore his bipolar disorder, and the travel series Stephen Fry in America. He was the longtime host of the BBC television quiz show QI, with his tenure lasting from 2003 to 2016, during which he was nominated for six British Academy Television Awards. He appears frequently on other panel games, such as the radio programmes Just a Minute and I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue. Fry is also known for his work in theatre. In 1984, he adapted Me and My Girl for the West End where it ran for eight years and received two Laurence Olivier Awards. After it transferred to Broadway, he received a Tony Award nomination. In 2012 he played Malvolio in Twelfth Night at Shakespeare's Globe. The production was then taken to the West End before transferring to Broadway where he received a nomination for a Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play. Fry is also a prolific writer, contributing to newspapers and magazines, and has written four novels and three autobiographies. He has lent his voice to numerous projects including the audiobooks for all seven of the Harry Potter novels and Paddington Bear novels. Early life and education Stephen John Fry was born on 24 August 1957 in the Hampstead area of London, the son of Marianne Eve Fry (née Newman) and physicist and inventor Alan John Fry (1930–2019). He has an older brother, Roger, and a younger sister, Joanna. His paternal grandmother, Ella Fry (née Pring), had roots in Cheshire and Kent. The Fry family originates around the Shillingstone and Blandford areas of Dorset; in the early 1800s, Samuel Fry settled in Surrey, with his descendants residing in Middlesex. In his autobiographical writings and elsewhere, Fry has claimed relationship to the Fry family that founded the eponymous chocolate company, John Fry (one of the signatories to the death warrant for Charles I), and the cricketer C. B. Fry. Fry's mother is Jewish, but he was not brought up in a religious family. His maternal grandparents, Martin and Rosa Neumann, were Hungarian Jews who emigrated from Šurany (now in Slovakia) to the UK in 1927. Rosa's parents, who originally lived in Vienna, were sent to a concentration camp in Riga. His mother's aunt and cousins were sent to Auschwitz and Stutthof and never seen again. Fry grew up in the village of Booton, Norfolk, having moved at an early age from Chesham, Buckinghamshire, where he had attended Chesham Preparatory School. He briefly attended Cawston Primary School in Cawston, Norfolk, before going on to Stouts Hill Preparatory School in Uley, Gloucestershire, at the age of seven, and then to Uppingham School in Rutland, where he joined Fircroft house and was described as a "near-asthmatic genius". He took his O-levels in 1972 at the early age of 14 and passed all except physics, but was expelled from Uppingham half a term into the sixth form. Fry described himself as a "monstrous" child and wrote that he was expelled for "various misdemeanours". He was later dismissed from Paston School, a grant-maintained grammar school that refused to let him progress to study A-Levels. Fry moved to Norfolk College of Arts and Technology, where, after two years in the sixth form studying English, French, and History of Art, he ultimately failed his A-Levels, not turning up for his English and French papers. Over the summer, Fry absconded with a credit card stolen from a family friend. He had taken a coat when leaving a pub, planning to spend the night sleeping rough, but had then discovered the card in a pocket. He was arrested in Swindon and, as a result, spent three months in Pucklechurch Remand Centre on remand. Following his release, he resumed his education at City College Norwich, promising administrators that he would study rigorously and sit the Cambridge entrance exams. In 1977 he passed two A-levels in English and French, with grades of A and B. He also received a grade A in an alternative O-level in the Study of Art and scored a distinction in an S-level paper in English. Having successfully passed the entrance exams in 1977, Fry was offered a scholarship to Queens' College, Cambridge, for matriculation in 1978, briefly teaching at Cundall Manor School, a preparatory school in North Yorkshire, before taking his place. At Cambridge, he joined the Footlights, appeared on University Challenge, and read English Literature, graduating with an upper second-class honours BA degree in 1981 (subsequently promoted to a Cambridge MA degree). Fry also met his future comedy collaborator Hugh Laurie (through their mutual friend Emma Thompson) at Cambridge and starred alongside him in the Footlights. Career 1981–1993: Sketch comedy beginnings Fry wrote the play Latin! or Tobacco and Boys for the 1980 Edinburgh Festival, where it won the Fringe First prize. It had a revival in 2009 at London's Cock Tavern Theatre, directed by Adam Spreadbury-Maher. The Cellar Tapes, the Footlights Revue of 1981, won the Perrier Comedy Award. In 1984, Fry adapted the hugely successful 1930s musical Me and My Girl for the West End, where it ran for eight years and received two Laurence Olivier Awards. The show transferred to Broadway and Fry was nominated for a Tony Award for his adaptation. Fry has appeared in numerous advertise.... Discover the Stephen Fry popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Stephen Fry books.
Best Seller Stephen Fry Books of 2024
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Sum
David EaglemanAt once funny, wistful and unsettling, Sum is a dazzling exploration of unexpected afterliveseach presented as a vignette that offers a stunning lens through which to see ourselves...
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The Mammoth Book of Great British Humour
Michael PowellA doorstopper of a collection of the very best of both contemporary and classic British wit and humour. From Monty Python's 'Nudge, nudge, wink, wink, say no more . . .' to Dan An...
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Terra Incognita
Ian Goldin & Robert Muggah'Amazing. It would be my desert island choice' Martin Rees'Fascinating, beautiful, alarming and revelatory use of mapping and infographics' Stephen Fry on EarthTime maps'An indispe...
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The Mad Emperor
Harry SidebottomWhat happens when you put the Roman Empire in the hands of a teenage boy? Discover the scandalous life and times of Rome's worst emperor. 'Buy the book; it's very entertaining.' Da...
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Understand Greek Mythology
Steve Eddy & Claire HamiltonAncient Greek myths shaped and were shaped by one of the most important culture in the history of the world. Even today, stories such as Oedipus, Narcissus, Odysseus and the Golden...
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Watership Down
Richard Adams & Madeline MillerNow with a new introduction by Madeline Miller, the New York Times bestselling author of The Song of Achilles and Circe.The 50th anniversary edition of Richard Adam’s timeless clas...
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Stark
Ben EltonStark is a secret consortium with more money than God, and the social conscience of a dog on a croquet lawn. What's more, it knows the Earth is dying.Deep in Western Australia wher...
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The Kill Call
Stephen BoothOn a rainswept hillside, hounds from the local foxhunt discover the body of a welldressed man. At that exact moment, an anonymous caller reports the same body . . . lying half a mi...
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The Ode Less Travelled
Stephen FryComedian and actor Stephen Fry's witty and practical guide, now in paperback, gives the aspiring poet or student the tools and confidence to write and understand poetry. Stephen F...
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Language Myths
Laurie Bauer & Peter TrudgillA unique collection of original essays by 21 of the world's leading linguists. The topics discussed focus on some of the most popular myths about language: The Media Are Ruining En...
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Puckoon
Spike MilliganDISCOVER PUCKOON, SPIKE MILLIGAN'S CLASSIC SLAPSTICK NOVEL 'Pops with the erratic brilliance of a careless match in a box of fireworks' Daily MailIn 1924 the Boundary Commission is...
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Stephen Fry in America
Stephen FryIn Stephen Fry in America, the beloved British comic turns his celebrated wit and insight to unearthing the real U.S. as he travels across the continent.Stephen Fry has always love...
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Forced Out
Stephen FreyThree men. Three secrets. One chance at redemption. New York Times bestselling author Stephen Frey delivers a mesmerizing new thriller where life and death are played out against ...
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Identity Crisis
Ben EltonWhy are we all so hostile? So quick to take offence? Truly we are living in the age of outrage. A series of apparently random murders draws amiable, oldschool Detective Mick Matloc...
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Military Blunders
Saul DavidRetelling the most spectacular cockups in military history, this graphic account has a great deal to say about the psychology of military incompetence and the reasons even the most...
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Between the Stops
Sandi ToksvigPreorder Sandi Toksvig's new novel FRIENDS OF DOROTHY now coming in September 2024The longawaited memoir from one of Britain's bestloved characters presenter of QI, former host o...
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Metamorphoses
Ovid & David Raeburn'Still remarkably vivid. It is easier to read this for pure pleasure than just about any other ancient text' Nicholas Lezard, GuardianOvid's sensuous and witty poem begins with the...
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The Odyssey
Homer, E. V. Rieu & D. C. H. Rieu'The Odyssey is a poem of extraordinary pleasures: it is a saltcaked, stormtossed, winedark treasury of tales, of many twists and turns, like life itself' GuardianThe epic tale of ...
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My Brother Michael
Mary StewartThe original queen of the pageturner Mary Stewart leads her readers on a journey of murder and deceit through the dusty roads of midcentury Greece in this tale that fans of Agatha ...
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Rules for Modern Life
Sir David TangDo gentlemen wear shorts? What are the rules regarding interior decor in a highsecurity prison? Is it ever acceptable to send Valentine's cards to one's pets?The twentyfirst centur...
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Lost River
Stephen BoothThis atmospheric thriller is perfect for fans of Ian Rankin and Peter Robinson.A holiday weekend is ruined by a drowning in a picturesque village. The incident not only traumatizes...
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Fall Down Dead
Stephen BoothThe dramatic, gripping new Cooper & Fry crime thriller from bestseller Stephen Booth sees the stunning Peak District backdrop prove fatal for one walking partyThey knew the dan...
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Monty
Spike MilliganVOLUME THREE OF SPIKE MILLIGAN'S LEGENDARY MEMOIRS IS A HILARIOUS, SUBVERSIVE FIRSTHAND ACCOUNT OF WW2'The most irreverent, hilarious book about the war that I have ever read' Sund...
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Wildfire at Midnight
Mary StewartThe tense, twisty murder mystery which will have you on the edge of your seat, from the author of Madam, Will You Talk? /font size> 'Mary Stewart is magic' New York Times Follow...
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How to be Champion
Sarah MillicanHilarious, heartwarming and inspirational, this is the number 1 Sunday Times bestselling autobiography by comedian Sarah Millican. The funniest book of the year! 'The naughtiest, ...
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1,342 QI Facts To Leave You Flabbergasted
John Lloyd, John Mitchinson & James Harkin'I love these books ... the best books ever. Brilliant' Chris EvansThis is an astonishing trove of the strangest, funniest, and most improbable tidbits of knowledge from the clever...
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The Ratline
Philippe SandsA tale of Nazi lives, mass murder, love, Cold War espionage, a mysterious death in the Vatican, and the Nazi escape route to Perón's Argentina,"the Ratline"from the author of the i...
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Dear Me
Peter UstinovSir Peter Ustinov's beautifully crafted autobiography is told with exquisite wit and insight. From his birth in April 1921, it spans his extraordinary career as actor, playwright, ...
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Revenge
Stephen FryA distinct departure from his popular comic novels, this haunting, provocative tale of wrongful imprisonment and violent retribution is Stephen Fry’s first thriller. A brilliant re...
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Fantastic Mr. Fox
Roald Dahl & Quentin BlakeNobody outfoxes Fantastic Mr. Fox!Someone's been stealing from the three meanest farmers around, and they know the identity of the thiefit's Fantastic Mr. Fox! Working alone they...
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The Book of Taliesin
Rowan Williams & Gwyneth LewisThe great work of Welsh literature, translated in full for the first time in over 100 years by two of its country's foremost poetsTennyson portrayed him, and wrote at least one poe...
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Dominus
Tom & FoxFans of Simon Toyne's Sanctus and Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code will be gripped by this relentless religious conspiracy thriller.The Vatican Cathedral is packed to the rafters as P...
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Already Dead
Stephen BoothSome sins won't wash away . . .A summer of endless rain in the Peak District leaves the officers of Derbyshire's criminal investigation department with a problem. They have discove...
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Birdwatchingwatching
Alex HorneAlex Horne is not a birdwatcher. But his dad is, so with the prospect of fatherhood looming on his own horizon, Alex decided there was no better time to really get to know both his...
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1,423 QI Facts to Bowl You Over
John Lloyd, James Harkin, Anne Miller & John Mitchinson'I love these books ... the best books ever. Brilliant' Chris EvansThe sixth book in the bestselling series brings bizarre, astonishing, conversationstarting facts from the clever ...
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How to Talk Like a Local
Susie Dent'Susie Dent is a national treasure' RICHARD OSMAN'Susie Dent is a oneoff. She breathes life and fun into words and language' PAM AYRESWould you be bewildered if someone described y...
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The Ivy Tree
Mary StewartMary Stewart, one of the great British storytellers of the 20th century, transports her readers to rural Northumberland for this tale of romance, ambition, and deceit a perfect fi...
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Humanism
Peter CaveThe quintessential guide to living a meaningful life without God.Why should we believe in God without any evidence? How can there be meaning in life when death is final? With histo...
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Black Fell
Mari HannahThe truth can be hidden . . . but secrets always surfaceThe peace of Kielder Water is shattered when tourists open a barrel they found floating in the reservoir at dawn. Detectives...
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The Moon-Spinners
Mary StewartTransport yourself to the idyllic hills of midcentury Crete in this tale of peril and intrigue, from the original queen of romantic suspense and author of Madam, Will You Talk? 'Ma...