{"product_id":"9781853754548","title":"Accustomed as I Am: The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Speaker","description":"\u003cp\u003eDrawing on his own grim and terrifying experiences as a public speaker, Basil Boothroyd takes us on a comic journey through an era when the likes of the Women’s Institute and the Rotary Club were still the social hubs of the nation and required a steady stream of guest speakers to keep their members entertained. Addressing everyone from corporate clients at black-tie shindigs to the inmates of Pentonville Prison, he was asked to expound on a dizzying range of topics. While masquerading this as a how-to book, Boothroyd willfully loses us in a confusion of slapstick asides and self-effacing comic digressions as he unsuccessfully attempts to navigate the pitfalls of a thankless profession. An engagingly sordid tale of dingy hotels, bad transportation, self-doubts, hecklers, drunks, technical snafus, misjudged audiences, and woefully unsuitable material.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Prion","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47046222512368,"sku":"9781853754548","price":15.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9781853754548_p0.jpg?v=1763597586","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9781853754548","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}