Comedian, actor and writer Miles Jupp discusses his debut novel History as part of Wolverhampton Literature Festival.
About Miles Jupp
Described by the Telegraph as a very British tour-de-force”, Miles Jupp has appeared as a performer across a wide range of genres from stand-up comedy and theatre to major television series and Hollywood films.
Miles Jupp started performing stand-up comedy in 2000 when he won both So You Think You’re Funny and Leicester Mercury Comedian of the Year. He became a regular performer on BBC Scotland’s Live Floor Show and he earned a nomination for the Perrier Best Newcomer award for his debut solo show, Gentlemen Prefer Brogues.
He has contributed to many BBC Radio 4 shows such as The Vote Now Show and Loose Ends. As well as creating Miles Jupp’s Real World, he presented It’s Not What You Know and can now be regularly heard on Radio 4 as host of The News Quiz. Miles also wrote and starred in In and Out of the Kitchen on Radio 4, of which there have been four series so far and became a television show on BBC4.
Miles returned to stand-up in 2007 with a new show Every Day Rage and Dinner Party Chit Chat and continued to write and perform in the Edinburgh Fringe until 2010 when he presented the critically acclaimed Fibber in the Heat about his experiences blagging his way into the press corps during an England cricket tour of India. The show toured in 2011 and 2012 culminating in a sell out performance in London’s West End. The book of Fibber In The Heat was shortlisted for the William Hill Sports Book Of The Year.
In 2014 he embarked on another UK stand up tour and West End run with Miles Jupp Is The Chap You’re Thinking Of and 2016 and 2017 performed Songs Of Freedom, the tour of which culminated with a performance at The London Palladium.
On television, Miles continues to work as a comedian and presenter, a regular panellist on Frankie Boyle’s New World Order having appeared on such shows as Have I got News For You, QI, Mock the Week, Michael McIntyre’s Comedy Roadshow, Live At the Apollo, James And Jupp
As an actor on television he has appeared in the award-winning BBC2 sitcom Rev, The Thick Of It, Outnumbered and Gary: Tank Commanderas well as the popular children’s TV show, Balamory. More recently he has appeared inThe Crown on Netflix, Howards End for the BBC, and The Durrells and Bad Move for ITV.
In 2012, Miles made his National Theatre debut in Alan Bennett’s People and in 2015 went on to perform in the theatre’s critically acclaimed production of Rules for Living alongside Stephen Mangan. He has also appeared in The Way Of The World at Northampton Royal Theatre, A Death In The Death Of Joe Egg at the Glasgow Citizens and Neville’s Island in the West End.
Miles’ film credits have gone from strength to strength, appearing in international features such as George Clooney’s The Monuments Men, Michael Winterbottom’sThe Look Of Love, Nigel Cole’s Made In Dagenham and Jon Stewart’s Rosewater. Recent appearances include Saul Dibbs Journey’s End and Bharat Nalluri’s The Man Who Invented Christmas, in which he played William Makepeace Thackeray.
About History
History is a satirical, tragicomic story about a man on the edge from actor and comedian Miles Jupp. For readers of Jonathan Coe, Mark Watson, Michael Frayn and David Nicholls.
Clive Hapgood is feeling stuck. The private school he teaches at is consuming his life, no thanks to wretched headteacher Julian Crouch. The gentle country life Clive envisaged has stifled him and left his marriage on the brink. What he needs is a holiday – something to remind him and Helen what life used to be like. But when things don’t go to plan, and an incident at school begins to weigh heavy on his head, Clive’s life starts to unravel in front of him. Has he got it in him to turn things around, whatever the cost? After all, it’s his own time he’s wasting…
