This Much Is True cover art

This Much Is True

'There's never been a memoir so packed with eye-popping, hilarious and candid stories' DAILY MAIL

 Preview
Try Standard free
Select 1 audiobook a month from our entire collection.
Listen to your selected audiobooks as long as you're a member.
Get unlimited access to bingeable podcasts.
Auto-renews at $8.99/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

This Much Is True

By: Miriam Margolyes
Narrated by: Miriam Margolyes
Try Standard free

Auto-renews at $8.99/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for $33.63

Buy Now for $33.63

About this listen

 From Blackadder to Call the Midwife, from the Cadbury's Caramel Rabbit to Harry Potter, Miriam Margolyes is the outspoken great aunt (after two sherries) we all wish we had -- this is (at last) her extraordinary life story and it's well worth the wait.

'There is no one on earth quite so wonderful' STEPHEN FRY

Award-winning actor, creator of a myriad of memorable characters from Lady Whiteadder to Professor Sprout, Miriam Margolyes is a national treasure.

Now, at last, at the age of 80, she has finally decided to tell her extraordinary life story. And it's far richer and stranger than any part she's played.

Find out how being conceived in an air-raid gave her curly hair; what pranks led to her being known as the naughtiest girl Oxford High School ever had; how she ended up posing nude for Augustus John aged 17, being sent to Coventry by Monty Python and the Goodies and swearing on University Challenge (she was the first woman to say F*** on TV). This book is packed with unforgettable stories from why Bob Monkhouse was the best (male) kiss she's ever had to being told off by the Queen. With a cast list stretching from Scorsese to Streisand, Leonardo di Caprio to Isaiah Berlin, This Much is True is as warm and honest, as full of life and surprises, as she is.

(P)2021 Hodder & Stoughton Limited©2021 Miriam Margolyes Biographies & Memoirs Entertainment & Celebrities LGBTQIA+ Creators Women Women's Voices Celebrity Funny Feel-Good Heartfelt Thought-Provoking Witty Inspiring

Critic Reviews

Gleefully outspoken and bursting with hilarious anecdotes, gloriously larger than life . . . I pity every person that is not me right now, drinking in the glory of Margolyes at 80 (Eva Wiseman)
Startling, thrillingly outspoken, provocative, potty-mouthed and exhilarating . . . THIS MUCH IS TRUE is never boring. Her personality is so likeable she can only leave you wanting more (Lynn Barber)
Reads like the Wife of Bath's memoirs (Simon Callow)
Wickedly honest . . . When I was reading this book on a train, a stranger asked if I was OK because I was crying with laughter (Hadley Freeman)
An irreverent, straight-talking, riotous romp through an extraordinary life
If there is a silver lining to last year's lockdown, it's the fact that Miriam Margolyes finally had time to write her life story . . . invigoratingly outspoken . . . gloriously shocking . . . and captures her force-of-nature personality. Buckle up, you're in for a wild ride (Charlotte Heathcote)
Now 80 - and no less outrageous and outspoken, the actress presents vignettes from her life that will induce guffaws as much as gasps
Blisteringly honest and hugely entertaining
Ebullient and bosomy (Roger Lewis)
Stories galore . . . Miriam Margolyes has a life worth immortalising in print . . . An unapologetic account of a life well lived. As irrepressible as ever, Margolyes's warmth and wit shines through
There's so much in the book; each chapter offering a tidbit of information both interesting and hilarious... It's full of life and vigour, as if you're conversing with a friend you've known for a long time
Brilliant stories abound in this memoir... which is honest, poignant and wildly indiscreet.
As compelling, forthright and irrepressible as its author
Miriam Margolyes' autobiography is crass, brash, rude, crude, funny and sad, and as delightful and surprising as Miriam herself
As outrageously entertaining as you'd expect
Potty-mouthed and thrillingly candid, Margolyes's account of her career from teenage nude
modelling for Augustus John to sexy voiceover work for Ann Summers to playing Harry Potter's Professor Sprout is a riotous joy
There's never been a memoir so packed with eye-popping, hilarious and shockingly candid stories.
Unstoppably ebullient and rollicking (ROGER LEWIS)
All stars
Most relevant
I love Miriam. I saw her interview with Graham Norton, and listened to her appearance on Louis Theroux’s wonderful podcast. I worried that they might have shared all her best stories with Louis, but this was so enjoyable and so well written and there was *so* much more, and to hear her read by Miriam on Audible was an extra special treat. Yes, there are C-bombs and F-bombs so you won’t be disappointed on that front, but she also recounts very emotional moments with genuine and touching honesty. I see there’s 1 star review…I bet it’s from one of those Footlights guys (although she says Graham Garden apologised and I see there was an apology of sorts from Bill Oddie on Twitter). After listening to Miriam perform Bleak House I couldn’t shake that her prose was another Dickens. Until a C-bomb or a noshing off story shakes me out of my reverie. A great read/listen.

Wondeful, laugh-out-loud, and touching. And certainly honest.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
MM is so richly expressive, so forthright and opinionated, so very entertaining. It was such a delight to listen to her stories and proudly speak her mind.

Fascinating

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I’ve always loved Miriam’s naughtiness and forthright manner. It was a delight to have her narrate the tales of her childhood and youth in Oxford and then her adulthood all over the world. Unsurprisingly, she is erudite, funny, warm, sometimes outrageous and, above all, honest. She calls it as she sees it.

Miriam’s love of people and of life overflows; I really felt as if I knew her after listening to this audiobook. I also felt somewhat envious - I don’t think I’ve ever had anywhere near the amount of energy and hunger for life that she has. But then again, perhaps not many people do.

Miriam, thank you for this book, and thank you for always being so marvellously yourself.

Miriam in all her life-affirming glory

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
If only every book was narrated by Miriam Margolyes!
This book had it all - excellent narration, lots of laughs and fascinating stories.
I can highly recommend this book to everyone.

The Best Book Ever!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Great reader and great stories. Miriam is so much fun - her warts and all story will have you howling with laughter and gasping at her audacity

So much fun

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews
In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.