Are You Dave Gorman?

This is an utterly ludicrous, shamefully compelling saga of a bizarre bet. Gorman, a comedian, and Wallace, a journalist, somehow end up flatmates. In a drunken pub session Gorman tells Wallace he has heard of another person named Dave Gorman. Wallace is unimpressed; Gorman retaliates with other Gorman possibilities; Wallace scoffs; Gorman suggests there must be loads of other Dave Gormans; Wallace suggests otherwise; Gorman says, 'Do you wanna bet?' - and so Wallace, having said yes, is dragged apparently unwillingly into an unlikely search for his flatmate's namesakes. Despite his protestations, it is Wallace who broadens the scope of the bet to the number of Dave Gormans equal to a pack of playing cards, including the jokers. He accompanies Gorman in his transglobal search, which broadens from places like Fife and Wolverhampton to Norway, the South of France and New York. Incredible though it sounds, the photos are all here to prove it, every one of the Dave Gorman-meets-Dave Gorman encounters recorded on Polaroid for posterity. And - madness of madness - there's also photographic evidence that, somewhat to his surprise, some people took up Gorman's publicity-seeking offer of #200 to anyone prepared to change their name legally to Dave Gorman. In the telling of this crazy adventure, the search manages to involve the reader, and both men prove able to raise a laugh at each other's, and their own, expense. So this, against all odds, is both a funny and a readable book. (Kirkus UK)