Biteback Publishing has signed Have I Said Too Much?, an autobiography by Iain Dale, which offers 'a rare, honest look at failure, imposter syndrome and the art of broadcasting'.
Olivia Beattie, editorial director at Biteback, acquired world English rights from Gordon Wise at Curtis Brown, and it will be out on 15 July.
In the book, Dale recounts his journey from driving a combine harvester at age eight to driving the national
conversation on LBC. He also reflects on coming out at age forty, coming to terms with his thwarted political
aspirations, and the phone-ins that have made him ‘the friend they’ve never met’ to millions. The book is 'the ultimate insider’s guide to the corridors of power and the pressures of the studio. Whether he’s nearly throwing up on Margaret Thatcher, coming to blows with senior MPs or accidentally calling the Archbishop of Canterbury something less than pious on live radio, this is Iain Dale off-air and unfiltered'.
Iain Dale presents the evening show on LBC Radio and is a regular contributor to Good Morning Britain, Question
Time and Newsnight. His podcasts include Where Politics Meets History and the award-winning For the Many. He is a regular columnist for the Telegraph, the Evening Standard and the i paper, and has written or edited more than fifty books. He is a visiting professor of politics and broadcasting at the University of East Anglia.
Dale said: "You only get one chance of writing an autobiography, and I’m delighted that my old firm Biteback have
taken it on. It is very much warts and all and includes all the various scrapes I’ve been involved in, as well as telling what it’s really like to be a radio presenter. The whole book is anecdote-tastic and is designed to entertain. I don’t flinch about possibly going into too much detail about certain aspects of my life, hence the title of the book. I can’t wait for it to appear in July and to promote the hell out of it throughout the summer and autumn."
Beattie said: "Everyone at Biteback has missed Iain enormously since he stepped down as MD in 2018, so it feelslike a wonderful homecoming to be welcoming him back with this very personal memoir. This is trademark Iain, with all the right ingredients – his candour and raw emotion and sense of humour – and we’re really looking forward to sharing it with a wider audience."