"I, Partridge: We Need To Talk About Alan" by Alan Patridge

We should be thankful for the fact that the naff, boorish, bigoted and ignorant Alan Partridge is purely fictional. Invented by BBC Radio 4’s On the Hour team and portrayed with panache by Steve Coogan, Partridge exudes incompetence and narcissism.

This pompous and deluded ‘autobiography’ (written by Coogan himself with Rob Gibbons, Neil Gibbons and the irrepressible Armando Iannucci) charts his rise from execrable radio sports reporter to racist, sexist and all-round offensive TV chat show host, his descent into Toblerone addiction and his current stint on North Norfolk Digital radio. Yet he remains strangely endearing throughout – maybe, just maybe, there is a bit of Partridge in all of us?

Harper Collins, 320 pages, €27.05