A Load of Bull

A Load of Bull is the hilarious, true story of an Englishman finding his way in one of the most perplexing, anarchic, and exuberant cities on earth: Madrid. In the late 1980s Tim Parfitt blagged his way into a job at Conde Nast in London and, from there, into a six week stint in Madrid to help launch Spanish Vogue. Six weeks turned into nine years, and helping out turned into running the company. Along the way Tim Parfitt discovered the real Spain. He never saw a Costa and he certainly never bought an olive grove. Instead he discovered a booming city in full hedonistic reaction to years of fascism, where sleep was something you only did at work and five hour lunches invariably involved a plate of bulls testicles. Frothing with a language designed to make foreigners dribble, hospitalized by tapa-induced flatulence, constantly frustrated by the unapproachable beauty of the women parading through the Vogue offices, A Load of Bull, is a hilarious tale of misunderstanding. More driving through San Miguel, than Driving Over Lemons; less Duende than Donde?, this is the story of an ex-pat who falls in love with a country and its peopledespite the fact he hasnt a clue what theyre all about or why hes there in the first place.