Round Ireland with a Fridge

• Paperback - 07 March, 2001 - St. Martin's Griffin
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• By: Tony Hawks
• ISBN: 0312274920

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About this book

On his only prior visit to Ireland, English songwriter-comic Tony Hawks had seen a man hitchhiking with a refrigerator. For years, he was wont to tell the tale during late-night drinking matches, and after one particularly heavy-duty night of partying, he awoke to find a bet scrawled pillowside: a friend wagered 100 pounds that Hawks wouldn't travel Ireland for a month with a refrigerator at his side.

Out of this stupid premise, a ridiculously amusing book was born. Quickly discovered by the Irish media, the thumbing Englishman finds that he and his box fridge are elevated to celebrity status, and there's no dearth of rides, places to stay, or goofy people to meet, from kings to spoons players to locals who take his fridge surfing. As insightful about the strange inner workings of Hawk's mind as it is about charming peculiarities of Irishmen--it's doubtful that Hawks would have been similarly embraced by Germans, Italians, or the French--Round Ireland with a Fridge is an entirely silly, heartwarming tale told in a rollicking funny and refreshing style. --Melissa Rossi

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Reviews by readers

Funny Funny Funny!

This was a great book to read as I am heading to Ireland in 3 weeks. I hope I meet as many warm and funny folks as Tony did in his travels. Light and warmhearted and a quick read. Buy it!

Silly, silly, silly

I loved this book from the start! I first read the book shortly after my first trip to Ireland. While my trip did not involve a kitchen appliance, we kept to same kind of 'go where the road takes us' kind of philosophy. I have given this book as a gift a number of times and every friend I've given it to has adored it. People who can laugh at themselves and make you laugh right along are a rare and wonderful breed. Wouldn't it be lovely to find and appreciate the absurd all the time?

Share a Pint with Tony

Now that I finished reading Round Ireland with a Fridge, I miss it. I miss hanging out with Tony Hawks, the English comedian dubbed Fridge Man, and all the people of Ireland who befriended him along the way.
His mission was an effort to win a 100 pound bet (less than the cost of the Fridge)placed while under the influence of an inebriant.
The actual accomplishment of the journey is neither the point nor does it generate much suspense as it nears.
Instead the story is a first person account of those travels, experiences, the people, and Tony's "everyman" reactions to it all.
At one point, if I were Fridge Man finally meeting Gerry Ryan, the radio show host who championed the cause, I would have hugged and blubbered all over the man in appreciation.
For Ryan seems the unsung hero who alerted the airways calling the people of Ireland to the rescue and abatement of the young man carting a white appliance cube through their countryside.
Although the initial purpose of the bet and the trip itself is pure absurdity, what the author and the book's readers come away with is a genuine serving of fun and companionship. One other plus for the reader. The only one getting wet is Tony.

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