Listen free for 30 days
-
Grantchester Grind
- Narrated by: Jonathan Cecil
- Series: Porterhouse Blue, Book 2
- Length: 12 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged Audiobook
- Categories: Literature & Fiction, Genre Fiction
Add to basket failed.
Add to wishlist failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Listen with a free trial
Buy Now for £19.69
No valid payment method on file.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
Ancestral Vices
- By: Tom Sharpe
- Narrated by: Griff Rhys Jones
- Length: 8 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Lord Petrefact hires Walden Yapp, Professor of Demotic Historiography at Kloone University, to write a scurrilous family history Yapp finds plenty of material in Buscott village, where Frederick Petrefact is running the Mill and adding new vices to the family collection. If Yapp can lay his hands on the Petrefact Papers in the Buscott Museum he may be able to expose the multi-national capitalism of the Petrefacts to the whole world.
-
-
Rollicking good yarn
- By Clive on 01-12-13
-
The Gropes
- By: Tom Sharpe
- Narrated by: Michael Tudor Barnes
- Length: 5 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Gropes are an old English family based in Northumberland, separated from the rest of society and as eccentric as they come. It is a line dominated by strong-willed and oversexed women, determined to produce more female heirs regardless of whether their desired partners are willing.... At the dawn of the new millennium, timid and gormless teenager Esmond is abducted and lured to Grope Hall by a descendant of the Gropes.
-
-
not as good as he used to be.
- By HampshireHooker on 05-08-19
-
Uncle Dynamite
- By: P. G. Wodehouse
- Narrated by: Jonathan Cecil
- Length: 7 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A chance meeting on a train brought together Lord Ickenham and Bill Oakshott, although being told that the love of his life, Hermione, was engaged to none other than Pongo, Lord Ickenham's nephew, did not make Bill feel like he'd been struck behind the ear. And what with the usual amount of stirring goings-on at Ashendon Manor that include biffings and black eyes and duckings in duck ponds, is there any chance that it will ever work out for poor Bill?
-
-
So funny you will laugh till you cry
- By Jennifer on 01-09-11
-
Blott on the Landscape
- By: Tom Sharpe
- Narrated by: David Suchet
- Length: 7 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When philandering Sir Giles Lynchwood decides it's time to wriggle free of his monumentally unattractive wife, Lady Maud, he knows divorce is out of the question. He can't leave her and keep her cash; a reversionary clause on her ancestral home, Handyman Hall, has taken care of that. Lady Maud, for her own special reasons, is also dying to see the back of Sir Giles.
-
-
Driving hazard!
- By Ian on 02-11-05
-
The Wilt Inheritance
- By: Tom Sharpe
- Narrated by: Michael Tudor-Barnes
- Length: 7 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Stuck in a job he doesn't want - but can't afford to lose - as nominal Head of the Communications Department at Fenland University, Wilt is still subject to the whims of The Powers That Be, both in and outside of work. The demands of his snobbish wife Eva, and the stupendous school fees of his despicable quadruplet daughters cause him the biggest headaches...apart from the hangovers, that is. When Eva signs him up for a summer job, teaching the gun-toting idiot son of a lusty local aristocrat, Wilt is not amused.
-
-
Wilt rides again.
- By Tolkien on 09-12-20
-
The Luck of the Bodkins
- By: P. G. Wodehouse
- Narrated by: Jonathan Cecil
- Length: 9 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Things on board the R.M.S. Atlantic are terribly, terribly complicated... Monty Bodkin loves Gertrude, who thinks he likes Lotus Blossom, a starlet, who definitely adores Ambrose, who thinks that she has a thing for his brother, Reggie, who is struck by Mabel Spence, sister-in-law of Ikey Llewellyn (movie mogul, Ambrose's prospective employer and reluctant smuggler), but hasn't the means to marry her.
-
-
Well written - well read
- By George on 08-04-13
-
Ancestral Vices
- By: Tom Sharpe
- Narrated by: Griff Rhys Jones
- Length: 8 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Lord Petrefact hires Walden Yapp, Professor of Demotic Historiography at Kloone University, to write a scurrilous family history Yapp finds plenty of material in Buscott village, where Frederick Petrefact is running the Mill and adding new vices to the family collection. If Yapp can lay his hands on the Petrefact Papers in the Buscott Museum he may be able to expose the multi-national capitalism of the Petrefacts to the whole world.
-
-
Rollicking good yarn
- By Clive on 01-12-13
-
The Gropes
- By: Tom Sharpe
- Narrated by: Michael Tudor Barnes
- Length: 5 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Gropes are an old English family based in Northumberland, separated from the rest of society and as eccentric as they come. It is a line dominated by strong-willed and oversexed women, determined to produce more female heirs regardless of whether their desired partners are willing.... At the dawn of the new millennium, timid and gormless teenager Esmond is abducted and lured to Grope Hall by a descendant of the Gropes.
-
-
not as good as he used to be.
- By HampshireHooker on 05-08-19
-
Uncle Dynamite
- By: P. G. Wodehouse
- Narrated by: Jonathan Cecil
- Length: 7 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A chance meeting on a train brought together Lord Ickenham and Bill Oakshott, although being told that the love of his life, Hermione, was engaged to none other than Pongo, Lord Ickenham's nephew, did not make Bill feel like he'd been struck behind the ear. And what with the usual amount of stirring goings-on at Ashendon Manor that include biffings and black eyes and duckings in duck ponds, is there any chance that it will ever work out for poor Bill?
-
-
So funny you will laugh till you cry
- By Jennifer on 01-09-11
-
Blott on the Landscape
- By: Tom Sharpe
- Narrated by: David Suchet
- Length: 7 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When philandering Sir Giles Lynchwood decides it's time to wriggle free of his monumentally unattractive wife, Lady Maud, he knows divorce is out of the question. He can't leave her and keep her cash; a reversionary clause on her ancestral home, Handyman Hall, has taken care of that. Lady Maud, for her own special reasons, is also dying to see the back of Sir Giles.
-
-
Driving hazard!
- By Ian on 02-11-05
-
The Wilt Inheritance
- By: Tom Sharpe
- Narrated by: Michael Tudor-Barnes
- Length: 7 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Stuck in a job he doesn't want - but can't afford to lose - as nominal Head of the Communications Department at Fenland University, Wilt is still subject to the whims of The Powers That Be, both in and outside of work. The demands of his snobbish wife Eva, and the stupendous school fees of his despicable quadruplet daughters cause him the biggest headaches...apart from the hangovers, that is. When Eva signs him up for a summer job, teaching the gun-toting idiot son of a lusty local aristocrat, Wilt is not amused.
-
-
Wilt rides again.
- By Tolkien on 09-12-20
-
The Luck of the Bodkins
- By: P. G. Wodehouse
- Narrated by: Jonathan Cecil
- Length: 9 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Things on board the R.M.S. Atlantic are terribly, terribly complicated... Monty Bodkin loves Gertrude, who thinks he likes Lotus Blossom, a starlet, who definitely adores Ambrose, who thinks that she has a thing for his brother, Reggie, who is struck by Mabel Spence, sister-in-law of Ikey Llewellyn (movie mogul, Ambrose's prospective employer and reluctant smuggler), but hasn't the means to marry her.
-
-
Well written - well read
- By George on 08-04-13
-
Rumpole on Trial
- By: John Mortimer
- Narrated by: Timothy West
- Length: 8 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this work Horace Rumpole returns to delight us with seven new cases. We find our hero jousting with the Devil, being wooed by a beautiful violin player, and even up before the Disciplinary Tribunal of the Bar Council.
-
-
Utterly Brilliant
- By Lesley on 16-07-10
-
Hot Water
- By: P. G. Wodehouse
- Narrated by: Jonathan Cecil
- Length: 7 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The house-party at Chateau Blissac, Brittany features a rather odd array of guests this year. Mr. J. Wellington Gedge is hoping for some peace and quiet while his wife takes herself off for a while. She, however, has invited numerous visitors to the chateau, to whom he will have to play reluctant host. Senator Opal and his daughter are expected, and so is the chateau's handsome owner Vicomte de Blissac.
-
-
One of my favourite Wodehouse stories, but not great performance
- By Wiltshire on 11-02-19
-
Aunts Aren't Gentlemen (Unabridged)
- By: P. G. Wodehouse
- Narrated by: Jonathan Cecil
- Length: 4 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On doctor's orders, Bertie Wooster retires to sample the bucolic delights of Maiden Eggesford. But his idyll is rudely shattered by Aunt Dahlia who wants him to nobble a racehorse. Similar blots on Bertie's horizon come in the shape of Major Plank, the African explorer, Vanessa Cook, proud beauty and 'moulder of men', and Orlo Porter, who seems to have nothing else to do but to think of sundering Bertie's head from his body.
-
-
Great Fun
- By Tom on 31-05-10
-
Summer Moonshine
- By: P. G. Wodehouse
- Narrated by: Jonathan Cecil
- Length: 7 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Walsingford Hall belongs to Sir Buckstone, who is in a little financial difficulty. So for a little monetary help he puts a roof over the heads of an odd assortment of people.
-
-
Very funny
- By P Quirk on 09-12-20
-
Lake Isle
- By: Nicolas Freeling
- Narrated by: Philip Franks
- Length: 7 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A brutal robbery, a drugged teenager and the sad delusions of a nervous old lady mean nothing to Henri Castang who finds a parallel between the small town world of gossip and spite, and a fetid corner of a Paris room where a man shot at him. What's another piece of wanton violence got to do with anything? That's the question Castang finds himself asking in this enchanting, mysterious fiction.
-
Something Fresh
- By: P. G. Wodehouse
- Narrated by: Jonathan Cecil
- Length: 7 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The one thing that could be expected to disturb the peace of life at Blandings is the incursion of imposters. And Blandings has imposters like other houses have mice. On this occasion, there are two of them: both intent on a dangerous enterprise.
-
-
Breathtaking
- By Seimon on 25-06-09
-
Unquiet Spirit
- By: Derek Wilson
- Narrated by: David Thorpe
- Length: 5 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
St Thomas' College, Cambridge, has a ghost: or so some people believe. So when the Psychic Investigation Unit is summoned and a professor collapses with a heart attack during the proceedings, the college really is in a fix. Nathaniel Gye is called in to make discreet investigations. As he tries to tease out the twisted strands of this strange affair, anonymous letters arrive claiming that this unquiet spirit did not commit suicide 10 years ago but was murdered.
-
-
Good but....
- By karenlr on 06-06-12
-
Paradise Postponed
- By: John Mortimer
- Narrated by: Paul Shelley
- Length: 12 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Simeon Simcox, a socialist clergyman, leaves his entire fortune not to his family but to the ruthless, social-climbing Tory MP Leslie Titmuss, the Rector's two sons react in very different ways. Henry, novelist and former 'angry young man' turned grumpy old reactionary, decides to fight the will and prove their father was insane. Younger brother Fred, a mild-mannered country doctor, takes a different approach, quietly digging in Simeon's past, only to uncover an entirely unexpected explanation for the legacy.
-
-
An old friend
- By Frequent User of Technology on 07-05-15
-
The Badger and Blondie's Beaver
- A Raucous Tom Sharpe Style Comedy
- By: Giles Curtis
- Narrated by: Jack Michael Stacey
- Length: 9 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Sam, Oliver, and William are three young graduates desperate to make a fast buck. The plan seems so simple, it just involves the not-entirely-legal business of transporting silver which, by way of a cunning disguise, has been fashioned into dildos. But the journey refuses to go to plan.
-
-
Good but not Brilliant
- By Amazon Customer on 15-02-22
-
Galahad at Blandings
- By: P. G. Wodehouse
- Narrated by: Martin Jarvis
- Length: 4 hrs and 24 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A major mix-up at Blandings Castle, in which Galahad introduces yet another imposter to Lord Emsworth's residence and the Empress of Blandings gets sloshed in her sty. Formidable comic characters designed to interrupt Lord Emsworth's peace include his overbearing sister Lady Hermione Wedge who comes complete her own meddling secretary, and Dame Daphne Winkworth who has her eye on becoming the next Countess. As ever the stage is set for Gally to try and restore order to the ensuing chaos!
-
-
Great Nonsense!
- By Mrs. E. D'agostino on 26-11-16
-
Psmith in the City
- By: P. G. Wodehouse
- Narrated by: Jonathan Cecil
- Length: 5 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Psmith and his friend Mike are sent by their fathers to work in the City. But work is the last thing on Psmith's mind; surely there are more interesting things to do with the day than spend it in a bank? Unfortunately the natives aren't conducive to his socialising within work hours, but all's fair in love and work as the monocled Old Etonian, with a little grudging help from Mike, begins to rope in allies in order to reform the bank manager and make him A Decent Member of Society.
-
-
Favourite character
- By Amazon Customer on 03-04-16
-
Queen Camilla
- By: Sue Townsend
- Narrated by: Patricia Gallimore
- Length: 12 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For the past 13 years, as England became an increasingly unhappy and fearful place, Prince Charles has been living quietly on a bleak council estate with his wife and love of his life, Camilla. He enjoys gardening and poultry keeping while Camilla spends her days doing as little as possible. But life is about to change.
-
-
Enjoyable
- By Nicholas on 21-01-08
Summary
This sequel to Tom Sharpe's classic comic novel Porterhouse Blue takes the listener back to the hilarious goings-on at Porterhouse College.
The instinct of the true Porterhouse man faced with a crisis is to reach for the bottle and then to fall back on the subtle tactical skills honed at Cambridge down the centuries: blackmail and kidnap. But will these be enough? Menaced on all sides - by the collapse of the Chapel, by the tentacles of organised crime, and by the hovering threat of the abominable Dog’s Nose Man - will Porterhouse be forced to unleash the most fearsome weapon in its armoury - the college food?
More from the same
What listeners say about Grantchester Grind
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Richard
- 02-03-21
Buyer Beware!
It has been such a pleasure to escape lockdown in Tom Sharpe’s audio books and would highly recommend Stephen Fry’s brilliant reading of Vintage Stuff, The Throwback, David Suchet for Blott on the Landscape and David Jason for Porterhouse Blue. So was looking forward to hearing what came next and was used to plots ending in farce but Grantchester Grind starts as a mess and just gets worse. The narrator is fine but the plot cracks are papered over with copious use of the f word and I did stick it out to the unsatisfying end but if this had been my first Sharpe not sure would have continued. I am returning to listening to Vintage Stuff for the 5th time - happy days!
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
- twigs way
- 22-02-12
Disjointed, unfunny, bulked out by expletives
I bought this as I had a long journey coming up, and a vague memory that Tom Sharpe's Porterhouse Blue (of which this is a 'follow up') had been witty.
Grantchester Grind is not funny - it is just a series of disjointed endless descriptions of Cambridge college and dons seen in the context of a 'culture clash' with Americans . .
It manages to make both sides so ludicrously over exagerated as to be totally unbelievable even as satire (the book is not actually worthy of the description satire). The plot is so twisted and disjointed a to be indiscernable - and I can only imagine that Sharpe had to reach a certain 'word count' otherwise the number of f-words would be totally inexplicable.
Just dont even consider buying this - it was a total and utter waste of my money - made worse by the fact that I had used up my credits and faced with the long journey had actually paid good money for something which after 2 hours I just could not stand to listen to any more - and drove the next 4 hours in silence instead!!
18 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Toby
- 03-10-19
Genius, Perfection
A hilariously crafted story read by a hugely talented individual. I can’t recommend Tom Sharpe or the Narrator Jonathan Cecil highly enough.
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Kindle Customer
- 14-07-16
Dire.
Did not laugh once. Utterly dreadful. About as funny as root canal work without anaesthetic.
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- strider
- 23-12-21
So disappointingly predictable and stale
Very disappointing, hasn't aged at all well. So repetitious and predictable. One of us has changed I remember laughing out loud to these stories.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Kul Mahay
- 24-11-21
Classic Room Sharpe!
A great way to revisit my reading as a younger man. I used to enjoy reading Tom Sharpe novels and wondered if the experience would be much different with an audio book. I loved it!!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Amazon Customer
- 21-09-21
In the past ....
in my early 20s I enjoyed Tom Sharp's novels, but have to say that this didn't raise a single laugh. My sense of humor has obviously altered in the intervening years. In the end I gave up.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- S. Terry
- 27-05-21
A belly laugh from start to finish!
Loved this. Just a lot of nonsense beautifully pulled together to lighten these dark times.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Janbo127
- 08-03-21
Shocker
Bad language throughout. Spoiled the whole thing.
I’m not a prude but enough is enough.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Yael G.
- 06-03-21
Unsuccessful
Jonathan Cecil is one of my all time favourite narrators, however this is not his best work. But to be fair, the story and writing here would have been a challenge for anybody...
It seems as if the writer has had a very unsuccessful attempt at imitating P. G. Wodehouse. There are a few Wodehouse jokes and phrases, but nothing else of that excellent writer.
The story is a total mess. The characters are impossible to understand with no clear motive to their actions, and they fall somewhere between stereotypes and random chaos.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Constant Reader
- 09-05-13
Tom Sharpe Gets Dull
What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?
A proper Thom Sharpe novel, rather than one that appears to have been written out of bits and tatters lying about.
Would you ever listen to anything by Tom Sharpe again?
Of course. I love his novels. I wish Audible carried more of them.
What three words best describe Jonathan Cecil’s performance?
Entertaining. Witty. British.
What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?
Annoyance.
Any additional comments?
This is not a proper sequel ot Porterhouse Blue. But it is properly named. Reading it really was...a Grind.
4 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Seong
- 12-11-12
Another funny book from Tom Sharpe
If you’ve listened to books by Tom Sharpe before, how does this one compare?
The only other Tom Sharpe audiobook I've listened to is Porterhouse Blue, the first book in this series. Although I enjoyed listening to both these books neither of them were as funny as the two books I read as paperbacks - Ancestral Vices and Wilt in Nowhere. I couldn't read either of those two books in public because I laughed so hard that people would edge away from me in alarm. I'm not completely sure whether those two felt so much funnier because the stories were in fact funnier, or whether it was because the narrator sounded funnier in my head than it did read out loud by a professional.
What aspect of Jonathan Cecil’s performance would you have changed?
I feel terrible for saying this because Jonathan Cecil is a great reader too.... but there is a certain kind of story that makes me think wistfully of Martin Jarvis.
Was Grantchester Grind worth the listening time?
Yes.
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Matt
- 06-11-12
WARNING: Don't listen in public - too funny!
Continuously, outrageously, laugh-out-loud hilarious throughout. I embarrassed myself several times on a trip to the supermarket whilst listening to this. My uncontrolled outbursts of raucous belly laughter drew so many uncomfortable looks had to pause it.
I'd only ever seen one TV adaptation of a Tom Sharpe book previously and this was even better.
His caricatures of stuck up, cloistered, pompous Brits, the lower classes and unrefined Americans gangsters, who all end up colliding in the most unseemly ways thinkable are stylish, incredibly vulgar, and so, so funny, all at the same time.
I wondered if this is something that would only appeal to Brits who know something of the ''old order", but I suspect not. If you enjoy British caricatures along the lines of PG Wodehouse or Evelyn Waugh all from the viewpoint of someone with a preoccupation with repressed, absurd, sexual deviance you'll love it. Think very up market ''Carry On" films minus the corn.
Beautifully written - the story lines are wonderful and the dialogue is superb.
I couldn't stop listening to this once I'd started. I got through it in 3 sessions.
The narration is exquisite. Every character has his or her own believable voice. My only criticism is that the narrator's American accents aren't nearly as polished as the English ones. Even so, they are still unique and clearly identifiable. What the narrator lacks in the American accent department is easily made up for by Sharpe's wonderfully colourful dialogue.
Will definitely be listening to more Tom Sharpe.
Strongly recommended.
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Dub
- 24-06-16
good
good stuff hilarious wonderful excellent great . . . i liked it can you tell?
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- HGZ
- 10-01-16
Sharpe at his Best combined with perfect narration
After been through a few Audible disappointments lately, it's Sharpe who does it all - once again.
Unfortunately haven't found anything comparable to Sharpe yet.
Also, great job by Jonathan Cecil, thank you guys for some hours of pleasure and smiles.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Book lover
- 13-11-15
Fun
I enjoyed it thoroughly. Had a laugh. Reminds me of my days at university. Check it out best to listen to it on a long flight
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- DAVID
- 26-11-13
Well-read funny story of intrigues and murder
NOT a book for your mother or vicar. Machiavelli could learn a thing or two from the heads of this Cambridge college.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Rhonda
- 20-11-13
Not the usual Tom Sharpe
I have other Tom Sharpe audios and this DOES NOT measure up.
I couldn't even finish this book.