Clara’s Verdict
Guy Martin is one of those rare figures – a genuine British original – who defies easy categorisation. Motorcycle racer, truck mechanic, television adventurer, accidental philosopher: he is all of these and none of them entirely. All the Medals Have Been Handed Out is the kind of title that tells you everything you need to know about his approach to life: no trophies required, just the misery and the grin at the end of it. Due in May 2026 from Penguin Audio, this promises to be another characteristically unfiltered account of a man who keeps voluntarily putting himself in deeply uncomfortable situations and then writing about them with disarming honesty.
About the Audiobook
The contents of this latest memoir read like a highlights reel from a particularly extreme gap year. Martin went to Colombia for a television project and found himself kidnapped, tortured, and shot at – an occupational hazard he seems to have absorbed with characteristic equanimity. He joined the Royal Marines at their winter training centre in the Arctic while still recovering from a motorbike accident. He completed not one but two epic cross-country bicycle journeys, navigating both motorway sliproads and goat tracks with his sat nav in equal disregard. He entered the Bol d’Or – one of the most gruelling motorcycle endurance events in the world – twice.
And threading through all of it is the “300mph job”: a bid for the motorcycle land speed record, and a project Martin has been obsessing over for years. This isn’t a book about achievement in the conventional sense. Martin has always been more interested in the attempt, in the self-inflicted suffering, in coming out the other side smiling. The title is the manifesto.
The Narration
No narrator is listed for this title, which strongly suggests Martin reads it himself – as he has for previous memoirs. That would be the only appropriate choice. His Black Country accent and dry, deadpan delivery are inseparable from the writing; having anyone else read these stories would be like putting a different driver in the van. His audiobooks tend to feel like a long conversation with someone who has absolutely no interest in impressing you, which is precisely what makes them so engaging.
What Readers Say
This title was not yet available for review at time of writing, with a May 2026 release date. Martin’s previous memoirs have consistently attracted enthusiastic UK audiences – fans who return as much for the voice as for the adventures. His earlier work has described him as “one of a kind,” which is understatement of the highest order.
Who Should Listen?
If you’ve ever listened to a Guy Martin book and thought “this man is either very brave or very strange or possibly both,” this one will confirm all of the above. It’s ideal for anyone who enjoyed My Autobiography or We Need to Weaken the Mixture, for people who like their adventure writing without polish or pretension, and for anyone who has harboured even the faintest curiosity about what it would take to go 300 miles per hour on two wheels.
Pre-order or listen to All the Medals Have Been Handed Out on Audible UK and let Guy Martin take you somewhere thoroughly inadvisable.
