The Luckiest Dead Man Alive isn’t just a memoir. It’s a rollercoaster through music, madness, family, Bowie worship, and the big question: what really matters when the lights go out? Spoiler—it isn’t money, status, or how many cars you have on the driveway. It’s love, laughter, sliding-doors moments, and the footprints we leave behind. Equal parts hilarious and heartbreaking, Richard takes you from Botha Road to Broadway, from the New Romantic movement to near-death clarity. Along the way, he discovers the closest thing we’ve got to the meaning of life: Life’s short. Read this book. Then live it like you mean it...
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THE LUCKIEST
DEAD-MAN ALIVE
‘What if the day you died was the day your life finally began?
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https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0GT24BP9C
The moment you know, you know, you know…
WHY DYING WAS THE BEST THING TO EVER HAPPEN TO HIM
Because it reset everything.
In the space between heartbeats, the truth was heard:
what matters, what doesn’t,
Even when he had no pulse, no breath, His brain kept listening — an enlightenment shove that turned a lifetime of near-misses into purpose. The universe didn’t close the book; it gave him a rewrite. Every wrong turn, every sliding door, somehow steered him back to where he belonged.
It’s tragic, hilarious, uncanny and, strangely, a blessing —
a wild rollercoaster ride that proves sometimes dying is the start of waking up.
The Luckiest Dead Man Alive
By Richard Green
For four minutes, he was gone. No heartbeat. No way back. Just a motionless corpse with a brain still firing, hearing the last echoes of life.
But fate had other plans. The planets aligned, luck twisted, and Poor Little Greenie was dragged back to a world he thought he’d already left.
Fame and fortune may fade, but enlightenment shows you wealth is measured in friendship, not money.
The Reset Button
The New York Marathon was supposed to be about running for Ros.
About raising a bit of money for charity. I didn’t expect it to become my rebirth.
When I got back home to Birmingham, everything looked different. Brighter. Sharper. It’s like someone had turned the volume up on life.
Suddenly, the little things mattered more. The big things, the stress, the bullshit, the noise, mattered less.
I had been given a second chance, and I wasn’t going to waste it.
Alignment
By all logic, I shouldn’t be here writing these words.
Fate, luck, coincidence, or maybe something much bigger than any of us, had other ideas.
Coming back from America changed everything.
The man who went to run a race wasn’t the same man who returned to England
A Messanger
St. Luke’s Hospital, sirens wailing, Manhattan spinning past.
I’m fading in and out, in some strange halfway space between being and not being. Then I remember her.
The gospel singer. Ten miles back, standing on the church steps in Queens,
She pulled me from the race and whispered, “Jesus loves you. Everything’s going to be okay.”
At the time, I thought nothing of it.
I know now she was part of all this.
A stranger. An angel. A message I wasn’t meant to ignore.
REVIEWS
★★★★★
Having read a number of biographies, I found “An Ordinary Bloke” one of the most interesting. An insight into the life of a “Bowie Nut”, a musician and a nice bloke. A very funny read, Peter Kay comes to mind. It’s interesting the way we go back and forth through his life, interspersed with lyrics by “Bowie” and Richard, both of which are brilliant. It’s a shame that Richard’s musical journey hasn’t brought fame and fortune, but I’m sure he’s enjoyed his life up to now.I look forward to the next instalment. ROCK ON, MATE TOM
★★★★★
Sue Strutt
What a fantastic read! The only disappointment was that it ended too soon.
I wanted more. Well done Richard
★★★★★
Shane Ball:
I didn’t want to read this chapter if I’m honest, I was a little scared I wouldn’t like it, and how do you tell a mate you don’t like something he/she has written with heart & soul…but the truth is I re-lived every line Rich. Thoroughly enjoyed every word, you captured it spot on, little things suddenly came back to memory…and more importantly made me smile and chuckle …and realise how lucky we were to be around when it actually happened. Bowie was indeed what Elvis was to 50’s and what The Beatles were to the 60’s…with one exception, Bowie covered every decade from the 60’s and was top of his game for every decade, even til his departure. So glad i read this chapter now, you wrote a fine piece here and if the rest of the book is anything to go by then you have a potential best seller. One slight critique? It’s Phil Oakey not Oakley 
Otherwise perfect mate 
★★★★★
As I’m reading this, I can actually see you doing this, not from an imaginary point of view, but from being there, seeing you about where we lived and in the pubs and clubs. Weird or What!
★★★★★
Wendy Handy
Great writing, you infect the reader with your enthusiasm of the musical eras. Just brilliant :)
★★★★★
Geoff Bridge
I honestly could not put this book down. Truth certainly is stranger than fiction. I read the whole book in one sitting. It’s a page turner, alright.. Brilliant Rich
So What’s The Book About?
What if the day you died was the day your life finally began?
New York City. November 2009. 26.2 miles. 49,000 runners.
One ordinary bloke.
By mile 20, Richard Green was doing fine, outrunning injuries, and making steady progress through the New York Marathon.
By mile 26, he had been pronounced dead.
This is the story of how he got there.
It’s a book about near-misses, coincidences, laughter, heartbreak, music, and miracles.
It’s about the chaos that leads us exactly where we’re meant to be. It’s about when all the planets align and you don’t even realise it was for you.
It’s a book about Bowie. It’s a book about hope.
It’s a book about being given a second chance.
Funny, moving, ridiculous, and true — this is the story of a man who ran headfirst into fate, flatlined, and came back laughing.
Because when the planets align…
you don’t argue. you just keep running.
The Luckiest Dead Man Alive is a laugh-out-loud memoir with a heartbeat. If you love Danny Baker, Peter Kay or Bob Mortimer, then this is your next stocking filler.
Author line:
Richard Green is a Birmingham-born storyteller, Bowie obsessive and survivor with a grin. He lives in the Midlands and still turns everything into a punchline.