The Clue Bible from Footlights to Mornington Crescent

The Fully Authorised History of I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue

The official, definitive, exhaustive, complete history and doings of the antidote to panel games: I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue. With forewords by Graeme Garden, Tim Brooke-Taylor and Barry Cryer.

Were it not for Jem Roberts and his encyclopaedic knowledge of Clue - its dizzying array of antecedents, its career on radio and on the road and its inside information on the regular members of the cast, past and present - my memory of that particular show and of many another high spot, would be a lot hazier than it is now

Jem Roberts is a life long fan of I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue. He lives in Bath, where he runs the comedy sketch troupe The Unrelated Family, and plays the ukulele very badly.

'It's a great missing piece of the jigsaw - people go on endlessly about Python and Peter Cook, which is all well and good but there's basically this great corpus of work stretching for decades - and consistently good ... A major piece of work, and universally loved.' 
 
So says John Lloyd, brains behind Blackadder, QI, Spitting Image, and so much besides - all shows with a massive debt to I'm Sorry I'll Read That Again and I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue. Together they form a body of work stretching across five decades, from Cambridge in 1960 to today's world-beating Antidote to Panel Games, a laughter-bringer which has inspired unparalleled adoration in millions over fifty series. This book tells the whole story, from Footlights to Broadway to the ferret-filled madness of Radio Prune - comedy's answer to the rock &amp; roll revolution of the sixties. Offering an exhaustive guide to the comedy world that brought us Mornington Crescent, besides episode guides, glossaries and rare facsimiles, Jem Roberts will take the story right up to the present day, celebrating the lives of Willie Rushton, Sir David Hatch and of course, the irreplaceable Humphrey Lyttelton. With exclusive input from the Teams, plus Bill Oddie, Stephen Fry, Bill Bailey, Neil Innes and many more, this is the long-overdue authoritative, entertaining and, above all, very silly lasting celebration of an unsung comic legacy that both shows so richly deserve.

Jem Roberts

Jem manages to write about popular cultural institutions with knowledge and affection

Jem, you're very charming, it's a pleasure to go on about it

Roberts’s lively conversational prose never tries to ape Adams’s own style, but tells the story of his life in an accessible, compelling flow… this is a thoroughly absorbing read.

Hitchhikers is one of the most amazing pieces of literature created in modern times… His biographer Jem Roberts puts it all into context

Roberts has done some meticulous work here and clearly cares for his subject’5*

The Authorised and Very Official History of Douglas Adams & The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

As a wise ape once observed, space is big – vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly so. However, if you look too closely at space, it becomes nothing but lumps of rock and sundry gases. Sometimes it's necessary to take a step back, and let a few billion years go by, before any of the true wonder and scope of the cosmos becomes apparent. 
 
Similarly, the late 20th century author, humorist and thinker Douglas Adams was big – vastly, hugely and thoroughly mind-bogglingly so, both in physical terms, and as a writer who has touched millions of readers, firing up millions of cerebellums all over planet Earth, for over 35 years – and for nearly half of that time, he hasn't even been alive. 
 
It would be ridiculous to pretend that Douglas Adams's life and work has gone unexamined since his dismayingly early death at 49 but throughout the decade since the last book to tackle the subject, the universes Adams created have continued to develop, to beguile and expand minds, and will undoubtedly do so for generations to come. 
 
An all-new approach to the most celebrated creation of Douglas Adams is therefore most welcome, and The Frood tells the story of Adams's explosive but agonizingly constructed fictional universe, from his initial inspirations to the posthumous sequel(s) and adaptations, bringing together a thousand tales of life as part of the British Comedy movements of the late 70s and 80s along the way. With the benefit of hindsight and much time passed, friends and colleagues have been interviewed for a fresh take on the man and his works.

Jem Roberts

Praise for The Frood

Jem manages to write about popular cultural institutions with knowledge and affection

Jem, you're very charming, it's a pleasure to go on about it

Roberts’s lively conversational prose never tries to ape Adams’s own style, but tells the story of his life in an accessible, compelling flow… this is a thoroughly absorbing read.

Jem manages to write about popular cultural institutions with knowledge and affection

Jem, you're very charming, it's a pleasure to go on about it

Roberts’s lively conversational prose never tries to ape Adams’s own style, but tells the story of his life in an accessible, compelling flow… this is a thoroughly absorbing read.

Jem manages to write about popular cultural institutions with knowledge and affection

Jem, you're very charming, it's a pleasure to go on about it

Roberts’s lively conversational prose never tries to ape Adams’s own style, but tells the story of his life in an accessible, compelling flow… this is a thoroughly absorbing read.

Books by Jem Roberts

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