Michael Symmons Roberts’s fourth book of poetry, Corpus, was the winner of the 2004 Whitbread Poetry Award, and was shortlisted for the T. S. Eliot Prize, the Forward Prize, and the Griffin International Prize. His sixth collection, Drysalter, was the winner of both the Forward Prize and the Costa Poetry Prize in 2013. He collaborated with Paul Farley on Edgelands (Cape/Vintage) and will do so again in The Deaths of the Poets (Cape, 2017). He has also worked many times with the composer James MacMillan. He has published two novels, and is Professor of Poetry at Manchester Metropolitan University.

Michael Symmons Roberts

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Michael Barrymore

In June 1994, Michael Barrymore, television celebrity and gameshow host, checked himself out of an American clinic where he was receiving treatment for alcohol and drug abuse. Father Martin's 'Ashley' is a rehabilitation centre in Maryland, USA, where Michael lived for thirty days with members of almost every community in America, all seeking the common goal of sobriety. Michael's day-to-day account of that month in his life provides a candid, sometimes painful, funny and revelatory story of human endurance, challenges the stereotyped view of rehab, and allows the reader a first-hand insight into the disease of addiction.

Back In Business

P.G. Wodehouse

Set inside Blandings Castle, this comedy series follows Lord Emsworth and his pig Empress as they meet with his dysfunctional family and friends, and the havoc that follows.

EPISODE 1 IN A MAJOR BBC DRAMA STARRING TIMOTHY SPALL, DAVID WALLIAMS AND JENNIFER SAUNDERS 
 
Clarence has to get his pig eating again or lose the fat-pig prize to his arch nemesis. 
 
Lord Clarence Emsworth’s pride and joy, the prize-winning pig Empress of Blandings refuses to eat when Cyril the pig-man is jailed by Clarence’s conniving rival Sir Gregory Parsloe-Parsloe. 
 
With the prize’s weigh-in only two-weeks away, Clarence and his gambling, spendthrift son Freddie are desperate to get the Empress to eat. 
 
Meanwhile, Clarence’s sister Connie attempts to thwart her niece Angela’s love affair with ex-cowboy Jimmy and instead find her a more eminent match in the smarmy Heacham – Sir Gregory’s nephew! 
 
'Sublime comic genius' 
Ben Elton 
 
'You don't analyse such sunlit perfection, you just bask in its warmth and splendour.' 
Stephen Fry 
 
'The funniest writer ever to put words to paper.' 
Hugh Laurie 
 
'P.G. Wodehouse remains the greatest chronicler of a certain kind of Englishness, that no one else has ever captured quite so sharply, or with quite as much wit and affection.' 
Julian Fellowes

Blandings: Pig-Hoo-o-o-o-ey!

(Episode 1)

EPISODE 4 IN A MAJOR BBC DRAMA STARRING TIMOTHY SPALL, DAVID WALLIAMS AND JENNIFER SAUNDERS 
Baxter returns as summer tutor for Clarence’s grandson George and plans to weasel his way back into permanent employment. 
 
Blandings is threatened by the return of tyrannical secretary Baxter, hired by Connie to put an end to all tom-foolery. This is a tragedy for Clarence and he finds an unusual ally in his grandson George, who had been happily rampaging through the grounds with an air rifle. 
 
It is not long before there is an outbreak of shooting and wounding. Meanwhile, Freddie is back to ask Clarence to clear his debts, this time pursued by East-End gangsters and a beguiling dancer who takes a fancy to Beach. 
 
‘Sublime comic genius’ 
Ben Elton 
 
‘You don't analyse such sunlit perfection, you just bask in its warmth and splendour.’ 
Stephen Fry 
 
‘The funniest writer ever to put words to paper.’ 
Hugh Laurie 
 
‘P.G. Wodehouse remains the greatest chronicler of a certain kind of Englishness, that no one else has ever captured quite so sharply, or with quite as much wit and affection.’ 
Julian Fellowes

Blandings: The Crime Wave at Blandings

(Episode 4)

Jeremy Beadle

This is the remarkable, and sometimes shocking, life story of one of the most famous faces of British television. Born with a rare disease called Poland Syndrome, which meant he spent most of his first two years in and out of hospital, Jeremy Beadle was brought up in a poor, single-parent family. He was repeatedly expelled from school for his practical jokes before taking on a variety of jobs while writing for shows in his spare time. His big break came when Bob Monkhouse took him on to write for Celebrity Squares. His first show, Game for a Laugh, although being branded as 'vulgar' and subsequently rejected by the BBC, spent five years at the top of the ratings and turned him into a household name. The inter-nationally acclaimed Beadle's About and You've Been Framed took the TV ratings by storm and here he reveals the secret techniques employed and recalls the hilarious disasters from behind the scenes. He breaks his silence over his encounters with the Royals, including the prank he played on Prince Charles and also frankly discusses the nature of 'fame' and the British media, after being branded Britain's second most hated man by Punch. Usually fiercely protective of his family, he talks openly about them for the first time, and of the absent father he never knew.

Watch Out!

Tim Benson

Few contemporaries captured Britain’s indomitable wartime spirit as well or as wittily as the cartoonist Carl Giles. Now, for the first time, the very best of the cartoons he produced between 1939 and 1945 are brought together, including many that have not seen the light of day in over 75 years. 
 
As a young cartoonist at Reynold’s News and then the Daily Express, Giles's work provided a crucial morale boost – and much-needed laughs – to a population suffering daily privations and danger, and Giles's War shows why. Here are his often hilarious takes on the great events of the war – from the Fall of France, via D-Day, to the final Allied victory – but also his wryly amusing depictions of ordinary people in extraordinary times, living in bombed-out streets, dealing with food shortages, coping with blackouts, railing against bureaucracy and everyday annoyances. It's a brilliantly funny chronicle of our nation’s finest hour, as well as a fitting tribute to one of our greatest cartoonists.

Giles's War

Sebastian Faulks

Robinson Crusoe discovers thousands of ‘half-naked savages’ having it large on Ibiza. 
 
James Bond is on a mission, as a 24-hour call-out plumber. 
 
‘The young stable lad is a moody fellow,’ say reviewers of Wuthering Heights in The Good Hotel Guide. 
 
Hans Christian Andersen gets into the subprime mortgage racket. 
 
Stephen King attempts a love story that doesn’t involve buckets of blood. 
 
Robbie Burns cheers on Andy Murray at Wimbledon. 
 
And Harry Potter is left high and dry when Ginny kicks him out and keeps the house. 
 
Re-mixed and re-imagined, this is literature but not as you know it.

Pistache Returns

Bringing much-needed humour to a chaotic year, this cartoon companion features the most hilarious and incisive cartoons by Steve Bell, Peter Brookes, Nicola Jennings and many more of the nation's finest cartoonists. 
 
2021 is turning out to be another extraordinary year, from Covid crises and vaccine victories to lockdown learning, haddock havoc and Capitol coups. But, then, it has also been a very familiar story of Brexit blunders and Trumpian tantrums. The nation's greatest cartoonists have recorded it all with searing wit and astonishing creativity. Britain's Best Political Cartoons 2021 brings together cartoons from the nation's finest satirists, along with captions from Britain's leading cartoon expert, to tell the story of another tumultuous twelve months.

Britain's Best Political Cartoons 2021

Damon Beesley

Iain Morris

Following on from last year’s huge Sunday Times bestseller, The Inbetweeners Yearbook, comes The Inbetweeners Script Book, the perfect gift for all die-hard Inbetweeners fan and lovers of fine award-winning literature. 
 
The book features all eighteen scripts of the televised show, each with its own introduction from the writers and creators, Damon Beesley and Iain Morris, sharing behind the scenes stories about filming, the writing process, and the real events that inspired the show’s storylines.

The Inbetweeners Scriptbook

A cartoon companion to an unprecedented year in politics. 
 
 2020 will forever be remembered as the year of coronavirus: twelve months in which we collectively forgot about Brexit, to turn our attention to the NHS, furloughs and social distancing. All of us, that is, apart from Britain's political cartoonists. Here, our finest satirists turn their eyes to Covid and much more: from the never-ending Brexit psychodrama to the Labour leadership election to the next US president. Featuring the work of Steve Bell, Peter Brookes and Nicola Jennings, Britain's Best Political Cartoons is your trusty companion to another year of turmoil, tantrums and Trump.

Britain's Best Political Cartoons 2020

Jilly Cooper

'Men, according to legend, want only one thing, are deceivers ever, are not interested in gossip, like a cosy armful, need two eggs, and seldom wash behind their ears.' 
 
Whatever their grading, Super Man or Slob, Jilly submits all men to remorseless scrutiny. In public and in private, home, office or bed, none escapes her beady eye - from painters to politicians, guardsmen to gigolos, stockbrokers to sex-fiends, this is Jilly Cooper's brilliantly funny guide to the male sex.

Men and Supermen

No Such Thing As A Fish

__________ 
‘My favourite geeks. Hilarious. Sideways. Brilliant.’ Tim Minchin 
 
In a year dominated by Russian collusion and Brexit confusion, The Book of the Year returns with another dose of barely believable yet wholly unimpeachable facts and stories from the past twelve months. 
 
Every week for the past four years, Dan, James, Anna and Andy – the creators of the award-winning, chart-topping comedy podcast No Such Thing As A Fish – have wowed each other and millions of their listeners with the most astonishing trivia they have learned over the previous seven days. Now, once again, they have put down the microphones, picked up their pencils, and transformed a year’s worth of weird and wonderful happenings into one uplifting book that you won’t be able to put down. 
 
Discover how Peruvian mummies affected the World Cup, and why Love Island contestants are experts in game theory – as well as hundreds of stories that may have passed you by entirely, including the news that: 
 
· NASA sent a man with a fear of heights to the International Space Station. 
· An ice hotel in Canada caught fire. 
· Mark Zuckerberg’s private data was compromised while he was talking to Congress about compromised data. 
 
From Kim Jong Un’s personal potty to Jeremy Corbyn’s valuable vegetables, The Book of the Year 2018 is an eye-opening tour of yet another incredible year you didn’t know you’d lived through.

The Book of the Year 2018

Your Definitive Guide to the World’s Weirdest News

Will Donaldson

Conveniently arranged in alphabetical order, from Abstractions (you'll find them on the Continent, of course') to Weather, Root Around Britain tells the story of a quest. A quest for the essence of Englishness; a quest for a new television series which Mr Root can sell to the fat man in Birmingham; a quest for a peerage and the right way to pay for it ('old money' or 'new money'?); and, finally, a quest for the means to humiliate a nosy neighbour. What could be more English than that?

Root Around Britain

____________ 
A blockbuster collection of the year’s funniest political cartoons, featuring the work of Mac, Steve Bell, Peter Brookes and many more . . . 
 
2018 was the year that Brexit got serious, royals got married, football got (briefly) feverish, and Trump got transformed into a giant baby blimp. In Britain’s Best Political Cartoons 2018, our very finest satirists turn their eyes and their pens to all these events and more, offering an incisive and often hilarious tour through a tumultuous twelve months.

Britain’s Best Political Cartoons 2018

Vincent Shanley

John Golds

Education is one aspect of life which we all share, and consequently it provides a common interest. Memories of our own education and school life frequently impinge on our psyche, espcially if we have children undergoing the process. Too often these memories are soberring remiscences punctuated by humeorous recollections which prompt the wry smile and the oft-qupoted anecdote. While Education is a very serious subject, it does have a lighter side which in these days of cutbacks, inspections and media-concentration, helps releiieve the tension. This book is a collection of mad imprints, daft headlines and humorous anecdotes relation to the world of Education. More often than not it is the unintentional jokes which are the funniest, and its compilation contains the most amusing and comical. Suspecting a hidden agenda behind Meredith's accusations, he sets out to clear his name, whatever the consequences and whatever price he has to pay to achieve it.

Classroom Clangers

Stephen Fry

A hilarious collection of the many articles written by Stephen Fry for magazines, newspapers and radio. It includes selected wireless essays of Donald Trefusis, the ageing professor of philology brought to life in Fry's novel The Liar, and the best of Fry's weekly column for the Daily Telegraph.

Paperweight: Volume 1

Paperweight: Volume 2

A hilarious companion to the year’s political turmoil, featuring the work of Martin Rowson, Steve Bell, Peter Brookes, Nicola Jennings and many more . . . 
 
2019 was the year of Brexit, obviously. But it was also the year that Donald Trump went haywire over Huawei, Theresa May got bounced by the backstop, Boris Johnson was hoisted into high office, and the country was corralled into a chaotic Christmas election. In Britain’s Best Political Cartoons 2019, our very finest satirists skewer everything from Kremlin collusion to no-deal confusion, offering a riotous ride through the last twelve months. And did we mention Brexit?

Britain’s Best Political Cartoons 2019

Over the past 21 years Jilly Cooper has written a selection of best-selling books, mixing outrageous anecdotes from the lives of her family and friends with shrewd and wicked social satire and criticism. Men and Super Men was followed by Women and Super Women and then by the devastatingly outspoken bombshell, Class; the poignantly evocative The Common Years; the indispensable How to Survive Christmas and the essential handbook for Nouveau-Rustics, Turn Right at the Spotted Dog. 
 
All these and more provide the material for Angels Rush In, a rich and sparkling selection made and introduced by the author herself.

Angels Rush In

Mark Wallington

From the author of the bestselling 500 Mile Walkies, this is the true story of one man and his bike ... 
 
It was a cold, bleak, British summer morning when intrepid Mark set out to travel the seventeen-hundred miles to Lapland on his bicycle. The land of reindeer nomads and the Midnight Sun had him under its spell. 
 
Suitably equipped with a new locknut A and pivot bolt B, a compass, a pair of sunglasses with only one lens and a Norwegian phrasebook, he was soon to discover the joys of Central Milton Keynes, win a marathon he never ran in Brassington, become stranded on the Yorkshire Dales, pick raspberries in Northumbria and finally catch a train from Newcastle - back to London! 
 
His dreams of obtaining a genuine reindeer hatstand were shattered forever!

Destination Lapland

Random House Audiobooks present The Audiobook of the Year, written and read by the team behind hit podcast No Such Thing As A Fish: James Harkin, Andrew Hunter Murray, Anna Ptaszynski and Dan Schreiber. 
 
 
In a year when much of the news was believable but fake, comes an audiobook packed with stories that are unbelievable but true. 
 
The Audiobook of the Year is a feature-length edition of the award-winning hit comedy podcast No Such Thing As A Fish. Each week, over a million people tune in to find out what bizarre and astonishing facts Dan, James, Anna and Andy have found out over the previous seven days. Now the gang have turned their attention to the news of the past twelve months. 
 
You’ll discover the curious details behind the main headlines – how Donald Trump slept on the 66th floor of a 58-storey building, what effect Brexit had on Coco Pops, and why China’s president can’t stand Winnie the Pooh – as well as hundreds of stories you may have missed entirely, like the news that: 
 
- Qatar built a refugee camp for camels 
- 2,000 bees were stolen in Beeston 
- The victim of Britain’s first ever shark attack ended up with a cut thumb. 
 
 
From bizarre arrests to baffling elections, via a surprising amount of sausage news, The Audiobook of the Year is an eye-opening tour of the incredible year you didn’t know you’d lived through. 
 
‘Jolly, packed with impressive and silly facts . . . hooray for No Such Thing As A Fish.’ – Observer 
 
‘Knowledge-packed and riotously funny.’ – The Times

The Audiobook of the Year

The sequel to "500-mile Walkies". When the author set off in a 100-year-old camping skiff to find the source of the Thames, he didn't want to take his dog, Boogie. He would have left him in kennels but the other dogs complained and things do not work out as he planned.

Boogie Up The River

One Man and His Dog to the Source of the Thames

Random House presents The Audiobook of the Year 2018, written and read by the team behind hit podcast No Such Thing as a Fish; James Harkin, Jane Hill, Dan Schreiber, Andrew Hunter Murray and Anna Ptaszynski. 
 
Think you know what happened in 2018? Think again. 
 
Following hot on the heels of the success of The Audiobook of the Year (or, more precisely, twelve months later), The Audiobook of the Year 2018 bravely delves behind the headlines to sniff out the best and most bizarre facts of the past 12 months. 
 
Compiled and written by the creators of the award-winning hit comedy podcast No Such Thing As A Fish, all of whom are researchers for QI, it will establish - among other things - that: 
 
· Britain’s first robot shop assistant was sacked after a week 
· Donald Trump claimed the US sells F52 planes to Norway, even though F52 planes only exist in the game Call of Duty 
· During the Winter Olympics, it was so windy during the Women's Slopestyle Final that every single competitor was blown off her snowboard. 
· A snail racing competition in Plymouth was postponed because the snails were too 'sluggish' to take part. 
 
Ranging from the distinctly offbeat to the wonderfully ludicrous - from the South Africans who were rationed to just one toilet flush per day, to the Nutella riots spreading across France, via the Miami bitcoin conference that stopped accepting bitcoin - The Audiobook of the Year promises a fact for every occasion and will prove the perfect Christmas gift for all trivia buffs.

The Audiobook of The Year (2018)

David Lines

Continuing the tradition of parodying all things sacred, the author of The XXXX Files and PMT takes up the reigns of satire by rewriting the essential 1970s hippy handbook Jonathan Livingston Seagull. Instead of a seagull for a hero, this updated classic features a bloated, cynical, grungy pigeon, who looks not to the skies for inspiration, but to the London Underground. Cutting corners wherever possible and living the life of a fully fledged MTV-generation feral pigeon, Jonathan's rite of passage is more a celebration of modern-day teenage apathy set against a backdrop of 90s Pop Culture and Victorian underground architecture than a voyage of delicious self-discovery. Matching the original page-for-page in content and layout, Jonathan Livingston Trafalgar Square Pigeon is a modern-day morality tale that will, by its very nature, attract plenty of attention whilst ever so gently ruffling a few feathers along the way.

Jonathan Livingston Trafalgar Square Pigeon

Gavin Edwards

People love Bill Murray movies, but even more, they love crazy stories about Bill Murray out in the world. 
Bill reads poetry to construction workers. Bill joins in strangers' kickball games. Bill steals a golf cart in Stockholm. Bill follows the Roots – a hip hop band – around. Bill pays a kid $5 to ride his bicycle into a swimming pool. 
 
The most popular Bill Murray story of all time (which he will neither confirm nor deny): on a crowded street, he puts his hands over a stranger's eyes from behind and says "Guess who?" When he lifts his hands to reveal his identity as Bill Murray, he tells the gobsmacked stranger, "No one will ever believe you." 
 
For The Tao of Bill Murray: Real-Life Stories of Joy, Enlightenment, and Party Crashing, best-selling author Gavin Edwards tracked down the best authentic Bill Murray stories. People savour these anecdotes; they consume them with a bottomless hunger; they routinely turn them into viral hits. 
 
The book not only has the greatest hits of Bill's eye-opening interactions with the world, it puts them in the context of a larger philosophy (revealed to the author in an exclusive interview): Bill Murray is secretly teaching us all how to live our lives.

The Tao of Bill Murray

Real-Life Stories of Joy, Enlightenment, and Party Crashing

Whatever their grading, Super Woman or Slut, Jilly submits all women to remorseless scrutiny. In public and private, home, office or bed, none escapes her beady eye- from debs to divorcees, models to maiden aunts, tarts to Tory ladies, this is Jilly Cooper's brilliantly funny guide to the female sex.

Women And Superwomen

Simon Toseland

Martin Toseland

As long as there has been crime there has been crap crime. From the Garden of Eden onwards, most criminals must have been at least a bit crap - or else they wouldn't have been caught, right? OK, some real-life rogues like Bonnie and Clyde, or fictional villains like Moriarty, make breaking the law seem pretty glamorous. But not the failed felons banged up inside this book. 
 
Crap Crimes is a hilarious compendium of criminal stupidity - from the woman who went to the police to complain that she had been sold poor-quality cocaine, to the burglar who left his phone charging in his victim's house. If you need proof that crime does not pay - or you just want a good laugh - then this is the book for you.

Crap Crimes

Tales of Criminal Stupidity

A note from the editor: 
 
Dear Respected Online Customer 
 
Welcome to the page of the first ever official Rudge Park yearbook. And thank you very much in advance for purchasing the book at the incredibly reasonable price they are bound to be selling it at. 
 
When I put myself forward to be the editor of the yearbook, my Head of Sixth Form Mr Gilbert was the first to wish me words of wisdom and support. His actual words - 'Well, McKenzie, I'm looking forward to seeing how you piss this one up' - were the inspiration behind this book. Sadly, and this is not an apology, due to a print schedule that can only be described as fascistic, I wasn't able to finish the book to my exact liking. However, I was very lucky that my 'friends', Jay Cartwright, Simon Cooper and Neil Sutherland decided to supply a lot of the material 
 
So, inside this 'masterpiece' (Polly McKenzie) you'll find: Simon's Love Poetry, Jay's A-Z of Sex and (nonsensical) Business Plan, the Camber Sands Caravan Club newsletter, Neil's Biology coursework, entitled Do You Put the Balls In? and his map of Rudge Park, along with some incisive pieces of journalism, most likely written by me. And there's lots of other random stuff which has never seen the light of day. God knows how it got in there. 
 
It is my greatest, and only, achievement from my two years at Rudge Park. May it bring you years of happiness and joy, and not just on the toilet. 
 
Yours 
 
William McKenzie, Editor

The Inbetweeners Yearbook

Four Finger Discount

Remember when The Simpsons was the funniest show on television? 
 
The Simpsons is the longest running comedy in history. Gracing our screens since 1989, with over 600 episodes, the show is a cultural phenomenon. Whilst it is still drawing huge ratings numbers, there is no argument that during the 90s the show was at its zenith. 
 
No other comedy has had as big an impact on society. The Simpsons has influenced the way we communicate with each other. Niche quotes and references have become the secret handshake of millions around the world. In the course of this book, we remember the iconic characters – Hank Scorpio and Lionel Hutz, Rex Banner and Frank Grimes - and we dissect seminal episodes such as Cape Feare, Marge Vs the Monorail and Who Shot Mr. Burns. 
 
From celebrity cameos to musical moments, from hidden jokes to insane trivia, this is the essential companion to golden age of The Simpsons. Homer’s Odyssey is a hilarious, intelligent and in-depth analysis of the greatest show on earth. 
 
So grab yourself a Flaming Moe, settle in to your groove on the couch, and enjoy our guide to your favourite yellow family.

Homer's Odyssey

An Embiggened Simpsons Guide

John Armstrong

Ann Armstrong

Have you ever wondered how typewriters can rival commercial radio? Why, according to John, it's best to shave only once a week, and with old fashioned soap and water? And what the various repercussions of spring and its extra hour of daylight bring? 
 
The BBC created a fantastically cult television series when they filmed the daily operations of John and Ann's double glazing firm U-Fit, the third largest in Coventry. It was here we were first introduced to John's misanthropic musings and no-nonsense attitude to management and his wife Ann's doting loyalty. 
 
Now their individual and highly entertaining personalities have been brought to the page, as they ruminate on various aspects of life from asbos to Buddhism, and Chekov to Maltesers.

The Armstrongs' A-Z Guide to Life

Simon Bond

Howard Marks

Howard Marks is king of the dope-smoking world: Mr Nice is now at a staggering half a million copies sold, and the Book of Dope Stories has sold 100,000 copies in six months. Simon Bond is a well-known cartoonist: the classic 101 Uses For A Dead Cat came out in an omnibus edition last year - twenty years after it was first published. 101 Uses For A Dead Roach will be a humour classic - 101 cartoons ranging from the sublime to the ridiculous, of how to use the un-useable part of your joint.

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