'The most screamingly funny living writer' Barry Humphries, Mail on SundayFrom the bestselling and award-winning author of Ma'am Darling and One Two Three Four, a selection of Craig Brown's finest writing collected together for the first time.What is James Bond's middle name?How does Jacob Rees-Mogg's nanny set about cleaning him up in the morning?When did Piers Morgan introduce his special guest Kim Jong-Un as “the straight-talking boy from North Korea who grew up to become a global superstar”?All these important questions, and a great many more, are answered in Craig Brown's Haywire.Featuring handy household tips from Mary Berry (‘When eating a boiled egg be careful to remove the shell first, or it can be a little crunchy’) and historic admissions from Queen Elizabeth 1st to Oprah Winfrey concerning her mother's beheading (‘Thank you for having the courage to share that with us’), Haywire presents a survival guide to the 21st century.In one chapter, Brown writes about the influence of Blackpool on Sigmund Freud and Les Dawson. In another, he unearths the Historical Online Archive and discovers that the invention of the wheel in Mesopotamia in 4000 BC drew fierce criticism on social media. “My mate tried it, says it's total rubbish” wrote Brian from Sumeria.The acclaimed biographer of Princess Margaret and The Beatles delivers essays on such diverse figures as Ronald Searle, John Stonehouse, Bruce Springsteen, Richard Dawkins, Katie Price, Stanley Spencer, Harry and Meghan, Brian Epstein, Kenneth Williams, Ronald Reagan, Simon Dee and the Marx Brothers.With the full battery of the humourist's armoury – clerihews, tongue-twisters, whimsy, parody, farce, satire, social observation, nonsense – Brown skewers the passing fads and delusions of the contemporary world.‘Our greatest living satirist’ Sunday Times‘Exquisitely naughty and hilarious’ Guardian‘Craig Brown’s humour will outlive his victims … his journalism is one of the few compensations for being British now’ Sunday TelegraphGold title• Craig Brown won the Baillie Gifford for One Two Three Four & the James Tait Black Prize for Ma’am Darling, further establishing him as one of the UK’s finest, and funniest, non-fiction writers • One Two Three Four and Ma’am Darling were phenomenal bestsellers (One Two Three Four has sold >98k TCM across all formats, Ma’am Darling >102k) • Craig Brown became famous for his writing in Private Eye & newspapers like the Daily Mail: this is his first collection of journalism and writing in fifteen years• For fans of One Two Three Four & Ma’am Darling, readers of Private Eye & satire, & readers of witty, well-observed writings on culture & society (AA Gill, Alan Bennett, David Mitchell, Caitlin Moran, William Cook)Competition: one two three four: the beatles in time;ma’am darling: 99 glimpses of princess margaret;the lost diaries;can you make this thing go faster?;tall tales and wee stories. piers morgan;spike milligan;billy connolly;pg wodehouse;max beerbohm;david mitchell;auberon waugh
'The most screamingly funny living writer' Barry Humphries, Mail on SundayFrom the bestselling and award-winning author of Ma'am Darling and One Two Three Four, a selection of Craig Brown's finest writing collected together for the first time.What is James Bond's middle name?How does Jacob Rees-Mogg's nanny set about cleaning him up in the morning?When did Piers Morgan introduce his special guest Kim Jong-Un as “the straight-talking boy from North Korea who grew up to become a global superstar”?All these important questions, and a great many more, are answered in Craig Brown's Haywire.Featuring handy household tips from Mary Berry (‘When eating a boiled egg be careful to remove the shell first, or it can be a little crunchy’) and historic admissions from Queen Elizabeth 1st to Oprah Winfrey concerning her mother's beheading (‘Thank you for having the courage to share that with us’), Haywire presents a survival guide to the 21st century.In one chapter, Brown writes about the influence of Blackpool on Sigmund Freud and Les Dawson. In another, he unearths the Historical Online Archive and discovers that the invention of the wheel in Mesopotamia in 4000 BC drew fierce criticism on social media. “My mate tried it, says it's total rubbish” wrote Brian from Sumeria.The acclaimed biographer of Princess Margaret and The Beatles delivers essays on such diverse figures as Ronald Searle, John Stonehouse, Bruce Springsteen, Richard Dawkins, Katie Price, Stanley Spencer, Harry and Meghan, Brian Epstein, Kenneth Williams, Ronald Reagan, Simon Dee and the Marx Brothers.With the full battery of the humourist's armoury – clerihews, tongue-twisters, whimsy, parody, farce, satire, social observation, nonsense – Brown skewers the passing fads and delusions of the contemporary world.‘Our greatest living satirist’ Sunday Times‘Exquisitely naughty and hilarious’ Guardian‘Craig Brown’s humour will outlive his victims … his journalism is one of the few compensations for being British now’ Sunday TelegraphGold title• Craig Brown won the Baillie Gifford for One Two Three Four & the James Tait Black Prize for Ma’am Darling, further establishing him as one of the UK’s finest, and funniest, non-fiction writers • One Two Three Four and Ma’am Darling were phenomenal bestsellers (One Two Three Four has sold >98k TCM across all formats, Ma’am Darling >102k) • Craig Brown became famous for his writing in Private Eye & newspapers like the Daily Mail: this is his first collection of journalism and writing in fifteen years• For fans of One Two Three Four & Ma’am Darling, readers of Private Eye & satire, & readers of witty, well-observed writings on culture & society (AA Gill, Alan Bennett, David Mitchell, Caitlin Moran, William Cook)Competition: one two three four: the beatles in time;ma’am darling: 99 glimpses of princess margaret;the lost diaries;can you make this thing go faster?;tall tales and wee stories. piers morgan;spike milligan;billy connolly;pg wodehouse;max beerbohm;david mitchell;auberon waugh