Chocolate and Cuckoo Clocks: The Essential Alan Coren - Softcover

A comic genius. * * The Times * * The field is led by Alan Coren. * * Observer * * Coren is our heavyweight champion humorist, over-powering as well as graceful, able to do everything, sometimes in the same short article. * * Guardian * * The funniest writer in Britain today. * * Sunday Times * * Coruscating! A master humorist! * * Daily Telegraph * * He has a comic imagination which can actually render your jaded scribe flabbergasted. -- Clive James * * Observer * * His power of observation knows no bounds. * * Daily Mail * * Coren's extraordinary gift for seeing the funny side of everyday life is in abundant evidence throughout this book, which will have you chuckling out loud. * * Good Book Guide * * This book brings together a well-chosen and quiveringly funny sample of [Coren's] comic writing . . . The humour in these columns isn't about one-liners and the best pieces take a fertile idea and run a mile with it, sparking a shower of bon mots in the process. -- James Purdon * * Observer * * Accomplished. -- Colin Waters * * Sunday Herald * * A fitting testament to a man who gave millions joy. -- Richard Morrison, * * Times * * Anthologies of humorous writing are usually deadly, but this one collates Alan Coren's work into decades, each with an introduction by someone you've heard of, and tries to give it a purpose above that of the pursuit of cheap laughs. The upshot is that Coren's anarchic silliness has something to play against. -- Toby Clements * * Daily Telegraph * * An engaging collection . . . The warmth and wit of these pieces stand the test of time. -- Anita Sethi * * Independent on Sunday * * If you ever wanted to find the Corens' funny bone, this is the best place to start. -- Matt Hussey * * The Shortlist * * This ultimate collection of the writings of the much loved and sadly missed humorist, broadcaster and self styled 'sage of Cricklewood' has been selected by his children Giles and Victoria and contain pieces spanning a career of more than 40 years. * * London Review of Books * *

Edited by his children, Giles and Victoria, Chocolate and Cuckoo Clocks is an anthology of humorous writing from the former editor of Punch and Radio 4 national treasure Alan Coren, who died in October 2007. In a prolific forty-year career Alan Coren wrote for The Times, Observer, Tatler, Daily Mail, Mail on Sunday, Listener, Punch and the New Yorker, and published over 20 books including The Sanity Inspector, Golfing for Cats and The Collected Bulletins of Idi Amin (he turned down an invitation from Amin to visit Uganda saying, 'I'll probably end up as a sandwich'). Even twenty years ago he estimated that he had published six million words, or ten copies of War and Peace. Coren was one of Britain's most prolific and now much-missed humourists, finding the comedy of life all around him and rendering it, hilariously and compellingly, in polished and witty prose which will be eagerly devoured by his loyal fanbase.