Product details
- ISBN 9780241978542
- Weight: 116g
- Dimensions: 130 x 196mm
- Publication Date: 02 Jun 2016
- Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
- Publication City/Country: GB
- Product Form: Paperback
- Language: English
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'To write a book is hard; to write a funny book is harder; to write a funny book both wise and funny is the prerogative of Mr. Mikes' The Times
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If you want to succeed here you must be able to handle the English sense of humour.
So proclaims George Mikes' timeless exploration of this curious phenomenon. Whether it's understatement, self-deprecation or plain cruelty, the three elements he identifies as essential to our sense of humour, being witty here is a way of life.
Perfectly placed as an adopted Englishman himself, Mikes delivers his shrewd advice - helpfully divided into 'Theory' and 'Practice' - with a comic precision that does his chosen country proud. Drawing on a trove of examples from our rich comic canon, from Orwell ("Every joke is a tiny revolution") to Oscar Wilde, this is the essential handbook for natives and foreigners alike.
Mrs Kennedy: "I don't think, Mr Churchill, that I have told you anything about my grandchildren."
Winston Churchill: "For which, madam, I am infinitely grateful."
