By Thelwell
Publisher: Methuen
SBN: 414 66500 4
OK, I'm cheating on this one, but it's new to me. My sister-in-law's been living in Hong Kong for the best part of three decades and her son has been visiting us. One of his tasks while here was to sort out the piles of boxes she left behind, and either decide to keep it and send it on or bin it. Fortunately for me they thought I might like this Thelwell hardback.
I hardly need to enthuse about the masterful linework and wit of Thelwell, so I'll share instead the amusing foresight and relevance this particular book has for us today in 2010. It was printed in 1971, the year before I was born, and paints a disturbing picture of our increasing neglect of the world around us. The cover alone, with a tanker driver plugging a hole in his vehicle with his finger to stop oil escaping into the river, pretty much encapsulates BP's efforts out in the Gulf of Mexico. Then cartoon on the title page of the first of the first section, Water, Water Everywhere features a caption that says They'll have to do something soon. It's affecting the polar bears in the Arctic.
It repeatedly felt like a new book commenting on today's world, and I found it deliciously entertaining because of it. Goodness knows if you can track down a copy, but well worth it if you can.
And if you liked that: See if you can get hold of Some Damn Fool's Signed The Rubens Again
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