Böcker av Simon Hoggart

Read about how John Major learned the English language from his time in Nigeria. There is Tony Blair, with his verb-free sentences which imply everything and promise nothing. Gordon Brown, the grumpiest prime minister of recent years, both Stalin and Mr Bean. And now David Cameron - who really, really hates being drawn with a condom on his head.Let's not forget John Prescott, who can wrestle the English language to the mat and win by two falls to a submission, Michael Fabricant with his hairpiece stolen from the tail of a My Little Pony, Sir Peter Tapsell, a grandee so grand thatwhen he rises to speak, Hansard writers are replaced by a crack team of monks to write up his words in illuminated lettering. Nick Clegg, with his default expression of a man's whose children's puppy is still missing. And of course,the famous 2010 press conference in the garden of Downing Street, a love-in that would have been illegal in 44 American states.This book, the best of Simon Hoggart's political sketchwriting, will have you laughing, chuckling, roaring, sniggering, and sometimes despairing. It is instant history with added jokes.

Simon Hoggart brings together the funniest and most surreal examples of that bete noire, the Christmas round robin letter, accompanied by his own inimitably funny commentary.

A host of memories from Simon Hoggart's forty-plus years in journalism. Simon reveals what Alan Clark said about Melvyn Bragg, what really happened at the Lady Chatterley trial, what Cherie Blair said to him and how he riposted, as well as the time John Sergeant drove a flight attendant to a fury, what happened when he mixed a drink for W. H. Auden and the day Enoch Powell met Bill Haley. A Long Lunch is often hilarious, while also being full of wisdom and insight. Simon has long been regarded as one of our sharpest and wittiest commentators. These memories cover his years in Parliament, Northern Ireland, around the world and on Radio 4, where for twelve years he chaired the much-loved News Quiz. From behind the scenes in Parliament, roving across America and bizarre meetings in TV studios, Simon Hoggart entertains, informs and delights.