Monday, October 26, 2009

Book of the Day: Best Seat in the House by Frank Johnson

If you're stuck on what to buy a political friend for Christmas, you could do a lot worse than buy the new book of political and parliamentary sketches by the much missed Frank Johnson. BEST SEAT IN THE HOUSE pulls together his two previous sketch books with lots of added new material.

I remember when I first became interested in politics in the late 1970s and early 1980s, Frank's sketches in the Telegraph were an absolute delight. He really was one of the finest, if not the, finest sketchwriters of his generation.

it was Frank who dubbed Norman Tebbit the "Chingford Strangler" and first called Dennis Skinner the "Beast of Bolsover".

There are also some wonderful vignettes about his love of opera and ballet and his life in France with his wife Virginia Fraser, who has lovingly compiled the book.

Buy the book HERE.
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9 comments:

  1. marcusOctober 26, 2009 6:28 pm

    Can't believe you haven't picked up on the Elizabeth Truss scandal yet!!

    http://www.edp24.co.uk/content/edp24/default/story.aspx?brand=EDPOnline&category=NewsSplash&tBrand=EDPOnline&tCategory=xDefault&itemid=NOED25%20Oct%202009%2018%3A02%3A51%3A943#

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  2. AnonymousOctober 26, 2009 6:47 pm

    Wasn't Tebbit called "The Chingford Skinhead?"

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  3. AnonymousOctober 26, 2009 7:24 pm

    Chingford Skin head, I think it was.

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  4. SeanOctober 26, 2009 7:31 pm

    For heaven's sake.

    Give your politician Christmas off and buy something that involves being a person ...

    I'd suggest All Fun and Games Until Someone Loses an Eye

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  5. AnonymousOctober 26, 2009 8:53 pm

    Chingford skinhead, surely?

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  6. Roger DodgerOctober 26, 2009 10:08 pm

    An inspiration.

    Genuinely and consistently funny and if this praise isn't too high, reminded me of the effortlessness of Wodehouse.

    Very much missed.

    RIP

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  7. QuietzappleOctober 27, 2009 2:51 am

    Was it not Michael Foot who called Tebbit "Chingford Skinhead"?

    And Patrick Nicholls "one of our parliamentary popinjays"?

    I have one of his books, unread, somewhere. I may be some time . . .

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  8. AnonymousOctober 27, 2009 7:15 am

    "Frank's sketches in the Telegraph were an absolute delight."

    They certainly were. Those were the days.

    PS It think it was both 'Strangler' and 'Skinhead'.

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  9. Rush-is-RightOctober 27, 2009 1:27 pm

    "Frank's sketches in the Telegraph were an absolute delight."

    IIRC he followed directly on from Andrew Alexander. Those were big boots to fill.

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