AS READ ON RADIO 4 'Manages to find joy in the trivial and creates farce out of monotony . . . To say that a book has 'changed your life' has become so commonplace that it has become almost meaningless. Nonetheless, I think that in this case, it is probably true' JONATHAN COE From the bestselling author of Going Gently and the hugely successful autobiography I Didn't Get Where I Am Today Reginald Iolanthe Perrin is sick to death with selling exotic ices at Sunshine Desserts. He's fed up with his boss C.J. who delights in making his life hell. And he's had enough of his eager young assistants who think everything is 'super'. So begins Reggie's battle against consumerism. Driven to desperation by the rat race and the unpunctuality of Britain's trains, Reggie's small eccentricities escalate to the extreme. Until, finally, he leaves behind the unacceptable face of capitalism altogether. Driven off in a motorised jelly, and creating the world's biggest loganberry slick on his way, he dumps his clothes on a Dorset beach and sets off for new adventures . . .

NEWLY DRAMATISED ON RADIO 4 'Manages to find joy in the trivial and creates farce out of monotony . . . To say that a book has 'changed your life' has become so commonplace that it has become almost meaningless. Nonetheless, I think that in this case, it is probably true' JONATHAN COE From the bestselling author of Going Gently and the hugely successful autobiography I Didn't Get Where I Am Today Reginald Iolanthe Perrin is sick to death with selling exotic ices at Sunshine Desserts. He's fed up with his boss C.J. who delights in making his life hell. And he's had enough of his eager young assistants who think everything is 'super'. So begins Reggie's battle against consumerism. Driven to desperation by the rat race and the unpunctuality of Britain's trains, Reggie's small eccentricities escalate to the extreme. Until, finally, he leaves behind the unacceptable face of capitalism altogether. Driven off in a motorised jelly, and creating the world's biggest loganberry slick on his way, he dumps his clothes on a Dorset beach and sets off for new adventures . . .

This hilarious episode in the remarkable exploits of Reginald Iolanthe Perrin follows our hero on his most ambitious venture yet. Setting up a commune strictly for the middle-class and middle-aged, Reggie's therapy centre nurtures its clients, encouraging them to find the love and goodness that lurks deep inside. And he's gathered together the unlikeliest of staff to help him- including C.J. (for people's work problems), David Harris-Jones (handling their sex problems), plus Tony Webster (culture), his son-in-law Tom (sport) and Doc Morrissey (psychology). With a team like this, how can the indomitable, unconventional R.I.P. ever fail in his bid to create a Better World?

Kate Thomas was beautiful, intelligent, witty, passionate and sexy. Now, at the ripe old age of ninety-nine, she is trapped in a hospital ward of sad, mad and bad old women. She escapes by playing to herself the video of her life. What a life it has been. Her six marriages have ended in suicide, a husband's adultery, another husband's deportation as a dangerous alien, a union dispute, a murder, and a natural death. But Kate's journey through the twentieth century is also a search for the truth - about life, death, and which of her three sons murdered her fifth husband. This is a novel rich in memorable characters, from Kate's narrow but loving Welsh family to the wild members of an artists' colony in Cornwall; from Midland piston manufacturers to an investigative journalist whose own life cannot bear investigation.

Reginald Iolanthe Perrin is surely one of the best loved comedy heroes of our time, in both literature and television. This omnibus brings together the first three Reginald Perrin novels containing a lifetime's outrageous and hilarious adventures. When we first meet Reggie, he is sick to death with selling exotic ices at Sunshine Desserts. Driven to desperation by the rat race and the unpunctuality of Britain's trains, Reggie's small eccentricites escalate to the extreme, until finally he leaves the unacceptable face of capitalism behind by driving off in a stolen motorised jelly. In his pursuit of the unconventional, he devotes himself to faking his own death, opening a shop devoted to selling completely useless goods, and setting up a commune strictly for the middle-class and middle-aged. Join Reggie, who didn't get where he is today without some help from some memorable supporting characters, in one man's quest to avoid an everyday existence.

*The fourth book of the classic comic series about the 'sweaty, charming, paunchy, sad, hilarious man' who faked his own death. First published in the late 1970s, the three previous books were made into an immensely popular BBC TV series starring Leonard Rossiter. *THE LEGACY OF REGINALD PERRIN is set in the present day, and Reggie is now REALLY dead. He's bequeathed vast sums of money to his family and old associates on the condition that each performs a really absurd act. Here is the return of all the favourite Perrin characters, whose hilarious catch-phrases have become by-words: Reggie's hopeless brother-in-law Jimmy ('Bit of a cock-up on the catering front'), and his old boss at Sunshine Desserts, C. J. ('I did'nt get where I am today by. . . ')

As a small boy David Nobbs survived the Second World War unscathed, until his bedroom ceiling fell on him when the last bomb to be dropped on Britain by the Germans landed near his home. It was the nearest he came to the war, but National Service would later make him one of Britain's most reluctant soldiers. It was an unforgettable and often unpleasant experience. As a struggling writer, David was catapulted into the thrilling world of satire at the BBC when he rang THAT WAS THE WEEK THAT WAS with a joke and got through to David Frost, who sent a taxi for the joke. He never looked back. His greatness as a modern comic writer was confirmed by the publication of THE FALL AND RISE OF REGINALD PERRIN, which he adapted into the immensely successful television series that has entered the fabric of British cultural life, through phrases, images and brilliant humour. A mesmerising, beautifully told tale of life in writing and comedy, I DIDN'T GET WHERE I AM TODAY is the hilarious, poignant and very personal story of David Nobbs' life, which also describes some of the most famous comedians of the last century and captures a golden age of British television.