The classic comedy of a 50s youth trapped inside a Walter Mitty fantasy-world, published as a Penguin Essential for the first time. Keith Waterhouse's Billy Liar was published in 1959, and captures brilliantly the claustrophobic atmosphere of a small town. It tells the story of Billy Fisher, a Yorkshire teenager unable to stop lying - especially to his three girlfriends. Trapped by his boring job and working-class parents, Billy finds that his only happiness lies in grand plans for his future and fantastical day-dreams of the fictional country Ambrosia.

Gambler, journalist, fervent alcoholic and four-times married Jeffrey Bernard writes the "Low Life" column for the Spectator magazine chronicling Soho life as well as offering a very personal philosophy on vodka, women and race-courses. From this, Keith Waterhouse has brilliantly constructed a play (the title being the euphemism used by the Spectator when Bernard is incapable of writing his column) which is set in the saloon bar of Bernard's favourite Soho pub, the Coach and Horses. Having passed out in the lavatory, Bernard awakes in the early hours of the morning to find himself alone and in the dark. Unable to contact the landlord, he is resigned to spending the rest of the night with a bottle of vodka and an endless chain of cigarettes, narrating a story of hilarious anecdotes and witty reminiscences which are enacted by two actors and two actresses who bring to life the various characters who populate Jeff 's world. Starring Peter O'Toole, later succeeded by Tom Conti then James Bolam, the play enjoyed a hugely successful run at the Apollo Theatre, London.

Keith Waterhouse is very particular about what lunch is not: 'It is not prawn cocktail, steak and Black Forest gateau with your bank manger. It is not civic, commemorative, annual office or funeral. It is not when either party is on a diet, on the wagon or in a hurry.' He is equally precise about what lunch is: 'It is a mid-day meal taken at leisure by, ideally, two people. Three's a crowd, four always split like a double amoeba into two pairs, six is a meeting, eight is a conference... A little light business may be touched upon but the occasion is firmly social. Whether they know it or not, for as long as they linger in the restaurant they are having an affair. The affair is lunch.' The Theory and Practice of Lunch is an authoritative and delightfully witty manual on the art of taking the most agreeable meal of the day, written by a shrewd observer of the passing show who listed his sole hobby in Who's Who as 'Lunch'.

Returning from the memorial service for her husband, a tough tabloid editor cut down in his prime, June Pepper sets about following his instructions to keep a journal as therapy. But both grief and the journal prove elusive. Distracted by a problem stepdaughter and by a liaison with a man she discovers wearing one of her husband's old suits, June finds bereavement far from straightforward. And as she empties skeletons from closets, she learns there is far more to life than death.

Keith Waterhouse's long-running column, which began appearing in the Daily Mail in 1986, won him numerous national press award. His characters Sharon and Tracy became a national institution, as did that venerable acadamy of English letters, the Association for the Annihilation of the Aberrant Apostrophe. The phlegmatic councillors of Clogthorpe and British Rail's brother-in-law Arnold are among the other regulars featured in this collection, which distils the wit and wisdom of a justly celebrated writer.

' A]mong the few great writers of our time.' - Auberon Waugh, "The Independent"
'He gets into the mind of his eleven-year-old, sees the world from the height of three foot six . . . The book is vivid, accurate, perceptive . . . how brilliant - and how honestly - the author makes his original effect.' - "The Observer"
'An exceptionally talented novelist.' - "The Sunday Times"
'Remarkable for the deep and unwavering insight it gives into child behaviour . . . the candour of his vision and the cunning of his art are such that he captures the very essence of the eleven-minus mind.' - "The Times"
Inspired by its author's own childhood experiences, this moving novel is the story of a fateful few weeks in the life of an eleven-year-old boy on a public housing estate. When an eccentric man who is unusually fond of children (they nickname him 'Uncle Mad') moves onto the estate, the wheels of tragedy are set in motion, a tragedy made especially poignant because we experience it through the eyes of the young narrator, who is incapable of fully understanding the significance of the terrible events unfolding around him . . .
Although Keith Waterhouse (1929-2009) is best known for his classic comic novel "Billy Liar" (1959), many critics believe his first novel, "There is a Happy Land" (1957), is his best. This edition is the first ever published in the United States and includes a new introduction by Bill Hagerty and the original jacket art by William Belcher.

'Billy Liar' tells the story of Billy Fisher, a teenager unable to stop lying especially to his three girlfriends. Trapped by his boring job and working-class parents, Billy finds that his only happiness lies in grand plans for his future and fantastical day-dreams of the fictional country Ambrosia.

A hard-headed but often hilarious guide to the pleasures and pitfalls of travel by one of Britain's favourite writers.

Edited by Stella Bingham and republished in 2010, Waterhouse on Newspaper Style is still the standard, and most entertaining, manual of tabloid journalism, as important and relevant today as when it was first published in 1989.

A teenager in a North Country town, Billy Fisher weaves a world of his own out of his day dreams. He is an incurable liar, idle and dishonest, and to escape from his dull job as an undertaker's clerk and his dreary domestic background he imagines himself in so many different situations that truth and fiction become hopelessly intermingled. His family is unable to understand or control him, though they realize that he is a good for nothing. The cast is completed by the three girls to whom he is simultaneously engaged. When he is given the chance to start a new life, he turns it down, preferring his dreams to reality.

'The work of a master' Sunday Times 'Effortlessly brilliant...a comedy of London life' Sunday Telegraph No London neighbourhood more resmbles the restless downstream tide of the Thames than the ragged square mile of Soho. Ask the people who live there, like Christine Yardley, drag queen by night and grey-suited accountant by day; or Len Gates, self-appointed Soho historian and bore; or Jenny Wise, former starlet and now resident lush in the New Kismet club; or even Ellis Hugo Bell, wannabe film producer who dreams of moving to L.A. Daily, nightly, shift by shift, their numbers are swelled by immigrants flocking to work, eat, drink and loiter, from kitchen staff to dress designers, hookers to pushers to punters. Down into this human rabbit warren one evening slips Alex Singer, a student from Leeds in pursuit of his errant girlfriend, whose search takes him from club to pub and into contact with a rich cross-section of Soho life. Twenty-four hours, three deaths, one fire and one mugging later, seduced, traduced and befriended, Alex is on his way to the Soho Ball. In this fast, funny and superbly crafted novel, Keith Waterhouse draws a vibrant portrait of London's liveliest quarter and it's eccentric inhabitants.

'Among the few great writers of our time' Independent 'An exceptionally talented novelist' Sunday Times 'Remarkable for the deep and unwavering insight it gives into child behaviour' The Times Seen through the eyes of a young boy living on a council estate in a northern town, a pre-war childhood emerges that is universal in its everyday adventures, shifting allegiances, mysteries and occasional tragedy. Yet it is also one that is rooted firmly in a bygone era of innocence. Acclaimed on its first publication, There is a Happy Land marked the debut of a brilliant new talent and is now seen as a much-loved classic.

Penguin Decades bring you the novels that helped shape modern Britain. When they were published, some were bestsellers, some were considered scandalous, and others were simply misunderstood. All represent their time and helped define their generation, while today each is considered a landmark work of storytelling. Keith Waterhouse's Billy Liar was published in 1959, and captures brilliantly the claustrophobic atmosphere of a small town. It tells the story of Billy Fisher, a Yorkshire teenager unable to stop lying - especially to his three girlfriends. Trapped by his boring job and working-class parents, Billy finds that his only happiness lies in grand plans for his future and fantastical day-dreams of the fictional country Ambrosia.

A sensitive, wryly humorous study of a middle-aged widow who finds the courage to break with the past. June keeps a diary in the form of private conversations with her late husband Sam, a national newspaper editor. Her stepdaughter, Pauline, determines to keep an eye on June. Likewise, Eric Grant, an ex-colleague of Sam's. But June strikes out on her own and befriends Duggie, who, like June, is lonely. June, however, discovers that Pauline, Eric and Duggie have their own hidden agenda.2 women, 2 men

Pulling himself out of the rut of his middle-aged executive lifestyle, Roger Piper stumbles into a sixteen-month tempestuous affair with the effervescent Angela Caxton, and is thrown into a whirlwind of romances and champagne. He discovers that Angie does not share his obsession with their relationship and after multiple crises the affair ends in tragedy.3 women, 4 men

Following the successful television series based on Barbara Euphan Todd's children's classic, Keith Waterhouse, Willis Hall and Denis King bring us a new, effervescent stage musical of the story of Worzel Gummidge. The naughty, petulant, greedy, yet always lovable scarecrow is here with all the familiar characters: Aunt Sally, Sergeant Beetroot and Sue and John. Brought to life by the Crowman, Worzel creates havoc and farce wherever he goes in his frenzied efforts to win Aunt Sally's unwilling hand until he finds himself before the scarecrow court on a very serious charge. But the final resolution is a happy one with a birthday cake enormous enough to satisfy even Worzel's appetite!5 women, 13 men

The Wedding and The Funeral make up the two parts of this comedy in which we are introduced to the same family, first making preparations for a wedding and subsequently, six months later, returning from the funeral of their Uncle Arthur, a lovable personality who provides the link between the two plays.7 women, 7 men

A hectic children's birthday party provides a noisy background to a series of domestic crises. Robin has left Emma and Emma has become friendly with her solicitor, Tom; both Tom and Robin arrive for the celebrations. The mishaps of the party spill over into the kitchen'situation, the behaviour of the young visitors affecting the adults. By the end of the party however, thin's look a little brighter for Robin and Emma.4 women, 3 men

Who's Who takes place in the lounge of a Brighton hotel a place of faded elegance where the inevitable trio saw away playing sad and dated ballads. In the first act we follow the confusion that Mr. Black and Mr. White land themselves in as inextricable as the hotel itself in their efforts to cover up a clandestine weekend; a confusion which ends in no one knowing anyone else's identity and a hint that, even when things have more or less cleared up, it's likely to start all over again. In the second act the male leads discuss the previous events and Mr. White says that if positions and identities had been reversed the confusion would never have happened. 2 women, 2 men

'Now it can be told. The biggest majority of the Debra Chase by Herself series in the Sunday Shocker, which I am sposed to of written, was a load of rubbish, a virago of lies from start to finish.' Thus does Page Three celebrity Debra Chase set out to put the record straight about her life in the tabloid fast-lane and the early years when she was still known as Marjory Linda Chase, growing up in Seathorpe with her dad and step-mum Babs, 'in those far-off days of the forgotten Seventies'. Debra tells the story of her climb to stardom from the Donna Bella Rosa School of Fashion and how she met 'The Sir', Sir Monty Pratt, the 'bonking baronet' who so adored her and who was so compromised by that story in the Shocker. She reveals the Debra Chase Diet Muffin Scandal and her part in it, as well as her on-off affair with hunky goal-ace, Brian Boffe.