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23 matches in All Departments
An exhuberant comedy which is yet a sad commentary on
twentieth-century bureaucracy. The Hesseltines are living in
property well overdue for demolition and they are looking forward
to being re-housed in more beautiful and salutory surroundings. The
crisis comes when they find that, far from a house with a little
bit of garden, they are to live in a warrenous block of flats.3
women, 6 men
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
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Our Song (Paperback)
Keith Waterhouse, Willis Hall
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R358
Discovery Miles 3 580
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Ships in 12 - 17 working days
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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
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Who's Who (Paperback)
Keith Waterhouse, Willis Hall
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R365
Discovery Miles 3 650
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Ships in 12 - 17 working days
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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
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.
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.
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Billy Liar (Paperback)
Keith Waterhouse; Introduction by Nick Bentley
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R541
Discovery Miles 5 410
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Ships in 10 - 15 working days
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'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.
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.
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'.
'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.
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.
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Good Grief (Paperback)
Keith Waterhouse
1
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R298
R243
Discovery Miles 2 430
Save R55 (18%)
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Ships in 9 - 15 working days
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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.
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Billy Liar (Paperback)
Keith Waterhouse
1
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R375
R301
Discovery Miles 3 010
Save R74 (20%)
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Ships in 9 - 15 working days
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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.
' 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.
A hard-headed but often hilarious guide to the pleasures and
pitfalls of travel by one of Britain's favourite writers.
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Soho (Paperback)
Keith Waterhouse
1
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R295
R239
Discovery Miles 2 390
Save R56 (19%)
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Ships in 9 - 15 working days
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'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.
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.
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Bimbo (Paperback)
Keith Waterhouse
1
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R298
R268
Discovery Miles 2 680
Save R30 (10%)
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Ships in 12 - 17 working days
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'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.
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