How Very Interesting: Peter Cook's Universe and All That Surround It

by Paul Hamilton (Editor), Peter Gordon (Editor), Dan Kieran (Editor)

Who is The Zsa Zsa Man? What are the demands of The Sydney Darlow Dancing Troupe? What lurks Behind The Fridge? What was The Glidd Of Glood's true nature? Why can t we go to Heaven when we die? What was the true genesis of Monty Python's Parrot Sketch? Why is Morton P. Fergleberger terrified of titanium rods? Who is Morton P. Fergleberger anyway? The Peter Cook Appreciation Society has the answers. How Very Interesting contains interviews with those who worked with Cook during his long and varied career and who saw him as an inspiration: his colleagues, collaborators, co-writers, producers, directors, fans and friends, including John Fortune, Barry Fantoni, Eleanor Bron, the staff of Private Eye, Trevor Baylis, Robyn Hitchcock, Chris Morris, Will Self, Jerry Sadowitz, Malcolm McLaren, Elvis Costello, Nigel Planer, Mel Smith, John Cooper Clarke, Barry Cryer, Auberon Waugh, Clive Anderson, and more - including the great man himself. Alongside the interviews, revelations and slanging matches, How Very Interesting unearths rare pieces of Cookiana, cocks an ear at Private Eye's Famous Flexies and Derek & Clive, sits through The Hound of the Baskervilles and Cook's many screen outings, and otherwise digs, delves and disappears into the universe of Peter Cook, and all that surrounds it.

Genres: Biography, Humor, Comedy

First published October 2, 2006

Reviews

[K.A. Laity · Rating 5 out of 5]

A masterpiece! Messers Gordon, Kieran and Hamilton have done yeoman's duty by drawing together all the best from the pages of the Pub & Bed, the official and highly respected witterings of the Peter Cook Appreciation Society. You will laugh, you will cry, the book will become a part of you, like spider eggs laid in the cavity of your ear but with less tickling. Buy this book, order a crate of cider and spend the next week laughing yourself into apoplexy.

[Becky Walker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Trying to get into this is a bit like trying to read Private Eye for the first time, aptly enough, but it's worth getting a handle on the in-jokes for. Plenty of interviews and Cook-themed anecdotes, and the essay pieces aren't too shabby either. Arguable worth it's price tag for the Publish and Bedazzled 'Back Passage' letters alone.

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection of interviews compiled from the Peter Cook Associaition Society fanzine. A fair representation of opinions on Cook and his work from a large selection of his collaborators. It makes a good companion piece to Harry Thompson's biography.