What do you think?
Rate this book
Well Fared, My Lovely
Private Eye Marlowe, alias Les Dawson, takes the lid off the underworld to reveal gangsters, shysters, traffic wardens, good time girls and bad time girls who get better.
- GenresHumor
Paperback
First published November 5, 1992
6 people are currently reading
10 people want to read
About the author
Les Dawson
22 books5 followersLes Dawson (2 February 1931 – 10 June 1993) was a popular English comedian, remembered for his deadpan style, curmudgeonly persona and jokes about his mother-in-law and wife.
Raised in the Collyhurst district of Manchester, Dawson began his entertainment career as a pianist in a Parisian brothel (according to his entertaining but factually unreliable autobiography). As a club pianist ("I finally heard some applause from a bald man and said 'thank you for clapping me' and he said 'I'm not clapping - I'm slapping me head to keep awake'"), he was to find that he got laughs by playing wrong notes and complaining to the audience. He made his television debut on the talent show Opportunity Knocks in 1967 and became a prominent comic on British television for the rest of his life.
Dawson wrote many novels but was always regarded solely as an entertainer in the public imagination, and this saddened him. He told his second wife, Tracey, "Always remind them - I was a writer too".
Having broken his jaw in a boxing match, Dawson was able to pull grotesque faces by pulling his jaw over his upper lip. This incident is described in the first volume of Dawson's autobiography A Clown Too Many.
Raised in the Collyhurst district of Manchester, Dawson began his entertainment career as a pianist in a Parisian brothel (according to his entertaining but factually unreliable autobiography). As a club pianist ("I finally heard some applause from a bald man and said 'thank you for clapping me' and he said 'I'm not clapping - I'm slapping me head to keep awake'"), he was to find that he got laughs by playing wrong notes and complaining to the audience. He made his television debut on the talent show Opportunity Knocks in 1967 and became a prominent comic on British television for the rest of his life.
Dawson wrote many novels but was always regarded solely as an entertainer in the public imagination, and this saddened him. He told his second wife, Tracey, "Always remind them - I was a writer too".
Having broken his jaw in a boxing match, Dawson was able to pull grotesque faces by pulling his jaw over his upper lip. This incident is described in the first volume of Dawson's autobiography A Clown Too Many.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
April 29, 2018
This book is complete and utter nonsense. If you enjoy Spike Milligan then get this book and enjoy a couple of hours of not really knowing what is going on.
January 10, 2021
This is typical Les Dawson fare - one-liners come at you like a Gatling gun, farcical situations chase after each other like Benny Hill closing credits, and unsubtle innuendo and vulgarity infuse the lot with casual irrelevance.
I couldn't help but read the jokes and turns of phrase and hear the author's voice - whether in skit-form or in monologue - and that made it all the more digestible.
As usual, much of it makes no sense, it is peppered with inconsistencies, and the ending is a tour-de-force of 'what the ...'!? With a plot as thin as fly-paper, a turn of phrase as thick as pea-soup and an eye for the down-right ridiculous, this is as stupid as it gets.
It would be a stretch to say I thoroughly enjoyed it, but there were some great lines and some wacky scenes. But in the end, I can only give 2 stars for the seedy side of Dawson's humour.
In the end, you may get different mileage. I can't whole-heartedly recommend it, neither can I throw it away. It's a piece of its time (70's humour - although written later) with the hallmark humour of its author all over it. I just wish there were less blatant smuttiness and cheap jokes and more witty one-liners. Oh and a decent plot wouldn't go amiss (but where would the fun be in that?)
I couldn't help but read the jokes and turns of phrase and hear the author's voice - whether in skit-form or in monologue - and that made it all the more digestible.
As usual, much of it makes no sense, it is peppered with inconsistencies, and the ending is a tour-de-force of 'what the ...'!? With a plot as thin as fly-paper, a turn of phrase as thick as pea-soup and an eye for the down-right ridiculous, this is as stupid as it gets.
It would be a stretch to say I thoroughly enjoyed it, but there were some great lines and some wacky scenes. But in the end, I can only give 2 stars for the seedy side of Dawson's humour.
In the end, you may get different mileage. I can't whole-heartedly recommend it, neither can I throw it away. It's a piece of its time (70's humour - although written later) with the hallmark humour of its author all over it. I just wish there were less blatant smuttiness and cheap jokes and more witty one-liners. Oh and a decent plot wouldn't go amiss (but where would the fun be in that?)
January 28, 2016
If you like Les Dawson this will amuse you. It will also amuse fans of the Russ Abbot “Basildon Bond” character. It’s a silly detective story and has lots of word play and some absurdist moments. It’s got Dawson’s voice all over it and jokes weave into the story; What do you get if you cross an elephant and a prostitute? A two ton raver who will do it for peanuts!
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews