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What a Life!: An Autobiography of E.V.L. and G.M.
Fun book.
Hardcover
First published January 1, 1911
1 person is currently reading
64 people want to read
About the author
Edward Verrall Lucas
361 books16 followersNote: This is the Goodreads listing for E.V. Lucas.
He was a versatile and popular English writer. His nearly 100 books demonstrate great facility with style, and are generally acknowledged as humorous by contemporary readers and critics. Some of his essays about the sport cricket are still considered among the best instructional material.He is remembered best for his essays and books about London and travel abroad; these books continue through many editions. He is particularly noted for his biography of Charles Lamb.
He was born in Eltham, Kent into a Quaker family, and educated at Friends Public School in Saffron Walden. He worked first in a Brighton bookshop and then on a Sussex newspaper followed by The Globe; rising without university education to the Punch magazine 'table' in 1904. He became a prolific writer, providing extensive content for Punch and a column "A wanderer's notebook" for the Sunday Times.
He was responsible for A. A. Milne teaming up with E. H. Shepard for the Winnie-the-Pooh books. He wrote under pen names EVL, VVV, E. D. Ward, and FF for film criticism. Some of his early work was in collaboration with Charles Larcom Graves (1856–1944), another Punch writer.
Rupert Hart-Davis collected and published a collection of his essays on cricket, Cricket All His Life, which John Arlott called "the best written of all books on cricket.
From 1924 he was chairman of the London publishers Methuen and Co.. According to R. G. G. Price's A History of Punch, his polished and gentlemanly essayist's persona concealed:
a cynical clubman … very bitter about men and politics … [with] the finest pornographic library in London.
He was a versatile and popular English writer. His nearly 100 books demonstrate great facility with style, and are generally acknowledged as humorous by contemporary readers and critics. Some of his essays about the sport cricket are still considered among the best instructional material.He is remembered best for his essays and books about London and travel abroad; these books continue through many editions. He is particularly noted for his biography of Charles Lamb.
He was born in Eltham, Kent into a Quaker family, and educated at Friends Public School in Saffron Walden. He worked first in a Brighton bookshop and then on a Sussex newspaper followed by The Globe; rising without university education to the Punch magazine 'table' in 1904. He became a prolific writer, providing extensive content for Punch and a column "A wanderer's notebook" for the Sunday Times.
He was responsible for A. A. Milne teaming up with E. H. Shepard for the Winnie-the-Pooh books. He wrote under pen names EVL, VVV, E. D. Ward, and FF for film criticism. Some of his early work was in collaboration with Charles Larcom Graves (1856–1944), another Punch writer.
Rupert Hart-Davis collected and published a collection of his essays on cricket, Cricket All His Life, which John Arlott called "the best written of all books on cricket.
From 1924 he was chairman of the London publishers Methuen and Co.. According to R. G. G. Price's A History of Punch, his polished and gentlemanly essayist's persona concealed:
a cynical clubman … very bitter about men and politics … [with] the finest pornographic library in London.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
June 10, 2011
A hilarious old collage book made from cutting up an old shopping magazine and adding humorous text. It was writen by two friends who easily rank among the top ten odd-humored gentlemen of all time.
My favorite part was: "Ponto, the watch dog, seemed dazed. He had been drugged, the Detective said. He also pointed out that the horse's neck was strangely swollen."
My favorite part was: "Ponto, the watch dog, seemed dazed. He had been drugged, the Detective said. He also pointed out that the horse's neck was strangely swollen."
July 29, 2021
A fun little collage of images strung together to make a story. The real joy is in the absurdity of the story in relation to the pictures. A detective cleverly disguises himself as a horse, the main character sends his wife a hat (which happens to actually be a gelatin mold), and the beautiful setting sun over Japan is a mop.
Worth it for a good laugh
Worth it for a good laugh
January 6, 2023
As a teenager my heroes were mostly humour writers. My best friend, Burnage, was a Punch obsessive but I cast my net a little wider - my pantheon was Sellars and Yeatman, Willans and Searle, Leo Rosten, Beachcomber, Milligan and my absolute hero, Wodehouse
I spent many years poring over Frank Muir’s masterwork, The Oxford Book of Humorous Prose, especially paying attention to his essays which is where I’d find new writers to track down and hunt for. Essentially my visits to second book shops were for checking for any Sherlockiana, then for humour books and anything about old radio shows
But I still kept my fondness for Punch, even though it was nothing compared to Burnage’s continuing obsession (his aim in life is to have read and own every issue, all 151 years of the original run - none of the later revivals thank you very much). So the name EV Lucas is very well known to me
But I had no idea he had written this with fellow Punch contributor, George Morrow. It’s very much not a Dadaist book, because Lucas and Morrow clearly choose the images for their collages and then weave jokes around them. But when they go for an absurd gag based on, say, a trifle looking a bit like a fancy memorial to someone you can definitely see something new coming to life. It’s as if the Dadaists and surrealists saw the possibilities suggested by this book and ran with them. I can’t imagine either creator understanding that their fun little project had this accidentally huge influence on one of the most revolutionary art forms of the 20th century, but I at least hope it raised a chuckle. It really does deserve to be better known - it’s a minor masterpiece
I spent many years poring over Frank Muir’s masterwork, The Oxford Book of Humorous Prose, especially paying attention to his essays which is where I’d find new writers to track down and hunt for. Essentially my visits to second book shops were for checking for any Sherlockiana, then for humour books and anything about old radio shows
But I still kept my fondness for Punch, even though it was nothing compared to Burnage’s continuing obsession (his aim in life is to have read and own every issue, all 151 years of the original run - none of the later revivals thank you very much). So the name EV Lucas is very well known to me
But I had no idea he had written this with fellow Punch contributor, George Morrow. It’s very much not a Dadaist book, because Lucas and Morrow clearly choose the images for their collages and then weave jokes around them. But when they go for an absurd gag based on, say, a trifle looking a bit like a fancy memorial to someone you can definitely see something new coming to life. It’s as if the Dadaists and surrealists saw the possibilities suggested by this book and ran with them. I can’t imagine either creator understanding that their fun little project had this accidentally huge influence on one of the most revolutionary art forms of the 20th century, but I at least hope it raised a chuckle. It really does deserve to be better known - it’s a minor masterpiece
July 1, 2011
I would actually rate this between four and five stars - something like 4 and 1/2.
Wonderful little book! Originally published in 1911, "What a Life!" is the very funny fictional autobiography of an English aristocrat. Two friends, essayist and travel writer E.V. Lucas and illustrator George Morrow, acquired permission from Whiteley's to cut out and arrange illustrations from the store's catalogue in a way that dictates and illustrates this character's life story.
Wonderful little book! Originally published in 1911, "What a Life!" is the very funny fictional autobiography of an English aristocrat. Two friends, essayist and travel writer E.V. Lucas and illustrator George Morrow, acquired permission from Whiteley's to cut out and arrange illustrations from the store's catalogue in a way that dictates and illustrates this character's life story.
October 25, 2015
Wacky, short, amusing, and quick read, originally published in 1911.
One of the back cover quotes reads: "tiny classic of proto-Dada," while another states: "has all the breadth and depth of a Henry James novel, can be read in ten minutes flat, and is very funny too."
One of the back cover quotes reads: "tiny classic of proto-Dada," while another states: "has all the breadth and depth of a Henry James novel, can be read in ten minutes flat, and is very funny too."
November 17, 2014
The jacket says "proto-Dada." These days I'd call it proto-Wondermark.com. Another silly little book to keep in the guest room.
April 20, 2020
A fun read.
May 4, 2017
Klassieker van Britse tongue-in-cheek humor. De hemel ingeprezen door Glen Baxter en Queneau schreef er ooit een mooi essay over. Grappig, scherp maar ietwat verouderd en té braaf tegenwoordig.
February 26, 2022
An amusing lunchtime read.
May 10, 2025
Scrapbook with humourous story to match all cut out of Whiteley's catalogue! Such fun seeing new gimmicks and lovely Edwardian fashions advertised thus.
July 13, 2025
Comical short story made from cutting out department store magazines in 1911.
April 17, 2023
Perhaps you could call it an early graphic novel? Mixed with absurdism and humor of dadaism
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews