Pratt

Libraries are, of course, an Aladdin's cave of unread books, to which I am drawn like a sex-addict to an orgy; and here in Nottinghamshire the libraries produce a monthly leaflet called Your Next Good Read for the benefit of people who struggle to find anything to read. Who are these people? Can't they see we are all surrounded by books and that they breed like rabbits?

While scanning through the list for March, I was alarmed to see that Jeffrey Archer has a new book out - surely peddling fiction should constitute a breach of his parole? And apparently one of his 'characters' escapes from the World Trade Centre, so it sounds like he hasn't lost any of his subtlety. It reminds me of something that happens in First Among Equals - not the book, I've never read any of his books, obviously, but the ITV adaptation: you see a toddler playing football in a garden, you see an open gate, you hear a truck...

Anyway, further down the list is the new book by David Nobbs: Pratt à Manger which, to be honest, sounds a bit too similar to Adrian Mole's (disappointing) Cappuccino Years.

I won't be adding Pratt à Manger to my To-Be-Read list because, much as I love David Nobbs' work, I have never read any of his books - I've only ever seen the TV adaptions. There are two of his books on my shelves waiting to be read, one being the original book about Henry Pratt:

Second From Last In The Sack Race

I enjoyed the ITV series The Life and Times of Henry Pratt, starring Jack Deam (pictured on the cover above) and Bryan Dick as Pratt, who have both gone on to become familiar faces on our TV screens. Dick went on to appear in Bonjour la Classe and many other things including Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World and Bleak House; while Deam now plays Marty in the outrageously titwank brilliant Shameless. Like many of ITV's old shows - Shine On Harvey Moon also springs to mind - The Life and Times of Henry Pratt isn't available on DVD, proving that the 'I' in 'ITV' stands for Idiots.

The other unread David Nobbs book I own is...

The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin

It is, of course, obligatory at this point to say that I didn't get where I am today without knowing that The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin was the greatest sit-com of all-time and up yer cunge to anyone who says otherwise. I would read it, but the trouble is it smells like a Bolivian unicyclist's jockstrap - something which you can probably buy from eBay, the real-life manifestation of Reggie Perrin's rubbish-selling shop Grot. According to wikipedia, the first item sold on eBay was the founder's broken laser pointer (for $14.83). When asked if he understood that the laser pointer was broken, the winning bidder replied: "I'm a collector of broken laser pointers."