Author Description

Following on from the success of "The Times Brief Letters", this book presents another selection of the cream of Times letters: not sightings of first cuckoos and maunderings of retired civil servants, but pithy, funny and sometimes startling observations on topics from natural history to politics, and from sport and the arts to crime and punishment. With an introduction by The Times editor Robert Thomson, and illustrated with cartoons by Neil Bennett. "Sir, Your report today on the Royal Opera House's leading lady whose dress was set on fire by an on-stage candle is a classic case of 'it ain't over till the fat lady singes'". "Sir Pork Chop, an 18lb Vietnamese pot-bellied pig (report, June 28) 'becomes nervous and irritable after about five hours in the car'. Almost human". "Sir, I see from your obituary of the wonderful Barbara Goalen that she 'produced two children in succession'. Is there some other way?" "Sir, My secateurs, made in China, carry the instruction 'ideal for use on shrubs in public parks'. I haven't tested them in situ yet". "Sir, the captain of HMS Nottingham should be treated leniently. On BBC News, on teletext and in your paper today, Wolf Rock at Lord Howe Island has been variously described as being 200, 300, 400 and 500 miles from Sydney. Clearly the wretched thing is mobile and its position unpredictable". "Sir, I once had a bottle of embrocation from China (letters, July 3 and 8) bearing the warning 'Do not take inside'. We kept it in the garage". "Sir, in view of recent financial excesses, are these the Naughty Noughties?".