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Brewer's Rogues, Villains and Eccentrics: An A-Z of Roguish Britons Through the Ages | 
 enlarge | Author: William Donaldson
Publisher: Phoenix
Category: Book
Buy New: £24.52
New (5) Used (6) from £9.95
Rating:  3 reviews
Sales Rank: 42899
Media: Paperback
Edition: New edition
Pages: 676
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.3
Dimensions (in): 7.8 x 4.9 x 2.1
ISBN: 0753817918
Dewey Decimal Number: 941.0099
EAN: 9780753817919
ASIN: 0753817918
Publication Date: September 2, 2004
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
A great coffee table book November 20, 2008
Mr. L. D. Mccann (Worcestershire UK)
A great book to have on the coffee table to entertain yourself and others when you have a spare 5mins! Buy it!
A Perfect Browsing book August 20, 2006
A. J. Flint (London)
8 out of 8 found this review helpful
This book has become my favourite browsing book. Entries are alphabetical but in addition features what the author describes as "an innovative system of cross-referencing". Thus under "Drunks, convivial. See Kean, Edmund: Newton, Robert" you will find the following story: Wilfrid Lawson and Robert Newton were two drunken actors. They were appearing in Richard II on tour. Newton staggered on as John of Gaunt. "If you think I'm pissed" he told the audience "wait till you see the Duke of York". My favourite entry is an account of the Dutch first night of the musical "Hair" where the producer had found himself in difficulty, as one backer, a Soho gangster called Raymond Nash, had sat down in the arrivals lounge at Tokyo airport and the chair had collapsed under the weight of the gold secured about his person. The show was mounted in a circus tent. Guests of honour were the Dutch royal family. When the national anthem was played, everyone stood up except for the royals, who were sent sprawling on account of the seesaw effect of the rickety circus seating. When the audience sat down, the royals were fired into the air for the same reason. Finally, Dutch creditors arrived to repossess the set. Read this book and find out, under the entry for Daniel Farson, why it the first rule of music hall never to put the seals on first. [This is a review of the hardback edition].
An essential reference book April 4, 2006
Balraj Gill (Slough, Berkshire, United Kingdom)
10 out of 10 found this review helpful
This is a book that truly makes me feel proud to be British. France may have the finer wines, Germany produce the better cars and the USA have the biggest burgers, but no other country in the world can produce the quality and quantity of rogues that Britain has over the centuries. If it weren't for the people profiled in this book, what would this country be? We would just be a bigger version of Belgium.As well as the patriotic feelings induced, this is one of the funniest books I've ever had my hands on. It's the perfect book to turn to if you have a few minutes spare and need a quick pick-me-up, as you can just dip in and out of it. The only shortcoming, rather predictably, was the absence of some of my favourite rogues, such as Frank Bough, Stephen Milligan and Cecil Parkinson. But I suppose, everyone will have someone whom they think should be included but isn't. In that regard, the book's biggest strength is to include many non-famous people, as it would have been far easier to have just profiled the "A-List" rogues. So, for example, we have the case of Gladys Elton, an 81 year-old resident of an old care home, who decided to do a striptease in front of the other residents and so caused 1 death and three further hospitalisations. This book should be an essential addition to anyone who's sense of humour is slightly warped and who is appreciative of the seedier side of life.
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