Grumpy Old Men, the Official Handbook

Contrary to the impression given by the cover photographs of Messrs Smith, Peel, Wakeman and McGrath on the cover this is not just a repeat of the script and interviews shown on the TV programmes; in fact the celebrity quotations from their interviews are used very sparingly, as headings more than anything else. Instead this is writer/producer Stuart Prebble's more personal thesis on his own experience as a grumpy old man - as you read it it's not Geoffrey Palmer's voice you hear at all and it's not intended to be (but in my case it could have been Arthur Smith's).

After the introductory chapters as to how the series came to fruition, and the technical definition of grumpies and their likely early life experiences, the bulk of the book, "So What Are We Grumpy About?" takes us through an average day in Prebble's life and is an extended rant about everything in that timespan that annoys him, from the BBC World Service that he tunes into when he wakes up in the early hours of the morning and can't get back to sleep, through such things as getting to work, parking, shopping, DIY, the nanny state, cinemas, going out to dinner parties, and insomnia at the end of the day. He is considerate enough to devote a short chapter at the end to ponder the effects of his grumpiness on his friends and family.

Reading this you find yourself agreeing with a lot of what he feels - in fact if it weren't so true it would be very funny. As it was I ended up feeling slightly guilty and embarassed for him, actually not something that I felt watching the thing on TV. There the bile being spent was enlivened by the celebrity interviews (even Will Self's), but in cold black print it became a bit indigestible, so I couldn't read it all in one go, a feat more understandable with the like of "The Decline And Fall..." rather than the 200 pages of "Grumpy Old Men".

Still, this is a worthwhile purchase and, as I observed when reviewing the "unofficial" publication with a similar title last year, it is especially useful to anyone younger than the arbitrary 35-50 year-olds that are supposed to be GOMs, so that they realise what irritates us so, and perhaps can guard against following suit. And at the end of it all at least Prebble, and Arthur Smith, recognise what pains they are - what they really can't stand is grumpy old men moaning on and on about everything around them!


Not as Good as the TV Series   December 28, 2004
3 out of 7 found this review helpful

I was a bit disappointed by this book - the author comes over as rather more bitter than grumpy, and not nearly so humorous as the celebs featured in the TV programme. Too much ranting and not enough irony.

P.S. nice bit of pedantry with "culs-de-sac", but _nul points_ for the obviously wrong definition of "zero-sum game".