Has anyone else read Eric Sykes's three novels from the 80s and 90s? 'The Great Crime of Grapplewick','UFOs Are Coming Wednesday' and 'Smelling of Roses'. I suppose they'd be described as 50's Ealing-style comedies, only in book form. 'UFO's Are Coming Wednesday' in particular is marvellous. I've read it twice. All three books are availble in omnibus format under the title 'The Eric Sykes Compendium'.
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On your recommendation I'll pick up Grapplewick (on the shelf at my local second-hand bookstore), though I prefer to watch rather than read an Ealing comedy. Perhaps James Cotter will one day make the three books into films.
Quote: Kenneth @ December 4 2010, 9:14 AM GMTOn your recommendation I'll pick up Grapplewick (on the shelf at my local second-hand bookstore), though I prefer to watch rather than read an Ealing comedy. Perhaps James Cotter will one day make the three books into films.
Love to do a Ealing comedy like many of my comedy heroes did Guinness, James and Sellers. Although they stopped making them in 1957 so maybe we need a revival.
That would be ace.
I saw a Heroes Of Comedy documentary on Eric Sykes the other day from 1999. They didn't mention the novels, although I read in his autobiography that he wrote them after getting nowhere with screenplay versions of them. He also wrote a novel based on the Sykes TV series. And to think he's almost blind!
Not sure about blind but he is almost totally deaf, the big glasses house a big hearing aid. He pulled a gag on This Morning where he took his glasses off and continued to speak without making a sound, which reappeared when he put his glasses back on...
Hi Dave. I bought UFO's are coming of eBay for a couple of quid. I was prompted by reading Eric's autobiography which is well worth a read. Haven't got round to reading UFO yet. It's on my list!