Product Description

The lives chosen represent a cross-section of 20th-century experience - from the Raj and the courts and chancelleries of Old Europe to the Jet Age and global mass-media. But the shrewd character sketches tend to be of dowagers rather than dictators, boffins rather than bureaucrats, popinjays rather than philosophers. For this is an essentially sympathetic, and frequently hilarious celebration of individual human diversity, with all its flesh and blood foibles and curious sidelights related in the deadpan, delicately ironic style for which the "Telegraph" obit is famous.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #511542 in Books
• Published on: 2000-09-08
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 512 pages

Review
The fifth and final collection in Massingberd's highly praised and superbly ironic series. This provides a cross-section of 20th-century experience as we encounter the familiar and the not-so-familiar: royals, aristocrats, heroes, adventurers, teachers, politicians, imperialists, industrialists, followers of fashion and stars of the stage and screen. As enjoyable as the previous four collections and as satisfyingly rich with humour. (Kirkus UK)

From the Publisher
From the review in Country Life by A.N. Wilson
'Hugh Massingberd single-handedly transformed the slightly stuffy formula of the newspaper 'obit' into a high comic form...There have been three previous collections of Massingberd obits. With the fourth, Rogues, he has produced a book which is even funnier than the previous three put together...Almost every page of this book will make you moan with laughter. But put it down and someone will instantly snatch it from under your nose.'

Customer Reviews

truly a celebration of the wonderous variety of human nature
I learned of this book through a review in the New Yorker, and was so intrigued with the wonderful, tongue-in-cheek style and the almost unbelievable content that I put quite a bit of effort into tracking it down. It more than repaid that effort. The obituaries are not depressing; instead, they really are a celebration of the wonderful, zany variety of human nature. I feel privileged to have shared a century with many of the people in this book. Read, for example, of Margaret Mee, a botanical artist, who repelled a band of gold prospectors in Brazil by remarking, as she leveled a revolver at them, "I haven't had a lot of shooting practice, but really I think I'm quite good. After all, a steady hand and a good eye are absolutely essential qualities for a painter, wouldn't you say?" Or read of Nesta Cox, an English nanny working in France who became a hero of the French Resistance and had airlifted to her by the RAF not only supplies for sabotage but also packets of tea. Or read of the author BB, who "at the age of four . . . incontrovertibly saw a gnome." This book has it all: humble heroes and well-born villains, gay hairdressers and mad scholars. And when you finish it, there are three more collections: Heroes and Adventurers, Entertainers, and Rogues. Enjoy!