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An Absolute Casserole: The Taskmaster Compendium review
As of the summer of 2025, Taskmaster will have been on our screens for ten years. This handy, highly readable and fun little book serves as the perfect companion to the first 17 series of the original UK version of the show featuring a wealth of information on all 160 episodes, 789 tasks, 3 champion of champion contests, 12,409 points and 325 disqualifications which have been released during that time.
Chris Hallam, Chris Hallam's World View, 27th November 2024Horrible Histories author Terry Deary: 'The most important day in history is tomorrow'
History is complicated, messy and more often than not, Britain was responsible for a lot of the most horrible parts.
Steven MacKenzie, The Big Issue, 17th November 2024The BBC's first comedy star - and how he fell into obscurity
The full story of the comedian who was once one of the biggest stars of BBC - until scandal over his private life led to him being doomed to obscurity - is revealed in a new biography. John Henry was a star of the new medium of radio in the 1920s and early 1930s, but took his life a month after the death of his romantic and stage partner Gladys Horridge. At her inquest, he claimed they were man and wife, although in reality he was still married to his first wife, and he feared that the exposure of his lies would end his career.
Chortle, 5th November 2024Terry Pratchett's Night Watch to become a Penguin Modern Classic
Penguin Modern Classics are publishing an annotated edition of Night Watch to coincide with Terry Pratchett Day in April next year. The republished edition of the 29th novel in Pratchett's Discworld series includes a new foreword by Rob Wilkins and an introduction and annotations by Dr David Lloyd and Dr Darryl Jones.
Matilda Battersby, The Bookseller, 1st November 2024The Unfinished Harauld Hughes by Richard Ayoade review
Comic novel or conceptual art project?
Sam Leith, The Guardian, 31st October 2024