Yes! I had forgotten all about that. Do I take it that 2066 did not work for you?

Yes. Yes, that is true.

Oh, trust me, Ive already checked ABE out.

A follow-up to that: St. Clair McKelway was the subject of a long piece by Roger Angell in the New Yorker a couple of weeks ago (issue dated 15 February) - he was the New Yorkers managing editor in the Thirties, joined up during the war and was a senior PR officer for the air force. The subject of Angells article was a celebrated piece McKelway wrote about bombing raids on Japan, A Reporter with the B-29s. In the 1950s he confessed that the piece had been written during a comprehensive nervous breakdown: this was in another piece, entitled A reporter at wits end, which is also the title of a new anthology of his New Yorker writing. The book on Kate Beatons page, True Tales of Crime and Rascality, was a an earlier collection. Irritatingly, the Angell piece laying all this out is behind a subscription wall.

I didnt know Kate Beaton, so thank you for that. I think the Ernest Jones gag works best; but the St. Clair McKelway cover I must have.

Jonathan, I think I... Id like to bear your children. Probably not practical, though. Anyway, thank you for that extremely kind comment. Im pretty sure there will be an iPlayer option - it doesnt always happen straight afterwards - but Ill check. Enjoy the Nags Head.

What Im now going to have to do is dig out the Drabble and comb through the two editions to see whats changed. I can see my productive capacity shrinking quite violently.

Thanks so much for taking the trouble to comment, Dinah, and for solving the paperback mystery. Antic Hay - doh! Huxley covers of the Fifties are interesting, because he was given his own typeface, Corvinus - the first time Penguin had used any face but Gill for fiction. As for the SF: I sort of assumed that Andy Sawyers enthusiasm must explain a lot, but didnt say that in the original post in case it could be construed as some kind of attack on him. And what I wrote wasnt meant, either, to come across as a carp about the stuff youd missed out - thats a cheap way of scoring points off any reference book. As you may have gathered, Ive got one foot in the SF camp myself, so Im not unsympathetic, and I take your point about redressing the balance. I think what I was groping towards was this thought: in certain contexts, and editing a major reference work like the OCEL is one, different kinds of literature become in effect competing interest groups; and the specialist associate editors are acting not only as arbiters, but as advocates for their particular genres, forms whatever. So one of the duties of an editor is to balance the claims of various lobbies. I hadnt realised this before. Anyway, things to like - well, I like big chunky reference books about books, so youre quids in. And I like the entry on deconstruction, with its reference to Derridas alarmingly simplified account of the history of Western philosophy. I found the definition of postmodernism useful, too. Im sure Ill come across lots of others; but it is a strange process, having owned a Drabble since I was a student, and now weaning myself off it.

I thought of going through catalogues of old Penguins to work out what it could be, but thought that might look obsessive and weird. Youve restored my faith. I did wonder if the T was deceptive, and it was Angel Pavement; but going by Baines, that would have had an illustration on the front.

Very glad to have been of service. Come again soon. Robert

Youre just muddying the waters still further, George.

That is worth knowing.

Your boggle is our delight. But its still pretty depressing.

Absolutely, Im up for that. Owen, I dont think Ive seen doing American, but Hoskins, Winstone - astonishing they still get work (Winstone does it all over again in The Departed, though after Damon and DiCaprios Bawston whines its actually a relief). Having said that, Ive seen Hoskins accent in Roger Rabbit touted as a good one, even by Americans; and I thought Michael Caine was rubbish in Cider House Rules, too, but he got an Oscar, so what do I know?

Flattered to receive such praise from such a highly regarded brand of sex enhancer.

Im glad somebody is taking this seriously.

Good god, I hadn't registered any of that was Roberts - and the tip of the parody iceberg, according to his website: Doctor Whom. Star Warped. The Sellamillion. No, stop it, you're killing me.

And did you see the Guardian's letters column on the subject? Carole Craig in Dublin said Amis is "avowedly, vocally anti-Islamic" and asked "If someone were equally antisemitic, would you have them write on Israel?" The answer may not be as clear-cut as she thinks.