P. G. Wodehouse (1881-1975) is widely regarded as the greatest comic writer of the 20th century. Wodehouse wrote more than 70 novels and 200 short stories, creating numerous much-loved characters - the inimitable Jeeves and Wooster, Lord Emsworth and his beloved Empress of Blandings, Mr Mulliner, Ukridge, and Psmith. His humorous articles were published in more than 80 magazines, including Punch, over six decades. He was also a highly successful music lyricist, once with over five musicals running on Broadway simultaneously. P.G. Wodehouse was awarded the Mark Twain Prize for 'an outstanding and lasting contribution to the happiness of the world'.
Frank Skinner performed his first stand-up gig in December 1987, and four years later went on to win the prestigious Perrier Award. During the 1990s Frank established himself as a major name in entertainment - both in live comedy and on television. In 1994 and 1997 he sold-out two UK tours, the second of which culminated in a performance at London's Battersea Power Station - what was then the largest ever audience for stand-up comedy in the UK. On television, Frank has created and starred in a succession of hit comedy shows, including nine series of The Frank Skinner Show from 1995 to 2005; and with his comedy partner David Baddiel, Fantasy Football (1994 - 2004), and Baddiel and Skinner Unplanned (2000 - 2005).
As well as live stand-up and television, Frank has attained three number one hits with the iconic football anthem 'Three Lions' alongside David Baddiel and the Lightning Seeds. He has starred in the West End in both Art and Lee Hall's Cooking with Elvis; and his critically acclaimed first book Frank Skinner was the bestselling autobiography of 2002, spending a total of 46 weeks in the Sunday Times bestsellers' list. In 2006 Baddiel and Skinner's World Cup podcasts caused an online sensation with over one million downloads leading to yet another number one chart hit.
In 2007 Frank Skinner returned to stand-up with another sell-out tour of the UK.
Frank currently divides his time between London and Birmingham - and, of course, his beloved West Brom.
Roddy Doyle was born in Dublin in 1958. He is the author of twelve acclaimed novels including
The Commitments,
The Snapper,
The Van and
Smile, two collections of short stories, and
Rory & Ita, a memoir about his parents. He won the Booker Prize in 1993 for
Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha.
Alan Titchmarsh MBE is known to millions through his career as a television presenter of shows including
Love Your Weekend, Love Your Garden,
Ground Force,
Gardeners' World,
The Alan Titchmarsh Show and
Spring Into Summer. He has written more than forty gardening books, as well as twelve novels and three volumes of memoirs. He was made MBE in the millennium New Year Honours list and holds the Victoria Medal of Honour, the Royal Horticultural Society's highest award.
Andrew Hunter Murray is a writer and broadcaster from London. His three previous novels (The Last Day, The Sanctuary, and A Beginner’s Guide To Breaking And Entering) have between them hit the Sunday Times top 10 bestseller charts, been Waterstones' Thriller of the Month and have been nominated for the Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize.
When not writing, Andrew presents The Naked Week on BBC Radio 4, co-hosts the award-winning smash podcast No Such Thing As A Fish, writes jokes and journalism for Private Eye magazine, and hosts the Eye’s podcast, Page 94.
Andrew lives in London, in a house which largely belongs to someone else (Barclay’s).
William Rayfet Hunter is a British-Jamaican writer from the North West of England. They now live and work in East London. Their non-fiction writing has been published by
VICE,
Dazed, and the
Evening Standard.
Sunstruck, their debut novel, won the #Merky Books New Writers' Prize 2022.
