Iain Hollingshead

'Twenty Something' introduces us to Jack Lancaster, who, at only 25 is far too young to be having a mid-life crisis, but who's going to have a pretty good shot at it anyway.

The Quarter-life Crisis of Jack Lancaster

Twenty Something

"Readers of the Daily Telegraph will be fondly aware of the combination of wistful nostalgia, robust no-nonsense good sense and appalled outrage that characterises its "brilliant" (Ian Hislop) Letters page, which if it did not exist would have to be invented. But what of all the letters that were just slightly too wacky, too off the wall, too politically incorrect, to make it for publication? Now the Telegraph gives their authors the stage at last: baffled, furious, occasionally paranoid, and from this hilarious selection of the best we can see that no, none them is alone..."--

unpublished letters to the Daily Telegraph

Stop the world, I want to get off .

Unpublished Letters from the Daily Telegraph

Am I Missing Something...

The venerable letterbox of the Daily Telegraph is host to a wealth of animal owners and observers. Not to be outdone on any subject, comes a menagerie of musings and meditations on a topic very close to their hearts. A collection including correspondence from dogs, notes about peacocks, admonitions on horse owners and scapegoats for cats. From the farmstead to the front room, big and small, feathered and furry can be found amidst these pages. How to gauge the political leanings of your terrier - there is a simple test for that. Useful pointers on subduing a disgruntled heffer that prove effective in urban and everyday environments as well. Whether you live with a labradoodle, spend your weekends twitching or simply watching the tortoises go by, here is the best assortment of animals as gathered by the readers of the Telegraph.

From Hopeless Hounds to Tyrannical Tortoises: Animal Letters to The Telegraph

Telling Tails

Now that Boris Johnson has left Downing Street to spend more time with his families, you can celebrate/lament his departure with this multiple-choice adventure where you take back control. Packed with 350 million* endings, this is the perfect stocking filler this Christmas. (* - this figure may be misleading). Yes, you are Boris Johnson, about to embark on a quest to fulfil your childhood ambition to be World King, a position so important that you will have to invent it first. It's not going to be easy. You will be entranced by a monster called Trump, bewitched by a sorceress called Carrie, captivated by your backbench Orcs - and royally shafted by a little hobgoblin called Michael Gove. Not everyone wants you to be World King. So watch out for those false turns which see you begging Prince Harry for a job, rotting in a Dubai jail, recruited by the KGB, wandering round Kabul trying to find 150 dogs to rescue, starting WWIII or mistaking wine, cheese, vomit and karaoke for a work event. And try instead to use your magical powers to become the Emperor of this land; the star of the hit musical "Boris on Broadway"; or even the PM who leads Britain back into the EU in 2024. Yes, you are The Neverending Tory. And this is your story. Kids of all ages love The Neverending Tory: "I read the endings where he doesn't become Prime Minister again and again" T. May, age 65, Maidenhead "I have never been Prime Minister, but this book gave me the chance to see what it might be like" J. Corbyn, age 73, The Allotment, North London

The Adventure Where You Take Back Control

Boris Johnson: The Neverending Tory

Now that Boris Johnson has left Downing Street to spend more time with his families, you can celebrate/lament his departure with this multiple-choice adventure where you take back control. Packed with 350 million* endings, this is the perfect stocking filler this Christmas. (* - this figure may be misleading). Yes, you are Boris Johnson, about to embark on a quest to fulfil your childhood ambition to be World King, a position so important that you will have to invent it first. It's not going to be easy. You will be entranced by a monster called Trump, bewitched by a sorceress called Carrie, captivated by your backbench Orcs - and royally shafted by a little hobgoblin called Michael Gove. Not everyone wants you to be World King. So watch out for those false turns which see you begging Prince Harry for a job, rotting in a Dubai jail, recruited by the KGB, wandering round Kabul trying to find 150 dogs to rescue, infecting the Queen with COVID, starting WWIII or mistaking wine, cheese, vomit and karaoke for a work event. And try instead to use your magical powers to become the Emperor of this land; the star of the hit musical "Boris on Broadway"; or even the PM who leads Britain back into the EU in 2024. Yes, you are The Neverending Tory. And this is your story. Kids of all ages love The Neverending Tory: "I read the endings where he doesn't become Prime Minister again and again" T. May, age 65, Maidenhead "I have never been Prime Minister, but this book gave me the chance to see what it might be like" J. Corbyn, age 73, The Allotment, North London

Boris Johnson: the Neverending Tory

Telegraph letter writers, that most astute body of political commentators, are probably not alone in thinking that politics has taken some strange turns in recent years. The first coalition government since 1945 has led the country from the subprime to the ridiculous, lumbering from Leveson to Libya, riots to referendums, pasty-gate to pleb-gate, Brooks to Bercow, the Bullingdon Club to the Big Society. Five years is a long time in politics. Fortunately for us, it has also been a most fertile period for the Telegraph's legion of witty and erudite letter writers, who have their own therapeutic way of dealing with the pain. An institution in their own right, theirs is a welcome voice of sanity in a world in which the lunatics appear finally to have taken over the asylum.

Political Letters to The Daily Telegraph

The Lunatics Have Taken Over the Asylum

Sam Hunt is a confused modern male in his very late twenties. A work-shy, commitment-phobic would-be actor, he is beginning to worry that turning thirty might just be the last straw. Flatmate Alan, the sensible one, has just been proposed to by his girlfriend Jess, with his femme fatale boss looking on with a saucy gleam in her eye. Newly-dumped Ed spends his time tearfully watching 'Sex and the City' in a pile of his ex-girlfriend's pajamas and plotting his revenge. Meanwhile unemployed doctor Matt embarks on a dubious bet with Sam to see who can be the first to ensnare a rich wife and enjoy a life of leisure...

Four Friends, Three Assumed Identities, Two Weddings and One Very Dangerous Bet

Beta Male

Readers of the Telegraph Letters Page will be fondly aware of the eclectic combination of learned wisdom, wistful nostalgia and robust good sense that characterise its correspondence. But what of the 95 per cent of the paper’s huge postbag that never sees the light of day? Some of the best letters inevitably arrive too late for the 24/7 news cycle, or don’t quite fit with the rest of the day’s selection. Others are just a little too whimsical, or indeed too risqué, to publish in a serious newspaper. And more than a few are completely and utterly (and wonderfully) mad. Thankfully Iain Hollingshead is on-hand to give the authors of the best unpublished letters the stage they so richly deserve. Baffled, furious, defiant, mischievous, they inveigh and speculate on every subject under the sun, from the rubbish on television these days to the venality of our MPs. The sixth book in the bestselling Unpublished Letters series, with an agenda as enticing as ever, What Will They Think of Next...? will prove, once again, that the Telegraph’s readers have an astute sense of what really matters.

Unpublished Letters to the Daily Telegraph

What Will They Think Of Next...?

What else will the Telegraph’s indefatigable, outraged, and above all very funny letter-writers fail to get the Letters Page to take seriously in 2010 – with the result that we have to collect their memorable missives in another book? Already there are enough fulminations on Chris Evans replacing Terry Wogan to fill an entire chapter. Gordon Brown’s temper? Bankers’ bonuses? E-books? The state of Ashley and Cheryl Cole’s marriage? One thing is for sure: the result will be the only review of the year you really need, a book to make Victor Meldrew look as pure as driven snow, and a handsome little volume to sell once again in its tens of thousands.

I Could Go On

The seventh book in the best-selling series of Unpublished Letters, this is a year in review made up of the wry and astute observations of the unpublished Telegraph letter writers. In a year in which even the most seasoned commentators have struggled to keep pace with the news cycle, letter writers to The Daily Telegraph have once again provided their refreshing take on events. Readers of the Telegraph Letters Page will be fondly aware of the eclectic combination of learned wisdom, wistful nostalgia and robust good sense that characterise its correspondence. But what of the 95% of the paper’s huge postbag that never sees the light of day? Some of the best letters inevitably arrive too late for the 24/7 news cycle, or don’t quite fit with the rest of the day’s selection. Others are just a little too whimsical, or indeed too risque, to publish in a serious newspaper. And more than a few are completely and utterly (and wonderfully) mad. Thankfully Iain Hollingshead is on-hand to give the authors of the best unpublished letters the stage they so richly deserve. Baffled, furious, defiant, mischievous, they inveigh and speculate on every subject under the sun, from the rubbish on television these days to the venality of our MPs. With an agenda as enticing as ever the seventh book in the bestselling Unpublished Letters series will prove, once again, that the Telegraph’s readers have an astute sense of what really matters.

Has the World Gone Completely Mad...?

Every year, the collection of the best letters that didn’t quite make it into the Telegraph – because just too left-field, outrageous or hilarious for an august Letters page – offers an alternative review of the year. For this fifth volume the potential agenda is just as enticing as ever, with Telegraph readers variously waggish, whimsical or just plain steamed-up about Chris Huhne’s speeding points, a new Pope, the Royal baby and mansion taxes. Once again, it will be one of the humour bestsellers of the year.

Readers of the Daily Telegraph will be fondly aware of the combination of wistful nostalgia, robust no-nonsense good sense and appalled outrage that characterises its "brilliant" (Ian Hislop) Letters page, which if it did not exist would have to be invented. But what of all the letters that were just slightly too wacky, too off the wall, too politically incorrect, to make it for publication? Now the Telegraph gives their authors the stage at last: baffled, furious, occasionally paranoid, and from this hilarious selection of the best we can see that no, none them is alone...

Unpublished Letters to the Telegraph

Stop the World, I Want to Get Off...

The third book in the bestselling and hilarious series of ‘Am I Alone . . . ?’ books From bin Laden to Pippa Middleton’s bottom, and from riots to Rebekah Wade, Telegraph readers offer their maverick and hilarious take on the year’s events, in the letters the paper didn’t publish, because they were just too off-the-wall, too outrageous, or too waggish for an august Letters page. The first two volumes of unpublished letters to the Daily Telegraph, Am I Alone in Thinking? and I Could Go On . . . have both been Christmas bestsellers, and sold well in excess of 100,000 copies. Once again, it will be an essential Christmas present to give or to receive. SIR - A question for your male readers: which would you rather be invited to – the Royal wedding, or one of Silvio Berlusconi’s bunga bunga parties? SIR - All these years I have lived under the impression that Middleton Bottom was a rural west-country village. SIR - It is a pity Osama bin Laden was not taken alive. He could have been sentenced to go through airport security for the rest of his life. SIR - May I suggest that if the police are to use water cannon to disperse rioting students, they include some soap in the tank? SIR - Is a super-injunction the morning-after pill for celebrities?

Unpublished Letters to The Daily Telegraph

I Rest My Case

The essential humour gift book of the year returns in the anticipated fourth volume of this bestselling series Ð guaranteed to provoke laughter and amazement. The first volume of unpublished letters to the Daily Telegraph, Am I Alone in ThinkingÉ?, not only became a Christmas bestseller but also established the paperÕs letter-writers as a uniquely waggish, eccentric and maverick institution. They can be relied upon,particularly in the letters slightly too pungent or off-the wall to print, to offer a new and memorable take on the great events of the day. Now, with the fourth book in the series, Iain Hollingshead collects together our favourite letterwriters on everything from this summerÕs Olympics to the QueenÕs Diamond Jubilee, as well as the rather more obscure concerns voiced by ÔMÕ, the habitual correspondent who believes himself to be the head of MI5 but writes from an internet cafŽ in Bristol. Trenchant, choleric and hilariously funny, this will once again be the humour book of the year.

Imagine My Surprise...

Kate Moore

TENTH ANNIVERSARY EDITION Now in its tenth year, this anniversary edition of the best-selling series is a review of the year made up of the wry and astute observations of the unpublished Telegraph letter writers. In a year in which even the most seasoned commentators have struggled to keep pace with the news cycle, letter writers to The Daily Telegraph have once again provided their refreshing take on events. Readers of the Telegraph Letters Page will be fondly aware of the eclectic combination of learned wisdom, wistful nostalgia and robust good sense that characterise its correspondence. But what of the 95% of the paper’s huge postbag that never sees the light of day? Some of the best letters inevitably arrive too late for the 24/7 news cycle, or don’t quite fit with the rest of the day’s selection. Others are just a little too whimsical, or indeed too risqué, to publish in a serious newspaper. And more than a few are completely and utterly (and wonderfully) mad. Thankfully Iain Hollingshead is on-hand to give the authors of the best unpublished letters the stage they so richly deserve. Baffled, furious, defiant, mischievous, they inveigh and speculate on every subject under the sun, from the rubbish on television these days to the venality of our MPs. With an agenda as enticing as ever the tenth book in the bestselling Unpublished Letters series will prove, once again, that the Telegraph’s readers have an astute sense of what really matters.

Must I Repeat Myself...?

New in the best-selling series of Unpublished Letters, this is a year in review made up of the wry and astute observations of the unpublished Telegraph letter writers. In a year in which even the most seasoned commentators have struggled to keep pace with the news cycle, letter writers to The Daily Telegraph have once again provided their refreshing take on events. Readers of the Telegraph Letters Page will be fondly aware of the eclectic combination of learned wisdom, wistful nostalgia and robust good sense that characterise its correspondence. But what of the 95% of the paper’s huge postbag that never sees the light of day? Some of the best letters inevitably arrive too late for the 24/7 news cycle, or don’t quite fit with the rest of the day’s selection. Others are just a little too whimsical, or indeed too risque, to publish in a serious newspaper. And more than a few are completely and utterly (and wonderfully) mad. Thankfully Iain Hollingshead is on-hand to give the authors of the best unpublished letters the stage they so richly deserve. Baffled, furious, defiant, mischievous, they inveigh and speculate on every subject under the sun, from the rubbish on television these days to the venality of our MPs. With an agenda as enticing as ever the ninth book in the bestselling Unpublished Letters series will prove, once again, that the Telegraph’s readers have an astute sense of what really matters.

Did Anyone Else See That Coming...?

Readers of the 'brilliant Telegraph Letters page', as Ian Hislop recently lauded it, will be fondly aware of the eclectic combination of learned wisdom, wistful nostalgia and robust good sense that characterise its correspondence. But what of the 95 per cent of the paper's huge postbag which never sees the light of day? Some of the best letters inevitably arrive too late for the 24/7 news cycle, or don't quite fit with the rest of the day's selection. Others are just a little too whimsical, or indeed too risque, to publish in a serious newspaper. And more than a few are completely and utterly (and wonderfully) mad, such as the missives you'll find within these pages from someone who signs himself merely as "M", and believes himself to be the head of MI6. Now, the Telegraph gives the authors of these unpublished letters the stage at last. Baffled, furious, defiant, mischievous, they inveigh and speculate on every subject under the sun, from the rubbish on television these days to the venality of our MPs, from Kate Winslet's decolletage to this country's unhealthy obsession with marmalade. All those Telegraph readers who wondered if anyone else had noticed that the lunatics had finally taken over the asylum and sat down to write to their favourite newspaper to test the waters - they need howl into the void no longer. They are not alone.

Iain Hollingshead

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