Take My Camel, Dear

Admirers of British wit may recognize the heading of this post as the opening line to one of the wittiest, eccentric, yet touching books of the 20th century, The Towers of Trebizond by Rose Macaulay.

Who are your favorite authors of British wit? Their best works?

I'm a great admirer of Evelyn Waugh. Oddly enough, its not his novels that I favor the most, but his published collected letters.

I find it amusing that I recognize some of his novels' characters when he writes about his friends (or enemies) in his letters.

I recommend Evelyn Waugh, as well. "The Loved One' is my favorite. I laugh out loud every time I read it, and who doesn't need that from time to time?

Evelyn Waugh and P.G. Wodehouse would have to be my top picks.

There cannot be a funnier book than Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K. Jerome.

Excellent choice, The_Other_Reader!

And what about Oscar Wilde?

Hope you haven't missed Evelyn Waugh's Black Mischief. Pure gold.

John Mortimer's Rumpole series is extremely witty and enjoyable.

My favorite Oscar Wilde story isn't in any of his works; you may all already be familiar with it:

At at a real-world party,

Someone: (very witty, unrecorded remark)
Wilde: I wish I'd said that!
Friend: You will, Oscar, you will.

Oh yes The someone was Rex Whistler.

Once an artist painting at St Marks Square in Venice found himself surrounded by a growing crowd of admirers, he was pleased but perplexed. Then discovered that Whistler had erected a sign behind him reading "I am totally blind".

For a more modern example, Nick Hornby is often hilarious. And I've just discovered Tony Hawks.

SimonW11, thanks for identifying the "Someone," and for the great Piazza San Marco story.

It's hard to disagree with P.G. Wodehouse and Evelyn Waugh (although I'd go for early Waugh: Decline and Fall, etc. rather than The Loved One).

Re Nos.5 and 6: surely Three men on the bummel is a funnier book than Three men in a boat? Actually, I tend to think of Three men in a boat as one of those books that is always much funnier in retrospect than when you pick it up and read it. A bit like England, their England: one of the masters at school used to read the cricket match chapter aloud as a hilarious party piece, and I was thrilled when I managed to get hold of a copy of the book, only to discover that the rest of it was terribly dated and sentimental.

Nobody's mentioned Hilaire Belloc or G.K. Chesterton yet...

I vote for Ivy Compton-Burnett. Especially for the children in her books. They are truly frightening in their wit and wisdom. But they might turn you off family life forever. Beware!

It would have to be Saki - HH Munro. Very dry, very funny, very literate humour. No-one else comes close, for my money.

Excellent choice, Philbradley! I just read my first Saki story collection, and I'm hooked. I loved Esme best of all!

Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons. Love the bossy, self-important narrator. I second dougwood's choice of The Towers of Trebizond.

Foxhunter, always glad to have information improved.

Now if someone could tell me who the "Someone" was in the Wilde anecdote . . . .

I must agree with P.G. Wodehouse and I've just started reading Waugh but I wanted to put in The Idle Thoughts of an Idle Fellow by Jerome K. Jerome in addition to his other works mentioned here.

#11 sflax - Tony Hawks can be very funny. I've enjoyed listening to him on I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue as well.

I sit corrected Foxhunter:^)
thank you for the correction.

#19: pechmerle
According to Wikipedia, 'Someone' was also Whistler.

Thanks, Jim. (What are you doing in Lower Saxony?)

#23: pechmerle "(What are you doing in Lower Saxony?)"

OT. A long time ago, I took a temporary job in Germany. Then I thought the prospects for congenial work and surroundings were better here than in the UK and stayed longer. After a while I ended up here. Things have changed though: if I were young now, I wouldn't stay in Germany.

I found Mrs Caudle's Curtain Lectures by Douglas Jerrold really funny.
If you haven't followed the exploits of Job Caudle,the hen-pecked husband of Mrs C,then you should give them a try.