These columns first appeared in The Listener, The Times and Woman’s Journal. At The Listener, where I was Literary Editor, Alan Coren encouraged me to start writing a column called ‘Margins’; his successor Peter Fiddick was, I think, too scared to stop me. As for the numerous columns from The Times, I owe a great debt to Simon Jenkins and Peter Stothard; also Brian MacArthur, Brigid Callaghan, Robert Crampton and Jim McCue. At Woman’s Journal, Deirdre Vine and Cherry Maslen regularly ring up laughing after receiving my columns. Luckily, this is the desired effect.
This book is a tribute to Kate Jones at Hamish Hamilton, who read all the cuttings I could find, allowed me to laugh like a hyena at my own jokes, and then did all the heavy brainwork. If anyone calls this a scissors-and-paste job, Kate will be very cross. Finally, I must mention Cara Chanteau, formerly of The Listener, who warned me in 1987 that if I once became associated professionally with ha-ha jokes about cats there would be no turning back. You were right, Cara. So right.