The Cat that Could Open the Fridge

Review 'Being funny, wise and humane all at the same time needs a touch of class. Simon Hoggart has always had it.' ― JAMES NAUGHTIE Product Description The advent of the home computer has made Christmas round robin letters ubiquitous. Where once the hot news about Tamsin's A levels would be sent in a short note, now it's not unusual to get a letter that includes several pages of misery - emergency operations, dead relatives, sackings, rainy holidays and so forth - decorated with jolly snowmen and smiling Santas. Some people go further and send out whole booklets. Computers have also made it possible to include photographs of the family eating paté in their Provencal garden, or sitting in a hot tub in California. Simon Hoggart gets hundreds of round robin letters sent to him every year and has collected the funniest, most irritating, most surreal extracts into this hilarious short book. Along the way he considers why people hate these letters so much and what they tell us about the British middle classes. What, exactly, lies behind the impulse to write about Roger's decision to cycle to work for health reasons, or Jeremy's trip to Tasmania, or the replacement pet rabbit? Book Description Simon Hoggart brings together the funniest and most surreal examples of that bête noire, the Christmas round robin letter, accompanied by his own inimitably funny commentary. About the Author Simon Hoggart is the parliamentary sketch-writer and diarist for the Guardian. He also writes about wine and TV for the Spectator and is the former host of Radio 4's News Quiz. Atlantic Books published Don't Tell Mum: Hair-Raising Messages Home from Gap-Year Travellers in 2006 and The Christmas Letters in 2007. His collection of parliamentary sketches covering the Blair era, The Hands of History, was published in 2007.