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slim_oysterhiatus's review against another edition
5.0
Update following audiobook 2022:
I was kindly gifted a free copy of the audiobook version by the author. The 2022 release meant updates about OBEs since the original publishing, and the recent deaths of a few major players in the story could be included. With so many changes since Humphs worldly departure and the original publication of the Clue Bible, I hope to see updates dealing with new games, fresh performers, loss of old performers, and the 50th anniversary of Clue.
In audio form, the frequent passages of script are more effective (I find myself skipping quotes in print when I am familiar with the material), and further audio decorations help to divide and shape the text in a logical way (i.e. a clown horn introducing the biography highlight sections).
As with all Roberts' book, The Clue Bible is for the super-fan, and takes the phrase "excruciating detail" to a new level. It's a long book--it bloody well has to be, covering 60 years of comedy history-- and explores the influences that lead to ISIRTA/ISIHAC, the context behind material, the lives of the writers/performers and their relationship with producers, the audience and the BBC, and the long-lasting love of the greatest and (hopefully) eternal radio programme.
***
As a huge fan of ISIHAC and ISIRTA, I lapped up the intimate details that this history covers. Incredible detail with nothing left untouched and no player, no matter how small, left out of the story.
I was kindly gifted a free copy of the audiobook version by the author. The 2022 release meant updates about OBEs since the original publishing, and the recent deaths of a few major players in the story could be included. With so many changes since Humphs worldly departure and the original publication of the Clue Bible, I hope to see updates dealing with new games, fresh performers, loss of old performers, and the 50th anniversary of Clue.
In audio form, the frequent passages of script are more effective (I find myself skipping quotes in print when I am familiar with the material), and further audio decorations help to divide and shape the text in a logical way (i.e. a clown horn introducing the biography highlight sections).
As with all Roberts' book, The Clue Bible is for the super-fan, and takes the phrase "excruciating detail" to a new level. It's a long book--it bloody well has to be, covering 60 years of comedy history-- and explores the influences that lead to ISIRTA/ISIHAC, the context behind material, the lives of the writers/performers and their relationship with producers, the audience and the BBC, and the long-lasting love of the greatest and (hopefully) eternal radio programme.
***
As a huge fan of ISIHAC and ISIRTA, I lapped up the intimate details that this history covers. Incredible detail with nothing left untouched and no player, no matter how small, left out of the story.
neil_denham's review against another edition
2.0
Half this book is about something other than I'm Sorry I haven't a Clue. i understand the need to provide history of how the show got started, but it took just over half of the length of the book to do so.
Once we get into the topic at hand things start to improve, it is still badly written, and the author, although obviously a comedy fan has no sense of how to write humorously himself, and the book would have been improved without his attempts at humour.
Most of all this book made me want to go back and revisit old episodes of Clue, which is no back things to do.
Once we get into the topic at hand things start to improve, it is still badly written, and the author, although obviously a comedy fan has no sense of how to write humorously himself, and the book would have been improved without his attempts at humour.
Most of all this book made me want to go back and revisit old episodes of Clue, which is no back things to do.
markc1979's review against another edition
4.0
The title is slightly misleading as only the second half of the book is really about 'I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue' itself. The first half details the formation of the group of comedians that would eventually go on to produce the series 'I'm Sorry I'll Read That Again', which would itself result in the creation of 'Clue'. What you get therefore is more than just the history of one radio series. It's a fascinating history of radio comedy (and TV comedy, for that matter)in the latter half of the 20th Century.
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