A Voyage Around the Queen

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From one of the funniest writers of our time, the award-winning and Sunday Times bestselling author of One Two Three Four and Ma'am Darling turns his attention to Queen Elizabeth II in an unforgettable and fascinating biography.
Virginia Woolf compared her to a caterpillar; Anne Frank kept pictures of her on the wall of her annex; Jimi Hendrix played her tune; Haile Selassie gave her a gold tiara; Dirk Bogarde watched Death in Venice with her; Andy Warhol envied her fame; Donald Trump offended her; E.M. Forster confessed he would have married her, if only she had been a boy.

Queen Elizabeth II was famous for longer than anyone who has ever lived. When people spoke of her, they spoke of themselves; when they dreamed of her, they dreamed of themselves. She mirrored their hopes and anxieties. To the optimist, she seemed an optimist; to the pessimist, a pessimist; to the awestruck, charismatic; and to the cynical, humdrum. Though by nature reserved and unassuming, her presence could fill presidents and rock gods with terror. For close to a century, she inhabited the psyche of a nation.

Combining biography, essays, cultural history, dream diaries, travelogue and satire, the bestselling and award-winning author of Ma'am Darling and One Two Three Four: The Beatles in Time presents a kaleidoscopic portrait of this most public yet private of sovereigns.

Reviews

Praise for Craig Brown:

'In my wilder moments, I wonder if he hasnt reinvented the biographical form' Rachel Cooke, Observer

The most screamingly funny living writer Barry Humphries, Mail on Sunday

The greatest satirist since Max Beerbohm Elaine Showalter Guardian

Craig Brown's humour will outlive his victims. His journalism is one of the few compensations for being British now David Sexton, Sunday Telegraph

A genius in every instance, the skill of the parodist dwarfs any achievement attributable to his subject Auberon Waugh, Daily Telegraph

He is the comic writer the rest of us admire from afar, and envy beyond the bounds of reason. How does he do it Markus Berkmann, Spectator

Britains wittiest satirist The Times

[Craig Brown] has an acutely attuned comic ear, an unmatched eye for spotting the absurdities of human behaviour and a bloodhound-grade nose for sniffing out phoniness and pretension Mail On Sunday

Author Bio

Craig Brown has been writing the Private Eye celebrity diary since 1989. He has also written parodies for many other publications, including The Daily Telegraph, Vanity Fair, The Times and The Guardian. He is the author of several books, most recently The Lost Diaries and One on One.