For over forty years, John Julius Norwich has been sending out his Christmas Crackers
- a personal collection of quirky"es & literary odds & ends
- to his friends instead of a Christmas card. In The Illustrated Christmas Cracker Quentin Blake has made his own selection of favourite pieces & has illustrated them in his own trademark style. From curious dictionary definitions (` Carphology. Delirious fumbling with the bedclothes, ` Concise Oxford Dictionary) & tortuous palindromes (` Live dirt up a side-track carted is a putrid evil`) to eighteenth-century accounts of drunken pigs & Benjamin Franklin`s account of inventing bifocals, this cracker is stuffed with surprising, offbeat, often hilarious gems. Enlivened by Quentin Blake`s witty illustrations, this book is the perfect stocking-filler for the discerning customer.