Book description
The Lost Diaries is a wide-ranging anthology of the world's greatest
diarists, each of them channelled onto paper through the considerable
psychic force that is Craig Brown.
Arranged on a day-to-day basis, spread throughout an entire year, these
diary extracts form a patchwork quilt of observation, reflection,
contemplation and, above all, self-promotion. As the months unfold,
different diarists offer their insights on the events that pass: John
Prescott on going to Royal Ascot, Nigella Lawson on preparing Christmas
lunch, W. G. Sebald on enjoying an ice lolly by the beach, Karl
Lagerfeld on the need for an umbrella in Spring.
Among over 200 diarists featured are Martin Amis, Jordan, Germaine
Greer, The Duchess of Devonshire, President Barack Obama, Philip Roth,
HM the Queen, Heather Mills McCartney, Victoria Beckham, Ludwig
Wittgenstein, Sir Cecil Beaton, John Prescott, Mohamed Fayed, Harold
Pinter, Yoko Ono, Barbara Cartland, Jilly Cooper, Christopher Ricks,
Jeremy Clarkson, Jeanette Winterson, Sylvia Plath, Keith Richards, Maya
Angelou and Frank McCourt.
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. The Lost
Diaries is the first time all his greatest parodies have been gathered
together in one book. Arranged day-by-day, full of invigorating and
sometimes shocking juxtapositions, they constitute a treasure-trove,
choc-a-bloc with all the fantasies and illusions of our times.
