Brewer's Rogues, Villains, and Eccentrics: An A-Z of Roguish Britons Through the Ages

by William Donaldson

Book Overview

"A quirky reference treasure...this low-priced text will enhance any public or high-school library shelf and supply a bored library worker with stolen moments of delight."--"Booklist" Presenting the... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0753817918
• ISBN13: 9780753817919
• Release Date: January 2004
• Publisher: Phoenix House
• Length: 686 Pages
• Weight: 1.35 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.5" x 5.0" x 7.9"

Customer Reviews

An essential resource for insight into weird British, Scottish, Welsh, & Cornish eccentricts!!

Everything you never knew that you wanted to know about the oddballs, rogues, cads, scoundrels, footpads, and other non-conformists who made the "Sceptered Isle" what it is (and was). I bought this book since I really enjoyed "The Henry Root Letters" and "Root Into Europe", and subsquently gave the hard cover edition Brewer's Rogues, Villains & Eccentrics to friends in London for Christmas, & they "adore" it. Our old friend the 5th Duke of Portland is well represented(see "Ballroom, construction of one underground"), as are swindlers, the Krays, women who served as men in the Army, train robbers, etc. The list truly does go on and on. If you are familiar with "Lock, Stock, & Two Smoking Barrels", Lenny "the Guvnor" McLean, The Guv'norwho played Barry The Baptist, and Vinnie Jones, who played Big Chris are both subjects of bios here, but although I mostly seem to be citing criminals in this review, there is far, far more to this book. I highly and unreservedly recommend this! This is a great one to keep close at hand, just when you want to read something "odd". When I heard "Willie" Donaldson had died, I read some obits of him in the UK press, & they were WONDERFUL. A womanizing, drunken druggie....no wonder his entries about Keith Moon and Brian Jones sound so accurate...and he dumped Carly Simon back in the '60's, & rumours say "You're So Vain" was about Willie. Whatta guy!!

Used book

Couldn't tell that the book was ever used. It was in excellent condition

Two cross-dressing pirates a sittin' in the sand...

The Roman author, Terence once said, " Homo sum; humani nil a me alienum puto" (I am human; I think nothing human foreign to me), but obviously he hadn't read "Rogues, Villains and Eccentrics." This book is "Burke's Peerage" as interpreted by Monty Python's Flying Circus, with a few lower-class gangsters, rogues, and levitating butlers thrown in to an already incredible mix of human misbehavior. What we have is not good old-fashioned American humor as typified by a Dave Barry booger joke. Rather the humor is meticuluously British, as typified by, "Lady Victoria has made her mark on the public imagination by appearing in nightclubs in her foundation garments." Speaking of Yanks versus Brits, the American version of Charles Bronson is a bit of a poof compared to his British counterpart. The British Charles Bronson was imprisoned for stealing 35 pounds from a Liverpudlian jeweler, whereupon he "assaulted more than twenty prison officers, [took] two governors and seven Iraqi terrorists hostage, lassoed a visiting teacher with a skipping rope and caused 500,000 pounds worth of damage to prison property." One of my favorite entries involves two female cross-dressing pirates. They were so well disguised, that one tried to seduce the other, thinking she was a man. Even after they sorted things out, Anne Bonny and Mary Read remained friends. (If this episode doesn't bring to mind the song, "I'm a lumberjack and I'm okay..." then you are obviously not a Monty Python fan). Entries in this compendium are hilariously and sometimes mysteriously cross-referenced. For instance, these items pertaining to butlers: * "butlers, disgraced bishops masquerading as. See JOCELYN, THE REVERENT PERCY." * "butlers, indecently assaulted. See AUDLEY, MERVYN CASTLEFORD, 2ND BARON; JACKSON, THE REVEREND WILLIAM." * "butlers, levitating. See GREATRAKES, VALENTINE." There are also a few black-and-white photos illustrating various rogues, villains, and eccentrics. One of my favorites is captioned: "The Reverend Harold Davidson, whose mission as the rector of Stiffkey was the salvation of fallen women, seen here in compromising circumstances with a young 'model'. Brought before a consistory court, Davidson claimed that he had walked into a trap, but he was not believed. He was eaten later by a performing lion." I don't think another country in the world (not to mention planet in the universe) could have come up with such a maniacally funny gallery of rogues, villains, and eccentrics. Hail Brittania! Long may she waive the rules! (I sure got a lot of spit on my screen while writing this review.)