A POKE IN THE EYE (with a SHARP STICK)

London: Canongate, 2012 9780857867346. Hardback. First edition. First printing. Number 1. Fine/Fine. Like new. No annotations or inscriptions. DW is not price-clipped. 8vo.464 pages including index. Bright,crisp,clean,matt,yellow background with assorted glossy b/w head photographs of participants in the shows montage to both panels with glossy black+red lettering; with negligible shelf-wear or creasing to edges and corners - no nicks, tears or splits present.Top+fore-edges bright and clean; contents bright,tight,clean,solid and sound - pristine - no dog-ear reading creases to any pages or corners.Bright,crisp,clean,sharp-cornered, Publisher's original plain black cloth boards with bright,crisp,blocked silver gilt letters to spine/ backstrip,a black+gold/yellow striped headband and immaculate plain red endpapers. Back in the day,if you wanted to raise money you stood on a street corner with a tin and a smile.That is until Mr John Cleese rounded up a few friends in 1976 for Amnesty International's first fundraising show, 'A Poke in the Eye (With a Sharp Stick)'.Since then, Amnesty has produced seventeen Secret Polceman shows,which culminated in 2012 with a star-studded line-up at New York's Radio City Hall.This beautifully designed anniversary book brings together the greatest acts from the seventeen shows: scripts of the 'Dead Parrot' sketch; Alan Bennett's peerless monologues; Victoria Wood's comic songs; Peter Cook and Dudley Moore's 'Frog and Peach' sketch; Rowan Atkinson's schoolmaster roll-call; and on through the latest generation led by Eddie Izzard, Dylan Moran, Frank Skinner, Tim Minchin and Jack Whitehall. These wonderful comedy routines are accompanied by beautiful photography, specially commissioned introductions and interviews from those involved. It is a fitting tribute to a remarkable,and important, comedy institution. .