Cautionary Verses and Ruthless Rhymes [Hardcover]

'Charlie Ottley does for Belloc what the Germans did for the Mini - he has revived a classic form.... Great fun!' --Quentin Crewe

Charlie Ottley...has revived a classic form. Great fun!

Sorry we missed the doublet and hose - but I doubt it would have
helped the impact which was terrific.

Ottley has done for Belloc what the Germans did for the mini - he
has revived a classic form...Great fun!

Cautionary Verses and Ruthless Rhymes - it's a charmer of a
book...beautifully, beautifully written!

Older children will adore this collection of rhymes as long as
they manage to wrench it away from their parents.

(Charlie Ottley)...creates a darkly comic world, that entrances
and appalls in equal measure.

This is an excellent and witty updating of Belloc, of which I
suspect the old boy would have been proud.

Those convinced that the world is going to hell in a handcart will
find rich pickings here

Exactly the type of poems that would encourage more children to
the genre, were they read in schools.. Wonderful.

In this clever update of Hilaire Belloc's original "Cautionary Verses", Charlie Ottley locates our Achilles' heel and goes for it with a tickling stick. Grumpy old men who go on about the modern world can bore us to tears - it's so much more fun with a light touch and a comic rhyme. From the dangers of skipping off school to over-dependence on TV soaps, these witty warnings are hugely enjoyable - all wonderfully illustrated with original drawings by Oliver Preston.

Prepare to be abruptly hurled into a darkly comic world, that
will enrapture and immerse the reader of its savage verse.A world where
errant little squirts receive their most unjust deserts and Belloc gets a
modern twist in ways too wicked to resist.

Charlie Ottley's laboured hard, to make his living as a bard. A poet for the BBC, plus Carlton and GMTV, he's been on television loads, transforming stories into odes and has been known to take the news, and turn it into four part blues.