Professor Branestawm was a classic on a par with (and of the same era as) Winnie the Pooh: these are funny short stories of the Professor who is brilliant, eccentric and forgetful. He inventions always work, but usually are fatally flawed. Set in the 1930s, he occupies his bachelor pad with Mrs Flittersnoop the housemaid who usually gets the wrong end of a bad experience of one of his inventions. Highlights are stories such as "The Too-Many Professors" where an elixir of life brings photographic characters out of the pictures, including a picture of the one-year old professor wearing nothing but a smile, half a policeman saying "Pass along p..." and generally far too many professors charging around.
The best thing about the book are the "seventy-six" illustrations by W Heath Robinson - he of rickety machine fame which make the book and perfectly complement the wildly imaginative stories. Wonderful for reading to the children (as an excuse to re-read them yourself).
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