|
|
 |
 |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
JOHN CLEESE BOOKS The Rectorial Address of John Cleese (8 pages; delivered at the University of St. Andrews, April 21, 1971)
Dame Edna's Coffee Table Book: A Guide to
Gracious Living and the Finer Things of Life by One of the First Ladies
of World Theatre (a collection of "remembrances" and life tips by Dame Edna (comedian Barry Humphries); includes a section of "Commendations from Eminent Men & Women" which includes a photo and quote from John Cleese who says "The finest, wittiest and most informative book I have ever been promised a complimentary copy of")
The Strange Case of the End of Civilisation
As We Know It (contains the script and stills from the LWT production of the film in which John Cleese plays the bumbling grandson of Sherlock Holmes and Connie Booth the granddaughter of Moriarty; two editions were published; one was a TV tie-in with a photo cover, the other a "Humour" edition with a painted cover; the contents are identical)
Fawlty Towers (contains scripts for and photographs from "The Builders," "The Hotel Inspectors," and "Gourmet Night;" margins on each page include many photographs taken from these three episodes)
Fawlty Towers: Book 2 (contains scripts for "The Wedding Party," "A Touch of Class," and "The Germans;" margins on each page include many photographs taken from these three episodes)
The Ashes Retained (the story of how England beat Australia in the 1978/1979 bi-annual cricket tournemant called The Ashes; the story is told by Mike Brearley, the English cricket captain, and Dudley Doust, writer for the Sunday Times; John Cleese writes the foreword and tells the story of how he bowled against famous cricketer Denis Compton in 1958)
More Ripping Yarns (1979) (see Terry Jones; John Cleese makes a brief appearance in the "Golden Gordon" episode)
The Bedside 'Guardian' 28: A Selection From
the 'Guardian' 1978-79 (selections from British newspaper "The Guardian" for the years 1978 and 1979; includes a very funny three page foreword by John Cleese who introduces the book, basically apologizing all the while that he didn't have the time or the ability to write a proper introduction)
With Love From... (a book of reproduced lipographs; world-famous personalities were asked to put painted lips to paper, and an auction was held at Sotheby's in 1979 in aid of the Save the Children Fund; all lipographs were sold; inspired by a lipograph of international pop star David Bowie; the book includes a lipograph provided by John Cleese who signed it "Love and One Kiss, John Cleese")
Play Safe with the Stars (before he played Darth Vader, Dave Prowse was the friendly 'giant', Green Cross Man, who appeared on television and in ads explaining to children how to stay safe on the roads; this book features the Green Cross Man and his celebrity friends teaching children about safety in every day life; both John Cleese and Andrew Sachs contribute a chapter on basic first aid as explained by the characters they play on Fawlty Towers)
The Secret Policeman's Other Ball (1981) (see Graham Chapman) Time Bandits: A Screenplay (1981) (see Terry Gilliam) Time Bandits: The Movie Script (1981) (see Terry Gilliam) Time Bandits (novelization) (1981) (see Terry Gilliam)
Of Muppets & Men: The Making of the Muppet
Show (behind-the-scenes book about the history and making of "The Muppet Show" which had John Cleese as a guest during the second season; includes a photograph of John Cleese dressed as a mariachi)
No Turn Unstoned: The Worst Ever Theatrical
Reviews (a collection of some of the nastiest, funniest, and most scathing reviews and comments about actors, plays, playwrights ever published; copmiled by Diana Rigg the actress who portrayed Emma Peel in the television series "The Avengers;" the book contains a rather unflatering review of John Cleese in the Amnesty International show, Her Majesty's)
Time Bandits (comic book) (1982) (see Terry Gilliam)
Robert Morley's Second Book of Bricks (a collection of conversational clangers and embarrassing incidents in which people admit that there were times when they "wished they hadn't said that;" includes John Cleese's favorite story of the Danish philosopher Kierkegaard)
Frank Muir Presents the Book of Comedy Sketches (a collection of a hundred of the funniest comedy sketches chosen by veteran comedy writer and broadcasting personality Frank Muir; includes the sketches "BBC BC," "John and Mary," and "The Doctor" written by Bill Oddie and John Cleese; "Hendon," "Forgery," "Report on the Village Fete," and "Hello" written by Michael Palin and Terry Jones; "Butterling" written by John Cleese; and "Christmas" written by Michael Palin)
Families and How to Survive Them (dialogues between John Cleese and his former therapist, Robin Skynner, dealing with the complexities of human relationships and how they work; some of the passages are actually quite humorous which makes the serious topics somewhat more accessible)
Footlights!: A Hundred Years of Cambridge Comedy (1983) (see Eric Idle)
The Golden Skits of Wing Commander Muriel
Volestrangler FRHS & BAR (a collection of sketches written and co-written by John Cleese ranging back to Cambridge; includes, among others, the Argument skit, the Crunchy Frog skit, Cheese Shop, Bookshop skit, Ethel the Frog skit, and the Dead Parrot skit (which was omitted by popular demand); many of the sketches were co-written by Graham Chapman).
Son of "Curried Eggs": A Second Helping of Classic Comedy Sketches (1984) (see Graham Chapman)
Freaky Fables (book by the illustrator of John Cleese's "Families and How to Survive Them" and "Life and How to Survive It" books; foreword by John Cleese; "Forewords are," Cleese writes, "in the purest sense of the term, completely pointless, and everybody knows it. Which makes you a very strange person indeed to be standing there reading this." Cleese then goes on to thank many people in helping to research and write the brief foreword)
I'm Sorry I'll Read That Again has
also been cited as I'm Sorry I'll Read
That Again: The Classic Scripts (scripts from the radio comedy series; Graham Chapman, John Cleese, and Eric Idle all had some involvement in this series, although John Cleese stayed with it the longest; each sketch also lists the air dates as well as which actors portrayed the characters)
The Joy of Cricket (a huge collection of articles and stories about cricket, its history and cultural impacts; includes an article by John Cleese entitled "How I Got Compton Out Twice in an Innings," which is a reprint of Cleese's foreword from 1979's The Ashes Retained)
A Clown Too Many: les Dawson Tells It As
It Happened (an autobiography by British comedian and television personalitiy Les Dawson; includes information about the show Sez Les on which John Cleese made an appearance; includes a photograph of the cast with John Cleese on the set)
Clockwise: A Screenplay (screenplay of the film starring John Cleese in which he portrays "Brian Stimpson," a headmaster at a middle school who is obsessed with time and efficiency)
The Secret Policeman's Third Ball (contains the scripts, performance photos, and portraits of the cast of the Amnesty International show which took place in March 1987; John Cleese made a brief appearance in a sketch with Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie in which he accepts the "Silver Dick" award, which spoofs his refusal to participate in that year's show)
Double Takes: Photo Fantasies of the Famous (forty-three British personalities play dress ups; including John Cleese as Lady Jane Grey, Cleese's ex-wife Connie Booth as Lizzie Borden, Jeremy Irons as Van Gogh, Joanna Lumley as Henry VIII, and Spike Milligan as Ronald Reagan; foreword by the Duchess of York; Cleese's picture also appears on the cover)
Who's Who of Television (includes a listing on John Cleese)
The Complete
Fawlty Towers (the complete scripts to all twelve episodes of the Fawlty Towers series; includes a short photo insert)
A Fish Called Wanda (the screenplay of the movie co-written by John Cleese; starred John Cleese as "Archibald Leach" and Michael Palin as "Ken Pile;" story is about a bungled jewel heist and the characters' attempts to cover up the crime and to get away with the jewels)
TV's Greatest Hits (includes information on Fawlty Towers)
Comedy Greats: A Celebration of Comic Genius
Past and Present (book about some 20 of the world's greatest comic geniuses, including John Cleese; written by BBC presenter who later became the BBC executive who brought the six founding members of Monty Python together to form a new television series which became Monty Python's Flying Circus)
The Making of the President 1789: The Unauthorized
Campaign Biography (a humorous but factual look at the first U.S. presidential election; written by Newsday columnist and one-time presidential candidate Marvin Kitman; the book portrays George Washington as an incompetent war general, a wheeler-dealer, a land-grabber, "an intimate of every major financial crook and market manipulator; John Cleese contributed a foreword to this book and was at one point going to star in a film version of the book)
Erik the Viking: The Book of the FIlm of the Book (1989) (see Terry Jones) Erik the Viking: The Screenplay (1989) (see Terry Jones) Erik the Viking (1989) (see Terry Jones) The Complete Ripping Yarns (1990) (see Terry Jones; John Cleese makes a brief appearance in the "Golden Gordon" episode) To Wit: Skin and Bones of Comedy (celebration of comedy and the philosophy of laughter; includes a chapter on John Cleese and a large number of quotes and stories by Cleese; also contains a photo of Cleese performing a silly walk)
The Avengers Companion (The Avengers Companion was originally published in a French edition with the title Chapeau Melon et Bottes de Cuir, and it combines a complete episode guide with exclusive interviews with, and essays by, the cast and creators of the show; includes a synopsis of the episode "Look - (Stop Me If You've Heard This One) But There Were These Two Fellers" featuring John Cleese as Marcus Pugman, also includes photo of Cleese as the dead Marcus)
Secret Lives (British broadcaster John Sachs and Sun newspaper columnst Piers Morgan interview and collect personal anecdotes from over thirty British and American celebrities; John Cleese also provides personal rememberances about such things as school, most embarassing moment, favorite film, greatest moment, most frightening moment, first kiss, first bonk, etc.)
Photographs: Annie Leibovitz (1970-1990) (a collection of photographs by famed "Rolling Stone" and "Vanity Fair" photographer Annie Leibovitz. Includes many photographs of musicians and celebrities, including a photograph of John Cleese taken for an American Express advertisement in 1990; although the picture in the book of Cleese was never published, a similar photograph taken from the same series was used for the ad)
The Golden Age of Children's Television (1991) (see Terry Gilliam)
Cleese Encounters (unauthorized and very well-researched biography of John Cleese; covers John Cleese's childhood in Weston-Super-Mare, his Cambridge days, as well as his radio, television, and film accomplishments; includes photographs of John Cleese at various points in his life; also includes a lengthy curriculum vitae of John Cleese's accomplishments and an index)
Happy Families:
An Old Game With New Faces (a 1990's update to famous card game commissioned in 1851 for the Great Exhibition; twenty different artists contirbute their artwork to create this unique set of 80 cards depicting humorous families of characters; each family is accompanied by a narrative written by celebrity authors, including Terry Jones who wrote the chapter on "The Boxes"; John Cleese wrote the preface; the book was published to raise money for the Russell Project and the Marilyn Monroe Children's Fund)
Double Exposure Take Three: A Gallery of
the Celebrated With Commentary by the Equally Celebrated (a collection of photographs of famous celebrities with commentary by other celebrities who know or admire them; features a portrait of Jamie Lee Curtis with humorous text provided by John Cleese)
Life and How to Survive It (a second series of lengthy, sometimes humorous, dialogues between John Cleese and his former therapist, Robin Skynner; discussions revolve around families, organizations, people and the things that make them tick)
The British Television Location Guide (provides details about the locations used in filming many of the British television series, including those used for Fawlty Towers, The Prisoner, To the Manor Born and more; includes photos of Woodburn Grange - the house used for the exterior shots of the Fawlty Towers 'hotel' - before and after a fire destroyed it in 1991; the building was eventually destroyed in 1993)
Did I Ever Tell You How Lucky You Are? (comes with audio cassette, John Cleese narrates this Dr. Seuss short story for children; see also Audio Recordings)
Mary Shelley's Frankenstein: The Classic
Tale of Terror Reborn on Film (screenplay of the film that featured John Cleese as "Dr. Waldman"; includes director's notes, biographical notes, and a behind-the-scenes look; illustrated with color photographs and drawings from the film)
Making of Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein" (book of the film, featuring John Cleese)
Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (novel of the film based on the screenplay from the original Mary Shelley novel; includes full-color photographs and an afterword by director/actor Kenneth Branagh)
The Jungle Book (an unabridged reprint and movie tie-in of the 1894 classic; the film featured John Cleese as "Dr. Plumford," Mowgli's tutor)
Hunting People: Thirty Years of Interviews
With the Famous (a collection of interviews by British journalist and writer Hunter Davies; organized by decade and taken from the various newspapers in which they appeared, each interview is about three to six pages in length; includes an interview with John Cleese, conducted in 1977)
Fawlty's Hotel: Sämtliche Stücke (the complete Fawlty Towers scripts in German; set up in the same manner as the Complete Fawlty Towers book including similar cover art; includes black and white photographs from the episodes and a postscript by Eike Harms on the "Basil in All of Us")
The Wind in the Willows: The Complete Illustrated Screenplay (1996) (see Terry Jones)
Something Like Fire: Peter Cook Remembered (a collection of essays and letters about British comedic legend Peter Cook, as rememberd by his friends and colleagues; includes chapters written by John Cleese, Eric Idle, and Michael Palin; includes a number of candid photographs with Cook and various Pythons)
A Magical Universe: The Best of Magical Blend
Magazine (a collection of essays and readings from the new age magazine Magical Blend; the book features articles on cultural creativity, spirituality and metaphysics from a wide variety of authors, including Robin Williams, Jerry Garcia, Timothy Leary, and John Cleese; the piece by Cleese is from Magic Blend issue #31 and is entitled "The Importance of Being Offensive," which is a actually from a speech he delivered at the 1991 annual American Family Therapy Associaion meeting)
Fierce Creatures (a novel based on the screenplay by John Cleese and Iain Johnstone; tells the story of the film in narrative form; the story of a small British zoo that gets taken over by a world-wide conglomerate; the film also stars John Cleese and Michael Palin)
Fremdsprachentexte: John Cleese/Connie Booth
Fawlty Towers (small German textbook for learning English as a foreign language; uses three episodes of Fawlty Towers to teach English words and phrases; includes the episodes "The Germans," "Communication Problems," and "Basil the Rat")
Won from the Heart (a cookbook with recipes sent in by celebrities and politicians in support of the Shepherd Wellness Community which provides support to persons living with HIV /AIDS; John Cleese contributed a simple recipe for preparing corn flakes)
Peter Cook: A Biography (1997) (see Graham Chapman)
The Complete Fawlty Towers: 1998 Calendar (a calendar with photos of the cast of and scenes from the television series Fawlty Towers, written by and starring John Cleese; published by The Ink Group, the same Australian company responsible for the Monty Python calendars)
The Daily Show's Five Questions From Comedy
Central (a collection of answers to Craig Kilborn's unusual five questions, which he asks of all of his celebrity guests on The Daily Show, Comedy Central's popular news parody program; both John Cleese and Michael Palin appear in the book; John appeared on The Daily Show on 20 Jan. '97 and answered all 5 questions correctly, Michael appeared on 10 Sept. '97 and only answered 3 correctly; Terry Jones' appearance on the show was after the publication of this book and, thus, does not appear in the book)
Laugh: Portraits of the Greatest Comedians
and the Funny Stories They Tell Each Other (a collection of photographs of comedians by famed photographer William Claxton; each photograph is accompanied by an anecdote from the celebrity; John Cleese is featured with a story about his lack of singing ability and the consequences it played when he performed on Broadway in 1964's Half a Sixpence)
John Cleese: And Now for Something Completely
Different (a 120-page tribute to John Cleese, featuring a lengthy biography covering John's early days and his career through Fierce Creatures; written by journalist and theatre critic Robert Gore Langton who is 6'4" tall and was once himself mistaken for John Cleese at a party; lots of color and black and white photographs of Cleese throughout)
The World is Not Enough: A Companion (this book details the making of the nineteenth James Bond film The World is Not Enough; the book is written by author and screenwriter Iain Johnstone who co-wrote the screenplay for Fierce Creatures with John Cleese; he details the film's creative process from the initial idea, through the writing and casting, to the filming itself; the book contains a lengthy anecdote on how Cleese came to be offered a role in the Bond franchise)
How to Manage Your Mother (a book about how people cope with issues that face us in getting on with our mother; written by John Cleese's wife, Alyce Faye, who is a psychoterapist; the book includes anecdotes from John Cleese, Terry Jones, and Michael Palin who talk about dealing with the death of their mothers)
What You Really Need to Know About Living
With Diabetes (a practical guide on what you need to know about coping with diabetes; this is part of a series of books published by Marshall Publishing for patients dealing with complicated conditions and illnesses; John Cleese and Dr. Buckman also created a series of videos called Videos for Patients (a sister company to the management training firm Video Arts also co-founded by Cleese) on which this book is partially based)
Which Lie Did I Tell? More Adventures in
the Screen Trade (William Goldman's second book about the Hollywood screenplay business, including behind-the-scenes anecdotes from the sets of The Princess Bride, Misery, Maverick, and Absolute Power; includes anecdotes about his conversations with friend John Cleese and a film they would have done together called Low Fives starring Danny DeVito and John Cleese)
Fawlty Towers Fully Booked (a 190-page tribute to one of the world's best-loved sitcoms; the book contains previously unseen photographs and exclusive BBC interviews with John Cleese; included are details on each principal character, their comedy highlights, an A-to-Z listing of the princiapl guest stars, a history of the show, and a look at the influence Fawlty Towers has had worldwide)
The Human Face (this coffee-table accompanies the 2001 BBC television series of the same name; The Human Face considers the notion that beauty is indeed only skin-deep, and explores whether we should judge a book by its cover; supposing we do, it justifies the conceit through a wealth of magnificent colour plates and an explanatory text by John Cleese, who presented the series, and psychologist Brian Bates)
The Mammoth Book of Awesome Comic Fantasy (a collection of humorous fantasy stories from some of the funniest authors in the genre; the book also includes the "Happy Valley" fairy tale written by John Cleese and Connie Booth, which was previously published in the The Brand New Monty Python Bok in 1973)
Bond on Set (a huge collection of photographs taken on the set of Die Another Day; includes photos of John Cleese as Q, as well as quotes by Cleese to accompany the photographs)
Time and the Soul: Where Has All the Meaningful
Time Gone -- and Can We Get It Back? (this book aims to uncover the link between our pathology of time and the eternal mystery of what a human being is meant to be in the universal scheme of things; but the challenge is to approach these ancient ideas in a way that is practical, that can actually lead us toward a solution of our problem; includes a foreword by John Cleese)
Superman: True Brit (a 'what-if' retelling of the Superman comic book, in which the space capsule that brought him to Earth lands in rural England, where he is adopted by a stereotypically proper farm couple, the Clarks; young 'Colin Clark' is raised to suppress his powers to avoid drawing attention and causing embarrassment; ater university, he heads to London to write for a trash tabloid run by a Murdock-like magnate and develop a crush on Page-Three-Girl-turned-reporter Louisa Layne; Kim 'Howard' Johnson who has dabbled in the comic books industry for many years spearheaded this project and Cleese is credited as co-author)
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
 |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
