''A brilliantly and preposterously funny book'' Guardian ''A flawless comic novel. I loved it then as I do now. It has always made me laugh out loud'' Helen Dunmore The Times Jim Dixon has accidentally fallen into a job at one of Britain''s new red brick universities. A moderately successful future in the History Department beckons - as long as Jim can stave off the unwelcome advances of fellow lecturer Margaret survive a madrigal-singing weekend at Professor Welch''s deliver a lecture on ''Merrie England'' and resist Christine the hopelessly desirable girlfriend of Welch''s awful son Bertrand. Inspired by Amis''s friend the poet Philip Larkin Jim Dixon is a timeless comic character adrift in a hopelessly gauche and pretentious world in a witty campus novel that skewers the hypocrisies and vanities of 1950s academic life. With an introduction by David Lodge . Language: English