Well, it might not be the final frontier but on Thursday there was a gathering at Daunts in Marylebone to celebrate the launch of the phenomenally funny book “The Bolds” by Julian Clary, with illustrations by David Roberts.
The Bolds are a family of Hyenas who have found themselves living in Teddington with their two children Bobby and Betty. Once your brain starts to accept this fact it becomes easier to slide (laughing hilariously) into the story of their lives and the plot to save an elderly hyena, from the local safari park, from being put ‘to sleep’. David Robert’s illustrations are as always amazing and and bring the whacky characters to life in such a vivid way.
This is yet another fabulous book for what used to be a very neglected age range, the 7-9 year olds. I particularly like the very groan worthy jokes that Mr Bold creates for his job, writing the jokes for Christmas crackers and I am quite sure that the intended audience will be wowing their friends and family with them once they start reading.
A big thanks should go to everyone at Andersen Press, not only for the great party, but also for bringing together such a brilliant team as Julian Clary and David Roberts. I can only hope that this is one of many collaborations and I know that a follow up is being planned for the Bolds. I almost dread to think what they will be doing in suburbia next time around. The one thing that keeps passing through my mind is “what if they had lived in Surbiton and came across Margo Leadbetter?” A vaguely surreal and worrying prospect.