Synopses & Reviews
In an attempt to raise a dormant spirit lying somewhere between Fred Dibnah and Bonnie and Clyde, Dan Kieran has been on a journey to discover why life in modern Britain is so absurd and unfulfilling, and he has realized that everything comes down to just one thing: British law. And these very laws are becoming as eccentric as moustache clubs, shin-kicking championships, and even, God bless her, the Queen. And on his travels, Dan finds hes not alone, for there are multitudes of people battling against the tedium. And so begins a satirical, fun-packed crime spree as Dan joins a group of protestors (five of whom were arrested for eating cakes in Parliament Square), spends the night on the roof of a bus station in Derby, befriends a group of pensioners who were forced to let off stink bombs in a court of law, finds King Arthur alive and well up a tree in Newbury, and discovers how afraid we should really be of terrorism. All types of people will lower themselves to desperate behavior for celebrity status, but no one has ever deliberately become a criminal to point out how authoritarian the British government has become. Well, not for a while, anyway. Packed with many more hilarious stories, fascinating facts and a sprinkling of sage advice from the likes of Winston Churchill, Admiral Nelson, George Orwell, and William Blake, I Fought the Law is a patriotic celebration of the British spiritand a call to arms for all those for whom enough is enough!
Synopsis
Originally intended to be a simple Christmas humour book, I Fought The Law ended up becoming something rather different. The premise was simple enough. Dan was going to spend a year trying to break as many stupid old laws as he could find, for your amusement. You see there are loads of ridiculous laws on the statute book...
It is still illegal to beat a carpet in the Metropolitan Police District, to take possession of a beached whale or to get within a hundred yards of the Queen without wearing socks. The list goes on and on. But in the process of researching these silly old laws Dan found a glut of stupid legislation that was equally ridiculous, but these laws had one thing in common - they'd all been passed by our current Government. And when he met a man who has a criminal record for eating a cake that had 'Freedom of Speech' written on it in icing in Parliament Square the idea of breaking the Adulteration of Tea Act of 1776 started to seem a little frivolous.
Lifting up this legal concrete slab in the garden of England, however, caused all sorts of creepy crawlies to emerge that began to cast doubt on the health of the nation, so Dan's adventure began to change tack. His journey ended up taking him all across the country where he found some unlikely heroes fighting back. Meet...
* Dorothy, who spent days living on the roof of a bus station in Derby
* a group of pensioners, who were forced to let off stink bombs in a court of law
* the man who dresses like Chaplin's tramp and keeps getting arrested outside Downing Street
* one woman who got an ASBO for being naked in her own home - and a Tourette's sufferer who was given an ASBO for swearing.
So, whether it's fighting to protect our environment, our freedom, or the right to live in an unconventional way, I Fought the Law is an unashamedly patriotic call to arms to all those for whom enough is enough.
Synopsis
In this unique travel memoir, Dan Kieran embarks on a satirical “crime spree” and uncovers fascinating and disturbing truths about the state of post-Blair Britain. It is bitingly funny satire from the author of
Crap Towns, Crap Jobs, and Crap Holidays.From the Trade Paperback edition.
Synopsis
GB
About the Author
Dan Kieran is deputy editor of The Idler, an Observer travel writer, and editor of Crap Holidays, Crap Jobs, and Crap Towns.