Malcolm Bradbury was a well-known novelist, critic and academic, and founder of the creative writing department at the University of East Anglia. He was the author of seven novels, including The History Man and Rates of Exchange, which was shortlisted for the Booker Prize. He was awarded a knighthood in 2000 and died later the same year.
The funniest and best-written novel I have seen for a very long time -- Auberon Waugh Grim wit, chill comedy and a fictional energy which is as imaginative as the tale is shocking -- A. S. Byatt Malcolm Bradbury has come up with a novel that simply must be read -- Elizabeth Berridge * Daily Telegraph * Extremely witty . . . Bradbury writes brilliantly * New York Times * Very funny . . . a quite ruthless satire * Evening Standard * Exhilarating . . . A book which captures for all time the spirit of an age -- Margaret Drabble