An Irregular Miscellany: A selection of essays and lectures from the Common University
Throughout the 1920s the Common University provided a free and ready source of education to the working classes of England through various lecture series and the distribution of educative pamphlets in the East End. At the time it renowned as a philanthropic exercise noted more for its good intentions than its practice of asking for lecturers’ credentials. In the mid 1930s it shut down amid a small furore over the nonsense it was teaching. It was assumed by all involved that that would be the end of it. Then, toward the end of the 1990s the English poet A.F. Harrold discovered a box of papers in the attic of an elderly stranger. After exhaustive investigations, leads followed and clues uncovered he discovered that what he held in his hands were lecture notes, reports of speeches, lessons and seminars from the Common University long thought lost by educational historians. ‘Gosh,’ he thought, ‘This stuff’s jolly interesting.’ Looking into the history of the Common University he found that the lives of those involved in it were surprisingly exciting and he dramatised those events and those intrepid people in a series of novels that begin with The Curious Education of Epitome Quirkstandard. Now, however, he has decided to share some of the original documents that lead him to stories through an irregular series of readings. He’s right, it is jolly interesting. If not entirely factually correct.
June 1st, 2006 at 7:01 pm
This was hysterically funny.
June 2nd, 2006 at 9:47 am
I have only gotten through the first three installments so far, but am already extremely pleased with A.F. Harrold’s newest effort. I’m a huge fan of his other works, so my expectations were very high. I was not disappointed! “Nietzsche’s Moustache”; what a strange man, our author… scenes painted believably, but that could only exist in a very funny world of magical realism, predominated by an all-encompassing Prussian moustache. Take a listen, you’ll see what I mean. Thanks to the Author for more fun and interesting ways fill my workday. (more fun and interesting than work, anyway….
-George
June 14th, 2006 at 8:36 am
This appeals to my warped sense of humour. As a habitual punster I loved the lederhosen/leiderhosen/ledahosen sequence. I’ve also listened to “The Curious Education of Epitome Quirkstandard” and will look out for anything else by A. F. Harrold.
June 15th, 2006 at 11:39 am
Delightful!
DrAT
August 7th, 2006 at 3:36 am
Very funny… will definitely be listening to more A. F. Harrold.
October 17th, 2006 at 11:58 pm
I had the stupid idea to start listening to this at midnight…
Oh how i annoyed my housemates – this is proberly the funniest thing I ever heard as a podcast…and yes that includes the Wingin’ it Dragoncon podcast…
December 5th, 2006 at 5:46 pm
Oh No!!! The collection suddenly ended after months of waiting for a new episode! Ah, well.
Keep up the fine work and I look forward to your next undertaking.
December 11th, 2006 at 2:46 am
I’ve just listened to the first episode. It was delightful, I hope to see more from this author in the future. It reminded me of one of my favorite authors, Douglas Adams, and that is high praise indeed.
February 1st, 2007 at 9:05 pm
Pretty humorous overall, for British humor of course, if you can call that humor. Not haha funny, but amusing enough to listen too. A.F. Harold’s other story on Podiobooks “The Curious Education of Epitome Quirkstandard” is quite good and I recommend it.
May 7th, 2007 at 11:22 pm
This was a scream. Laugh-out-loud funny.
I loved the bit about fainting, which was actually about marriage, which was actually a sort of existential treatise regarding hominids and how damned hard it is to get through the day, unless you happen to have that certain special miniscule winged insect in your life. And also about how joy is fleeting, and tragedy inevitable.
The tone is perfect, from the first plonk-plunkety-plonk notes of the music to the last signoff.
(What does it say about me that when I downloaded this book, I understood it to be literally true that you were going to be sharing lectures from the Common University? I thought it might be slightly humorous at times, dry enough at others, and interesting mostly in its evocation of the worldview/zeitgeist of the 1920s. I felt duly and regretfully stupid, for only for a short bit).
af harrold, you are a brilliant man. The spiritual heir, surely, to John Cleese. Or, because I’m an American and thus clueless about such things, whichever articulate, absurd, witty, philosophical, wildly creative and bust-a-blood-vessel funny English fellow you might choose.
My hat is off to you, sir.
November 14th, 2008 at 11:14 pm
best. podiobook. ever.
well, maybe not: i haven’t heard his other yet.
June 22nd, 2009 at 11:51 pm
An opus nonsensibus of the first class. Heartily recommended.