'One might have imagined that the British Empire was in danger. The Standard spoke of me as a menace to English letters; and the Morning Post as an example of the sad results to be expected from the over-education of the lower orders...' Jerome K. Jerome When Three Men in a Boat, a jaunty account of a boating trip down the Thames, was first published in 1889, it became a huge overnight success with the paying public despite the barrage of criticism in the press. It's the knockabout story of three impressionable young clerks, J., George and Harris, who climb aboard a skiff in the company of a fox-terrier called Montmorency. Originally intended to be a travel guide, it somehow turned into an outstanding comic novel and a runaway hit that still has legs. It's never been out of print since. The good-natured jokes and comic set-pieces remain as fresh today as when they were first penned. The gags cover entirely random subjects, including hazardous towropes, the...