The core of this book, as I may have mentioned in these rants before, is The Young Visiters by Daisy Ashford, one of the few accidental humorous classic novels of all time (imagine a Barbara Cartland novel written by a nine year old girl who had read a lot of romantic fiction and could not spell). It was successful all around the world, although some doubted its authorship (Winston Churchill, who seems to get everywhere, had his own theory), and it was such a hit that, like all hits, it was parodied and pastiched.

Its best-known parody is American. Written by Ring Lardner, probably one of the funniest men of all time, The Young Imigrunts is legendary, not just as a comic novel in its own right, but also because it contains - literally - the funniest line in the history of all literature.

Fact.