Prince Charming

Prince Charming is the story of Christopher Logue: one of our great poets and literary mavericks, part of a circle that included Kenneth Tynan and Richard Ingrams. It tells, in frank detail and with eloquent relish, of its author's South England childhood and schooldays; his post-war stint in the army, which ended in disgrace and imprisonment; his years in Paris, during which he was involved in publishing Beckett and wrote pornography; his return to England, where he grew serious about politics, was imprisoned for the second time (as a member of the anti-nuclear Committee of 100), offended T.S. Eliot, participated in the new satire movement, promoted the public performance of poetry, and invented the poster poem.

These pages give us unofficial glimpses of the likes of Alexander Trocchi, Maurice Girodias, Lindsay Anderson, Nell Dunn, Peter Cook and the charismatic Pauline Boty. There are enough characters among the less well-known - from the author's father to the Portobello Road street-trader 'Minky' Warren - to stock a lively novel.