10 MAY 1997, page 40

Frivolous And Serious

Mark Archer THE ORIGINS OF ENGLISH NONSENSE by Noel Malcolm HarperCollins, £18, pp. 329 E nglish nonsense verse has been asso- ciated for so long with Edward Lear and Lewis......

Running On Empty

Tom Hiney GREAT APES by Will Self Bloomsbury, £15.99, pp. 404 i ll Self is the writer who was sacked by the Observer for failing to deny that he had taken heroin on the Prime......