This marvellous selections of over 200 pieces by writers as diverse and entertaining as Charles Dickens, John Betjeman, Noël Coward, Joyce Grenfell, Ogden Nash and Oscar Wilde are poems and prose writings which work best when read aloud. Peter Barkworth, like many other well-known performers, has always been called upon to give charity and concert readings throughout his long and illustrious career as an actor. Now he has compiled a book of his favourite selections to be read and used by anyone who has to read in front of an audience at Christmas and other holidays; benefits, charity dos and church concerts; remembrance days, funerals and memorials; special luncheons and dinners; weddings and christenings. "This book will be a godsend to those of us who are called upon to find something to recite on special occasions, and indeed a literary pot of gold for all of us" (Ham and High).