Web Site Story

Robert Rankin

Robert Fleming Rankin (born July 27, 1949) is a prolific British humorous novelist. Born in Parsons Green, London, he started writing in the late 1970s, and first entered the bestsellers lists with Snuff Fiction in 1999. His books are a unique mix of science fiction, fantasy, the occult, urban legends, running gags, metafiction, steampunk and outrageous characters. According to the (largely fictional) biography printed in some Corgi editions of his books, Rankin refers to his style as 'Far Fetched Fiction' in the hope that bookshops will let him have a section to himself. Many of Rankin's books are bestsellers.

[1] Brentford rhyming slang. Jekyll and Hydes: strides.

[2] A life chronicled in many tomes by his biographer and lifelong friend, Sir John Rimmer.

[3] A derogatory term used by Brentonians to describe all and sundry who live beyond the boundaries of Brentford.

[4] Not to be confused with the other Flanders and Chubb, who were actually Flanders and Swann, the popular 1950s double act, who coincidentally used to sing a song about a bus.

[5] For those who don't know, Atari had female codenames for their games systems.

[6] Easter Egg = hidden undocumented features in a video computer game.

[7] So popular with Brentonians was this that it ran for three years.

[8] John Cooper Clarke actually once played a gig at the Waterman's Arts Centre. Its most memorable feature was the post-gig fight in the dressing room between John and his manager over who got to keep the gig money. The word 'allegedly' will not be used here, as this is a fact.

[9] Oh, that's how it was done! Well, that explains everything most satisfactorily.

[10] The Great Beast. As in the Book of Revelation.

[11] David Blaine. He's in that car commercial, the one where he says 'think of a card'.

[12] The official Runese Universal greeting. It means, literally, 'I myself am foil of happiness and joy and peace and find absolutely nothing to complain about in this wonderful wonderful world. But meeting you has made things even better.'

[13] 'That goes for me too. Doubly.'

[14] The late Hartley Grimes, fashionable twenty-first-century artist who specialized in human body parts, many of which were his own which he removed under local anaesthetic before an invited audience. Hartley Grimes's work is believed to owe an homage to Damien Hirst. As well as Jack the Ripper.

[15] Runese: 'I thought things couldn't get any better, and then I met you. Incredible!'

[16] 'That goes for me too. Doubly.’

[17] If you know about that, then you know. If not, I'm not going to tell you.

[18] The film Zulu. But you knew that anyway.