Vote Bob Servant! Star of Delete this at Your Peril Transfers to Small Screen

If, as Napoleon once observed, “in politics stupidity is not a handicap”, then meet the next Honourable Member for Broughty Ferry – Bob Servant. Star of three bestselling books and a BBC radio series, Bob has now been reborn on the small screen by Hollywood legend Brian Cox in the six-part BBC comedy series, ‘Bob Servant, Independent’.

When the sitting MP for Broughty Ferry, near Dundee, dies suddenly it sparks a by-election that could change the political map of the UK. Bob – former burger van magnate and entrepreneur – swings into action to take advantage of a level of attention he’s been waiting for his whole life. He’s going to sell himself to the good people of Broughty Ferry …whether they like it or not.

The series, written by Neil Forsyth who also wrote the three Bob Servant books (Delete This at Your Peril, Bob Servant:Hero of Dundee and Why Me?), charts Bob’s bid for electoral success against slick professional politician Nick Edwards (Rufus Jones) and Nick’s no-nonsense campaign manager and wife, Philippa (Pollyanna McIntosh). Managing Bob’s campaign for glory is his long-suffering friend and neighbour Frank (“The Dean to my Torvill” – Bob) played by Jonathan Watson, who seems completely unfazed by the fact that Bob has absolutely no understanding of the political process whatsoever. To the hustings!

Bob Servant, Independent starts on 23^rd January at 10.00 p.m. on BBC Four for six weeks, repeated on Fridays at 10.00 p.m. on BBC2 Scotland (Sky Channel 970), and here's a sneak peak of the man in action ...

Christmas? You’re having a laugh!?

If you’re on the lookout for something to tickle their funny bone, look no further.

They’ll never be lost for a one-liner with Chic Murray's Funnyosities, or find out more about the man himself in Just Daft: The Chick Murray Story. And for when you just can’t take another rerun of The Sound of Music, sit back and enjoy his offbeat humour with a DVD of his comedy classics.

If you have email, then you have spam. Not sure what we mean? Have you been offered a Rolex, love, money, ‘a once in a lifetime opportunity’ recently which seemed too good to be true? That’s spam. It’s pretty annoying but one man has adopted it as his raison d’être. Bob Servant, the comedy creation of Neil Forsyth, takes spammers on and strings them along. It’s hilarious. His first volume of online adventures, Delete This at Your Peril, has been joined by Why Me?: The Very Important Emails of Bob Servant. Now something of a celebrity in his native Broughty Ferry, Bob even has his own biography, Bob Servant: Hero of Dundee. (Work of fiction or fantasy might be a better description! – Ed)

Another funny man, Stanley Baxter, is the perfect guide to learning to Parliamo Glasgow (now also on CD), or gie your greetin’ faced friend a treat with the charmingly titled, Awa' An' Bile Yer Heid! And in these troubled times you too can do your bit for international relations with Auld Enemies: The Scots and the English.

So come on down and laugh it up at www.birlinn.co.uk.

Getting slightly excited ... Edinburgh International Book Festival 2011 starts this Saturday!

The Edinburgh International Book Festival is the largest in the world. In 2010 the stats stacked up to 778 events, 200,000 visitors, 870 authors from 49 countries - 165 of them Scottish – with 341 sold out events and 118 free events.

2011 promises to be even bigger, even better – possibly wetter, but we don’t care! Both Birlinn and Polygon will be cheering on their authors at this year’s festival, and we can promise something for everyone. From Precious Ramotswe’s first case to true tales of derring do in the Second World War. Victorian crime fighters to naughty little boys. Growing up foreign to the greatest discoveries in astronomy. Makars and Method Actors.

Self-contained in a small but perfectly formed village of white tents in Edinburgh’s Charlotte Square, the Edinburgh International Book Festival is a wonderful place to be. Why not join us?


Charlotte Square, in the sunshine!



Edinburgh International Book Festival, 2011 - Part 2, Birlinn ...

The theme of EIBF 2011 is revolution, and if you’re holding out for a hero we can help. In the 1930s rich young men tended to buy islands as weekend getaways. Not so John Lorne Campbell who bought Canna to try and preserve its Gaelic traditions before handing it to the National Trust for Scotland. Ray Perman’s biography – The Man Who Gave Away His Island, the only one on John Lorne Campbell – tells of his dreams and struggles. The rights and wrongs of land ownership is a subject close the heart of Andy Wightman whose superb The Poor Had No Lawyers explores how millions of acres of common land ended in the hands of a chosen few.


Robin Harper

Politicians are not always universally considered heroes, but as the first Green parliamentarian Robin Harper has certainly cleared a path for others to follow, as he describes in his Technicolor autobiography Dear Mr Harper. Tam Dalyell is a hero to some, to others ... well, probably best not to ask. Let’s just say the title of his much-anticipated autobiography The Importance of Being Awkward says it all. Everyone who fought for freedom in World War II was a hero, but Allan Burnett chooses just a few true tales of heroism in his latest book for children. And a hero for our time if there ever was one is Bob Servant, the hilarious alter ego of Neil Forsyth, who takes on email spammers at their own game.

But sometimes it is the quiet things that make the biggest changes. Mairi Hedderwick’s charming Peedie Peebles will enchant and distract young readers with his exploits. And inside every one of us is a silent revolution, our DNA. Alistair Moffat and Jim Wilson use cutting edge technology to trace the history of the Scots in The Scots: A Genetic Journey. And it’s changing a few beliefs on where they came from!

So make sure you get in quick on 26th June to buy your tickets, and we’ll see you in Charlotte Square – hopefully in the sunshine!