Oh Joy! Oh Rapture!

Ian Bradley is one of world's leading authorities on and enthusiasts for the works of Gilbert and Sullivan. He annotated them from top to toe in The Complete Annotated Gilbert & Sullivan (OUP, 1996), has broadcast regularly on the operas for the BBC, and acted as consultant to the D'Oyly Carte Company. He is Vice President of the Arthur Sullivan Society and honorary life president of the St. Andrews University Gilbert and Sullivan Society with whom he has performed several principal bass-baritone roles. His abiding passion for G&S is fitted into his more serious life as a minister in the Church of Scotland, University Chaplain and Reader in Practical Theology and Church History in the School of Divinity at St. Andrews University. He is the author of more than 30 books.

• 1: Something lingering - the enduring influence of Gilbert and Sullivan through the twentieth century 2: A thing of shreds and patches - the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company 1961-1982 3: Unfriended, unprotected and alone - the new D'Oyly Carte 1988-2003 4: Virtue is triumphant only in theatrical performances - Professional productions 1961-2003 5: Masculine insects with the morals of a Methodist - Gilbert and Sullivan fans 6: Amateur tenors sing choruses in public - the world of amateur performance 7: In this college, useful knowledge - G & S in schools and universities 8: Things are seldom what hey seem - parodies, spoofs and spin-offs 9: Maintaining with no little heat their various opinions - G & S scholarship, partisanship and appreciation 10: Peep with security into futurity - Buxton it is!

This delightful and informative book could only have come from someone with a vast inside knowledge of the subject. It was clearly written as a labour of love, and Ian Bradley's enthusiasm is evident on every page. It is sure to prove compulsive reading for any admirer of G & S-oh joy, indeed!