When Grandmama Fell Off the Boat

Harry Graham (1874-1936) was an establishment figure who didn’t quite fit the mould. He started off conventionally enough with Eton, Sandhurst and the Guards, but the irrepressible entertainer in him kept bursting out, and by 1910 he had become a full-time writer. He was engaged to the American actress Ethel Barrymore, great aunt of Drew Barrymore, but she added him to her list of spurned suitors, among them Winston Churchill. Four years later Graham married Dorothy Villiers.

• Foreword by Virginia Graham. Introduction by Miles Kington. The Poems: Indifference, Appreciation, Father, Aunt Eliza, Amiability, The New Profession, Thoughtlessness, Grandpapa, Tender-Heartedness, Mr Jones, Compensation, The Linguist, The Siren, Patience, Holidays, The Neighbours, Perspective, The Homes of London, Necessity, The Last Horsed 'Bus, Lord Gorbals, The Model Motorist, Table Manners, Luncheon, Waste, Dinner, The Men from Blankley's, Providence, Dancing, The Battue of Berlin, The Englishman's Home, The Sportsman, Getting Up, The Ideal Husband, Love's Handicap, Mrs Christopher Columbus, The Trucks of Truro, The New Romance, Good Sport, The Busy Rich, The Morning, Slush, Winter Sports, L'Enfant Glace, Grandmama, The Martyrdom of Fashion, Dressing, Plagues at the Play, Creature Comforts, The Choice, A Plea for Ponto, The Deserted Garden, The Fallen Star, The Cries of London, The Postman and the Lift, The Vacuum Cleaner, The Cry of the Elders, The Motriot, Tragedy, In-Laws, Breakfast, Bishop Prout, The Traveller, If - !, Chance, Opportunity, Waste, The Bath, The Dirt Cure, The Pest, Calculating Clara, Baby, Canon Gloy, The Poet's Life, Envoi. Sources.

'He is in the great tradition of Lear and Carroll and Gilbert and Belloc. At his best he easily ranks any of these.' - Jeremy Nicholas, The Ruthless Rhymer, BBC Radio 4