Another sparkling Sunday afternoon is in store with Robin who will be introducing his latest creations - Request Stop & The Future of Jokes.

Robin has been very busy indeed since we last saw him in May.....it's such a joy to have him back with his two recent publications.

Request Stop - a book of poetry published by Manchester based Flapjack Press and illustrated by Joanna Neary. Whilst touring in the sweltering heat of the summer of ‘26, Robin decided to avoid the boredom that come from train delays due to swollen rails by creating a poetry challenge. On each journey, he asked people to request a poem on whatever they wished. From hummingbirds to Clive James, this book is the result of frenetic creativity in overheating carriages.

The Future of Jokes - published by Melville House - When did laughter become part of our universe? Were we the first planet to have a sense of humour? What was the first joke? Was it made by a chimpanzee or a crow? These are just a few of the questions Robin considers, bringing in elements from science, technology, politics, philosophy and culture to probe just why we need jokes. What can they teach us about ourselves and our future?

This book is funny, eclectic, engaging and thought provoking – a bit like Robin himself. At turns cosmic and cosy, I thoroughly enjoyed reading this and would recommend it to anyone who has ever thought about the way we think. LOGAN MURRAY, comedian and author of Get Started in Stand-Up Comedy

Robin Ince is a short, clever philosophical, funny man and he has written a short, clever book about philosophy and humour. So of course, it’s excellent. SALLY HOLLOWAY, author of The Serious Guide to Joke Writing

More About Robin - a multi-award-winning comedian, author, broadcaster, bibliomaniac and a populariser of scientific ideas. He is perhaps best known as the former co-host and co-creator of the BBC Radio 4 series The Infinite Monkey Cage with Professor Brian Cox. He co-created the Cosmic Shambles Network, has received an Honorary Fellowship of UCL, an honorary doctorate from Royal Holloway College (University of London), and is a fellow of the British Science Association. His books include Bibliomaniac: An Obsessive’s Tour of the Bookshops of Britain and Normally Weird and Weirdly Normal: My Adventures in Neurodiversity.

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