My Pet Hate Book was constructed to raise money for the Save the Children Fund. I suppose that most copies of charity support books like this are bought to be given as presents, so the contents don't actually matter much. For this one, Lord Gore-Booth wrote on behalf of the Save the Children Fund to various prominent politicians, authors, journalists, entertainers, religious leaders etc. and all, or perhaps only the best, replies are gathered here. Replies range from cartoons with very little verbal content, through single words (Barbara Castle: pomposity), to short or longer lists (Spike Milligan: Yapping Dogs; Cigarette Slobs; Richard Seifert), but mostly shortish paragraphs (Graham Hill: My pet hate is the Lord's Day Observance Society, and any other repressive bodies which try to prevent people carrying out their legal pursuits). Germaine Greer's page is a letter from her secretary: 'I'm afraid Dr. Greer will be unable to contribute to your book on pet hates. As she finds the subject of her pet hates uninteresting, she cannot see that they could conceivably be of interest to anyone else. If you were to put as one of her pet hates "receiving impossible requests through Her Majesty's Post", I rather think you would not be far from the mark.'… (more)
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