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Tinkering

Tinkering: The Complete Book of John Clarke

John Clarke

Introduction by Lorin Clarke

Introduction by Lorin Clarke

This book tells the story of John Clarke’s writing life, including the fan letter he sent to All Black Terry Lineen when he was ten, a golf instruction manual unlike any other, Anna Karenina in forty-three words, and the moving essays he wrote after the deaths of his parents.

Tinkering is full of surprises, and includes all kinds of puzzles and propositions. Each one has different rules but together they reveal the different facets of John Clarke’s comic genius. In these pages you will find Fred Dagg dispensing advice on everything from dentistry to dreaming, the complete history of the lost sport of farnarkeling, the famous ‘Quiz Answers’, and ‘Saint Paul’s Letter to the Electorates’ —a brilliant account of the Rudd–Gillard years that was first inscribed onto stone tablets.

Tinkering also includes previously unpublished material including the ‘Doorstop Poems’, and the ‘Letters from the School’ suggesting what a serious matter birdwatching was for John Clarke.

Read an extract in Good Weekend
Read an extract in Guardian

REVIEWS

Australian ($)
Conversation: How Good Was John Clarke? 

John Clarke
About the Author

John Clarke was born in New Zealand. He is one of Australia’s best-known and most loved faces on TV. A comedian, writer and actor, his appearances include the famous Fred Dagg character, ‘The Gillies Report’ and ‘The Games’. John’s books include A Dagg at My Table, The Howard Miracle and The 7.56 Report. His novel, The Tournament, was released...

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Lorin Clarke
About the Introducer

Lorin Clarke is the creator of the award-winning observational audio fiction serial, The Fitzroy Diaries, three series of which have been to air on ABC RN, as well as being released as a podcast. Lorin writes regularly for children’s television and her children’s book, Our (Last) Trip to the Market was published by Allen & Unwin in 2017....

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Extent:
288pp
Format:
Paperback
Text publication date:
3 December 2018
ISBN:
9781925773255
AU Price:
$29.99
NZ Price:
$37.00
Australian
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Praise for John Clarke
andTinkering

Tinkering is packed with puzzles and propositions, with tea-fuelled musings on everything from plumbing to Paul Holmes. A gem.’

‘This book comes with some magnificent pictures of Clarke’s beloved birds and they seem to have represented the magic of the reality of the world to him. There is plenty of that magic in this book and everyone who liked John Clarke should buy it and find in it what will soothe their spirit. It will be there.’

‘The late John Clarke, aka Fred Dagg, really was a satirical one-off … Tinkering is packed with puzzles and propositions, with tea-fuelled musings on everything from plumbing to Paul Holmes. A gem.’

‘…Assessment of his The Games co-writer Ross Stevenson that Clarke was “the great satirist in the English language” is probably pretty close to the mark.’

Other editions ofTinkering
  • Tinkering
    ebook
    ISBN: 9781925626247
    27 November 2017
    Buy ebook
  • Tinkering
    Hardback
    ISBN: 9781925603194
    27 November 2017