Items related to The Leaky Establishment
THE LEAKY ESTABLISHMENT is an atomic farce whose author David Langford once worked in the gentle radioactive glow of Britain's nuclear weapons industry, and hilariously satirizes its ghastly bureaucracy from the inside. Black comedy overtakes the unfortunate defence-scientist hero Roy Tappen when a "harmless" theft of office furniture lands him with his very own doomsday nuclear stockpile at home. Chain reactions of insanely comic escapades follow, with disaster piled on disaster, leading the increasingly desperate Tappen to the borders of science fiction as he seeks a way out of the mess. With an introduction by Terry Pratchett.
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Review:
A comic novel with both verbal wit and comedy of situation. -- Mary Gentle, Interzone
A splendid send-up. -- Daily Mail
An agreeable romp. (AWRE News, house journal of the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment (since renamed), Aldermaston, Berkshire, England) -- AWRE News
An agreeable romp. -- AWRE News, house journal of the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment
I'd rank this book alongside Michael Frayn's The Tin Men, another neglected classic. I've wanted for years to see it back in print. It is one of those books you end up buying several copies of, because you just have to lend it to friends. It's very funny. It's very real. -- From the introduction by Terry Pratchett
The Leaky Establishment concerns the trials and tribulations of one Roy Tappen, a scientist at the Nuclear-Utilization Technology Centre at Robinson Heath, who discovers that sneaking the plutonium core of a nuclear warhead out of the centre is easy enough; the problems arise when he tries to sneak it back in. It's either a gloriously absurd farce or a sober record of The Great British System disguised as a gloriously absurd farce: whichever way round it's the kind of book you can give to spouses/partners who can't stand SF. -- Andy Sawyer, British SF Association, Paperback Inferno
From the Publisher:
A splendid send-up. -- Daily Mail
An agreeable romp. (AWRE News, house journal of the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment (since renamed), Aldermaston, Berkshire, England) -- AWRE News
An agreeable romp. -- AWRE News, house journal of the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment
I'd rank this book alongside Michael Frayn's The Tin Men, another neglected classic. I've wanted for years to see it back in print. It is one of those books you end up buying several copies of, because you just have to lend it to friends. It's very funny. It's very real. -- From the introduction by Terry Pratchett
The Leaky Establishment concerns the trials and tribulations of one Roy Tappen, a scientist at the Nuclear-Utilization Technology Centre at Robinson Heath, who discovers that sneaking the plutonium core of a nuclear warhead out of the centre is easy enough; the problems arise when he tries to sneak it back in. It's either a gloriously absurd farce or a sober record of The Great British System disguised as a gloriously absurd farce: whichever way round it's the kind of book you can give to spouses/partners who can't stand SF. -- Andy Sawyer, British SF Association, Paperback Inferno
The Leaky Establishment was the first title I signed up for Big Engine. I had read it at university and found it frighteningly funny -- it’s more than just a knockabout farce in the nuclear industry, it’s plausible too, from its opening blurb of genuine British Admiralty bureaucratese (“...it will be seen to that the bottom of each warhead immediately be labelled with the word TOP”) to the closing line. Then I graduated and grew up and moved out into the real world, and found further proof of its reality at every line.
Part of Big Engine’s ideal is to keep the classics, the works that people need to read, in print. This is one such book. Anyone who grew up in the Reagan/Thatcher era can read it and thank their lucky stars they are still here today. Anyone from a younger generation, read it and see what your elders and betters went through ...
Ben Jeapes,Big Engine
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- PublisherFrederick Muller Ltd
- Publication date1984
- ISBN 10 0584311672
- ISBN 13 9780584311679
- BindingHardcover
- Number of pages208
- Rating
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The Leaky Establishment
Published by
Frederick Muller: London, 1984
ISBN 10: 0584311672
ISBN 13: 9780584311679
Used
Hardcover
First Edition
Quantity: 1 available
Seller: COLD TONNAGE BOOKS, Colyton, DEVON, United Kingdom
Hardcover. First edition (& 1st printing). SF novel. Page edges browning, else a fine copy in a fine dustjacket (as new). Seller Inventory # 12655
Seller Image
The Leaky Establishment
Published by
Frederick Muller, 1984
ISBN 10: 0584311672
ISBN 13: 9780584311679
Used
Hardcover
First Edition
Quantity: 2 available
Seller: bbs, Lincolnshire, United Kingdom
Hardback: 8¾" x 5¾". Condition: Near Fine: Small signs of wear. Dust Jacket Condition: Near Fine. Cover Art: Uncredited (illustrator). 1st Edition. © 1984: A stand-alone novel by David Langford. 1st edition, 1st printing:- Synopsis: Roy Tappen had a nice, placid Civil Service job, designing nukes for Britain's big atomic base at Robinson Heath. That was before Operation Filing Cabinet. Security men want to fondle Tappen's thighs, half the base is on the fiddle, the Press Office is working on a cuddlier public image for plutonium, the Queen's visit is an uproarious disaster and there's the growing embarrassment of a nuclear arms stockpile in Tappen's own spare bedroom. Further complications include siege catapults, flying saucers, John Peel, the slowest Space Invaders game on earth, Winnie-the Warhead and the Fat Man Effect. As the black comedy piles up and Britain's position in the arms race drops behind Upper Volta's, Tappen wonders if he shouldn't change his name to Strangelove:- Review(s): "Imagine Tom Sharpe with nuclear weaponry instead of the vibrators and inflatable sex dolls":- (original cost £8.95). Seller Inventory # 20.051.00109
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The Leaky Establishment (Signed 1st/1st)
Published by
Frederick Muller Ltd, London, 1984
ISBN 10: 0584311672
ISBN 13: 9780584311679
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Seller: Durdles Books (IOBA) (PBFA), Birmingham, United Kingdom
Hardcover. Condition: Fine. Dust Jacket Condition: Near Fine. 1st Edition. First edition first printing. Hardback book is tight clean and square. with sharp spine ends. Boards clean and sharp. Title gilt perfect. Text block clean, with lightly toned edges. Pages clean and unmarked. Feels gently read. Fine condition. Jacket near fine, no major issues, just a little evidence of handling. Signed by author to the title page. For grading accuracy books are photographed without a protective book cover. This book is fitted with a non adhesive archival quality book protector to make a quality addition to your collection. Note we do not use stock images, the book pictured is the book described. A great signed copy of this comic novel by Dave Langford (yes, he of Ansible fame and stalwart of fandom), a worker at a nuclear research department takes home a filing cabinet not realising it has a nuclear warhead left in a drawer by a colleague who needed to put it somewhere so he could go to lunch. Signed by Author(s). Seller Inventory # 007683
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The Leaky Establishment
Published by
Frederick Muller Ltd, 1984
ISBN 10: 0584311672
ISBN 13: 9780584311679
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Seller: Cross Genre Books, WEST LINN, OR, U.S.A.
Hardcover. Condition: Good. Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good. 1st Edition. The book has soiling and tanning to the edges of the page block. The dust jacket has slight soiling to the white background and is unclipped (L8.95). Signed by the author on the title page. Signed by Author(s). Seller Inventory # 002750
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The Leaky Establishment (signed by the author)
Published by
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ISBN 10: 0584311672
ISBN 13: 9780584311679
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Quantity: 1 available
Seller: COLD TONNAGE BOOKS, Colyton, DEVON, United Kingdom
Hardcover. First edition (& 1st printing). SF novel. SIGNED BY THE AUTHOR. Anuncommon UK hardcver. Page edges just a little browned, else a fine copy in a fine dustjacket (as new). Seller Inventory # 18001
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The Leaky Establishment
Published by
Century Hutchinson (A Division of Random House Group), 1984
ISBN 10: 0584311672
ISBN 13: 9780584311679
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Seller: Book Deals, Tucson, AZ, U.S.A.
Condition: Good. Good condition. This is the average used book, that has all pages or leaves present, but may include writing. Book may be ex-library with stamps and stickers. 0.77. Seller Inventory # 353-0584311672-gdd
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The Leaky Establishment
Published by
Century Hutchinson (A Division of Random House Group), 1984
ISBN 10: 0584311672
ISBN 13: 9780584311679
Used
Hardcover
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Seller: Books Unplugged, Amherst, NY, U.S.A.
Condition: Fair. Buy with confidence! Book is in acceptable condition with wear to the pages, binding, and some marks within 0.77. Seller Inventory # bk0584311672xvz189zvxacp