Gruts and other Wireless Menu: Collected Radio Scripts by Ivor Cutler, 1959 – 1965, edited by Ian Greaves. Published in 2023. ISBN 978-1-915428-01-1
Before The Beatles, before John Peel, and even before he turned to poetry, Ivor Cutler was a radio star. His self-penned monologues and sketches for the BBC Home Service were an instant hit, charming adult listeners and children alike, via the weekly entertainment shows Monday Night at Home, Don’t Look Now and his own series The I.C. Snow.
Around three-quarters of the material in this new volume has previously appeared in earlier Ivor Cutler collections – two editions of Gruts (London: Museum Press, 1962, and London: Methuen, 1986), and Cock-a-Doodle-Don’t! (London: Dobson Books, 1966) which was later expanded and retitled as Fremsley (London: Methuen, 1987). The original prefaces and dedications from those editions are included.
Although all the material in this collection was initially written for performance rather than publication, Ivor Cutler nevertheless included illustrations when the scripts were published. To satisfy popular demand, a selection of those drawings has been included in the present volume.
