Some of us were quoting at each other in a completely unrelated thread, so I thought it would be good to see if anybody else has come across one of the funniest writers of the 20th century. He coined the term “Gamesmanship” and was fairly well known in America.
Stephen Potter was born in London and lived from 1900 to 1969. He had ambitions as a serious writer before the war but became a comedy writer for radio (doing a lot of work with Joyce Grenfell). He was most famous for his “upmanship” books, starting with “Gamesmanship; or the Art of Winning Without Actually Cheating.” The main idea of the books is to be “one up” on people, to make them feel impressed or inferior, without really deserving it. The humour is very subtle, and is really a wickedly observed description of how people dominate each other is supposedly civilised society.
Some quotes:
On wine-tasting; “Don’t say too much about the wine being ‘sound’ or ‘pleasant’: people will think you have simply been mugging up a wine merchant’s catalogue. It is a little better to talk in broken sentences and say, ‘It has…don’t you think?’ Or, ‘It’s a little bit cornery,’ or something equally random like ‘Too many tramlines’ I use this last phrase because it passes the test of the boldly meaningless.”
When travelling by train at night and pretending to be able to identify position by sound;
“SELF: That loop of the Ouse is on our right now. (No need to say which of the fourteen Ouses you are referring to.)
PASSENGER: How on earth do you know?
SELF: That rattle of points and then the rap as we went under the footbridge. Cobb’s Corner.”
Still on the train; “During dark, nod towards any small lighted window as it passes and say, ‘Ah, Tom’s in - Tom Norris, head keeper of Lord Gravelstoke in the old days.’”
(All from “One-upmanship”, 1952)
“…remember, when reviewing novels, that you are always ready to give a helping hand to the young. The general rule here is to praise, even overpraise, any first novel, reserving to yourself the right, which you will invariably excercise, to pitch into No.2 (‘which shows little of the promise of…’)” (From "Supermanship, 1958)
A superb chapter is “The Art of Not Rock-Climbing” in “Supermanship” where the original G. Odoreida (my favourite character) gives the completely erroneous impression that he is a seasoned expert rock-climber.
" So few climbs seem worth while to Mr Odoreida, thinks New Boy.
‘No - I should have to take my rubbers. And it’s essentially a boot climb. But you go, if you want a nice scamper in a pair of gym shoes. I’ve got my War and Peace.’"
“… Odoreida had never read this book, though he was always being found with it in chimney corners.”