David Nobbs

David Gordon Nobbs (born 13 March 1935 in Petts Wood, Kent)^[1] is an English comedy writer.

Life and career

Following an education at Marlborough College and Cambridge University, Nobbs wrote for many of Britain's comedy performers over the years, including Kenneth Williams, Frankie Howerd, Les Dawson and The Two Ronnies. He is also the creator of the successful 1970s sitcom The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin (adapted from his own Reginald Perrin novels), the 1989 comedy/drama series A Bit of a Do and the highly-acclaimed Henry Pratt series of novels, the fourth of which, Pratt à Manger, was published in 2006. His novel, It Had to be You was published in 2011.

On 15 September 2010, Nobbs, along with 54 other public figures, signed an open letter published in The Guardian, stating their opposition to Pope Benedict XVI's state visit to the UK.^[2]

Novels

• The Itinerant Lodger (1965)
• Ostrich Country (1968)
• A Piece of the Sky is Missing (1969)
• The Death of Reginald Perrin (1975, later reissued as The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin)
• The Return of Reginald Perrin (1977)
• The Better World of Reginald Perrin (1978)
• Second From Last in the Sack Race (1983)
• A Bit of a Do (1986)
• Pratt of the Argus (1988)
• Fair Do's (1990)
• The Cucumber Man (1994)
• The Legacy of Reginald Perrin (1996)
• Going Gently (2000)
• Sex and Other Changes (2004)
• Pratt à Manger (2006)
• Cupid's Dart (2008)
• Obstacles to Young Love (2010)
• It Had to be You (2011)
• The Fall and Rise of Gordon Coppinger (2012)

Television works

• The Two Ronnies
• Shine a Light
• The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin
• The Sun Trap
• The Hello Goodbye Man
• A Bit of a Do
• Fairly Secret Army
• Dogfood Dan and the Carmarthan Cowboy
• The Life and Times of Henry Pratt
• Rich Tea and Sympathy
• The Legacy of Reginald Perrin
• Love on a Branch Line
• Stalag Luft
• Reggie Perrin

Radio works

• A radio adaptation of the novel What a Carve Up!, broadcast by the BBC in 2005.
• The Maltby Collection, a comedy set in a museum, featuring long-time collaborator Geoffrey Palmer.

Non-fiction

• I Didn't Get Where I Am Today (autobiography, 2001)

References

External links

• David Nobbs' official site
• David Nobbs on Twitter
• David Nobbs' page at Reggie Online
• Interview with David Nobbs by Jonathan Coe in The Idler Magazine