For over forty years, John Julius Norwich has been sending out his Christmas Crackers - a personal collection of quirky quotes and literary odds and ends - to his friends instead of a Christmas card.In The Illustrated Christmas Cracker Quentin Blake has made his own selection of favourite pieces and has illustrated them in his own trademark style. From curious dictionary definitions ('Carphology. Delirious fumbling with the bedclothes,' Concise Oxford Dictionary) and tortuous palindromes ('Live dirt up a side-track carted is a putrid evil') to eighteenth-century accounts of drunken pigs and Benjamin Franklin's account of inventing bifocals, this cracker is stuffed with surprising, offbeat, often hilarious gems.Enlivened by Quentin Blake's witty illustrations, this book is the perfect stocking-filler for the discerning customer.

John Julius Norwich is a leading writer, historian and broadcaster and author of two bestselling collections of Christmas Crackers.Quentin Blake is one of Britain's finest illustrators, and best known for his own picture books and his collaboration with Roald Dahl. He was appointed the country's first Children's Laureate in 1999.