A. P. Herbert (1890–1971,) fully Sir Alan Patrick Herbert, was an English humorist, novelist, playwright, law reformist, and politician. This author of more than 50 books is noted for his witty championing of minority causes.
Born in Elstead, Surrey, Herbert studied law at Oxford, and then served in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve during World War I. He was called to the Bar but never practiced, having appointed himself in his twenties as a humorous writer of verses, joining the weekly humour- and satire-magazine Punch in 1924.
Herbert’s first theatrical success, with Nigel Playfair in the revue Riverside Nights (1926,) was followed by a series of brilliant libretti for comic operas, including Tantivy Towers (1930,) a version of French composer Jacques Offenbach’s Helen (1932,) Derby Day (1932,) and Bless the Bride (1947.) Herbert was also the writer of several successful novels, notably The Secret Battle (1919; a stirring account of the horrors of war,) Misleading Cases in the Common Law (1929; ridicules of absurdities in court procedures,) The Water Gipsies (1930,) and Holy Deadlock (1934.) In What a Word (1935) and many humorous essays, he campaigned against jargon and officialese.
Herbert was an Independent MP for Oxford University 1935–50. He introduced a marriage bill in the House of Commons that became law as the Matrimonial Causes Act (1938) and did much to improve divorce law in England.
Herbert’s autobiography is My Life and Times (1970.) Susan Glasspool wrote Sir AP Herbert: A Short Guide to his Literary Work (1973.)
More: Wikipedia • READ: Works by A. P. Herbert
Elderly gentlemen, gentle in all respects, kind to animals, beloved by children, and fond of music, are found in lonely corners of the downs, hacking at sandpits or tussocks of grass, and muttering in a blind, ungovernable fury elaborate maledictions which could not be extracted from them by robbery or murder. Men who would face torture without a word become blasphemous at the short fourteenth. It is clear that the game of golf may well be included in that category of intolerable provocations which may legally excuse or mitigate behavior not otherwise excusable.
—A. P. Herbert
Topics: Golf
People must not do things for fun. We are not here for fun. There is no reference to fun in any act of Parliament.
—A. P. Herbert
Topics: Fun, Pleasure
Well, fancy giving money to the Government! Might as well have put it down the drain.
—A. P. Herbert
Topics: Government
An act of God was defined as something which no reasonable man could have expected.
—A. P. Herbert
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