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John O'Farrell (born 27 March 1962) is a British author, comedy scriptwriter, and political campaigner. Previously a lead writer for such shows as ''
Spitting Image ''Spitting Image'' is a British satirical television puppet show, created by Peter Fluck, Roger Law and Martin Lambie-Nairn. First broadcast in 1984, the series was produced by 'Spitting Image Productions' for Central Independent Television ...
'' and '' Have I Got News for You'', he is now best known as a comic author for such books such as ''The Man Who Forgot His Wife'' and ''An Utterly Impartial History of Britain''. He is one of a small number of British writers to have achieved best-seller status with both fiction and nonfiction."May Contain Nuts" interview
''BooksatTransworld.co.uk''
His books have been translated into around thirty languages and adapted for radio and television. O'Farrell co-wrote the musical '' Something Rotten!'', which opened on Broadway in April 2015, and co-wrote a Broadway musical of '' Mrs. Doubtfire'' which opened on Broadway in December 2021 and in London's West End in May 2023.Gans, Andrew
"Jerry Zaks Will Direct Broadway-Aimed Musical Mrs. Doubtfire"
Playbill, 28 August 2018
He wrote the musical '' Just for One Day'' based on the story of the 1985 benefit concert
Live Aid Live Aid was a two-venue benefit concert and music-based fundraising initiative held on Saturday, 13 July 1985. The event was organised by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure to raise further funds for relief of the 1983–1985 famine in Ethiopia, a m ...
which had its world premiere at
The Old Vic The Old Vic is a 1,000-seat, nonprofit producing theatre in Waterloo, London, England. It was established in 1818 as the Royal Coburg Theatre, and renamed in 1833 the Royal Victoria Theatre. In 1871 it was rebuilt and reopened as the Royal ...
in London on 13 February 2024.


Early life

O'Farrell grew up in
Maidenhead Maidenhead is a market town in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead in the county of Berkshire, England. It lies on the southwestern bank of the River Thames, which at this point forms the border with Buckinghamshire. In the 2021 Census, ...
, Berkshire, the youngest of three children, attending Courthouse Primary School and then Desborough Comprehensive where he wrote comedy for the school magazine and stood as the Labour candidate in the school's 1979 mock election. His father was a book dealer from
Galway Galway ( ; , ) is a City status in Ireland, city in (and the county town of) County Galway. It lies on the River Corrib between Lough Corrib and Galway Bay. It is the most populous settlement in the province of Connacht, the List of settleme ...
, Ireland, whilst his mother was active in
Oxfam Oxfam is a British-founded confederation of 21 independent non-governmental organizations (NGOs), focusing on the alleviation of global poverty, founded in 1942 and led by Oxfam International. It began as the Oxford Committee for Famine Relief ...
and
Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says that it has more than ten million members a ...
. He attended classes at the Redroofs Theatre School and played
Christopher Robin Christopher Robin is a character created by A. A. Milne, based on his son Christopher Robin Milne. The character appears in the author's popular books of poetry and ''Winnie-the-Pooh'' stories, and has subsequently appeared in various Disney ...
in the West End at the age of ten, before appearing in the horror film '' From Beyond the Grave'' with
Diana Dors Diana Dors (born Diana Mary Fluck; 23 October 19314 May 1984) was an English actress and singer. Dors came to public notice as a Bombshell (slang), blonde bombshell, much in the style of Americans Marilyn Monroe, Jayne Mansfield, and Mamie Van ...
and
Donald Pleasence Donald Henry Pleasence (; 5 October 1919 – 2 February 1995) was an English actor. He was known for his "bald head and intense, staring eyes," and played more than 250 stage, film, and television roles across a nearly sixty-year career. Pleas ...
, and the BBC Children's TV series ''Jumbo Spencer'' in 1976. O'Farrell went on to study English and drama at
Exeter University The University of Exeter is a research university in the West Country of England, with its main campus in Exeter, Devon. Its predecessor institutions, St Luke's College, Exeter School of Science, Exeter School of Art, and the Camborne School o ...
.O'Farrell, John
"Tony plans a trip down in Devon"
''The Guardian'', 5 July 2000


Scriptwriting career

O'Farrell moved to London in 1985, winning a talent competition at Jongleurs in Battersea, but gave up stand up-comedy in favour of comedy writing. After attending the open meetings for Radio 4's '' Week Ending'' he formed a writing partnership with Mark Burton and they soon became lead writers on the show. The duo won the BBC Radio Comedy Writers Bursary, and wrote for a number of radio comedy series, including ''Little Blighty on the Down'', ''McKay the New'' and, with Pete Sinclair, '' A Look Back at the Nineties'' and ''Look Back at the Future'', in which O'Farrell also performed. The latter series won a
British Comedy Award The National Comedy Awards (known as the British Comedy Awards from 1990 to 2014) is an annual awards ceremony in the United Kingdom, celebrating notable comedians and entertainment performances of the previous year. The British Comedy Awards (1 ...
, a Gold Sony Radio Academy Award and a
Premios Ondas The Premios Ondas (Spanish: literally "wave awards", also known in English as the Ondas Awards or simply The Ondas) have been given since 1954 by Radio Barcelona, a subsidiary of Cadena SER, in recognition of professionals in the fields of radio ...
. Burton and O'Farrell were commissioned for ''
Spitting Image ''Spitting Image'' is a British satirical television puppet show, created by Peter Fluck, Roger Law and Martin Lambie-Nairn. First broadcast in 1984, the series was produced by 'Spitting Image Productions' for Central Independent Television ...
'' in 1988 and the following year became two of the lead writers for the show, where they remained for 10 series. O'Farrell is credited with the idea of making
John Major Sir John Major (born 29 March 1943) is a British retired politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 1990 to 1997. Following his defeat to Ton ...
permanently grey. They also wrote for ''
Clive Anderson Clive Stuart Anderson (born 10 December 1952) is an English television and radio presenter, comedian, writer and former barrister. Winner of a British Comedy Award in 1991, Anderson began experimenting with comedy and writing comedic scripts dur ...
Talks Back'', Nick Hancock on ''Room 101'', '' Murder Most Horrid'', and co-wrote some of the "Heads to Heads" for ''
Alas Smith and Jones ''Alas Smith and Jones'' is a British comedy sketch television series starring Mel Smith and Griff Rhys Jones that originally ran for four series and two Christmas specials on BBC2 from 1984 to 1988, and later as ''Smith and Jones'' for six ...
''. In 1993, they left ''Spitting Image'' and became the first writers credited for the scripted parts of '' Have I Got News for You''. Again for
Hat Trick Productions Hat Trick Productions Limited is an independent British production company that produces television and radio programmes, mainly specialising in comedy, based in London. The company's logo is depicted as a rabbit pulling a man out of a hat inste ...
, they wrote the BBC1 sitcom '' The Peter Principle'' starring
Jim Broadbent James Broadbent (born 24 May 1949) is an English actor. A graduate of the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art in 1972, he came to prominence as a character actor for his many roles in film and television. He has received various accolades ...
. They also contributed to the screenplay of the Aardman film ''
Chicken Run ''Chicken Run'' is a 2000 animated adventure comedy film directed by Peter Lord and Nick Park and written by Karey Kirkpatrick from an original story by Lord and Park. Produced by Pathé and Aardman Features in partnership with DreamWork ...
''."John O'Farrell"
IMDB.com
It was announced in April 2018 that O'Farrell was co-writing a sequel to ''Chicken Run''. O’Farrell co-wrote the book for the original stage musical '' Something Rotten!'', which opened on Broadway in April 2015, and for which he was nominated for a
Tony Award The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes excellence in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ce ...
for Best Book of a Musical with Karey Kirkpatrick as well as a
Drama Desk Award The Drama Desk Awards are among the most esteemed honors in New York theater, recognizing outstanding achievements across Broadway, Off-Broadway, and Off-Off-Broadway productions within the same categories. The awards are considered a signific ...
and an Outer Circle Critics Award. The show ran for nearly two years on Broadway before going on tour across the United States. It was announced in August 2018 that the same team had been commissioned to write a stage musical of the film '' Mrs. Doubtfire'' for Broadway. The stage musical, also titled '' Mrs. Doubtfire'' premiered at the 5th Avenue Theatre in Seattle, Washington and opened on Broadway at the Stephen Sondheim Theater in December 2021. It opened at Manchester Opera House in September 2022 and transferred to the Shaftesbury Theatre, in London's West End in May 2023. On 2 October 2023, it was announced that John O'Farrell had written a musical based around ''Live Aid'' which was to have its world premiere at
The Old Vic The Old Vic is a 1,000-seat, nonprofit producing theatre in Waterloo, London, England. It was established in 1818 as the Royal Coburg Theatre, and renamed in 1833 the Royal Victoria Theatre. In 1871 it was rebuilt and reopened as the Royal ...
in London on 13 February 2024, following previews from 26 January, running until 30 March. The production was directed by Luke Shepard and produced with
Bob Geldof Robert Frederick Zenon Geldof (; born 5 October 1951) is an Irish singer-songwriter and political activist. He rose to prominence in the late 1970s as the lead singer of the Irish rock band the Boomtown Rats, who achieved popularity as part ...
and Band Aid's permission. Ten per cent of ticket prices were donated to the Band Aid Trust for their continuing work in Africa.


Literary career

In 1998, O'Farrell published ''Things Can Only Get Better: Eighteen Miserable Years in the Life of a Labour Supporter''. The book became a number-one best-seller, and was nominated for the George Orwell Award and the
Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...
Political Awards. The popularity of the book led O'Farrell to be invited to address the 1999 Labour Party conference. The memoir was adapted for
BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...
starring Jack Dee and
Doon Mackichan Sarah Doon Mackichan (; born 7 August 1962) is a British actress, comedian and writer. She co-created, wrote and performed in the double-Emmy awards, Emmy-award-winning ''Smack the Pony''. She frequently collaborates with Armando Iannucci and S ...
. In September 2010, it was listed by ''
The Economist ''The Economist'' is a British newspaper published weekly in printed magazine format and daily on Electronic publishing, digital platforms. It publishes stories on topics that include economics, business, geopolitics, technology and culture. M ...
'' as Britain's third best-selling political memoir since 1998, after books by
Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...
and
Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton (né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician and lawyer who was the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, ...
. In 1999, O'Farrell began a weekly satirical column in ''
The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...
'', soon switching to ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
'' where he remained until 2005. Three collections of his columns have been published; ''Global Village Idiot'', ''I Blame the Scapegoats'' and ''I Have A Bream''. In 2000, O'Farrell published his first novel, ''The Best a Man Can Get'', which was the best-selling debut novel in 2002 and eventually sold half a million copies. It was dramatised for BBC Radio 4 starring
Mark Heap Mark Heap (born 13 May 1957) is a British actor and comedian. Television credits include '' Ghost Train'' (1991), '' Smith & Jones'' (1997–1998), '' Brass Eye'' (1997–2001), '' Kiss Me Kate'' (1998), '' The Zig and Zag Show'' (1998), '' Ho ...
and
Tamsin Greig Tamsin Margaret Mary Greig (; born 12 July 1966) is a British actress. She is known for both dramatic and comedic roles. She played Fran Katzenjammer in the Channel 4 sitcom '' Black Books'', Dr Caroline Todd in the Channel 4 sitcom '' Green W ...
. The novel was later optioned by
Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation, commonly known as Paramount Pictures or simply Paramount, is an American film production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the flagship namesake subsidiary of Paramount ...
. Two further novels followed, ''This Is Your Life'' and ''May Contain Nuts'', the latter of which was nominated for the Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize and adapted for ITV by his former co-writer Mark Burton and starred
Shirley Henderson Shirley Henderson (born 24 November 1965) is a Scottish actress. Her accolades include two Scottish BAFTAs, a VFCC Award and an Olivier Award, as well as BAFTA, BIFA, London Critics' Circle, Chlotrudis, Gotham, and Canadian Screen Award n ...
and Darren Boyd. In 2007, he returned to non-fiction with the publication of ''An Utterly Impartial History of Britain, or 2000 Years of Upper Class Idiots in Charge'' which was BBC Radio 4's ''
Book of the Week ''Book of the Week'' is a long-running BBC Radio 4 series, first broadcast in 1998. It features daily readings from an abridged version of a selected book read over five or occasionally ten weekday episodes. Each episode is approximately 15 min ...
'' and went on to sell over 250,000 copies. This was followed in October 2009 by ''An Utterly Exasperated History of Modern Britain, or Sixty Years of Making the Same Stupid Mistakes as Always''. His fourth novel, ''The Man Who Forgot His Wife'', was published in March 2012 and was nominated for the Bollinger Wodehouse Award for comic fiction. O'Farrell has contributed short stories and non-fiction pieces to a number of charity collections:
Nick Hornby Nicholas Peter John Hornby (born 17 April 1957) is an English writer. He is best known for his memoir '' Fever Pitch'' (1992) and novels ''High Fidelity'' and '' About a Boy'', all of which were adapted into feature films. Hornby's work frequen ...
's ''Speaking with the Angel'', ''Magic'', ''Mums'', ''Dads'' and ''Being British'' edited by
Gordon Brown James Gordon Brown (born 20 February 1951) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 to 2010. Previously, he was Chancellor of the Ex ...
. He also contributed a story for ''The Anniversary'', a collection of short stories published as part of the
Quick Reads Initiative '' Quick Reads'' is a series of short books by bestselling authors and celebrities. With no more than 200 pages, they are designed to encourage adults who do not read often or find reading difficult to discover the joy of books. Quick Reads are a c ...
. In November 2015, he published his fifth novel ''There's Only Two David Beckhams'' described as a football fantasy set at the Qatar World Cup in 2022, which earned him his third nomination for the Wodehouse Award. In September 2017, he published ''Things Can Only Get Worse? Twenty Confusing Years in the Life of a Labour Supporter'' – the sequel to his first political memoir, picking up where the original left off, from the New Labour landslide of 1997 following the journey over two decades up to Brexit, the election of Donald Trump and Theresa May's snap election of 2017. The memoir was shortlisted for the 2017 Parliamentary Book Awards for "Best book by a non-Parliamentarian" and was adapted for serialisation on BBC Radio 4. In March 2024, he published his sixth novel ''Family Politics'', described by Alistair Campbell as "the funniest book about politics I have ever read". O'Farrell has sold over 1 million books in the UK, and his novels have been translated into over 30 languages, including a Japanese manga edition of ''The Best a Man Can Get''."John O'Farrell"
at ''BooksatTransworld.com''


Broadcasting

O'Farrell has appeared on such programmes as '' Newsnight Review'', '' Question Time'', '' Grumpy Old Men''. and '' Have I Got News for You'', the only guest previously to have worked on the show's production team. He has written and presented a number of TV and radio documentaries such as ''Losing My Maidenhead'' and ''Paranoid Parenting'' for
BBC1 BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's oldest and Flagship (broadcasting), flagship channel, and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includ ...
, and ''Dreaming of Toad Hall'', ''Turn Over Your Papers Now'' and ''The Grand Masquerade'' for Radio 4. After O'Farrell's radio programme ''The Grand Masquerade'' on the Kit Williams 1979 treasure hunt book, the golden hare resurfaced, 20 years after it had disappeared.Plunkett, John
"Unearthed again – golden hare that obsessed a nation"
''Guardian.co.uk'', 20 August 2009
In 2013, he was chosen by BBC Radio 4's ''
Woman's Hour ''Woman's Hour'' is a radio magazine programme broadcast in the United Kingdom on the BBC Light Programme, BBC Radio 2, and later BBC Radio 4. It has been on the air since 1946. History The first BBC programme for women was the programme cal ...
'' as the man to put the feminist case against the launch of a new Men's Rights Party. He appeared in '' Pointless Celebrities'' in 2016 and 2019 and captained the Exeter Alumni team on ''
University Challenge ''University Challenge'' is a British television quiz programme which first aired in 1962. ''University Challenge'' aired for 913 episodes on ITV from 21 September 1962 to 31 December 1987, presented by quizmaster Bamber Gascoigne. The BBC ...
'' in December 2012. In January 2025 he was a contestant on '' Celebrity Mastermind''. Other TV appearances and radio broadcasts, include ''Crime Team'', ''What the Papers Say'', ''The News Quiz'', ''Heresy'', ''Quote Unquote'', ''The Wright Stuff'', ''The Daily Politics'', ''What the Dickens'', ''The 11 O'Clock Show'', ''We've Been Here Before'', ''Clive Anderson's Chat Room'' and ''Loose Ends''. In January 2020, he teamed up with comedian Angela Barnes to create a new podcast called 'We Are History' which looks at funny, quirky or interesting stories from British and world history.


Internet

In September 2006, O'Farrell launched Britain's first daily news satire website,
NewsBiscuit NewsBiscuit is a British satirical news website. It was founded in September 2006 by John O'Farrell to create a new outlet for British humour on the internet by a group consisting mainly of comedy writers including Pete Sinclair, Maz Evans, Ivo ...
, to create a new outlet for British comedy on the internet. The site also develops new writing using a submissions board where readers can rate each other's material and suggest rewrites or edits. A collection of some of the best stories was published in 2008 as ''Isle of Wight to Get Ceefax''. A number of the writers have gone on to write for BBC Radio or publish books after developing their material on NewsBiscuit. In June 2021, he announced on Twitter that he was giving the site to the team of editors who had effectively been running the site for the previous few years.


Politics

For many years O'Farrell has been a member of the Labour Party. He stood as a
paper candidate In a representative democracy, a paper candidate (also known as a no-hope candidate) is a candidate who stands for a political party in an electoral division where the party in question enjoys only low levels of support. Although the candidate ...
for Labour in his home town of
Maidenhead Maidenhead is a market town in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead in the county of Berkshire, England. It lies on the southwestern bank of the River Thames, which at this point forms the border with Buckinghamshire. In the 2021 Census, ...
(the constituency of now former Prime Minister
Theresa May Theresa Mary May, Baroness May of Maidenhead (; ; born 1 October 1956), is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2016 to 2019. She previously served as Home Secretar ...
) during the 2001 general election, which was the subject of the BBC documentary ''Losing My Maidenhead''. During the 2005 general election his comic emails to Labour members raised hundreds of thousands of pounds for the party's election campaign. In April 2007, he conducted the first ever interview of a serving
Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...
on the internet when he spoke to
Tony Blair Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He was Leader ...
. He has written jokes for Prime Ministers Blair and
Gordon Brown James Gordon Brown (born 20 February 1951) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 to 2010. Previously, he was Chancellor of the Ex ...
, as well as other senior Labour figures. He successfully campaigned for a new state secondary school to be opened in Lambeth, the Lambeth Academy, and became the chair of governors from its opening in 2004 until 2012. He also sat on the board of the United Learning Trust, and is an outspoken supporter of state education. In September 2012, he became Writer in Residence at Burlington Danes Academy in northwest London through the literacy charity
First Story First Story is an English charity that encourages children and young people to write creatively, outside the curriculum, for self-expression and pleasure. Its aim is to empower children and young people from low-income communities to find and dev ...
. In February 2013, O'Farrell was selected as the Labour candidate in the Eastleigh by-election which was caused by the resignation of
Chris Huhne Christopher Murray Paul Huhne (born 2 July 1954) is a British energy and climate change consultant, and former journalist, business economist and politician who was the Liberal Democrats (UK), Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament for Eastleigh ...
. He became the target of a campaign by the ''
Daily Mail The ''Daily Mail'' is a British daily Middle-market newspaper, middle-market Tabloid journalism, tabloid conservative newspaper founded in 1896 and published in London. , it has the List of newspapers in the United Kingdom by circulation, h ...
'' and other Conservative-supporting newspapers who used extracts or jokes from O'Farrell's books to claim that he was unsuitable for office, as
David Cameron David William Donald Cameron, Baron Cameron of Chipping Norton (born 9 October 1966) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2010 to 2016. Until 2015, he led the first coalition government in the UK s ...
attempted to embarrass the Labour leader
Ed Miliband Edward Samuel Miliband (born 24 December 1969) is a British politician who has served as Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero since July 2024. He has been Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) for D ...
by reading out extracts of ''Things Can Only Get Better'' during Prime Minister's Question Time. O'Farrell slightly increased Labour's share of the vote, but finished fourth. He announced that he was not intending to stand for Parliament in 2015. On the death of
Margaret Thatcher Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013), was a British stateswoman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of th ...
, O'Farrell led calls for Labour supporters to put their hatred behind them, and to donate to those who suffered under her rule. His political and education campaigns are chronicled in his memoir ''Things Can Only Get Worse''.


Personal life

O'Farrell is married with two grown-up children, who both attended Lambeth Academy. He and his family live in
Clapham Clapham () is a district in south London, south west London, England, lying mostly within the London Borough of Lambeth, but with some areas (including Clapham Common) extending into the neighbouring London Borough of Wandsworth. History Ea ...
in South London and holiday in West Cork.O'Farrell, John
"The family secret"
''Guardian.co.uk'', 29 May 2009
He holds British and Irish passports. O'Farrell met his wife Jackie when she worked in BBC Radio Comedy. She was the production assistant who had to sit on stage beside Humphrey Lyttelton during ''
I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue ''I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue'' is a BBC radio comedy panel game. Billed as "the antidote to panel games", it consists of two teams of two comedians being given "silly things to do" by the host. The show was launched in April 1972 as a parody of ...
'', and O'Farrell joked "I married the lovely Samantha!" He does much of his writing at the
London Library The London Library is an Subscription library, independent lending library in London, established in 1841. Membership is open to all, on payment of an annual subscription, with life and corporate memberships also available. As of December 2023 ...
. He supports
Fulham F.C. Fulham Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in Fulham, West London, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of English football league system, English football. They have played home games at Craven ...
and revealed in the club fanzine that the characters in each of his novels are named after players from a particular Fulham team.''There's Only One F in Fulham'', August/September 2004 Issue 91, pg 45.


Bibliography


Fiction

*''The Best a Man Can Get'' (2000) (2002, Broadway Books, ) (2001, Black Swan, ) (2001, Broadway Books, ) (2000, Doubleday, ) *''This Is Your Life'' (2002) (2004, Grove Press, ) (2003, Black Swan, ) (2002, Doubleday, ) *''May Contain Nuts'' (2 May 2005) (2005, Doubleday, ) *''The Man Who Forgot His Wife'' (16 March 2012) (2012, Doubleday, (11 October 2012) Black Swan *''A History of Capitalism According to the Jubilee Line'' (2013, Penguin, ) *''There's Only Two David Beckhams'' (2015, Black Swan, ) *''Family Politics'' (2024, Doubleday, )


Non-fiction

*''Things Can Only Get Worse?: Twenty Confusing Years in the Life of a Labour Supporter'' (2017, Doubleday, ) *''An Utterly Exasperated History of Modern Britain: or Sixty Years of Making the Same Stupid Mistakes as Always'' (22 October 2009) (2009, Doubleday, ) *''An Utterly Impartial History of Britain – Or 2000 Years of Upper Class Idiots in Charge'' (22 October 2007) (2007, Doubleday, ) *''I Have a Bream'' (February 2007) (2007, Doubleday, ) *''I Blame the Scapegoats'' (2003) (2004, Black Swan, ) (2003, Doubleday, ) *''Global Village Idiot'' (2001) (2004, Grove Press, ) (2002, Corgi, ) (2001, Doubleday, ) *''Things Can Only Get Better: Eighteen Miserable Years in the Life of a Labour Supporter, 1979–1997'' (1998) (1998, Doubleday, ) (1999, Black Swan, )


References


External links

*
John O’Farrell
at the
British Film Institute The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves filmmaking and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery to encourage film production, ...

O'Farrell's profile on his literary agent's websiteNewsBiscuit.com O'Farrell's satirical news-parody website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ofarrell, John Alumni of the University of Exeter British humorists British male journalists British satirists British satirical columnists British humourous columnists Labour Party (UK) parliamentary candidates 1962 births Living people English people of Irish descent British people of Irish descent