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The Secret Life of Books

Series 2

Episode 2: Edward Lear's Nonsense Songs

Duration: 30 minutes

First broadcast: on BBC FourLatest broadcast: on BBC Four HD

Available for years

Nicholas Parsons, a lifelong fan of Edward Lear, revisits the book that gave the world The Owl and the Pussycat to explore the fine line between joy and melancholy in Lear's writing and discover how the epileptic, bronchial, asthmatic depressive pioneered a new kind of poetry that married brilliant wordplay with astonishing artwork. Show less

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