Dip My Brain in Joy: A Life with Neil Innes

'Some called him the seventh Python, but I prefer to think of him as the first Neil Innes.' - Michael Palin 'The Rutles sort of liberated me from the Beatles in a way. It was the only thing I saw of those Beatles television shows. It was actually the best, funniest and most scathing. But at the same time, it was done with the most love.' - George Harrison Few individuals have had such an impact on British culture over the past fifty years as the comedy and music icon Neil Innes. He was the songwriting powerhouse of the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah band. Beatles muse and collaborator. Injector of art college surrealism into 1960s TV comedy. Instigator of a revolution that led directly to Monty Python, the group he repeatedly joined on screen and stage. He was Ron Nasty, co-founder of the much-loved Rutles, the 'pre-fab four'. Accidental inventor of the phrase 'Cool Britannia'. Much-loved children's TV storyteller, thinker, maker, creator, undisputed national treasure and Britain's sweet idiot