Bunch of cults

Win a guide to British comedy

A new primer to British comedy, written by Independent critic Julian Hall, was published by Rough Guides last month – and we have six copies to give away.

The book covered the cult comedians and TV shows to have entered public consciousness in the past 30 years – and we reviewed it here .

Theguide covers the rise of alternative comedy and surrealist sketch shows, and charts the evolution through to the triumph of reality comedies such as The Office.

Julian Hall said: ‘With the explosion in comedy since the 1980s, it’s really hard to believe there’s anyone over the age of 25 who hasn’t yet experienced one of the UK’s comedy nights, but there’s a first time for everyone. My hope is this book will help many more comedy virgins lose their innocence.’

Hall - who has set up a blog linked to the book here - also compiled a personal top 10 of stand-ups:

Eddie Izzard
Daniel Kitson
Andrew Maxwell
Alan Carr
Robert Newman
Ross Noble
Mark Watson
Jerry Sadowitz
Brendon Burns
Tim Vine

To stand a chance of winning one of our six copies,just answer the following question by December 22, when we will select the winners at random from all correct answers received. Bulk and automated entries will be disqualified.

Good luck!