Comic injures a captain of industry

Comic Dominic Holland has caused a high-flying businessman to laugh so much that he injured himself.

David Woodward, the sales director of Gillette UK, had to be treated by a doctor over the pain his words inflicted.

The injuries were sustained while he reading Holland's novel The Ripple Effect, as he relaxedby the pool on a family holiday in Spain.

He found the David-and-Goliath tale of struggling football clubs tackling big business so funny that he frequently laughed out loud, even though he was trying to drink his beer at the same time.

It caused him to swallow awkwardly, and felt he might have hurt his throat ,but ignored it. But when the pain continued into the evening, Woodward went to have it checked out ­ and was told that laughing through his beer had badly bruised his oesophagus.

He was unable to eat without pain for the rest of the holiday.

However, he holds no hard feelings for Holland. In fact, he was so impressed with the book that he booked the comic to give an after-dinner speech to his colleagues this month ­ and bought a handful of copies of the novel to hand out.

The Ripple Effect review

Published: 23 Mar 2004