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You Have Been Warned - A Complete Guide to the Road
According to statistics, there is in Great Britain one car to every thirty-three persons—that is to say, one to drive it, two to give advice from the back seat, one to oil and grease thoroughly and remove all tools, three to step in front of it and one to visit them and eat their grapes, one to devise means for speeding it up and four to devise means for slowing it down, one to draw pictures in the dust on the back, one to keep on taking it in part exchange, two to salute at cross-roads, fifteen to lean their bicycles against it at traffic stops, and one to fail to understand what’s come over everybody nowadays. It is to the last of these that this book is addressed.
- GenresHumorHistoryNonfiction
150 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1935
About the author
An Irish-born writer and broadcaster who was the first question-master of 'The Brains Trust' radio programme from its foundation in 1941 through to it being taken off the radio/television in 1961.
He first came to public notice in 1934 with 'Aces Made Easy – or Pons asinorum in a nutshell', which he wrote with illustrations by Fougasse [Cyril Kenneth Bird], with whom he produced a number of books. This first book was a humorous look at the game of contract bridge, which was then very fashionable in England.
He followed this in 1935 with 'You Have Been Warned – A Complete Guide to the Road', an equally humorous book once again done with fougasse.
After the World War II, McCullough and Fougasse again collaborated on light-hearted pamphlets, but with the serious intent of promoting road safety, topics such as 'Fancy Meeting You' and 'Many Happy Returns – and How to Enjoy them'.
He also did a little acting, having a small role in the Flanagan and Allen film 'Dreaming' in 1945.
He died in Kings Lynn, Norfolk, on 19 January 1978.
He first came to public notice in 1934 with 'Aces Made Easy – or Pons asinorum in a nutshell', which he wrote with illustrations by Fougasse [Cyril Kenneth Bird], with whom he produced a number of books. This first book was a humorous look at the game of contract bridge, which was then very fashionable in England.
He followed this in 1935 with 'You Have Been Warned – A Complete Guide to the Road', an equally humorous book once again done with fougasse.
After the World War II, McCullough and Fougasse again collaborated on light-hearted pamphlets, but with the serious intent of promoting road safety, topics such as 'Fancy Meeting You' and 'Many Happy Returns – and How to Enjoy them'.
He also did a little acting, having a small role in the Flanagan and Allen film 'Dreaming' in 1945.
He died in Kings Lynn, Norfolk, on 19 January 1978.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
June 17, 2025
Motoring in the 1930s and earlier was quite different from today as Fougasse and McCullough point out with much humour.
'You have been warned' contains useful tips (for what they are worth today!), observations on the etiquette of the road, the need to avoid pedestrians and looking after one's car plus some forward thinking ideas that could prove useful. In the last named category there is mention, 68 years before it came into being, a suggestion for a special city tax to cure traffic jams ... perceptive or what?
There are sections on 'Signs and Wonders', containing a variety of hand signals that could be useful or just darn right confusing; planning a route, including how it had changed from the advent of motoring up to the time of publication 9How it has changed since is quite different again); a spoof examination paper for drivers, once again anticipating something that arrived (only) 31 years later; touring and planning a route; remote control, which is particularly amusing and could cause problems for robot cars in the future; and plenty of other topics are covered.
The 'Conclusion' is a sensible one in that the average motorist 'does not go about the country intentionally courting disaster', 'is s much concerned to avoid accident as anyone else' and 'has no desire to jeopardise either his own safety or his neighbour's'. But the authors do leave a caveat end with an amusing note, 'the average motorist will always ...' - this when 'at that moment a car came swiftly and suddenly out of a concealed turning'!
Illustrated throughout with more than one hundred witty line drawings by Fougasse, this book is most amusing and certainly provides food for thought for the congested world of modern day driving.
'You have been warned' contains useful tips (for what they are worth today!), observations on the etiquette of the road, the need to avoid pedestrians and looking after one's car plus some forward thinking ideas that could prove useful. In the last named category there is mention, 68 years before it came into being, a suggestion for a special city tax to cure traffic jams ... perceptive or what?
There are sections on 'Signs and Wonders', containing a variety of hand signals that could be useful or just darn right confusing; planning a route, including how it had changed from the advent of motoring up to the time of publication 9How it has changed since is quite different again); a spoof examination paper for drivers, once again anticipating something that arrived (only) 31 years later; touring and planning a route; remote control, which is particularly amusing and could cause problems for robot cars in the future; and plenty of other topics are covered.
The 'Conclusion' is a sensible one in that the average motorist 'does not go about the country intentionally courting disaster', 'is s much concerned to avoid accident as anyone else' and 'has no desire to jeopardise either his own safety or his neighbour's'. But the authors do leave a caveat end with an amusing note, 'the average motorist will always ...' - this when 'at that moment a car came swiftly and suddenly out of a concealed turning'!
Illustrated throughout with more than one hundred witty line drawings by Fougasse, this book is most amusing and certainly provides food for thought for the congested world of modern day driving.
November 3, 2018
You Have Been Warned is a humorous book first published in 1935, warning people of the situations they may encounter when driving on Britain’s roads. For example: “the only difference between driving in London and parking in London is that you may not park on the same spot for more than two hours.”
It’s hard to believe that the roads really seemed so crowded all those years ago (when the book tells us there was one car for every 33 people in the UK — now it’s close to one car for every 2 people, plus the population has grown by 30%, so I make that 1.4 million cars in 1935 compared with 31 million now), but of course there were fewer roads and traffic controls, and no motorways. Anyway, it’s an amusing little book.
It’s hard to believe that the roads really seemed so crowded all those years ago (when the book tells us there was one car for every 33 people in the UK — now it’s close to one car for every 2 people, plus the population has grown by 30%, so I make that 1.4 million cars in 1935 compared with 31 million now), but of course there were fewer roads and traffic controls, and no motorways. Anyway, it’s an amusing little book.
September 28, 2024
I have a 1947 hardback reprint from Methuen of a 1935 original. Ninety years on, much of this motoring joke book is still highly relatable today. The humour has that British surrealism that gave rise to the Goons, Monty Python, and all the classics that followed. The illustrations by Fougasse are timeless and unmistakable. The only sour note is the misogyny of the lady driver jokes, but they are of their time. A short enjoyable read as well as a nostalgic one, as I haven’t read this for some forty years.
March 9, 2025
Originally published in 1935, this is a book about road use in the UK, illustrated by my absolute favourite satirical cartoonist Fougasse.
As always, some of the historical humour is lost on me nearly 90 years later, but the jokes that land are hilariously relatable. Hey guess what, people in the 1930s drove too fast too!
Another Fougasse and another delight.
(also, I bought this not realising it was the 2013 reprint. I didnt even know Fougasse got reprints. I have ordered another copy from ebay which should be a legit 1930s edition for my dog-eared and tatty Fougasse collection that I adore so much)
As always, some of the historical humour is lost on me nearly 90 years later, but the jokes that land are hilariously relatable. Hey guess what, people in the 1930s drove too fast too!
Another Fougasse and another delight.
(also, I bought this not realising it was the 2013 reprint. I didnt even know Fougasse got reprints. I have ordered another copy from ebay which should be a legit 1930s edition for my dog-eared and tatty Fougasse collection that I adore so much)
December 27, 2023
Short and sweet. Some very funny sections and lines dotted throughout. Obviously a lot has changed but it is remarkable how much of this remains incredibly prescient. Humour can transcend time.
Lost marks for relative repetitiveness and brevity; but an enjoyable hour or so was had.
Lost marks for relative repetitiveness and brevity; but an enjoyable hour or so was had.
August 18, 2017
Extremely funny, even 80 years later. Highly sardonic advice to learner drivers, beautifully cartooned.
August 26, 2019
Some bits are dated some parts seem to face exactly the same problems as now. Some very funny bits.
January 1, 2016
1930s humour about the relatively new idea of driving around in your own car. Obviously hugely dated, it does read like a series of short articles from Punch, which it may well have been. The text hasn't aged well, but the drawings, by one of the greatest cartoonists who ever lived, have - they are his usual effortless line drawings and elevate this above the mundane. File under 'historical curiosity'.
January 3, 2011
A very entertaining guide to driving - several kinds of hilarious. My copy is from the 1930s, so I'm not sure how it's been updated over the years, but in any case it's well worth reading.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews